Over the past 10 minutes, Lina and Kariyama have experienced the most awkward and embarrassing moment of their lives. Lina is still cringing over what happened earlier, unsure of what had caused her to zone out. Kariyama waits for Lina to start the conversation, unsure of how to proceed. Anxiety builds between them for the next seven minutes until Lina finally raises her head to take in the grandeur of the UNDF's "Office Way". The hallway isn't too wide or too small, and each step feels like an eternity. The walls are adorned with numerous offices, yet feel like empty walls. And to say the place is crowded is both an overstatement and an understatement. The scene feels almost magical to Lina, as she discovers new things to be impressed by with each step. Nonetheless, she is determined to avoid disappointing Kariyama again and is apprehensive about what lies ahead.
After about a minute, Lina finally mustered enough willpower to talk once again. But for Lina and Lina alone, in order for her to speak, she needs quite a lot of oxygen in her so she doesn't die of pure embarrassment due to the simple fact that she not only has the shyness to speak, she is packing the entire anxiety pack. So she starts breathing very loudly out of nowhere. The breathing is loud—so loud that Kariyama is surprised by Lina's sudden action, and not only that, she also manages to surprise quite a few staff members walking around the hallway with them and get some of them to give her the weird look all without realizing. Kariyama, however, realized all the attention she was dragging herself into, and if she doesn't stop now, it's going to get worse for her. Kariyama stepped forward, his face gentle and patient.
"So Lina," he said, his voice carrying a soothing tone that belied the intensity of his gaze. Lina flinched at the sudden sound, her wide eyes darting to meet his. For what felt like an eternity, all she could hear was the pounding of her own heart and her breath coming in fits and starts. It wasn't until Kariyama spoke up that she found the willpower to stop her loud breathing, only to give way to a few ragged coughs.
As she cleared her throat, she noticed that Kariyama was studying her intently, his features softening in understanding. For a moment, Lina felt like she was the only person in the world that Kariyama cared about. However, this sudden realization only served to make her more anxious. She fidgeted nervously, trying to think of something, anything, to say.
Kariyama remained silent, letting the moment stretch out. Eventually, Lina hurriedly responded, "Yes, sir?" Her voice was barely audible, but she managed to utter the words.
Kariyama's response was calm and measured, spoken softly as though to a frightened animal. "Please, tell me about yourself," he said. "Anything will do. I want to get to know you better."
Lina was torn. Part of her wanted to open up to Kariyama, to finally let someone in on the thoughts that had been plaguing her for so long. But the rest of her was overwhelmed by the anxiety and self-doubt that had dogged her throughout her life.
"Sir. I don't—I don't get what you mean by that." She could barely muster a chuckle before admitting to Kariyama that she didn't understand what he wanted from her.
Kariyama persisted, his expression unchanging. He was determined to help Lina open up and overcome her fears. Perhaps he saw something of himself in the young girl, or perhaps he simply wanted to help her as a father would his own daughter. Whatever the case may be, Lina was left feeling confused and humbled by his genuine concern.
Kariyama's eyes lit up as he leaned in towards Lina. "Yeah," he said, his voice practically brimming with enthusiasm. "I literally meant what I said. Tell me about yourself. Anything. Your basic information maybe. Even your biodata if need be. I reckon that since we're going to see each other more times than I'll ever get to count, I might as well know some basic information about you first." His words flowed fast and free, as though he had been seized by some sudden inspiration.
Even though to Lina it sounds a bit weird at first, the enthusiasm in his voice says that his intention is pure—only to get to know his goddaughter better. Lina, for her part, was taken aback by Kariyama's sudden burst of energy. Even though she knew him to be an accomplished director and an all-around kindhearted person, this level of enthusiasm seemed a bit weird to her. She wasn't sure what to make of it.
As she struggled to process Kariyama's strange sentences, Lina felt a growing sense of fear and confusion. She tried to speak, to tell Kariyama something, anything, about herself, but found herself incapable of uttering a single word. She was completely speechless, locked in a battle with her own paralyzing anxiety.
If it were up to her, she would have preferred to phase out of reality entirely and cease existence at that very moment. But Kariyama's enthusiasm and kindness had left an impression on her, and even though she was still struggling to find her voice, she could sense that there was a spark of hope flickering within her. Perhaps, with time and patience, she could learn to open up and share her thoughts and feelings with Kariyama. The prospect was daunting, but it was also strangely exciting. For the first time in a long time, Lina felt like maybe, just maybe, there was a way forward.
Lina drew in a deep breath, summoning her reserves of fortitude in the hopes of finding the strength to articulate something, anything. Time, that relentless and inexorable force, seemed to slow down and suspend itself for her as if its very essence had ceased to exist. This was the state of selflessness, a state of absolute mental concentration, where all distractions and extraneous thoughts vanished, leaving only the task at hand.
In metaphorical terms, it was akin to plunging headfirst into a reservoir teeming with her vast reserves of memories and knowledge, scouring every nook and cranny for something to say that would captivate Kariyama's attention. She was determined to leave a lasting impression on him, to avoid the ignominy of falling short once again. The mere prospect of failing anyone, be it her parents, sisters, the Student Council group, the Armed Martial Defense Team, or the idol groups she had once mentored, was enough to trigger a profound sense of panic, leaving her paralyzed with fear.
Despite her best efforts to remain composed, Lina could feel her anxiety mounting, gradually consuming her. The words she had rehearsed seemed to vanish into thin air, leaving her with nothing but an overwhelming sense of dread. Casting a furtive glance around, she could see Kariyama's gaze fixed on her, his interest piqued. This only served to exacerbate her mounting panic, driving her into a silent and desperate struggle to regain her composure.
For a fleeting moment, Lina managed to steady herself, summoning every ounce of courage and determination she possessed. But it was all for naught. Another wave of panic surged over her, obliterating any semblance of rational thought, and leaving her wracked with anxiety and self-doubt. At that moment, nothing else mattered to her but the crushing fear of disappointing Kariyama, driving her to the brink of desperation.
She takes a glimpse and at the very corner of her eyes she can see Kariyama, just waiting for what she has to say. She knows that she is done for. It is better for her to commit seppuku at this point rather than face the embarrassing truth. Her head is empty. she doesn't know what to tell Kariyama, what excuses to give, hell she doesn't even fully know what she is supposed to exactly tell Kariyama which adds another whole layer to the stress she's facing. To her, this is the most mentally intense conversation she has had since Jeanne's 2nd confession on her.
Then, out of nowhere, a voice can be heard yelling out something resembling kariyama's name from across the hall, a partially recognizable voice. A voice she is so sure she has heard before. Kariyama meanwhile recognized the voice and stopped in the middle of the path to turn around to see one of his team's lead researchers, Dr Granitia.
Doctor Giuseppe Granitia is a 52 year old Italian born in German, he is rather short in stature being just slightly taller than Lina at 157cm tall, has the face of a 60 years old, brown eyes, and has darker brown hair with white sideburns signifying his age, Doctor Granitia has a PhD in Biology, Bio-Machinery, Bio-Enhancement and Bio-Transference. In short, Doctor Granitia is a master of biology which made him a lead researcher in Kariyama's project which is named Project Vanguard. Despite his old age, Granitia is more than capable of running to catch up to Kariyama and Lina to give Kariyama his reports of the bio-enhancements property of the serums planned to be injected into the soldiers.
As he gets closer to both of them, the yelling is made more clear. It turns out he is calling out Kariyama from afar. And as he gets closer to them, his running is beginning to slow down to the point he only fast walks to them while gasping for air.
"Director, thank you for waiting for me. Alri-" he suddenly gasps for air, being so tired from all the running at such age.
"I'm sorry, Sir. Anyway, I'm here to give you this report. It's the report of each serum's bio-enhancement's property." Both of them then proceed to have a conversation which Lina would not be listening to because she is busy trying to tell who this man really is. She has never heard of his name, but she is very familiar with the voice. Where has she heard the voice from, she wonders.
After a while she finally remembered the voice. it's from her childhood. The memory is as vague as her confidence, but it is as she suspected, she has somehow met this man before. She then tried to dig further into her memories to get a clearer image of when she met him.
Granitia meanwhile just so happens to notice someone standing beside Kariyama ever since he caught up with them and decides to look over Kariyama only to see Lina who is in deep thoughts.
"Is that Lina? Azuki Lina?" Granitia looked back and asked Kariyama in confusion. Kariyama in response to that, turned over to look at Lina who is looking as confused as she was 2 minutes ago.
"Yes, Doctor." Kariyama simply replies then turns his head back to face Granitia. Granitia's expression starts going less confused and more curious.
"You mean the world famous idol? The Azuki Lina? Azuki Sophie Lina?" Asked Granitia in a rather passive-aggressive tone, trying to confirm his suspicion.
"Yes Doctor! It's her. It's not like there's a dozen more people that looked just like her, impersonating her." Says Kariyama, sarcastically, or rather unsarcastically due to Granitia's ability to be so tone deaf that sarcasm sounds like a legitimate answer.
"Interesting. Most interesting. You know, I was the one that performed her heart surgery when she was little." Says Granitia in pride.
"Huh?" Kariyama replies in confusion. He immediately turns his head facing Granitia and as quickly, he turns his head back facing Lina, who despite being engulfed in such deep thoughts, looks like she's admiring the beauty of the headquarters design. He never heard of any of these heart surgeries from both James and Granitia, and thus he finds it weird he suddenly heard of an event that occurred years ago that involves both of his closest advisors.
"Yes, Director. It was I who performed the surgeries. And I succeeded, despite the huge percentage of failure. Because y'know, the technology was new. I myself don't know of it's origin." Granitia continues despite the inherently clear confusion shown by Kariyama.
"I find this funny, apparently I never heard of any of these surgeries." And as soon as these words were uttered, Granitia's face turned from pride to a combination of horrified and confused.
"Yo-you got to be joking, Sir. James must've told you at least." Granitia who is now sweating asks Kariyama to confirm his doubts. In turn, Kariyama only shakes his head in disapproval of the question. And as soon as his doubts are confirmed, Granitia begins to sweat even more, almost as if he has screwed up on something. Moments after that, Kariyama came to the realization that his friend is sweating profusely.
"Why are you sweating so badly?" Kariyama asked without really thinking about it.
"Uhm-We-Ah-E-Wha-Ah. We-we-well... yes, I am." Granitia nervously replied, stumbling over his words and making an already confusing answer even more baffling for Kariyama.
"What do you mean 'Yes, I am'? That doesn't even come close to a possible answer." Kariyama responded, his skepticism evident. Meanwhile, Granitia's brain seemed to take an unexpected coffee break, leaving him speechless and struggling to find a coherent response.
"Well, either way, you're obviously trying to hide something from me. If you won't spill the beans, fine. But just so you know, sooner or later, I'll figure out what's going on. And if it's not something good, you better be ready for the consequences, Doctor Granitia," Kariyama warned Granitia, his tone cool and mysterious, laced with a hint of menace that sent a shiver down Granitia's spine.
"Anyway, you should go and greet her. I'm very sure she would be pleased to meet you." Kariyama's tone changes back to how it has been.
Granitia approached Lina with a composed and gentle demeanor, embodying the quintessential image of a seasoned medical professional. As he drew near, Lina, attempting to convey professional courtesy, extended her hand for a handshake. However, her well-intentioned gesture morphed into an awkward attempt, accompanied by a strained smile that conveyed her complete lack of recognition as to who the fuck she was meeting right now. This orchestrated an uncomfortably cringe-worthy meeting.
"You do know who I am... right?" Granitia inquired in the serene, measured tone of a seasoned doctor. Lina, whose awkward smile is now etched into the history of mankind as one of the most uncomfortable ever witnessed, admitted, "I'm sorry, sir,... but to be entirely candid, I don't recognize you. Although your voice does ring a bell, I can't quite place it." The disappointment welled up in Granitia's eyes; his composure barely concealed his exasperation. He sighed in frustration, his finger delicately tracing the bridge of his nose as he struggled to maintain his cool demeanor.
Then, Granitia began to explain that he had been the head surgeon tasked with performing Lina's heart replacement surgery when she was just six years old. As he delved into the intricacies of her critical medical condition at the time, his assistant, donned in a pristine white lab coat and clutching a dossier, interrupted. In hushed tones, they exchanged words unrelated to their ongoing conversation with Lina. Just before vanishing from the scene, Kariyama instructed him to retrieve Lina's father's research journal, which contained information about a particular serum. Beyond its capacity to enhance human strength, the journal contained largely enigmatic content, as far as Lina was concerned. The transfer of this journal was intended to facilitate further research and potentially yield fruitful results after years of unproductive experimentation.
In Lina's eyes, surrendering the journal to the doctor was a given. However, before parting with it, she discreetly extracted an aging envelope nestled amidst the journal's timeworn pages, swiftly secreting it in her pocket before handing over the journal.
"Excuse me, sir!" Accidentally yells Lina, driven by her thoughts of her father's work and privacy being breached by Granitia. Granitia, who was about to walk away with his assistant, was shocked by Lina's sudden raised voice and turned around to face her; her face can only be described as extremely concerned and in distress.
"Please, sir. Promise me you will only read the necessary parts related to the serum research and nothing else." Her voice worried, and her eye colors smoothly went from 'cobalt blue' to a much lighter 'baby blue', which is the lightest her eyes could get, signifying how concerned she is regarding this matter. Lina's request leaves Granitia speechless, especially when he considers how distressed she is regarding such menial matters. He finds her request to be quite ridiculous; as a man of honor, he would never intrude into others' privacy. But regardless of what he thinks, he understands that she's just a teenager, dragged into a war to be nothing but a mere pawn.
"I promise, Lina. You need not worry." Granitia responded in a calm and soothing voice, akin to that of a father's voice. "I promise, with my very life, that I will obey your request as you wish." He adds, again in a similar tone, to help Lina get rid of all her worries. After hearing it all, Lina is only able to let out a sigh of relief, knowing he can at least partially trust Granitia.
"Thank you, Sir." and "You're welcome, Lina" can be heard from Lina and Granitia, respectively, as both of them exchange their gratitude before Granitia departs to his destination and disappears behind the sea of people, leaving Lina and Kariyama.
After seeing his friend walk away, Kariyama turns to face Lina. He sees her still in distress, as before. The smile that had once been on her face slowly fades away into nothingness as overthinking consumes her mind entirely, leaving nothing positive behind. Kariyama, a man of focus and sheer will, a man who went feet first into hell and lived to tell the tale, a man who faced innumerable odds and came out on top each and every single time, is dumbfounded. Never in his life had he ever needed to deal with a teenage girl. He is suddenly in the position of having to deal with one. He has absolutely no clue what to say or what to expect. He can't decide to either tell Lina to move on with their conversation or to help her with her concerns. No moves seem right to him. In the end, Kariyama decides to pull out one of the oldest tricks in his book and to be incredibly still and silent to let her deal with her own concerns until she, A, decides to ask for Kariyama's help or B, decides that they should go on with their conversation.
Kariyama keeps a close eye on Lina's actions; he can't help but wonder what she's thinking as she intensely holds the envelope in her possession, all while keeping her head to look at the envelope and the direction in which Granitia went. After doing it multiple times, she is maybe finally done contemplating whatever she had in her head and lets out a silent but notable sigh while lightly and gently folding the envelope and then putting it in her jacket's inner pocket.
After she is done with everything, she again lets out another sigh, but this time is much shorter. After all that, she ended up staring at her foot and then noticed Kariyama's legs and suddenly realized that she had kept him waiting for her, which seems like a long time. She put a light smile on her face and then looked up to face Kariyama.
"I'm sorry that I kept you waiting, sir. Let's move on, shall we?" Lina says it in an almost joyful tone, a tone so irregular to her that it almost sounds like she's trying to hide something.
"Sure thing, Lina." Kariyama responded in his natural voice and tone, and thus both of them continued on their journey. Throughout the next 15 minutes, Kariyama can't help but feel worried about Lina. Can't help but think about why her worries could carry on for such a duration and length. And for the next 15 minutes of their walk, not a word was spoken between the two of them, and yet it did not feel awkward like before, but rather respectful of each other to not speak first.
"So, Lina. If you don't mind me asking you this, what is it in the journal, and why did you forbid Doctor Granitia from reading other parts of it?" Ask Kariyama, which breaks the silence and perhaps answers the question in his head. That question, however, caught Lina off guard, and as she turned to look at Kariyama, all he could see was cluelessness in her face, almost as if she didn't know the answer to the question herself. Fortunately, this face didn't last as long as expected, and as soon as she turned forward, her look went back to normal as she thought of a suitable way to answer his questions.
"Well..." She pauses for a moment. "To put it simply, Sir. It's the combination of trust issues that I had and the fear of failing my father." Lina answered with a straight face and an almost monotone voice, the complete opposite of what Kariyama has been seeing before. This time, it's almost as if Lina has shown her true self. For one second, Kariyama felt like he's actually hearing the true Lina and the person he has been talking to all this time was Lina with a mask, hiding her true self.
"At least that's the least I can do." She finished up her answer. He can't help but think, why is she so afraid of failing her father, he was very close to ask about it but he decides to let it be her own matter of doubt and not to interrupt.
"I see. I almost forgot how serious your family takes promises, traditions and all that. Almost too serious for me to handle." Kariyama responds to Lina in his natural tone, serious but calm. Lina can't help but to slightly giggle at Kariyama's comment.
"Well yeah, I don't blame you, Sir. I mean that's what you get when you have a centuries old clan ruled by some old people and they pass down the tradition as is." Replied Lina, and despite maintaining the same tone, her facial reaction is different, with a slight smile can be seen. And Kariyama himself can't help but to smile from hearing Lina's reply, finding her words interesting as he already knew that Lina's parents themselves were in the same clan, but never quite know that she has such an opinion.
Not long after, Kariyama suddenly remembered the reason for their meeting, one being that of the journal and the other is the glasses. And now that he remembers it, he can't resist but to ask Lina about it.
"Lina, I can't help but to ask this, when we spoke on the phone yesterday, you did mention something about your father's glasses. What about it?" Kariyama asks in an almost enthusiastic tone, wanting to know everything about it and if it can help humanity win the war, as in his mind, perhaps there's a map hidden on the frame, or a secret code that would lead to ground breaking technologies or devastating weapons of war. At first, Lina turns and looks at Kariyama in confusion, almost as if she doesn't know what he's talking about. Then after she finally gets what he's talking about, she immediately tries to look for it in her jacket's pockets. After a while of looking, she finally found the glasses in the jacket's inner pocket, the same pocket where the envelope is hidden.
She then hands over the glasses to Kariyama who immediately after acquiring it, intensely studying the outside before putting it on even as he's wearing his own pair of glasses. After a brief moment however, his facial expression would slowly turn from enthusiastic to disappointed as the glasses did not meet Kariyama's expectations. After that he would disappointingly remove the glasses and hand it back over to Lina.
"So, what are the glasses actually for?" Ask Kariyama and despite maintaining his composure, disappointment could be heard in his voice. Lina could only giggle at the question, excited to show Kariyama the capability of it.
"You really want to know, Sir?" She questioned Kariyama back in a teasing tone with a bright smile on her face. And the smile only seems to be brighten even more when Kariyama gives his nod of approval. But not to bust the surprise too early, she waits until they are about to separate as a worker there walking in the opposite direction is about to collide with them. She immediately went to the other side and as he passed them, she put on the glasses.
What comes out of the other end is not Lina, but rather a man in 20s, having the same height as Lina at 150cm, he looks of British descent, has brown hair, oval face, brown eyes and is basically wearing the same clothes Lina has been wearing, which is a blue striped buttoned shirt tucked in to a black jeans and on the outside, a dark blue trench jacket. Most importantly, the man that appeared is wearing Lina's glasses, which only means one thing.
"So Sir, how is it?" The man asks Kariyama with a soft spoken voice with just a hint of deepness in his voice. Kariyama is of course surprised, never met this man and suddenly he asks him something random. But just a moment later it all clicked, and he figured it is Lina.
Now being more surprised than before, Kariyama can't help but widen his eyes as what he sees in front of him is potentially one of the greatest technologies of all time, glasses with the ability to hide the user and put on another disguise.
Kariyama is left speechless, being incapable of speaking a word, or more correctly, does not know what to say. Lina, seeing the surprised reaction of Kariyama cannot help but to feel smug about it, but decides to not tease him and in the end take off the glasses.
"So does my outfit make sense, Sir?" She asks Kariyama, trying to change the topic. A bright smile could still be seen on her face even though she's looking away and is playing with the glasses. When she turns to face Kariyama, all that could be seen in his face is the confusion, presumably by the question, and thus she assumes it's why of the question, but to her surprise it's the context of the question that really sets his face. "Well you know, because I'm a girl, wearing this very man-like outfit." She adds. Even after that statement, Kariyama still looks shocked and confused which makes Lina wonder if she said something wrong.
"Lina, I do not know how to put this lightly, so let's head to my office first and we'll talk about it. Don't worry, it's not far." Kariyama says in a calm demeanor, trying to hide how he's feeling about all these. And as fast as Lina's smile came, it disappears just as fast as she thinks she screwed up big time. And thus she only nods at Kariyama without saying a single word.
When both of them arrived at Kariyama's office just a few minutes later, Kariyama step in front of the door which is presumably locked, and he swing his wrist on the card scanner and the door immediately unlocked. Kariyama then let Lina step inside the office first before he himself step in there and close the door.
"Please Lina, take a seat. On the one's at the desk, preferably." Kariyama instructed Lina as he himself take a seat on his own chair. Lina again, only nodding once at his request and move to sit. "Don't get tensed up Lina, it's nothing serious." He adds as he is sitting.
"Then why do we have to talk privately in your office, Sir?" Asked Lina, intrigued as to why they have to change the location of their 'meeting".
"Well you see. That spectacle, Lina, has the potential to change the tide of war." Say Kariyama, in the calmest voice possible. Lina however, is not feeling the same enthusiasm as Kariyama as her expression quickly changes. One man could've taken a glare and already tell, she is not keen on handing over the glasses to him.
"But why, Sir? Is the book not enough for us to win the war? That you need this as well?" Lina questions Kariyama's intention.
"Well yes, but you see Lina. This can help us because if we manage to reverse engine-" Kariyama is stopped halfway.
"No, Sir. I'm sorry but just-" She stopped halfway through her sentence. She lets out a long sigh as she rubs her eyes thinking of a proper response to this, instead of lashing out and being irrational. "I'm sorry, Sir. But I can't. I'm willing to force myself to lend you this if it means nothing will be done but to research it. But reverse engineer it? I can't Sir. By doing it I am risking myself losing the last thing my father left me." She continues explaining to him, her face looks weary and depressed out of nowhere, and her tone is dull. And her eyes especially, it turned into a light blue, a mesmerizing color to look at. Kariyama deeply understands her feelings. Because deep down, him and her are not too different. Both pushed to their absolute limit to be something they never wanted to be, but despite it still appreciate their parents. It's this familiar feeling that drove him to care about her even when she was younger. So he stands up, walks across the table to go to her.
"I understand, Lina. Please, forgive me." He says as he reaches out his right hand to shake her as a form of apology. What he expected out of her is an act of pure maturity which is to accept the handshake and the apology. What happened instead would not be in his expectation as Lina jumps out from her seat and hugs Kariyama. Kariyama is shocked by this sudden approach. He is left speechless, stunned even. But even then he didn't push her back. He lets Lina hug him as tight as she can. He can feel her hugs become tighter, and yet it feels gentle. It does not feel like a hug of a warrior of any sort. It feels like a lost girl, who is losing her direction all this time and finally found her savior.
At this point, the only thing he is expecting is his shirt to slowly become wet as she cries, but again, to his surprise it never came. He can feel her face, or at least her forehead pushing his chest. But yet there's no tears coming out of her face. The only thing that is right on his mind now is to pat her head to make her feel comfortable, and so that is what he does. And at the first touch on her head, Lina suddenly realized what's happening. It was not her first intention to hug him, it's not even on her mind. But supposedly the depression has finally caught up with her. After all, years upon years of hiding it, suppressing it, all she had done was smoke cigarettes and man up to hide it. And at the first sight of a chance to blow off the steam, her body subconsciously takes it. And the moment she realized what she had done, she immediately let go of Kariyama and pushed herself away from him.
"I-I'm-I'm sorry Sir. I don't know what..." She begins to mumble random things trying to explain what happened. Kariyama didn't listen to any of it and took 2 steps which brought him closer to Lina. He then put one of his hands on her head while smiling at her which immediately caused her to seize up and stop mumbling.
"It's fine, Lina. I understand everything. There is no need to apologize." He said to her, his voice is soft and calming. It gives a warm feeling to Lina, a feeling that she never felt before until today. It's a weird feeling to her, she is definitely not used to it. She can only smile at Kariyama's response.
"Now that the matter of the glasses is settled, although not to my expected results. But still. Let's continue our walk now, shall we?" Kariyama says with a soft voice as he walks to the door and holds it open for her. Lina graciously accepts the invitation and walks with Kariyama to continue their very enthusiastic walk.
After 10 whole minutes of walking, Lina and Kariyama have finally arrived at their intended location, the Guest Room, which is located near the end of The Office Way. And from Far, Lina could've already seen Lana, one of her sisters, standing in front of the room. One of the reasons is due to Lana's very vibrant hair color which is yellow, corresponding to her eye color. However, Lina could not see Luna, or Greo as a matter of fact.
"You can go and talk with your sisters first, Lina. I wanna talk with my assistant." Kariyama says. Lina only nods at his request and enters the Guest Room while Kariyama walks straight to his assistant who is talking outside the Room, talking to one of his colleagues.
Lina after entering the Guest Room, walks straight to Lana and handshake her. Both look disparate in their spirit, with Lana having a much brighter aura than Lina.
"Hey! So? How are things?" Lana asked her sister, despite her voice not being too different from Lina's, it is much more energetic when compared. When compared side by side, Lina and Lana looked like different entities. At a first glance, absolutely nobody could tell they are somehow related or even part of a quadruplet.
"Everything went well I suppose. I don't know." Lina replies, uncertain with the actual result of it due to her many mistakes she had unintentionally caused, and not to mention her insecurities that she showed.
"Ahh is that so? Well you big sister hope the best for you." Lana says while smiling and tapping her sister's shoulder, in an attempt to cheer her up.
"Talking about big sister. Where's Luna?" Lina asks Lana while turning her head around, trying to look for her sister.
"Hehe. Well. You see. 20 minutes ago, she said that she forgot something, I honestly don't remember what she forgot." Then she stopped halfway through the sentence, seemingly to think what Luna forgot. "Yeah I don't. But then Greo said he wanted to help her find it. But yeah, I think both of us can tell what they're doing inside the car." She adds, indicating to Lina that they are as in the matter of fact, doing the deed inside the car. And Lina, knowing her sister too well, is not surprised. After all, this is not the first time she had heard of that excuse.
" As long as he uses protection on her, I don't care." She Replies, her face uninterested in this kind of matter.
"Yeah, same. But honestly I think you wouldn't care even if he doe-" Lana stopped halfway through her sentence seemingly to look over Lina as she sees a figure with green and white hair entering the Guest Room. "She's here, be silent." She completely changes the topic in the presence of Luna. Lina then turns and looks over her shoulder to see her, and as she sees Luna walking towards her and Lana, Greo enters the room not long after, but he doesn't walk to them, but instead to a chair to perhaps have a seat.
"Hey there Big Sis!" Lana yells out to Luna with an enthusiastic tone, seemingly to hide the topic that they had once talked about. Luna approaches them, with sweats on her face.
"What's up." She responds to Lana's greeting.
" So Big Sis, have you found whatever you were looking for?" Lana asks Luna with a big grin on her face.
"Huh? Oh-Yea, I found my phone." She Replies while holding up her phone to show it to Lana.
"It took you 20 whole minutes to find your phone in the car? Or you're doing something else, Big Sis?" Lina asks, questioning whatever Luna was actually doing in the car. Luna didn't answer Lina, but instead she just smiled at Lina, indicating that it is true.
"Oh shut up, Kariyama is coming." Luna finally relented and said something. Lina turns her head a bit and sees both Kariyama and Jerald are walking towards them.
"So? Have you said goodbye to your sisters, Lina?" He says as he approaches the 3 of them. Lina's eyes immediately widen the moment Kariyama finishes his sentence.
" Wait what? What do you mean say good to my sisters, Sir?" Lina asks in confusion as she had not been informed of anything regarding this matter.
"Hasn't Luna informed you? They cannot stay here. This is a top secret project Lina. I cannot risk any form of leakage. Even you bringing them here already poses a security threat that I cannot allow. But because you guys are James' kids, I relented. But that is as far as I can let be. I'm sorry Lina. Transportation and aircraft will be provided by UNDF however, so you don't need to worry. If you want to say your goodbye, now is the time. The car that will be taking them to the airport will arrive in a few minutes. We will give you space to talk." Kariyama explained to Lina. The entire time Kariyama explains this, all that could be seen on Lina's face is utter disbelief. The only thing on her mind is who will help her process the mental burden of all this when they're gone. Luna meanwhile watches as Kariyama and Jerald walk away from them before looking at Lina and starts tapping her shoulder. Lina slowly turns to face Luna, her face still in disbelief.
"So Lina. I guess this is where we part ways?" Luna says cheerfully, trying to lift her sister's mood. Lina could only let out a sigh, her face in disbelief. Yet she opens her mouth a few times, trying to say something, and every time nothing comes out of her mouth. That is how it is until Lana slaps Lina's back strongly.
"Oh come on, Lina. It's not like this is the worst you've faced. We'll miss you and you'll miss us, but that's how it is in the end, or something like that. But cheer up, Greo will be with you." Says Lana, trying to cheer up her little sister in her way. But Lina is confused by the last sentence.
"What do you mean Greo will be with me?" Lina asks Lana back in confusion.
"He has to stay. Remember there's one person that we called a few days ago? His name is George O'Neil Jackson? That's him." Luna explained. Lina is taken aback by this sudden discovery but ultimately not surprised.
Lina let out a short sigh as her expression changed from disbelief to slightly cheered up. "Yeah, I guess you guys are right. After all, this is what I was born for. What I was trained for." She says while her smile gradually becomes brighter and brighter. Out of the blue, Luna suddenly approaches Lina and gives her little sister a very tight hug.
"Look Lina. I know you might feel this responsibility would be too huge for you. But there's a reason father chose you. You're the only one that has such strong will. And I wish only the best for you." Luna whispers to Lina's ear, her voice sounds almost as if she's about to cry. Lina suddenly doesn't feel good, she feels her sister's sadness, and her once bright smile slowly fades away. At least that is how it is until Luna starts to violently shake Lina who is still being hugged by her.
"But for now, I will certainly miss your cooking, your shenanigans with Jeanne and your very weird dark humor!" Luna says out loud, her once sad voice is suddenly joyful and happy. To Lina, this particular shift of emotions feels almost unusual when it is Luna who does it, as she barely ever does it. But before she could think further, Luna uses her right hand to tickle Lina's neck and her left to tickle the side of the stomach. Lina immediately bursts into laughter as she cannot contain the ticklish sensations. At first she didn't resist it, but as Luna goes continuously harder with the tickles, Lina begins to cry as she cannot stop laughing.
"Luna, stop.... Luwna, sto.... Luune, stwop" She tried to beg Luna to stop to give her a room to breathe, but as Luna goes harder by the seconds, Lina's begs begin to sound less comprehensible. At one point, Lina starts begging in Japanese as her legs start feeling weak and like jellies due to the nonstop tickling. However, as Lina starts collapsing under her own weight due to her legs feeling like jellies, Luna stops her from collapsing and keeps her up.
Lana, who has been watching the act between these two the entire time, feels almost embarrassed as Kariyama and Jerald could clearly see the childish act between them, but instead of stopping them, decides to join them, knowing that she might not be able to see for months on end after this.
"Oii, you guys really goofing around without me, ey?" Lana says to both of them before she jumps to hug the two of them. Luna has a split second time to turn and see Lana jump towards the two of them. But without any time to react, she can only think of how wrong this could go, and right as she expected, it goes horribly wrong. The moment Lana catches the two of them, the momentum of her jump is too great for Luna who is already holding Lina's weight. And so within the split seconds, Luna stumbles and with that, all three of them fall on the floor.
After all three of them fell, Luna and Lana burst into laughter as Lina, finally freed from the tickling, gets to take some breath.
"Why the fuck did you jump on us!" Luna yells out to Lana while laughing.
"Why the fuck didn't you hold us!" Lana asks Luna while also laughing.
"Nah! Why the fuck are we-" Lina stopped halfway through her sentence as she try to catch some breath. "Why the fuck are we lying of the floor?" Lina asks the two of them as herself begins to laugh, although at a much slower rate. "This is so embarrassing, we're in public!" She adds before she lightly slaps Lana's stomach with her backhand. And as the three of them are enjoying themselves on the floor, Lena, the second youngest sister amongst the four of them approaches Luna and lightly kicks her leg.
"Oi, the car is here. Let's go." Lena says, her tone is almost filled with bitterness and hate. She then walks to Lina and drops the quote "I hope you don't come back. Hope you die out there." before she takes her leave. The entire time she said that, Lina's face is still lighted up with her smile, uncaring for the mean words said by her sister.
" God, what's the deal with her anyway?" Lana says, obviously very angry at her sister for being such an asshole. "What a fucking asshole." She adds.
"Well, y'know. She's an asshole to everyone. So there's no need to question that part." Luna replies to Lana while trying to slowly get up by crawling. Lina remained silent even after her sisters dropped their fair share of harsh comments about Lena's behavior. Soon the two sisters finally get up and dust themselves off.
"Help. I cannot get up, my legs feel like jellies." Lina says to the two of them, while still lying down on the floor. Both of them nearly burst into another laughter but decide to keep it in and help Lina first. Luna then went around Lina to pull her left hand as Lana pull her right hand.
"You done turn our sister disabled, Luna!" Lana says out loud as they are trying to pull Lina up. Immediately, all three of them burst into laughter. Due to this unexpected joke, both Luna and Lana accidentally let go of Lina and she falls back on the floor. "Quick, she's not suitable to serve. Let's drag her back home!" Lana adds, and the three of them laugh even louder after that.
"Fuck, stop making jokes. My stomach hurts." Lina begs her sisters while still lying on the floor and gasping for air due to laughing too hard.
"Alright alright for real this time. I'm not going to make jokes anymore." Lana says, while she also gasps for air. After that,the two of them start helping their sister to get up, and finally succeed. Lana then grins at Lina before catching her in a hug and lifting her up.
"I'm going to miss you. Let's joke around like that the next time we see each other, aye?" Lana says to Lina, smiles visible to both sister's faces as the words are uttered.
"Come on Lana, we gotta go. The car is waiting and the demon is pissed." Luna says to Lana while she wipes away the dust off Lina's butt as she is being raised.
" Yea yea, alright." Lana says as she slowly drops off Lina. She then gives her little sister a kiss on the forehead as a form of blessing before quickly walking away out of the Guest Room and to the car to calm off Lena who is called 'the demon' due to her demonic way of acting.
"Alright, I need to go as well. May we see each other later, Lina." Luna says to Lina before giving her a kiss on the forehead as well, like Luna.
"You not going to give a goodbye kiss to Greo?" Lina asks her sister as her forehead is being kissed.
"Nope. Already gave him his fair share of goodbye kiss." Luna explained to Lina while grinning. Lina who understands its true meaning can only grin back at her sister. But before long, Luna also slowly departs, knowing it will get emotional if she stays longer, not only for both of them but for Lena as well. So as she is heading out, both of them only exchange their goodbyes, both with smiles on their face, but worries in their heart.
Author's Note:-
-This is somehow an improvement considering I wrote 7.8k words and managed to publish it under a year, especially when compared to before. But yeah, I'm working so I can't write as much, and even when I can write, I'm too lazy.
-I will try to release chapter 5 within this year if possible, considering it's not that long.