Narukami's POV
"No, ifs and buts! Aren't you ashamed of defending him at all? The fact that Tadashi and our HQ are in danger is because of That Damned Pink-Eyed Friend of Yours!"
"Wait a second. Let me complete what I want to say. He is not my friend." Facing Castor, I continued, "Don't you remember, the pink-eyed freak I ranted about to you, that day... He's that guy! Romeo!" I tried to solve the misunderstanding.
"H-Huh, what? R-Really?" He continued while muttering to himself, "I should have really flung off his hand back then."
"Yes! Really! Believe me! I am saying the truth!" I covered his hands with mine, as I thanked him mentally for understanding me.
"Yeah there's no way Kagura-sama would never be friends with a person like him."
"Are you, for real?" Amnesia asked, while her expression softened.
"Yes! He is literally my mortal enemy! I have not known him for more than a four months, but within that short span of time, he has managed to make a living hell out of my life."
"Hmm, I guess so. But isn't he in your class?"
"Yes, he is. But that doesn't make him a friend of mine."
"Fair enough. Because "
"Wait- I don't understand anything that happened just now! Who the hell are you talking about? Why do you all emphasize so much on their eyes, when you literally have pink eyes yourselves, Amnesia? How did they manage to infiltrate this building and leak its coordinates? And most importantly, how did you two exchange spots in an instant?" Shizuka invaded the conversation while simultaneously voicing out my thoughts.
"Well, the thing is..."
***
Amnesia's POV
"Cassie, why did you let him go to the washroom?" I asked Castor after I came back from our meeting.
"Um, I told him 'no' many times but then he said that he had to urgently go to the bathroom and I inevitably let him go there. I am sorry, Teach. It won't happen again," he apologized while looking down.
"Oh no it's okay. Don't fret over it. Where's he though?"
"Still in there," he pointed towards the bathroom door.
"What? That's my bathroom. I had placed some important stuff over there." I pulled him away from the bathroom and whispered, "And moreover, it's risky to let patients access areas other than their designated room. They can't find out that they are gonna have their memories erased."
"I understand."
"Well I am gonna sit inside the ward. You can bring him there after he's finished with his business."
"Yes, Teach."
I sank into the cushion of my swivel chair as I rolled upto the bed as I reclined myself on the head rest.
It was really exhausting, the day before. And, my head was still burning up like crazy, due to the work overload. That Mister Petty and his henchmen and most importantly, the demons, who were caught unknowingly in the disguise of victims.
I have to get rid of them somehow before they come in contact with humans. I had extracted some paralyzing poison from the scorpions and intermixed it with some other paralyzing solvents, added the Light and concentrated it, to create a very strong incapacitating amalgam, for demons. I am pretty sure they won't wake up this week.
We really shouldn't have sent team #47 to deal with that scorpion...They have the worst luck despite being so talented and skillful. Kagura's exceptional leadership qualities, Kiyoko's marvelous strength and capturing abilities and Sora's dual animal-like abilities. Considering their teamwork and coordination and the beautiful and deep friendship they share, they were literally a perfect trio but then what happened that made them regress this much...
She said it was Love who was behind all of this... They say Love is a two-edged sword. It can either be one of your biggest assets or one of your biggest liabilities. But I know that it's neither of those.
The successive tread of footsteps, followed by a heated conversation brought the array of my thoughts to a full stop.
"What the heck were you doing? Didn't I tell you, you could go after the head nurse comes?"
"What, you got scolded by your momma? That's unfortunate!"
"Now, go inside. Amnesia will take care of you."
I could feel a pair of eyes fixed upon my back and I could gauge the intensity of their owner's curiosity, without looking behind.
Well, I have been used to this kind of reaction ever since I have been living in this human world. White hair was considered to be an unnatural color for someone to have unless they were old or had their hair was dyed.
"Don't worry, the hair is not inherently white... It's dyed," I tried to resolve the curiosity in him but it didn't work as he immediately replied with a 'but'.
My pupils widened along with my curiosity as his unusual dark pink eyes came into my field of sight.
It was a familiar face. Where had I seen it before? Am I suffering from amnesia, myself?
Or is it just a delusional feeling? Yeah there have been many scenarios where I mistook strangers as acquaintances only to end up getting embarrassed in the end.
Well, you can say it's the day-to-day problems of a telepath. After accessing through the minds of thousands of people, it had become hard to distinguish between the memories of others and my own...
I hurriedly cast the a spell on him to make him fall asleep in order to avoid more questions from his side. "Sleep."
"Hey can you help me with him?"
"Yes, teach." Castor lifted him up and placed him on the bed. "What the hell, he's so light! He seems to be quite malnourished."
"Hmm. He looks quite bruised in the face, so can you heal him till I come back? I have to get some important equipment from the latrine."
Upon entering the bathroom, I halted in front of the mirror and washed the sleep from my eyes, as I let out a big yawn.
"Uwah. What a tiresome day! It's not even dawn yet! I didn't even get to sleep for an hour today," I ranted while I displaced the toothbrush-holder from its usual position, revealing a secret raised tile, with the digits 0-9 on it.
After pressing the appropriate 4 digits, the lock on the mirror (which was actually a parapet that safeguarded my black-hole pouch) unlatched. I took out the pouch and replaced the toothbrush-holder, thereby unlocking the door.
I was about to leave when I happened to notice a peculiar bottle of mouth freshener. Hmm, I don't remember seeing it before. Did that boy leave it here by mistake?
I didn't properly examine it then, otherwise we wouldn't be facing this crisis.
"Hey Castor, can you hold this bottle? Please make sure you return it to him after the memory-erasure is over!"
"Ma'am, he doesn't have any internal injuries. The blood he spurted out was due to over-exhaustion, according to me. I healed the external injuries on his face though."
I reoccupied the swivel as I started the questioning procedure. "Can you place this on his head?" I passed over the amplifying headphones, which increased the intensity of the receiving telepathic waves, increasing the efficiency. I wore a similar pair to increase the efficiency of the transmitting waves.
"Hello, young man," I pressed my hand against his forehead. "May I know your name?"
"Kadokawa Rashiro," he obediently answered under the influence of my powers. Kadokawa? As in Kadokawa Aoi?
"Well, are you perhaps related to Kadokawa Aoi?"
"Yes, she's my twin sister."
Oh so that's why is face seemed familiar! Kadokawa was the family of lunar angels- angels which possessed the power of the moon. However, they were cursed to become humans due to certain reasons, which I am not aware of.
"It's a small world after all... Hmm, do you know who Kagura-"
"I k-know him. He is my best friend." There was an unusual amount of hostility in his tone.
"What? Really?"
"Wait did I say something stupid? Don't we call our closest friend 'best friend?'"
"Hmm, that's not the issue! So, when did you learn about his identity?"
"Um identity?"
"Yeah the fact that Kagura is Samuraiden?"
"Oh...that...So you were talking about...that." He paused for a while. "I-I knew it from the start... He d-doesn't keep s-secrets from me, usually. Was it something that wasn't meant to be r-revealed?"
"Yeah. But I have one small issue."
"What is that? Why did he leave me alone there, when I was hurt, right?"
"Yeah. I won't leave a person in need of help alone, even if they were my worst enemy, to be honest."
"Well, you and Kagura aren't the same person, Miss-Whoever-You-Are. You seem to be quite kind and mature unlike him. He's the most childish person out there. I can't speak much for myself, but I am quite childish too although, if you compare me with him... then you can very well call me, a mature person, haha. We fell out, and I lashed out at him when he saved me from death's hands...and he succumbed to his childish whims and-"
"Yeah, we get it," I sighed, realizing that bringing him here was absolutely useless and felt like reprimanding Kagura for his immaturity. But, I couldn't ponder about the plotholes in the tale, he just narrated. Kagura was childish, that was a 100% yes... but he wasn't the type to ignore a person who needs his help... Or did we fail to comprehend him?
"May, I ask you who you are?"
"Sorry, we can't tell you. And I am sorry for erasing your memories without your permission," I concluded while gently pressing my palm against his temple. "Sorry, once again."
May all of your memories from the time you learnt about Kagura's identity vanish...
"Teach, you don't have to apologize for anything. You are doing the correct thing. You are doing this for our world," Castor argued.
"No, that ain't right. Even though my actions might be for the greater good, the thing of accessing other people's memories isn't right. So, I must apologize," I explained while ruffling his hair.
"Now you can tell Suzume-kun to drop him at his house. You can find out his address from Kagura. You have his number, right? I am going to take a quick nap." I sank back into the chair after taking out a sleep mask with a 'DNI' sign and placing it on my eyelids.
The sound of steel clashing against the tiles woke me from my deep sleep as a worried Castor greeted my half-opened eyes.
Sometimes incidents like these were extremely necessary to understand that he has expressions on his nigh-expressionless, straight face, unless when facing Kagura and to measure the depth of how bad an individual can mess up, due to Kagura.
"Uh, I am so sorry for waking you up from your sleep. But do you remember seeing this symbol before? Please don't tell me it's not just me feeling deja vu." He pointed at a large M-sign written in a very recognizable handwriting. There were two stars on the north-east and one star on the south-west and the overall symbol was limited by a triangle.
"M-Mariposa?" I gasped. "G-Go tell Suzume to bring that rogue back."
"O-Okay!" Castor called Suzume on his flip-phone as I examined the mouthwash.
I tossed the bottle cap and took a light sniff. The nauseating odor nearly made me drop the bottle. "It's the shapeshifting potion. Once you intake this, you can transform into any humanoid creature that you have a clear picture of in your mind for 14-15 minutes. However, when Mariposa and I tested it out, the effect couldn't last for a few seconds."
"Um, but why would he use that here?"
"To disguise as one of the people in the institution, so that he could..." I rushed to the place where the demons were imprisoned. A right turn from the seventh pathway lead to the jail for villains with superpowers.
There were separate sections for different levels of villains and with the increasing distance of the section from the entrance, the threat of the villains increased i.e. the most dangerous villains were at the deeper end.
I nearly slipped with the speed at which I was traversing, and if Castor hadn't caught me from falling, I would have definitely broken a bone or two. "Be careful, everything will be fine," he continued while cursing under his breath, "except that Rashiro guy."
"Ah, yes. Thank you. And please don't do anything to that guy when he comes back. We are heroes, not vengeful spirits."
"I am doing this for the greater good. He is from the same group of demons who...killed 156 innocent lives at that gala. And...they nearly killed my mother, too. I don't care about all this heroic stuff, I would just apologize like you did. No, that's not necessary. Did they apologize for their deeds?"
"We aren't sure about that...Wait for the actual truth to come out. And control your emotions," I tried to temper his rage.
I opened the last door after pressed my right thumb against the finger-print sensor after typing three successive password combinations, that led to the A1-level villains, which were the fourth most dangerous section of villains.
I heaved a sigh of solace on seeing the door of the sixth cell from the main door, only to get my relief shattered on the sight of the missing prisoners. "What the hell, how did he take them away?"
"There's only one way possible. The ventilator," Castor deciphered after crossing out all other possibilities in his mind, as he pointed at the tattered condition of the actual villain behind all of this.
"The ventilator's choking me instead of giving me oxygen now. So, I wonder why is it installed there? For the Romeo to free those Juliets?" I kicked at the benches inside the cell to vent out my anger, although it ended up fueling up instead. "First time, in my life, I am feeling this hateful!"
"Same here. But his name is Rashiro..."
"Couldn't care less about getting his name correct, haha."
"Oh God, our last hope is ruined. Suzume forgot the way back to Rashiro's house...
"We messed up real bad this time... Only if we had checked the mouthwash earlier...But I wonder why did he need your disguise for? You can't enter here anyway..."
"How about we check the CCTV camera?"
"Hmm, yes let's go."
After locking up the air in the jail, we walked towards the fifth pathway which led to the Monitoring Zone, where the CCTV footage was located.
We went through the time between 2:45 to 4:30 a.m. multiple times for multiple sections of the entire building and finally at 4:49 a.m., we landed at the right footage- 'Shelter Room 7, where Kenta Tadashi was being given protection from his foster father's malicious schemes recorded at 3:45 a.m.'
The accumulating feelings of frustration and anger, compounded by sleeplessness, made me almost crush the remote between the palms of my hands.
The Castor-lookalike suddenly appeared in the room as if he teleported there as he made a tee-hee face before the camera, before taping it off.
"I think this is deliberately done to trap you, otherwise he wouldn't have done that ugly pose.. unless he wants you suspended or something."
"What did I-I even do to him? I will seriously snap his neck once I find him," Castor boiled with rage.
"Do you think Kagura might be behind this? Didn't he say that he was Kagura's best friend."
"No, he said Kagura-sama was his best friend. I am pretty sure it's unrequited friendship from his end towards Kagura-sama!" He proudly claimed with the hopes of defending his crush and offending his nemesis. "He wouldn't leave even his acquaintances in danger! He did mention a person with similar name in his class who had made him lose days of sleep with his antics."
"But why would a person who sees him as a friend bully him?"
"Haven't you heard of people who torment others to get their target's attention? He could be that."
"Hmm. But, we can't entirely ignore the possibility of Kagura-sama making the arrangements for Rashiro to invade the HQ!"
"But he..."
"I have a plan to weed out the rats in our establishment."
"But he is not a rat."
"No ifs and buts, just listen to my plan!"
***
Narukami's POV
"So well that was what had happened! Congratulations, Kagura... you cleared our test," Amnesia hugged me although I couldn't hug her back due to the shock of the revelation. The inability to vent due to the venue being a professional setting was taking a toll on my vental health.
"So his name was Rashiro?" It was a genuine question.
"Wait you didn't even know that?" Amnesia enquired.
"I thought it was Romeo... No wonder he called me Juliet back then. I can't believe I got my own enemy's name wrong..."
Castor coughed while Amnesia folded her palms.
"Oh dear God, why did we suspect an innocent creature like you? I am pretty sure you invented innocence. Sorry for not trusting you. I hope you can forgive me, dear."
"I am also sorry for lashing out at you."
"I told you, he's innocent but you wouldn't believe me, either," Castor complained.
"Oh dear, I am sorry," Amnesia apologized with a consolatory hug.
"We don't have to worry much about catching Rashiro, though. Suzume-san somehow managed to find out his location and he is telling us to follow the coordinates he sent me. All hope isn't lost, I guess."
"Oh dear, that guy deserves a promotion for his work. After all, I was the one who trained him," Amnesia wore a proud face, although it wore off immediately after successive sounds of someone clearing their throat, that simultaneously caused the whole room to go pin-drop silent.
"Oh, I am sorry Shizu~ I forgot to hug you." Amnesia dashed towards Madam Shizuka, with the promises of an embrace.
"Shut up and stay in your place. No one needs your consolation. If you genuinely want to comfort me, then bring that pink-eyed Romeo-"
"Rashiro," the three of us corrected the boss as she continued.
"Ha, bring that rogue in front of me, right now."
"Yes ma'am."
"Now, get out from here." Our departure was interrupted by a high-pitched yell which reduced our trio into a duo, "Amnesia, you...stay back."
Castor signaled, 'I am praying for your ears!' before leaving the room.
"Let's go and catch that Pink-eyed Freak!"