As I continue to rush down the hall, each level down seems more complicated than the last. Shota and Oboro aren't answering their comms, so I have to quickly tear through the place and search everywhere in hopes of finding them or the way further down. After ten minutes of searching and a tremor shaking the ground, I finally reach the last level of the facility it seems as it leads to a huge laboratory. From the persevered body parts and blood everywhere this seems to be the killing or experimenting area. I then see Shota slumped against the wall in one corner and I hope to god he is not dead.
"NO!" I shout in as my emotions all fluctuate and rush to his side. Reaching his side I see he has lost a lot of blood, but his pulse is still there though very weak.
Without a second thought, I blast him with my healing fire and I feel it wash over him while healing his injuries. He doesn't wake up right away, but his heartbeat seems much more steady now and his shallow breathing has normalized. I then look around to see if Oboro is here, but I don't see him though I see a thick looking steel door in the back. I pull it open but on the other side, it seems to have collapsed, though that explains the tremor I felt earlier. I hear faint beeping too near the computer.
"Akihiko," I hear Shota weakly say my name, and I quickly rush back over to him.
"I'm here brother," I say placing my hand on his shoulder while keeping my guard up.
"I...I failed....they killed Oboro and almost killed me. They then escaped through the tunnel over there before collapsing it behind them," Shota says with a broken voice and with a completely defeated look.
"Shota….." I'm about to say when the beeping increases and I look over seeing the screen have about another minute before what I assume bombs go off.
"Moody, Emo! We found you!" Incognito says as both he and Sparks enter the room, with Sparks looking worse for wear.
"We need to leave now or we all are going to die!" I say grabbing Shota and placing him on my shoulder, with Incognito and Sparks in one hand each.
My wings come out as I blast fire upwards from my mouth to burn our way back up. I fly out just in time as the whole facility blows up below us. I hold everyone in the air as we all look down and see the ground collapse into the crater made by the now ruined facility. I then fly us all over a few feet away from the destroyed ground and place them all down. Shota just stands there with a dead look, feeling probably like I did when I witnessed my parents' death and feeling I failed them.
"Where is the student I was teaching?" Sparks asks us after we stand there and look at the collapsed ground. Shota flinches at the question it seems as his body language suggests.
"He…..he was killed. They almost killed Shota, but the remainder of the villains escaped before the rest of us could come," I say answering for Shota while Sparks looks crushed by the death of a student under his command, Incognito just looks at us quietly.
"The cops seem to be on their way already," Incognito says as we hear many sirens coming this way and a few seconds of silence pass after I explain Oboro's reason for missing.
"Shota…..I know what it's like to feel like failing someone. All I can say is I'm sorry and we will find the man who did this," I say to Shota quietly while Sparks and Incognito talk about what just occurred with Incognito trying to reassure Sparks.
".....You're right, I'll find the bastard who did this and kill him myself," Shota says after hearing me and looking at me, though I can't see his expression I imagine it is filled with determination. I just nod my head and pat his shoulder reassuringly.
After a couple more minutes of silence just standing and looking at the ruined ground, the cops arrive with paramedics and fire trucks in tow. The one in charge of the group runs over to us, Incognito explains what happened to the sergeant. After the paramedics check out us all, with only Sparks needing some patching up. I forgot to heal him in the mess of things, but since he isn't in a critical condition he'll be fine. Once the police get all of our statements, we three leave after saying goodbye to Sparks along with our condolences.
"Emo, I know what it is like to lose someone. Most underground heroes know that feeling, but you can't let revenge consume you. As underground heroes, especially with the things we do and witness, we have several psychologists who know about us. I'll schedule an appointment with one tomorrow for you both, you're both going to it. Plus if you both plan on joining the organization, it is mandatory to meet with one once a month minimum anyway," Incognito says as we make our way back to Tokyo and the main headquarters of the underground heroes. Shota and I just nod our heads in understanding.
The next day comes and that night Shota didn't seem to sleep, I tried to keep him company but he'd rather be alone. I then texted Rumi about what happened assuming she wasn't awake considering it was four in the morning when we got home. Though a minute after I texted her she called me.
"Akihiko, are you ok?!" Rumi asks me with extreme worry in her voice and hearing her voice calms me down. Rumi seems like a usual hardass in most situations and rude to your average person, but around me she is very different. She becomes much more affectionate.
"Yeah, I guess. Not to sound like an asshole, but his death didn't affect me as much as it seems to affect Shota," I say and think to myself about my seemingly dead or hidden emotions.
"Well...I guess losing people like your parents makes death slightly easier to handle. Though maybe you can help Shota come to terms with this easier," Rumi says unsure what to say without probably hurting my feelings.
"I get what you mean, though if he is like me, he will want to be left alone for a bit until he is ready to talk about it. Though I'll be there when he wants to talk about it. However I wonder what the rest of the class will feel learning about his death," I say and sigh at the end as I think about the whole situation.
"Yeah...many people will be surprised and saddened, he was a good guy and died too young…..Though I guess we all knew the risks when getting into this line of work," Rumi says with a sigh too.
"True….though I'll let you get some sleep. Love you," I say as I don't want to keep Rumi awake too long.
"Yeah ok, love you too," Rumi says before hanging up.
I eventually fell asleep that night, but it was a very restless one. As I kept having the nightmare of my parents' death that night, which I haven't had for almost two years now. The next day Shota and I got up only a few hours later since neither of us got any sleep. We just sat in silence as we ate breakfast and waited for the time to meet with the psychologists who were picked for us. We then walked to a smaller building in the city that had only maybe five or so stories, this place was the one where all the psychologists for the underground heroes work out of in the city. Shota and I then split up to meet our psychologists.
Walking inside the room the receptionist directed me to, inside was a normal looking office with a desk and computer. There were two couches at the opposite end with a coffee table between them and two bookcases in the room filled with technical looking books. Sitting at the desk was a young woman, maybe in her early twenties with black hair and brown eyes that had small rimmed glasses over them. She wore a very tight white dress shirt and black skirt that showed her better than average physique.
"Ah you must be Akihiko Yagi. I'm Amaya Mari and I'm going to be your psychologist until you leave the underground hero agency or want another one," Amaya says to me while standing up and offering me a handshake. I just nod my head returning the handshake.
"I assume you realize that this means you both have been excepted into the agency, we just await you both to graduate. Normally you'd have a psychologist assigned to you once you officially get excepted, but you both experienced an unexpected situation. I've read you file they gave me before you came, and it seems you have already suffered severe loss before. Why didn't you seek professional help before?" Amaya says to me after we shake hands and gestures for me to sit on the couch while she sits across from me on the other couch.
"My Uncle heavily insisted on me seeing someone, but I heavily refused and I guess he didn't want to push me too much. I've learned to deal with loss in my own way," I say to her with a shrug of indifference.
"I see…..what exactly is the way you deal with this loss?" Amaya asks me after hearing my explanation.
"After losing my parents at first I felt completely destroyed and angry at everything, especially at myself. Though luckily my emotions seemingly disappeared or get very suppressed, leaving only my anger left which I've learned to control better in time," I say explaining how I feel which I know is technically not healthy but I don't care.
"Before you tell me that isn't healthy or normal, I know. I read some books on psychology, yes I'm no expert but I just don't care," I say before she can respond, she closes her mouth and sighs a bit but nods her head.
"Seems we have a lot to work on then. Since you know it isn't healthy and that you don't care, all I can say is this will lead you down a very bad path. Especially when you work in this particular career. As your assigned psychologist and even if you try to get someone else, they too will try to help you normalize yourself again. So from now on, once you graduate school I'm going to demand you meet my once a week or no hero work for you," Amaya says to me which makes me stare at her very annoyed, but I just sigh after a few seconds of considering the situation and nod my head.
"Fine, though I'd be surprised if you could help me," I say with a slightly annoyed shrug and lean back into the couch giving her a slight glare.
"I will, you may be my first patient but this makes the whole situation better for us both," Amaya says to me and I raise an eyebrow in response hearing I'm her first professional case.
"I also don't know why they chose me to be your psychologist, but now that I am, I will do everything I can to help you," Amaya says with a determined smile while I just sigh and nod my head.
The rest of the meeting was spent answering all the questions she had for me, so she could learn more about me personally. Then she said she'd keep in touch with me by email until I graduate from school. The last few days we spent at the underground hero agency were just training and we both headed back home before school started back up in two days. Shota still didn't talk much, but I knew eventually he'd come around at least I hoped. Tomorrow Rumi would be coming over since we both wanted just one day to decompress from the almost seven month training.