"This loaf is the only thing capable of stopping the Devil Lord, Anemi Kaminari! I will join you, and together, we will kill him, and regain this world! I am Shinimaru, and I am at your mercy."
I fall to my knees, clutching my head in my hands, desperately fighting off the ruthless pain surging through it. "Shin- Shinimaru..." His face turns a pale white as he rushes to my side, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. "Okoramo! Where the hell have you been?!"
"Wait...."
It's coming back. My memory. At least a little bit.
"Cybersplit Island...weren't you killed- or taken- back there?"
He staggers, hoisting me up. "I had thought so too. When I woke up, everyone else was gone... with the exception of Hiruka and Shiro's bodies."
"Awe..." I have no idea who those people are-
"I'm sorry- what business do you have here?" Across the room at the opposite head of the table was a boy of about sixteen, an angered, forced smile plastered on his face. He wears a tight, black exercise shirt, brandishing his impressive, slim physique. Below his waist, he wears large, white, almost military cargo pants, his long white hair falling to his shoulders. To his left is a boy of just about the same age with black-blue hair. He wears an almost formal, white, long sleeve dress shirt, under a long black trenchcoat. He wears circular, black-rimmed glasses. His face flushes as the man beside him speaks out.
"Many apologies, sir! I'm sure Felix was just confused-"
Tenshi finally steps into the room. They both snap back into place.
Hm. Quirky.
"Don't fuck around." He snarls. He turns to Shin. "Shinimaru. You know Okoramo?" Shin nods, setting me down in a seat FAR away from Felix. "Yeah. For a while."
A vein bulges at Tenshi's forehead. "And you didn't think to tell me?"
"For all intensive purpose, Kagura, I thought he was dead." Tenshi waves him off, walking briskly by.
Wait.
Kagura?
Puzzled, I turn my attention back to Tenshi-Kagura as my mind races for answers. The boy with glasses takes note of my confusion. "You met Kagura here near the south pine forest, correct?" I nod, though I don't see how this is relevant.
"Then don't worry yourself over that nickname he's given himself. Just call him Kagura."
"It's a title..." Kagura murmurs.
The boy just waves him off, extending his hand to me. "I'm Reid. A pleasure to meet you, Okoramo." I shake his hand nervously. The tension in this room is killing me.
Taking a seat at the front head of the table, Kagura kicks back, looking over everyone in the room.
This is the most awkward I think I'll ever feel.
"You gonna talk or not?!" Felix finally breaks the silence, his annoyed gaze locked on Kagura.
Kagura snaps to attention. "Fell asleep for a second. My bad."
Felix taps his foot impatiently, rolling his eyes.
Kagura focuses back on me. "Well, since we know you're close in relation to Shin, I assume you have similar goals?"
"Well uh," I scramble for a way to explain this. "I really don't remember much. I can scrape together maybe a few points, but other than Shin, I don't remember really anything from my time here..."
Shinimaru cocks his head to the side, confused. "Nothing else? Neo City, Titus...?"
I shake my head. "Not really ringing a bell, no."
He seems at a loss for words. Hurt, even. However he quickly squanders this. "No matter," He says. "I'm sure they'll come back with time. Firstly though, I should explain what I'M doing here."
------------------
"After awakening, alive by some trick of fate back in that felid in Tenma, I was alone. I had assumed that Byakusen had finished you all off. Though I still withheld hope. So with resolve, I walked. I found myself in a small backstreet town on the other side of the island, and searched to no avail. Defeated, I entered a bar...where I met this man. His face didn't belong to anyone I recognized, but after I explained my situation to him, he said he could help. Foolishly, I followed him into a secluded area, where I blacked out...and ended up here. Well- I use 'here' very loosely. I was in a prison cell, which I managed to make my way out of, and was met with the sights of Kitsuji. After that, Reid found me, bringing me here."
Kagura speaks up as I think on this. "That story by itself provides little substance for his motivations, though." He rummages in his jacket, before pulling out a cleanly, manila folder, placing it on the table. "This is what he's working toward." He slides it over to me, and intrigued, I open it.
--
Operation- 277
Optimal sentence- Execution
Gender(s)- M,M,F
Place of Export- Tenma, Cybersplit Island
--
My face contorts. "What value does this hold?"
"A shit ton." Shin responds. "By the standards of Aura and her operatives, Siken, Gin and Oiran are of much more importance than Hiruka and Shiro, giving us reason to assume that they were stored in his pocket dimension, and transported here for interrogation or whatever means they saw necessary before execution; and there is little to no chance that a report THIS specific would come in from Tenma and not be those three."
"Now," Kagura says. "the date at which this document was created is not cited anywhere on it, so there is a semblance of a chance that they've already been killed, so I wouldn't get my hopes up. And know this, we aren't comrades, we're simply allies. Our goals HAPPEN to align. Which brings me to my own explanation.
"As I've explained, the Dukes and Archdukes reside below, in the canyons...that is until a few weeks ago, when a NEW Duke was inaugurated. Douglas, The Sex Driver. He was chosen purely out of nepotism- his sister already being a Duke herself. Due to these factors, however, his application was only half accepted. He was not given permission to make base below in the canyons, but he was given the status, as well as a Greater Keycard in case of emergency."
"Our plan," Felix interjects for no foreseeable reason, "was to intercept a parade he's holding next week to celebrate his 'achievement'. The problem though..."
"There's meant to be seven of us." Kagura finishes. "Myself, Shinimaru, Felix, Reid, and three others. I deployed them almost immediately after Douga's inauguration, and haven't heard back since they reported the info I just relayed to you, about a week ago."
Shin nods. "Kagura was just finishing up his searching rounds when he found you. We had been running subsaquent searches every day, along the perimeter of Kitsuji, and searches WITHIN it every other day, but to no payout."
"I was planning on deploying Shinimaru, Reid and Felix out into Kitsuji for an excursion lasting the week," Kagura says. "when you came along."
My face darkens. "You don't mean to tell me..."
"Yeah." Shin says. "You're coming along with us."
SHIT!
This Kitsuji place is CRAWLING with those Commodore guys, right? I'm not getting even a MOMENT of rest while there, am I?
Shin cocks his head at me, glaring. "Look. I know you remember nothing of these people, but if you did, you would go to these lengths in a heartbeat. I just need your cooperation. Please."
I do my best to fix my expression, nodding reluctantly. "Alright."
"Good." Kagura says, rising to overlook the room. "I hope to see you all at the front gate. Break of dawn."
------------------
One look at the cell told you all you needed to know about the complex. Unkempt, dirty. Flies buzzed all around the man placed at its center, who sits unmoving.
The sudden clatter of footfall catches his attention. With almost animalistic vigor, his head snaps up to gaze at the man in passing, who had since stopped before the cell. The man crouches down to his level, meeting his eyes.
He was a rather lanky man- couldn't have been older than twenty. He was shockingly pale as well, and wore a perpetually unimpressed expression.
"You better put on a good show for me, Shika." The man droans.
The man in the cell grins. "It won't be a show. It'll be a bloodbath."