The tension in the room was palpable as everyone gathered in the living room of Hiroshi's house. The air was thick with the weight of the message they had just received, and the silence was deafening. Mousa stood by the window, his arms crossed, his expression dark and unreadable.
Shota leaned against the wall, his usual calm demeanor masking the turmoil within. Jun sat at the table, her eyes focused on the note that layed on the center, the words burning into her mind. Toma stood at the far corner of the room while Hiroshi and his daughter sat close together on the couch, their faces pale with fear.
"They're alive…" Hiroshi whispered, his voice trembling as he held his daughter close. "How…? I thought they were—"
"They should've been dead!" Toma interjected, his tone cold and frustrated. "I brought the whole damn building down. There's no way they would've survived that!"
Mousa's gaze snapped to Toma, his eyes narrowing in anger. "And yet, they did. You didn't even finish the job," he said, his voice low but laced with fury. "You acted recklessly, and now we're all paying the price."
Toma clenched his fists, taking a step forward. "Why are still on about this!? I did what I had to do. I wasn't exactly in a position to go back and check if they were still breathing. The whole place was in rubble anyway."
Mousa took a deep breath, trying to contain his anger. "Toma, because of your actions, we're now in an even worse situation. They're threatening the entire city. Innocent lives are at stake because of your lack of control."
Toma was about to retort when Jun raised her hand, cutting through the tension. "Enough, both of you," she said firmly. "Pointing fingers isn't going to solve anything right now. We need to focus on the situation at hand."
Everyone fell silent, the weight of Jun's words settling over them. She picked up the note from the table, her eyes scanning the message once more.
"They want Hiroshi and his daughter," she said, her voice calm but serious. "They're threatening to start a killing spree in the city if we don't hand them over."
Maya's grip tightened on her father's arm, her eyes wide with fear. "We… we can't go to them," she stammered. "They'll kill us. They'll kill everyone."
Hiroshi quickly spoke. "Don't you worry Maya.... I won't let those bastards touch you."
"We're not going to let that happen," Mousa said, his voice softening as he addressed them. "We'll protect you, no matter what. We're not handing you over to those monsters."
"But what if they start killing people?" Hiroshi asked, his voice shaking. "What if they start with the innocent? What do we do then?"
Mousa hesitated, the conflict evident on his face. "We won't let it come to that," he finally said, but his tone lacked the usual certainty. The threat hung heavily in the air, and it was clear that the situation was more dire than they had anticipated.
Maya asked a question that was lingering in her mind for a while. "Why can't we just call the police for help."
Mousa and Jun glanced at each other.
Toma answered the question "Because It's no use, the gang that captured you are associated with a big organization...."
"An organization that has influence all over the country to the point that their in control of everything... even the police."
Maya was baffled. "What!? Father is that true!?" Maya wanted to know the truth, but Hiroshi was quiet, it seemed that he knew very well who they were talking about.
Jun spoke calmly. "The organization is none other than the Temporal Order..."
"If a gang are wielding weapons of such caliber. Then it's no doubt that the Temporal Order is backing them." Jun added.
Mousa sighed as he thought about the situation. "Even if the gang starts chaos in the city. Nobody will stop them. The city will be doomed for all we know it.
Jun set the note down and leaned forward, her hands clasped together. "We have to be smart about this," she said. "They gave us a location for the meeting. That gives us some leverage. We can plan an ambush, try to take them down before they get a chance to hurt anyone."
"An ambush?" Toma scoffed. "You really think that's going to work? These guys are tough, Jun. They're not going to walk into a trap so easily."
Jun met Toma's gaze with a steady look. "I know it's risky, but it's our best shot. We can't just sit here and wait for them to make the first move. Remember that lives are on the line."
Mousa nodded slowly, his anger starting to subside as he focused on the task at hand. "We'll need to be prepared for anything. We'll scout the area, set up surveillance. If we're going to do this, we need to do it right."
Hiroshi's daughter looked up at Jun, her eyes filled with desperation. "What if… what if they're expecting an ambush? What if they're ready for us?"
Jun's expression softened. "It's a possibility," she admitted. "But that's why we need to be careful. We'll need to be one step ahead of them. If they're expecting us to attack, we'll need to outthink them."
"We'll split into teams," Mousa suggested. "One team for the ambush, and another for backup. If things go south, we'll need to be ready to retreat and regroup. We can't afford any more mistakes."
Mousa then looked at Toma. "You'll sit this one out."
Toma was shocked, his expression was tense. "What!? You want me to sit this one out?"
Mousa glared at him. "Indeed, you used too much of your energy. You need to rest, and anyways you caused enough trouble for today. We'll handle this."
Toma was frustrated, he wanted to object but he knew it wasn't worth it.
Toma's jaw tightened, but he nodded in the end. "Fine. Go ahead, do whatever. Like I care. You all are so basic anyway." Toma said as he stormed off.
Hiroshi and his daughter exchanged a worried glance. Jun seeing this reassured them. "Don't worry, he's just having a fit, it's normal."
But they were still visibly shaken by the situation. "Well then what should we do?" Hiroshi asked, his voice trembling. "We don't want to be a burden. We'll do whatever you think is best."
Jun stood and walked over to them, placing a reassuring hand on Hiroshi's shoulder. "Don't worry, stay here and stay safe. Like Mousa said, we'll handle this. You've been through enough already."
As the meeting drew to a close, the tension in the room began to ease slightly, though the gravity of the situation was still very much present. They had a plan, albeit a risky one, but it was the best they could do under the circumstances.
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Kazuya was sleeping in one of the rooms. As he regained consciousness, he got up from the bed with difficulty as he felt like his body was sore.
He didn't like this. He groaned in pain as he tried to walk towards the door.
But then he fell to the ground as he felt very weak and tired. He wanted to do something about this, something that would make the soreness go away....
Suddenly Kazuya started to feel something strange in his body. Kazuya was very alerted as he didn't know what was going on, but it was weird, the strange feeling was making him feel.... good.
For some reason his body felt a soothing feeling as it only lasted for a few minutes while he was on the floor.
When it stopped, Kazuya got up. To his surprise he felt better. Even way better than before. He couldn't believe it, all the soreness that he had was magically gone in just a few minutes.
Kazuya thought with confusion. "What is going on with me???"