~Council Assembly Hall- Junsui Academy-Wakaba Prefecture~
General Mason Tahno is met with immediate resistance as he presents his proposal. "Are you out of your mind, Mason? Wait, don't bother to answer that—I already know you are. I knew it the day you first came to us with this proposal. I only agreed to it because I never actually thought you'd go so far as to actually use it. What's worse, you want to put four normal, flawed—yes, but normal students with that demon? That's just absurd. We don't even know the true identities of the subjects, only code names."
"I thought you might question that, sir, and at last, I can now reveal them to you." Mason places the folders on the table and begins to report each subject exactly as they had been reported to him two years ago, along with the new observations from over those two years. After about ten minutes, he finishes and looks up to see shocked faces.
After a few minutes of silence, he finally decides to break the tension. "Vera let's start with you. Nikoli is so ambitious and the best Fire Elemental in the school. You should be proud to know your son takes after you."
"Liam, your son Gunther is so kind and loyal. You'd be proud of his passive nature and heart."
"Viktor, your daughter Mai is quite the scholar and obedient to boot. She's the perfect lady."
"Finally, Kira, I'm so sorry to have to inform you of your daughter Lilianna's abuse, but I can reassure you that the perpetrators have been caught and severely punished. A few of the night guards took it upon themselves to treat themselves each night by sneaking into her room, but she's okay now—well, physically at least. She's still dealing with some emotional trauma that we're trying to work through. We'll get there, though."
Kira places her face in her hands and starts to cry. Through the tears, she says, "I had no idea she was suffering so much. I feel so ashamed. I know nothing about my own daughter. None of us know our children."
"Well, to be frank, what exactly do you expect when you give your kid away the day they were born and never look back? I get that for most parents who give birth to marked children, they have no choice, but you four are the Council—if anyone could have gotten to know their children, it was you all. Yet you all abandoned them, knowing they were right there. Just a couple of floors down, they were right there, you ingrates!" He grows unreasonably angry.
"Mason! Don't you think you're being a bit cruel on them? How would it look for the Council to break their own rules? Parents of marked children are never to have contact with their children until they graduate—those are the rules for everyone, including ourselves. Don't let your personal feelings get away from you! We weren't the ones who killed your family General."
Mason sits back, realizing he has lost his temper more than he intended. He pulls himself together. "I apologize, sir. You're right, I was out of line—please forgive me. However, I must insist that you approve my proposal. I think this situation should persuade you even more. I mean, it seems all a bit too coincidental that each one of the Council Chief's children was chosen as the best candidates for the protocol. The fact that they are all extremely powerful and are outcasts are strong indicators that they are the ones we're looking for!"
"I've had enough of this, Mason! You keep going on about this damn prophecy, the messiahs, and whatnot, but it's all a myth. Most disturbing of all is that you actually want to integrate Subject Black not just with the kids, but within the school as well? That could put all the students in extreme danger—I can't possibly allow it! I will not approve the initiation of the Hardy Protocol or the integration. The best thing to do is to remove that monster from our school at once—he could become Kusaru at any moment! Then what?"
"I think we should do it." Everyone turns to look at Kira after her unexpected comment.
"Kira, what do you mean? Are you saying that you want to willingly put Lilianna in danger?"
"No, I don't want her to be in danger or alone anymore—that's exactly why!" She cries again.
"I'm still not following. What about the rest of you—what do you think of this?"
Everyone remains silent, still shocked by the revelation of the identities, but finally, Viktor speaks. "I think I may understand Kira's reasoning, sir. We've realized that our children have been alone all these years. They were part of their classes, but at the same time, they weren't. Whatever the reason, they were misunderstood and rejected. They need to feel like they truly belong, that they matter. Perhaps the fact that they are all misfits makes them the perfect companions because they can relate to each other and understand the pain. I vote yes too."
"I'm afraid I have to agree too, sir. If my Gunther is as passive as they say, then maybe he has what it takes to calm down Subject Black, along with the influence of the others. I vote yes."
All eyes turn to Vera, the final member left to vote. She silently scowls for several minutes, deep in thought, until finally, she says, "I think your talk of prophecies and a new apocalypse descending is absurd. The Cursed War was a tragedy, yes, but it's to avoid situations like that from happening again that we adopted this new system after our world's rebirth. I believe in the integrity of our system to weed out the bad—don't make a mistake about that. However, I suppose that having a powerful attack force would be beneficial for our general security as a whole, and the children would benefit from being in a more structured, stable environment that's socially conducive, so for those reasons alone, I too will vote yes, sir."
Mason smiles at his success. Hiro rubs his forehead in exhaustion, still obviously skeptical, but he's outnumbered five to one, so he has no choice but to accept the decision. "Are you all certain about this?" Everyone nods. "Okay then, I'll approve the enactment of the Hardy Protocol, but understand this, Mason—you will be held accountable. You will oversee every minute of this, and you will be entirely responsible for anything that may happen. Specifically, as you've already agreed, I will further state that you are Subject Black's sole guardian, and so anything he does falls on you. You will be punished for his actions—take care to remember that."
"I understand, sir. I will not let you or any of the Council down—you have my word! I swear!"
Mason stands to leave, but before he does, Kira calls out to him. "Um, Mason! Could you…maybe…tell me a bit…?"
He smiles, realizing what she's trying to ask and suddenly has a great idea. "Want to meet her?"
She's surprised. "What? No, I couldn't possibly…could I?" She looks to Hiro, who is still rubbing his head in frustration.
"I suppose I could allow a brief meeting for each of you if you wish, but they mustn't know who you are. You can just say you're researchers. Talk to them for a few minutes and leave—understood?"
Everyone's expressions brighten a little, even Vera's. They call the meeting to an end, and Mason leads the Chiefs down to the observation room. He directs each of them to their child's door, and they watch for several minutes through the window. Finally, Mason asks, "Okay, who's ready to meet their kids? Open them up!" They each take a moment to breathe, then step into parenthood—fourteen years late.