Noah sits in his small, confined room, tossing his thoughts around like a ball against a wall. Demons. Those ancient bastards who devour humans for fun. They kill, they eat, they kill again—over and over, slaughtering hundreds in mere hours without breaking a sweat. Noah clenches his fists, feeling the familiar surge of hatred rise within him. Fucking demons. He despises them, loathes their very existence. If only they'd all been wiped out in the Cursed War, things wouldn't have ended up like this. He can't escape them, though. He sees them every night, haunting his dreams since the day he lost everything and everyone he loved. What's worse is that he still can't escape—not really. This time, the demon is him.
No matter what he does, Noah can't escape this fate he never wanted. He was born as a despicable monster known as a Junsuikaoni, or loosely, "Pure Soul Demon." Junsui, demon, monster—it's all the same, and he's living right in the center of it. He's apparently among the last few of his kind, according to Tahno. A "rare breed," Tahno calls him. Supposedly, Noah has something special that no other human or demon possesses, though Tahno wouldn't tell him what. He's honestly just an ass. Noah really hates him.
Two years ago, Tahno found Noah lying on the ground next to his brother's lifeless body and introduced himself as General Mason Tahno, telling Noah he'd "take it from here." Yeah, right. Noah didn't see him again for who knows how long. Maybe a month, maybe two. Days, weeks, years—they all pass him by in a blur because he's stuck in this room, no bigger than a prison cell. And that's exactly what it feels like—a prison. No one ever comes in except to bring him food, water, and clothing. No one talks to him other than Tahno, and that's only sometimes, mostly when Tahno needs something from him. A little blood here, a test there, constant observation. Noah can't do anything without being watched. Tahno claims he's ensuring everything is done for Noah's best interest, but Noah knows it's really for Tahno's. The General is analyzing every aspect of him, probably to figure out how to exploit the demon inside him somehow. It always comes back to that in the end. No one wants to come near the demon boy. He's dangerous, a monster, a creature that could devour them.
They're scared of him, and Noah doesn't blame them. He'd be scared too if he didn't hate himself so much. He despises his demon self.
Noah wishes more than anything that someone would just come and kill him, take him out of his misery. What does he have to live for? It's pretty clear they don't plan on letting him go—he's either too valuable or too dangerous, perhaps both. Even if they did, what would he do out on his own? He'd never be accepted back into the Wakaba community, and outside its walls, there's nothing but corrupt demons who would likely reject him too since he's not fully corrupted. He's in a demon's nowhere land, belonging neither to humans nor demons. So he despises demons, all of them, including himself. He doesn't hate humans, but he doesn't like them either. Both are the same—the only difference is that humans can't show themselves as the monsters they are.
Sometimes Noah thinks about provoking them so they'll kill him, but it wouldn't work. Tahno's given strict instructions to refrain from using any force against Noah, even if they're at risk, or Tahno would kill them himself. Of course, Tahno's put measures in place to protect them if things were to get serious. Noah touches the spot on his forehead where the internal incapacitator is implanted. Tahno had some tech implanted in his forehead that can be activated by a button outside, knocking Noah out in a second, even in his demon form.
Apparently, they've used it on him before, though he doesn't remember it. His first several months here are a blur, especially the latter part. Things must have been pretty bad at some point if Tahno won't even tell him about it. All Tahno has said is that Noah lost himself and had to be found again. Considering Tahno's the only one who has ever interacted with him on a personal level, Noah can only assume Tahno's the one who's been looking out for him in here. Hence, Noah's dilemma: he hates Tahno because he won't tell him anything he really wants to know, but he's not sure he'd be alive or here at all if it weren't for Tahno. He guesses Tahno saved him.
Noah's heard some of the staff whispering now and then, asking if he's Kusaru or not. He knows from what he learned in school before all this that Kusaru are the faction of corrupt Junsuikaoni, and Karyuhdo are the pure faction, but he never really understood what that meant. Every time he'd ask Tahno, he'd just respond with, "All in good time." Tahno is such a secretive bastard, and it really gets under Noah's skin. However, Tahno's the only one Noah can trust around here, so he has no choice but to just deal with it for now. What a nuisance.
Just as Noah starts thinking about taking a nap, he hears the familiar unlatching of the door and turns to look just as it slides open. A man in a black uniform, lined in gold with green shoulder pads, steps inside.
"Surely you weren't about to nap?" The man gives Noah a sarcastic grin. He's truly such an ass.
"Guess we'll never know now, will we? What do you want, Tahno? I don't want company today."
"Well, it's a good thing then that I'm not here for that. I'm here to let you know that you've finally gotten permission to get out of here and move on to more comfortable arrangements."
"Oh? So I guess what you really mean is that you've decided how to use me? That I'm useful?"
"What do you mean? Of course you're useful. What made you think otherwise? Surely not me," Tahno says with mock innocence.
"You didn't have to do anything to make me think that. I'm not an idiot. I've read enough comics to know that the mutant human always gets taken to a lab for observation and assessment to see if he'll be useful to the researchers. If he is, then they let him go, but under their terms—like having him join their forces or do jobs for them. If they aren't useful or refuse… well, there's only one way they'll get out."
Tahno grins, clearly amused. "Well damn, those comics just might be too realistic."
"So I'm right then, aren't I? You want me to work for you, right? Do some dirty job?"
"I said they were realistic, but I never said they were perfect. This is not that kind of story. I don't want to exploit you and use you for personal gain against your wishes. I mean, yes, I'd like you to work for me, but not because I threatened you into it. Also, it wouldn't really be working for me as much as working with me and the rest of the team. You'll retain your complete power of free will and choice."
"A team? What type of team are you talking about? Like an army unit or something?"
"Not quite an army unit, though we will be an attack force. I call it the Elite Junsui Attack Force, and we may be faced with fighting, but it goes much deeper than that. It's more of a task force, actually. In fact, that's the new name—the Elite Junsui Task Force. Sounds pretty good, right?"
Tahno giggles childishly, wearing a smirk on his face. Noah thinks Tahno is such a weird man. He's seen Tahno be really intense, but most of the time, he acts like he's the 14-year-old and Noah's the 18-year-old. Now that Noah really thinks about it, Tahno's pretty young to be a general, especially since he was already a general when Noah first met him two years ago. That means Tahno was even younger then, at 16. Noah's heard rumors about Tahno being some crazy-good soldier with superhuman qualities, yet he's not a marked child and is definitely no Junsui demon.
"Did you get lost in that head of yours? What's the deal? Is it cool or not? I'm dying here!" Tahno's voice snaps Noah back to reality.
"How can you be such a kid when you're three and a half years older? How'd you get to be such a high rank at such a young age? I mean, even if you're good, isn't that a bit unrealistic?"
"You can't put an age on perfection," Tahno says, cracking up, laughing deeply at his own joke. "Seriously though, do you like the name? If you have something else in mind, then we can use that."
"I really don't care. I don't even know if I'm gonna join your stupid task force. I mean, who else is in it? If it's more guys like you, then I don't want to. Just one of you is more than I can bear."
"I will tell you everything you need to know and more, but if you'd work with me, you could find out sooner. The team is made up of other special kids like you who need a place to belong. That's the team."
"Okay, so if I join this stupid team, I'll find out answers?" Noah asks, and Tahno nods. "Fine then, I'll join."
Tahno cheers. "Alright! I'm glad you've decided to accept, but I should also tell you that I don't want you to just join the team…I want you to lead it. You are the final piece to the puzzle, Noah."