"Are you sure this is the right place, Tiaoshi?" Kenna asked,looking at the building. The blond haired entity was looking off into the distance,but when she heard Kenna ask that,she turned around and looked at the brunette.
Nodding,Tiaoshi answered,"Yes,this is it,Kenna. This is our last destination."
"...Last destination of what?"
Tiaoshi gave her a look,as if to say, You forgot already?,and exhaled. "...The last trek in finding Akuma. She's planning on something horrible this time,and is probably going to set it out here in England."
When Tiaoshi mentioned the demon goddess's name, the fog that clouded Kenna's memory faded off into the distance. "Oh right." She turned around to face the tower they were in front of. "So what do we have to do again?"
"...We have to become exorcists here,to hide from Akuma,to blend in. If we don't,then we're going to be in huge trouble. You know what I'm talking about right?"
Kenna turned to face her,and nodded. "Yes." The two girls waited for a few minutes, staring at the huge thing in front of them, a weird-looking monster,looking like it's staring off into the sky. Kenna went to lift up her finger,to try to get the monster's attention,but a sphere-shaped creature with bat wings appeared from out of nowhere,and caused Kenna to jump.
"Hello." The creature spoke,staring at Kenna. "Are you humans or akuma?"
Startled at the question,Kenna stared at the creature, knowing not what to say. As a answer formed in her head, she went to speak, but Tiaoshi stepped in front of her instead,taking the words right out of Kenna's mouth. "We are both humans,sir. We've arrived here by someone's referral. The person told us to come here,to find out more about the akuma,to get rid of them."
The monster was suddenly looking at them,and its eyes beamed out a ray in the shape of an X,and scanned the two. When it finished, the creature nodded. "So you guys are exorcists,then?" Before Tiaoshi could answer,a loud voice came from the monster,making both the girls fly back, bellowed, "Okay! It's safe to go in!"
The monster elevated up,revealing a wide,but beautiful hallway. People with black coats,wearing a symbol on their chest,walked across it,or chatted with other people. Kenna and Tiaoshi couldn't believe their eyes. This was really the tower? As they regained their balance and went inside,they couldn't help but stare at the paintings at the walls,and the statues next to them.
"Well,well,well...welcome to the Black Order,you two!" a male voice boomed,making the two women flinch and turn around. A man with short,black,curly hair,and a matching grey lab coat and beret stood before them.
The two girls thanked him,but were confused at the name of the tower. "The Black Order...?"
The man nodded,"It's where exorcists-or people who destroy akuma-come to train and go on missions. I'm Komui Lee,the head officer of the tower." And stopping to look at Kenna and Tiaoshi,he smiled,"...And might I ask what your names are?"
"...I-I'm Kenna," the brunette stammered,then reaching her hand out in the entity's direction,"And this is Tiaoshi. We both came here to become exorcists. I believe you heard that from the creature a few minutes ago?"
With a stunned look on his face, Komui laughed. "You mean the wireless golem? Yes,and the golem doesn't talk. That was my voice coming from it."
"Your voice?"
The guy nodded in return to the question. "Yes. We use it to communicate with other exorcists."
"Oh,okay." The question about the monster that Kenna and Tiaoshi saw earlier came into Kenna's head,and she looked at the officer. "And might I ask why the scanning went by so fast?"
The officer took a few minutes to speak,adjusting his glasses,and sipping from his coffee cup,which had a pink bunny on it. "Oh,it's because of a certain incident we had with a white-haired teenager three years ago. The other co-workers and I came up with a plan so no more assumptions would occur."
Kenna let that sink into her head for a moment,then sighed. She went to continue on the conversation, but a new voice came from the distance,"I heard that!"
A guy,no more than 18,stormed in, his short,white hair,swaying in motion along with the force of his strut. "I heard what you said,Komui!" the man said when he reached up to them. "I thought that wasn't going to be spoken of again when-" He stopped his sentence when he glanced over at the women. "...Oh. Sorry for my ranting. Are you two new?"
The two girls nodded,and introduced themselves to the man. The man bowed in return,and stuck out his hand to them. "I'm Allen Walker,an exorcist. Nice to meet you two,and welcome to the Black Order!" Kenna and Tiaoshi both took turns shaking his hand,and as this happened,Kenna glanced at the strange scar on Allen's face.
"Say...Allen,how did you get that star-looking emblem above your right eye?"
Feeling his face turn a light pink,Allen touched the scar with his disfigured left hand,which had a cross embedded into it. "Oh,this? It's just something that happened when I was a kid...I don't really want to talk about it right now."
Confused at why Allen ended his retort like that,Kenna thought about pushing the matter further, but after seeing Allen's face, which looked like a mixture of embarassement and sadness, decided that it wasn't a good idea to go and talk about it further.
Allen was quiet for a moment,then looked over at Komui. "...By the way,Komui,aren't Kenna and Tiaoshi supposed to go through Helvaska right now?"
"No."
Allen was shocked at his answer. "W-What do you mean?"
"...There's...something wrong with her,Allen. Something, or someone,took most of the Innocence away from her while we were away on an important mission. We caught the figure on the surveillence camera, but couldn't make it out. Helvaska is ill right now,so in order to bring her back to normal,we need to track down that creature...or akuma."
Somehow understanding what Komui meant,Allen nodded. "I see." He then turned to the two girls,and bowed. "Would you two mind if I show you around the place?"
The two girls nodded,and Allen went with them,like a personal tour guide. He introduced the main places within the Black Order,including the training room where the exorcists train,and doors going down a hallway,which faded out to black as it went further down. Kenna felt chills go up her spine,feeling a little frieghtened of why the hallway looked like that. When Allen caught her attention about the rooms,and how most exorcists call it their home,Kenna looked back at him. He pointed over to a room,with the words B208 engraved into the sign.
"This is where you and the blond-haired woman are going to stay,if you would like to stay here,"Allen mentioned. "Lenalee, Komui's sister,is busy right now,so she wasn't able to do this right now."
Knowing more about the Black Order,Kenna and Tiaoshi nodded,and thanked Allen for showing them around. Right as Allen led them back to the hallway,Komui suddenly came running from out of nowhere,almost running into the three. When Allen finally calmed Komui down,he asked the head officer of what the hurry is.
"Oh...it's nothing..." The officer said,trying to catch his breath. "I almost...forgot these." He showed Kenna and Tiaoshi two suits,folded up. After looking over the suits for a moment,Kenna realized what those were. Those were the suits that she and Tiaoshi saw the other exorcists wearing a while ago.
"These...are your Black Order suits." As Kenna and Tiaoshi took them from him and unfolded them,Kenna couldn't help but marvel at the design. It was black and white,with a hood in the back. There was a symbol,in the shape of a rose,with thorns coming out of it. Kenna assumed that it must stand for the Black Order,so she didn't bother to ask any questions.
Kenna looked up at Komui,"What do we do with these,sir?"
"You're supposed to put them on. They go over the clothes you wear when going on missions,but most exorcists wear it,even when not assigned on a trek." Hearing what Komui said,Kenna looked down at it,Kenna curtsied to the officer,and excused herself and Tiaoshi to the room they were assigned to.
As Kenna finished buttoning up her coat,Tiaoshi,who was already finished putting on hers, helped fix the hood for Kenna. Kenna could feel her face turn red out of embarassment,"Tiaoshi! Would you please stop adjusting that please? You're like my mother. She always does that to my clothes whenever I'm about to go somewhere."
Tiaoshi laughed a little at Kenna's comment. "I know,Kenna,I know. But I just can't help it. As a mother myself,I always worry about that."
Kenna sighed in frustration. As she stared at their bedroom door while Tiaoshi continued on getting the wrinkles out of the hoodie,she smelled food being made. Her stomach grumbled,making her realize that she hadn't eaten anything lately.
"Say,Tiaoshi," Kenna said,looking over at the blue-eyed woman,"When was the last time we ate?"
"About a few hours ago. Why?"
Kenna heard her stomach complain again,and sighed,"...Well,my stomach's telling me that I need to eat."
Tiaoshi thought that over,and agreed,so the girls set off to the mess hall. Tiaoshi walked behind Kenna,and could sense that a little line of light pink was going across Kenna's nose.
"Ah...thinking about other boy,aren't we now?" Tiaoshi teased,catching Kenna's attention,and making her turn around.
"No! I'm just...catching a little bit of a cold."
"Are you sure about that,Kenna?" Tiaoshi smirked. "You always do this whenever you have a huge crush on a guy."
Kenna,feeling embarassment and anger inside her,turned around,her hair flying behind her. "Oh,that's nonsens..." Her sentence suddenly went to a halt the same time her feet did. A few feet away from her, a tall young man,with dark blue hair,in the shape of a ponytail,was speaking to another exorcist,his expression somewhat annoyed.
Kenna stared at the man,and felt her face turn red like a tomato. She was staring at his hair,then his eyes,and then his muscular arms. No words came out of her mouth.
Feeling the silence building up,Tiaoshi glanced over at Kenna,"...Kenna,are you okay?"
When Kenna didn't respond,Tiaoshi sighed in frustration,and waved her hand in front of the brunette's face. "Hello...Earth to Kenna."
Right as Tiaoshi repeated "Earth to Kenna" the second time,Kenna's eyes slowly closed,and she fell backwards,her face still beet red.
Tiaoshi looked over Kenna's face,and sighed,giggling. "I knew it. I just knew it."