Here I am again with the first official chapter of "Our little one". With that said, I decided to write this multi-chapter story in arcs, which was slightly inspired by how Reclaiming the throne was written. This chapter will mark the beginning of the "Lost and Found" arc.
With that out of the way, on with the show.
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Chapter 1: New addition
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With nearly five years of experience in the void realm, Shu was pretty much convinced that Inori has become a loving and caring queen. From the stories that he had managed to hear, Inori always took her followers into consideration and always had their best interests at heart. He had heard stories of his pink-haired queen taking time to play with the children, partaking in festivities, and occasionally leading her army in person during the battles with Mana. With that said, Inori has always been kind at heart, innocent, and pure. Given that information, he wasn't all that surprised to see that she was handling the situation with their unexpected guest quite well. Inori was kind to everyone, even her enemies, so a lost kid like this wasn't really a problem for her.
"Hello..." Inori said with a small smile on her face as she sat on a chair to look at the kid Hare found outside their hideout. The boy merely turned to her with his red eyes with an expression that can only be described as neutral and monotonous, like he had no emotions whatsoever. "Would you care to tell us your name, little one" Inori said with a gentle and affectionate tone that made Shu proud.
She's a natural at this. Was what Shu thought.
Said boy, however merely looked down on the sheets and seemed to look like he was visibly trying to call back something from the depths of his mind; he looked distant. He looked like his mind wasn't even there anymore, which confused the king and queen. Was there something wrong?
Finally the boy looked at Inori again with the same neutral expression. Now where has he seen that before again? Ah, Inori during their first meetings.
"...Shiro" Shiro said with a voice that sounded like a pubescent boy that was still a little too high and child-like. The way he said it, sounded like he wasn't aware that the word was his name. Shu and the rest also noted the absence of a last name.
"I see, it's nice to meet you Shiro. My name is Inori." Inori said with the same patient smile on her face.
"I-no-ri?" Shiro tested out the name and sounded almost bemused, but Inori chose not to note that, instead she simply nodded in encouragement. She just decided to nod in approval before gesturing to her king, which caught the brunette off guard.
"And this is Shu" Shiro then looked over at Shu, which only made the brunette king scratch the back of his neck awkwardly, while chuckling nervously.
"um...hi.." It was funny how Shu always seemed to revert back to his old, awkward, wimpy, and lame self, when he was faced with the right situation, despite the fact of him having grown mature in the last five days.
"Shu..." Shiro said his name as if he was testing it out; letting the word sink in.
The rest of the gang assumed that this boy was clearly having a bit of trouble adjusting to his new situation, given by how slow he was in reacting and his somewhat distant tone of voice, so they all started to walk out and leave the king and queen alone to avoid having him process any unnecessary extras. However, they have only managed to get a few feet, when they suddenly sensed the boy's gaze turned towards them. They turned around...only to see the boy eying them curiously with his head tilted slightly. There wasn't anything peculiar about this action per se, if anything it was a logical response to find out as much information about your surroundings when you suddenly find yourself in a place you've never seen before, but it still made them shuffle uneasily and avert their gazes awkwardly; not knowing what to do.
"Hello Shiro, you can call me Hare." Hare was the one who broke the silence by giving the boy a bright smile and using that special charm of hers. If there was anyone who could deal with the current situation, aside from Inori, it was definitely Hare, since they have both have had experience caring for other during their time spent in the void realm. She then gestured to the rest of the gang and promptly announced their names. "That's Tsugumi, Ayase, Yahiro, and Argo"
The people in question responded in their own way, whike Shiro continued to stare at them. The black-haired hacker responded with her own bright smile, Ayase merely smile slightly and waved awkwardly, Yahiro smiled at the boy confidently, and Argo just offered a terse nod with crossed arms.
"Ha-re...Tsu-gu-mi...A-ya-se...Ya-hi-ro...Ar-go"
"That's right." Hare said with an expression that made it look like they were explaining one thing or another to a pre-school student, instead of a pubescent boy. "Are you feeling okay now?" Hare asked in concern.
The boy in question merely nodded his head in assessment, which made Hare breathe a sigh in relief; making it clear that Shiro wasn't in his current condition when he had found him.
"What were you doing outside, Shiro?" Inori decided to cut to the chase, since introductions were already out of the way, but her gentle voice and expression didn't falter in the least bit. The boy in question, however, merely looked at the pinkette in confusion, as if he didn't know what she was talking about. This got Hare's attention, which is why he decided to ask her own question.
"I found you outside, Shiro. Don't you remember what you were doing there?" Hare was only replied with the same confused and bemused expression, before looking around and speculating his surroundings with a neutral expression. Hare spotted this and decided to explain. "I brought you inside, since you looked pretty beat when I first found you. Can't you remember what happened to you?" Hare was clearly starting to visibly worry. So was the majority of the people near him, with the exception of Argo.
Shiro merely shook his head before looking down and furrowing his brow in concentration.
"Where are your parents? I'm sure they're probably looking for you" Shu decided to pipe in, bit only received a bemused look in return.
"...Parents...?"
This situation was definitely familiar to everyone present, it reminded them of how Inori used to be; emotionless and monotone. However, there was a very distinct difference between the two; Inori didn't know such things in the first place, while Shiro seemed like he knew of such things, but didn't have any memories of them. With that said, Shiro spoke and acted like they were looking at them from a different world. It looked like he was familiar with what they were saying, but he just didn't have any memories of said things. Think of it as a person who has only read theories of such things and had once experienced them, but said person just couldn't access such memories, which resulted in his slightly bemused tone of voice.
It was at that moment that Shu decided to look at Hare with an expression that sent a clear message.
Who is this boy?
Hare could only look at him with a worried expression on her face. Inori seemed to share the same troubled expression with her, as well as, the others, but Argo seemed to just eye Shiro suspiciously.
"...the last thing I remember...was waking up in this room" Shiro admitted bemusedly.
"Guys, can we talk for a bit" he then turned to Shiro with his suspicious expression. "in private"
...
Once they left the infirmary they immediately went to the meeting room that had to be some sort of lounge before that had a large circular table in the center. Around the table, the gang wore varying expressions on their faces; Inori being calm and neutral, Hare looking slightly worried and guilty, Yahiro with closed eyes and folded arms, Tsugumi with a bored expression on her face while leaning on one of her elbows, Ayase eying Argo with curiosity and disapproval, Argo looking slightly irritated, and lastly Shu who was looking a bit torn at the moment.
"Hare" Argo turned to the brunette in question who jolted in her surprise. All eyes were now on the brunette in question who could only fidget nervously, while looking down; as if she had just been caught doing something naughty while thinking that it was completely innocent. "What happened before you brought that boy here" his tone clearly held firm accusation, which made Ayase and Tsugumi glare in his direction, while Shu and Inori simply closed their eyes calmly with a frown on their faces.
They didn't particularly like seeing their friend be accused in a such a way, but now that Argo has brought it up...what did happen with Hare and why did he bring that boy here?
Apparently, Hare managed to gulp down her nervousness and sighed before looking at Argo with a determined expression on her face. She didn't like being accused like this. She could understand why Argo was feeling a bit irrate with her, but she had the best intentions at heart when he brought Shiro in the hideout, so she refused to be accused like this.
"I was just walking around outside a bit. When I was about to go back inside, I came across what looked like a body of a boy from the distance. He looked pretty beat up so I healed him. Then I thought that maybe he was one of the genesis that I was with back in the void realm or maybe one of the undertakers that joined us, so I brought him inside so that he can rest for a bit, but when Shu and Inori said that they recognized him I started to feel bad because..." Hare's explanation was starting to get more frantic and more emotional as she went on.
"You practically handed our location to the enemy?!" Argo asked furiously, which made Hare flinch. It was definitely a possibility that this boy was a spy for the enemy and that he was just lying about not having any memories.
"If he was a spy then why doesn't he have any memories. Don't you think he should at least know what he's supposed to be doing here if he was?" Yahiro said in his friend's defense, but was immediately rejected by the former SDF soldier.
"We don't know that for sure. For all we know, he could just be lying to us about not remembering anything." A solid point.
"He wasn't lying" they all turned their heads to the pink-haired vocalist who was wearing a calm expression on her face. "I could tell. He was telling the truth."
Argo decided to put the possibility of lying out of the window, since pushing the matter would clearly get him nowhere. Shu trusted Inori, so if she says that Shiro wasn't lying, then that was all he needed to put his suspicions at rest. However, Argo wasn't going to give in so easily, not when the threat of being infiltrated was still there.
"Let's say that he wasn't lying. That doesn't mean he's not a threat" Argo continued to press the matter.
"The boy has no memories, aside from his name." Ayase said matter-of-factly.
"So? What if he really believes that he lost his memories? Or what if his memories were altered into thinking that he lost his memories? That way, he wouldn't know himself if he was lying" a real possibility, indeed. Who were they to judge if Shiro himself didn't know that he was lying.
"What good would that do? If he doesn't remember anything, he won't able to do his job" Yahiro stated.
"Unless, he's being used to trace our location" Argo spat, which made the brunette narrow his eyes. Nearly everybody tensed at the very real possibility, until Tsugumi decided to pipe up.
"Oh? Was the SDF thinking: Let's send in a defenseless kid who has no memories at all to a random location, I'm sure the terrorists will be kind enough to take them to the their hideout" Tsugumi said with a sarcastic raise of her eyebrow and a mischievous grin. Shu and the rest of the gang tried to hold back their laughter at the irony, while Argo just glared. That was what they had just done right now and they probably wouldn't turn a blind eye on a helpless kid like Shiro, but the SDF would never believe that a terrorist group like funeral parlor would ever do something like that.
"You have to admit, that's something that they wouldn't likely think, Argo. Let alone act on." Shu said with a smile on his face, while Inori nodded in assesment. Argo just sweatdropped, he couldn't really argue with that. As far as the SDF knew, Shu and the others were a bunch of cold-blooded terrorists that wanted to end the world by bringing back the apocalypse virus, so this didn't really make sense based on their moral mindset.
"Not to mention that sending in a kid to do a mission like this would be a huge blow to their pride" Ayase added with a teasing grin. Argo could only sweatdrop again, because that was yet another solid point.
"And would they really go through the trouble of finding a kid, specifically with brown hair and red eyes?" Yahiro added with a grin directed towards Shu ans Inori. The former could only blush at the statement, while latter just tilted her head to the side in confusion.
This made Argo heave a sigh, knowing fully well that his argument was void, until something occured to him.
"What about Mana?"
The tension in the room suddenly escalated and all teasing and laughter stopped abruptly at the mere mention of shu's older sister.
"Though he is immune to the virus, I've never seen him before in the void realm." Inori was the first to break the silence, which made his king look at her in surprise.
"He's immune?" Clearly shocked by his queen's sudden revelation. If he was immune to the virus, then that could only mean that he was in the void realm, but she said that he never saw him before. So what did that mean? Inori nodded at him. "but you never saw him before?" another nod.
"I never saw him before either" Hare piped in. Granted, she wasn't really on the front lines very often, she still tended to the wounded in Inori's camp, so she would have been able to see and recognize her comrades. That and Hare's personality practically guaranteed that she was a quite popular with Inori's people.
Also, if he was one of Inori's followers then Shu should've been able to see him when they departed.
"Then maybe Mana kept him hidden, just for this purpose" Inori shook her head at Yahiro's suggestion.
"She never withheld any of her followers, regardless of whether their void was useful or not" Hare said with a slightly depressed tone.
"She wouldn't have a reason to do that either. She believed that Shu was going to accept her." Inori added, which made Shu frown.
"If she believed that, then she wouldn't have a reason to think that this would happen. So she wouldn't have any reason to plan this" Shu continued with a small frown.
It was a very solid point. For Mana to have a reason to hide one of her followers, she would need to believe that the current situation would happen in the first place, but since she had believed, without a shadow of a doubt, that Shu was going to save her, she wouldn't have expected this situation to happen. With that said, she wouldn't have any reason to hide one of her followers for this purpose, since she wouldn't have forseen this.
"Okay" Argo reluctantly agreed since he couldn't really argue with the logic. "So, are you saying he's a normal human boy?" Inori just shook her head.
"I wouldn't be able to consider him as normal since he's immune, but we can't be sure that he isn't Genesis." Inori said matter-of-factly.
"We can easily find that out, though" Argo stated to which Inori just nodded. Comparing Shiro's attributes to one of the Genesis of the same age would easily tell if he was a Genesis, considering the fact that they couldn't really ask him directly if he was Genesis or not, due to obvious reasons.
"So, Shiro is either a Genesis that managed to stay hidden from Inori and Mana in the void realm for five years or he's a normal human that naturally developed an immunity to the virus" Shu summed up the point on what Shiro was.
"The former seems more likely than the latter" Ayase stated and everyone just nodded at her. A normal human couldn't have adapted and evolved an immunity to the virus that quickly. Evolution took years and a naturally developed immunity to a virus took even longer. Another point to consider was that scientists have never been able to find a permanent cure for the virus, much less developed someort of immunity to it.
After that there was silence. They had practically established that Shiro wasn't an enemy spy, but even if he wasn't...what were they supposed to do?
"So where does that leave us?" Yahiro was the first one to break the silence with the question that was on everybody's mind. Everybody just stayed silent and suddenly got slightly depressed expressions on their faces, except for Hare who didn't take the lack of an immediate response too well as she stood up and looked at each an everyone of them with a disbelieving expression.
"What do you mean: where does that leave us? Isn't it obvious? We need to help him. We're probably the only ones who knows that he even exists" Hare had always been kind and considerate, though there were times when she'd slightly get mad, it's usually because she was worried about her friends. That wasn't necessariky the case in this situation, but the emotion she felt was definitely the same.
Her little suggestion was just met by silence, until the brunette king decided to break it.
"Even if you say that, Hare..." Shu started awkwardly, while scratching his cheek. This statement was immediately met by a shocked Hare.
"Don't tell me you're planning on just sending him out?" Silence. "I thought the only issue was that he might be spy" she said trying to form an argument for Shiro's sake.
"It's not that easy, Hare. We're going against a war with Mana, while trying to prevent the fifth apocalypse, we can't afford to get side-tracked and become a day care" Argo said with closed eyes and a serious expression on his face.
"Argo has a point. We need to stay on track, and besides bringing in a child into this mess, isn't really the best option" Yahiro supported with closed eyes, much to Hare's surprise.
"So is it better to just send him out there on his own. He's just going to get in the crossfire, if we send him off. He's going to get involved one way or the other, he'll be much better off with us than on his own out in Tokyo" Hare countered in a desperate manner. Hare also had a point, if they were send him off in the streets of Tokyo, then the likelihood was that he was going to get caught in the crossfire when the launch and attack on loop seven. It would definitely be better for him to stay with them.
"Yeah, let him stay, I do need an extra hand with all that outdated equipment. He can pitch every once in a while." Tsugumi said in her usual cheerful output; looking slightly glad that she was able to say something that could slightly defuse the situation. Hare, for her part, looked visibly thankful for the backup, which made Tsugumi wink at her.
"He maybe young, but I'm sure he can help out in his own way. He doesn't look like the type who can fend for himself" Ayase piped in.
"What good could a 12 year old boy be to a resistance group?" Argo asked rhetorically.
"Well, they did manage to turn Shu into a soldier" Yahito said as an explanation, which brought about a few giggles from the girls and sweatdrop from the king. He didn't particularly like how his name was emphasized in that sentence; it was like Yahiro was suggesting that he was about as weak as a twelve year old five years ago.
"That's right, if Shu turned out to be a pretty big help, then why not Shiro?" Tsugumi asked cheerfully, which made the king sweatdrop again with a small tick mark appearing on his forehead, while his queen tried to comfort him by holding his hand and rubbing small circles around it. She wasn't really suggesting to put him on the front lines, but maybe he could help out in terms of morale?
"Shu had the void genome back then so of course he was a big help." Argo stated calmly to get their attention. "Shiro, on the other hand..."
"It's not right to send someone off for doing nothing." Inori spoke in a serious tone. "or for being the way they are"
"Inori, this isn't the void realm anymore; you didn't have to worry about food, water, resources back then. This time we only have a limited..." Argo tried to argue, but was interrupted by Inori.
"The same principle applies. Shiro is defenseless and he has come to seek help." Inori said simply. She was clearly referring to when she was made queen in the void realm by the people who were oppressed by Mana and came to seek aid from her. It was only natural for that to have left a mark on her.
"He didn't come here to seek help. Hare just found him outside the hideout." Argo tried to argue the point, but Hare wouldn't have it.
"He can't remember his memories. For all we know, he was looking for help in Tokyo since he couldn't remember anything and while he was wandering around and looking for help, he passed out" Hare explained her theory to him.
"She has a point, for all we know, we're the only people he can rely on right now." Ayase agreed with the brunette's statement.
"I'm sure we can think of something for him." Shu said with a soft expression. He wasn't particularly keen on recruiting a twelve year old boy into a terrorist group, but Shiro's chances would be far better with them than on his own. He was sure that he could think of something for the young boy.
"He could simply stay here, instead of going out on missions" Inori supported, apprently feeling the same reluctance Shu was feeling at the moment.
Argo, for his part, simply sighed in defeat before nodding his head.
"Though, I did say that we shouldn't take anyone, even if were short-handed...I supposed this would be better" Yahiro agreed with a sigh.
All Hare could do was smile and sigh in relief as she turned to her king and queen with a grateful expression.
Though, in her mind all she could think of was "what was she supposed to do now?" She couldn't really expect Shu or Inori to look after Shiro, Yahiro was equally busy with assigning missions, Argo was training the Genesis and Humans in hand to hand combat, Jun was managing the distribution of work here in the hideout, Ayase was looking after the shooting range and training the newbies, and Tsugumi was busy trying to find some useful info using her hacking skills.
Not to mention, Hare was very busy herself, what with the amount of injured getting sent to her everyday because of the rivalry between Genesis and Humans. What was she supposed tod o with Shiro now that she had convinced them to let him stay?
"Okay" Argo brought him back out of his musings. "but we should test him out in a week, just to make sure if he really does have what it takes to be a part of this" Argo said the last part with a bit of reluctance, no one really wanted to involve Shiro in all of this, but it was better to be with them than to be on his own.
Now, it would be Hare's job to find a place for him.
...
"So Shiro...tell me do you remember anything that you're good at?" Apparently, the best Hare could do at the moment was to show him around, while she took a temporary leave from her nursing duties, much to the other nursing crew's shock and reluctance, but were convinced once she explained Shiro's situation. Staying at the infirmary for, who-knows-how-long was clearly not an option for him, since they had agreed to find him something to do and join the newly found funeral parlor.
That inevitably brought them to the current situation at hand, they were currently walking around the halls of their hideout, while Hare was trying to decipher where she should begin in terms of finding a place for him in funeral parlor.
Shiro merely shook his head at Hare's question, which made her sweat drop. Well, the convenient and easy way wasn't going to work. Then an idea crossed her mind.
"Why don't we see how good you are at shooting?" It was a good place to start as any. Afterall, you couldn't send someone like Shiro on an actual mission, since, chances are, he's not even aware of what has happened in the last five years. At least, shooting was pretty easy, all you really had to do was aim and pull the trigger.
This earned her a bemused look and a slightly confused nod in return, but Hare just smiled reassuringly at him.
...
Soon enough they found themselves walking in a room filled with the sounds of gunshots. Hare was actually worried that this sight would terrify the young boy, which was only natural for kids his age that didn't grow up in the void realm, but he was just quietly observing the people that they were walking past. Now that she really got a closer look at him, Shiro was pretty short, by her estimate he was at Inori's chest level. For some reason, he also seemed a bit cautious and confused, though that could just be because of the amnesia.
"Are you okay?" Asked the brunette girl, which got the boy's attention.
"...Yeah" he said neutrally, albeit stubbornly. He looked and sounded a lot like a kid, who didn't want to admit that he was wrong no matter what.
Hare could only smile at the young boy in return and when she looked up she spotted a certain brunette in a wheelchair that she had been looking for, along with, her king and queen. Though, Ayase looked a bit frustrated, while eying a newbie who kept flinching and shirking whenever he fired the pistol in his hand. As they approached, they could hear a bit of their conversation.
"Are you sure you're up for this?" Ayase asked with narrowed eyes, while the man, who looked no younger than Shu, held onto the pistol with shaky hands.
"Y-yes Ma'am" This caused the brunette to sigh.
"Take your time" Ayase then spotted the pair approaching their way and slightly cheered up as she greeted them. "Oi, Hare, Shiro, what brings you here?" This caused the king and queen to turn around and smile at them, while Hare just returned it, Shiro looked slightly...oblivious...
"Hi, Ayase, Shu, Inori" Hare said in her cheerful manner, while Shiro just averted his gaze to the shaky man in front of them with an expression that seemed to say: "What's with this guy?"
Shu saw Shiro's expression and smiled in an amused way, like he was a father watching his child get interested with something that piqued the child's interest. Shu knew that the newbie had a long way to go, but to see a twelve year old with Amnesia look on with disapproval was just too cute. So jokingly he said...
"Want to have a try?" He asked the boy with a smile on his face. Shiro then looked at him with hisboblivious expression, while saying...
"I don't know how to use these..." That was a lie...Shiro had observed enough of the trainess to decipher how to work one of the guns they were using; you just load a magazine, pullback the top portion, aim and then fire at the target in front.
He was simply not willing to do it, while surrounded by a crowd of people he barely knew. He somehow felt a little uncomfortable with being around all these people.
"Shiro" Hare whinned playfully with a pout. "That's the whole reason we came here."
"It's pretty simple, y'know. You just aim and fire" Ayase explained with a shrug and a smile, before her expression turned into a sour one as she returned her gaze to the newbie in front of her. "Besides, I'm sure you can't be any worse than this guy" she jerked her head to the newbie's direction, which made the king and queen giggle knowingly, while this earned a confused look from Hare. Ayase simply gestured to the boards of plywood on the side, Hare looked at them and could only sweatdrop.
The bullets didn't even hit the target, it was always on the far edge of the board.
Still, inspite knowing that he could easily best this guy Shiro wasn't comfortable with showing off, while surrounded by a crowd of people
"H-hey, I know I've still got a long way to go, but I can't possibly be defeated by a kid"
Well, fuck it, he wasn't going to take that sitting down.
Shiro's attention as his head snapped back in attention to stare at the newbie with narrowed eyes and a frown. The way his head snapped, you would've thought that he broke his neck with how quick the motion was. Inori and the rest, for their part, looked amused because although the action was meant to be threatening, but the fact that it was being done by a twelve year old made it look cute; like seeing a boy wanting to prove someone wrong. Shiro, for his part, felt slightly annoyed and angry at the newbie. He felt irritated because he got the distinct impression that he was being underestimated. Evidently, he didn't like being underesitimated.
Wordlessly, he grabbed a spare pistol on the side and took a look at the magazine to make sure that it was loaded. He then ushered the newbie to step aside, which the newbie complied with a superior smirk on his face. Shiro then started to take aim at the target, while maintaining a proper hold on the gun, and not looking the least bit shaky.
Shu, Ayase, and Hare, for their part, just looked a bit taken aback; they hadn't expected Shiro to take things this far, but, apparently, he was. Inori, on the other hand, just watched calmly from the side.
"H-hey, Shiro. I was onl-" Shu's worried voice was interrupted by Shiro firing the first bullet, then another and another...until he emptied the whole magazine. Given the time interval between his shots, you would've thought that he was randomly firing without aiming, which made the newbie chuckle amusedly after the magazine was finished, but his laughter got caught in his throat when he saw the holes on the plywood...or rather hole.
On the plywood that held the target, there was only one hole, and it was right in the head of the target.
Technically speaking, Shiro fired 15 rounds. So there should've been 15 holes, but there was only one hole...
When was the last time Shu and Ayase saw something like this? Ah, that's right, five years ago with Inori. Maybe that was where the nostalgia came from.
Ayase, for her part, just looked at the plywood in astonishment, while Shu just looked at it in disbelief. Inori nodded with approval and a smile, while Hare looked like she had just experienced three consecutive heart attacks during the timeframe. Who could blame her, a twelve year old boy had just fired a conventional firearm not 5 feet away from her, she had become pretty tough during her time in the void realm, but she never would've been prepared to see this because Inori never sent kids into the frontlines.
Shiro, then, walked over to Ayase with an innocent child-like expression on her face.
"Did I do it right, Ayase-nee-chan?" Shiro said with a tone reminiscent of a child wanting to show off something to his parents, he then turned to the Newbie and said " You should practice more, Onii-chan." He said with the same innocent tone.
"Even a twelve year old is better than you" Ayase complained irritatedly to the still paralyzed newbie, though still feeling a bit of the shock.
"H-how?" Was all the newbie could say, while Shiro just looked at him confusedly.
"Huh...? But it was really easy. All you had to do was aim at the target and fire" Shiro said matter-of-factly still maintaining his facadé, until Inori walked over to him and pat his head in a motherly way, which caused the boy to blush slightly and look away.
"Where did you learn that?" Inori asked curiously.
"I just watched what the others were doing" Shiro said matter-of-factly and casually with a shrug while still looking a bit uncomfortable with the physical contact.
It wasn't completely a lie, Shiro doubted that he would be able to get the same results if he hadn't observed a few newbies first, but he also got a strange inkling that he had done this before...like his muscles remembered the all too familiar sensation of aiming and pulling the trigger.
How strange...
"You okay there, Hare?" Shu's worried voice managed to snap Hare out of her reverie. Blniking a few times, she then started to look at Shiro with a dumbfounded look. She knew that she was the one whi brought him here to train how to use a gun, but at the time he expected him to be a bit more...reluctant and hesitant; she assumed that she had never done this before. So seeing him, not only holding the gun with a proper stance, but also never missing the target once, was enough to surprise her. Hare then nodded at the brunette king, before looking at Shiro with a pout.
"Geez, Shiro, you could've told me that you were already good at this before we got here" she said with playfully narrowed eyes.
"But I've never even done any of this before...at least I don't think I have. I just watched what the others were doing and immitated them...it's just a natural talent I guess" He said in his defense with an innocent and oblivious tone coloring his voice.
"Still, if you're already this good, should you even train here?" Hare said with a questioning expression, but Ayase was the one who interjected
"Even though you're somesort of marksman, that doesn't excuse him from training. Since he's a pretty good shot, you can just leave him here to train with the rest." Ayase said with a smile. While Inori, Shu and Hare nodded at the suggestion, Shiro felt a bit more reluctant saying...
"Are you sure, Ayase-nee-chan? I'd hate to cause you any trouble." Shiro said with a bit of concern, while subconsciously eying her wheelchair.
This little tangent was answered by several responses; Shu smiling knowingly with closed eyes, Inori giving the boy a smile of pity, Hare cringing in anticipation, and Ayase putting on a sickeningly sweet smile as she extended her hand. Well, this can't possibly end good.
"That's awfully kind of you, Shiro" Ayase said with the same sweet voice, while Shiro just looked at her hand with uncertainty.
For some unknown reason, Shiro felt a horrible premonition about the scenario...that he chose to ignore.
"It's alr-"
He didn't even get to finish his last sentence because the next thing he knew he was on the floor looking up at them with a dazed expression looking like he didn't have any idea what had just transpired in the last few miliseconds.
...
After being left with Ayase for a few minutes, Shiro got the same results with his targets; regardless of what caliber weapon he was using. Seeing as that there was very little for him to improve on when it comes to his marksman skills, Ayase decided to pass him on to Haruka and Keido.
They never really got a confirmation of what Shu really was; Genesis or Human. So Ayase thought that it would be slightly helpful for him and the rest of the gang to know what he really was. Besides, she thought that Shiro would feel a bit better after finding out something about himself that he didn't exactly know; with his amnesia and all.
Haruka and Keido have always been busy running tests on the Genesis ever since funeral parlor was estavlished a few days ago. They were genuinely curious on what makes them different, how they improved, what were their limits, etc. So they should be able to tell whether Shiro was a Genesis or not with just a few tests. With that said, they entered a room filled with several viles, tubes, beds, tread mills, other futuristic looking machinery that Ayase failed to distinguish, and a lot of Genesis hooked up on machines, while performing their own respective tasks. Seriously, did they just walk in one of those super soldier programs or something
Even though this room was huge and was filled with a lot of people they managed to find Haruka and Keido, while they were observing a Genesis wearing something that looked like VR goggles with wires sticking out every which way.
"So, was the subject able to pass all the requirements" Ayase said with a voice and tone that sounded like a mad scientist from an old movie inquiring on their latest experiment. This in turn earned her a good-natured laugh and a glare.
"This is not a cliché mad scientist movie, this is actual work that needs to be taken seriously" Keido replied with a glare, while Haruka just laughed in good nature.
"Oh give her a break, Keido." Haruka said cheerfully, before turning to Ayase and Shiro. "Evening, Ayase and...oh...who's this?" Haruka eyed Shiro playfully, which in turn made him look at her obliviously and innocently with his red eyes. Haruka seemed to have lost her composure and looked at the boy with shock. She started to look like she was visibly trying to make sense of what she was seeing right now; Red eyes plastered on a 12-year-old brunette boy's face.
She knew that it was impossible and that she was just being silly, but the evidence that was staring right in the face (literally) was keeping her from forming any rational thoughts and explanations. Her mind was filled with nothing, the thought of her being the grandma to Shu and Inori's twelve year old son. However, her brain offered nothing further than does not compute.
Luckily, before her brain could get fried with the extra processing power, Ayase had decided to pipe in.
"His features are probably just a coincidence, Hare found him outside and we sort of decided to let him join instead of leaving him out in Tokyo by himself" Ayase said with a small amused smile directed towards the now mellowing red face of Shu's stepmom; visibly calming down after that explanation. Keido, on the other hand, didn't take too kindly to what they had he had just heard Ayase say.
"And you all thought that bringing in a child to a terrorist group aiming to prevent the fifth apocalypse was a good idea?" Keido said with a disapproving and disbelieving tone coloring his voice. Keido thought that this was beyond ludicrous; letting a twelve-year-old join funeral parlor?! They were a terrorist group not a day care center. "Honestly, what is it with you kids these days" he grumbled, much to Ayase's irrtation as she narrowed her eyes at the former Daath member.
"Well, it's certainly better than leaving him out on the streets to die, while getting in the crossfire" Ayase said witha bit of venom in her voice.
"thousands of people in Tokyo that are simply trying to survive are in the crossfire, what difference does one child make?"
"For one thing, he's quite the marksman, better than any of the newbies out there anyway." Ayase said with a bit of pride and irritation.
"So, you're sending a child out in the frontlines?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, which earned hima terrifying glare from the endlave pilot.
"You tell me? Weren't you the one who was trapped in the void realm for the last five years? Do you think Inori would send him out on the frontlines?" Ayase said in Shiro's defense.
"So what is the use of a marksman, if you can't send him in the frontlines. Not only will it be a waste of supplies, but of potential firepower as well." Keido argued, slightly getting irritated with this argument.
"How about having some extra firepower back at home, did you think of that?" Ayase yelled in her frustration. Shiro had potential, despite being burdened by his memory loss, so the fact that someone was saying otherwise sort of got Ayase riled up for some reason.
"So our last line of defense is 12-year-old. I'm so relieved" Keido said with a voice dripping of sarcasm.
The tension between the two had visibly gotten palpable and tangible and the silence (minus the beeping noises from the machines) didn't help defuse the situation either. Haruka, who had just gotten over her bearing, was the one who got in between the two.
"Okay will you two stop it already, especially you, Keido!" Haruka simply stared disapprovingly at her brother, which was responded by a "hmph" Honestly, his brother could be so unreasonable sometimes. She wasn't really at ease with the idea of involving a twelve year old either, but since Shu and Inori thought it was okay and considering the information that Ayase told in her argument...
She couldn't help, but feel proud at her son. The mere fact that his son and his girlfriend had taken in this young boy, who has practically lost everything he once had, inspite of their current situation just made her feel warm and fuzzy inside. It just goes to show, that deep down he was still the kind and wimpy boy that he had been despite, maturing these past 5 years and the fact that this boy was standing here was proof of that.
"So, Ayase, who is this boy?" Haruka decided to change the topic. Ayase tore her glare away from Keido and answered Haruka with a small smile.
"This is Shiro, apparently, Hare found him outside the hideout and then we decided to test him out for the next week, to see if he can make it as an undertaker." Ayase explained with a shrug, while eying the boy with a small smile; ignoring the scoff that came from Keido.
"A twelve year old marksman that Hare just stumbled on, huh?" Haruka said amusedly while playfully rubning her chin in mock thought, while eying the boy in question, whose expression had shifted from a determined glare directed towards Keido to his oblivious expression when he looked at Haruka. Haruka then bent down to his level.
"Hello there, Shiro. You can call me Haruka" she stated with her well-known affectionate voice that she uses for Shu. Truth be told, she was beginning to treat her like how she treated Shu when he was only twelve years old.
"Ha-ru-ka?" Haruka simply nodded encouragingly.
"Say Shiro, what brings you here?" She asked, but Shiro only looked at Ayase; who was as tall as he was because of her wheelchair.
"Well, he's kind of special, so I thought you'd like a new science project to work on" Ayase said with a shrug, but before Haruka could respond, Keido decided to interject.
"This is not some high school science fair! What we are doing here is serious, therefore we cannot afford to waste any time on some boy that you found outside. If anything, we're trying to find the extent of our allies' abilities. Now if you'll excuse us..." Keido grabbed Ayase's arm and was about to guide her out, when another hand grabbed Keido's by his wrist.
They all looked at Shiro...only to see him glaring determinedly at Keido.
Keido, for his part, felt slightly shocked and mostly dumbfounded by this development. Not because a boy was standing up to him, but because said boy was actually capable of restricting his arm's movements and that he actually felt uncomfortable under this boy's grip. He had evolved, so a human shouldn't be capable of restricting him like this, let alone a twelve-year-old boy.
Ayase, on the other hand, looked irritated by Keido's hand, but that irritaion quickly turned into shock when she saw Shiro's hand. When she looked at Shiro before, she had only seen an innocent boy who appeared to be lost in a world he didn't understand, but now all he could see was a boy who was determined to do anything to keep her safe. At first, she thought that this was impulsive and pointless, since Keido had evolved, but for some reason Shiro was actually restricting him, which was the source of her shock.
Shiro, for his part, caught himself off guard with what he was doing right now, but he didn't withdraw. He had felt irritated with the newbie before for underestimating him, but this feeling was different. He felt as if Ayase was in danger and that he should...no...had to do something to stop it. Before he could stop himself, he had grabbed Keido's hand, which was on Ayase's arm quickly and harshly. Along with the emotion of anger, he felt a very peculiar sensation, like warm water was flowing through his frame. It was more focused on his hand and arm, but he could feel the same sensation over his whole body, though fainter.
Haruka, for her part, looked like she was about to protest and give her brother a scolding, but stopped halfway when Shiro grabbed Keido by the arm. Her first response was to restrain his brother, should he do anything too rash, but her expression gradually slackened and turned into to curiosity, when she saw that Keido wasn't able to break free; that he was being held back by Shiro. Ayase told her that she was special, but she never expected this...a boy who's stronger than a grown Genesis man...
"Let, Ayase-nee-chan, go" Shiro voice slowly left his mouth and sounding through the room; seething with a determined and angry voice.
Keido just scoffed, still looking a bit shocked by the fact that he still couldn't break free from his grip. He obsevred Shiro only narrowed his eyes; his anger growing more evident. Then his eyes widened when he saw...no...it had to be his imagination...that was utterly ridiculous.
The sound of bone protesting as it was being bended and broken in an unnatural way filled the silence in the room, as Keido's expression distorted with disbelief and pain while Shiro started to bend his forearm in his anger.
The fact that this human boy was, not only capable of restricting his movement, but also breaking and bending his arm was enough to shock Keido into letting go of Ayase's arm and stepping back in surprise and found himself still be restrained by Shiro's grip. Shiro had let go shortly after that, but the determined glare never left his face.
"Don't. Hurt. Ayase-nee-chan. Again." Shiro made sure to emphasize every word to get his point across.
Keido could only stare at his now broken forearm in disbelief and intrigue. Just a few seconds ago, he had mocked this boy for being too weak to be an undertaker and now said boy had just caused him a major injury; HIM an evolved Genesis. There was clearly more to this boy than meets the eye and that was something he and Haruka had to find out. Despite the pain he was feeling right now, he felt like a new scientific venture and discovery has just been laid out in front of him; one that was too good to ignore. This could turn the tides for this war.
"Haruka, I'm going to get my arm fixed" looking and sounding slightly dazed as he robotically went out the room.
Shiro, slightly looking surprised by his sudden outburst, looked at the door where Keido had disappeared to with mild shock.
"Oh." He then turned to Haruka while repeatedly bowing. " S-sorry, Haruka-nee-chan, I didn't mean to do that much. He was about to hurt Ayase-nee-chan and I just stopped him"
Partially recovering from the initial shock, Haruka offered Shiro dismissive waves of her hand and said immediately and flusteredly.
"O-oh you don't have to worry about that. Keido can be a real jerk sometimes, it's good to see him put in his place once in a while." Haruka said with an awkward scratch of her head and nervous laughing. In truth, she felt the same intrigue that Keido had felt before.
Shiro then turned to Ayase, about to the same thing, but she just rubbed the top of his head affectionately and reassuringly before he could get the chance.
"You don't have to worry about that, he deserved it" Ayase said witha smirk on her face, which brought a smile on Shiro's face.
However, Ayase couldn't help, but think about what had just happened. She looked Haruka who gave her a look that assured her that they were having the same thought.
There was more to Shiro than meets the eye.
...
...
And that concludes the first chapter for my first attempt at a guilty crown story.
Once again I'd like to thank GuiltyKingOumaShu for lending me his setting and mechanics, which will be used in the future chapters, as well as, reviewing. :)
Once again, I encourage you all to leave a review and feel free to follow/favorite my little story.