Reclaiming the Throne

by GuiltyKingOumaShu

5 years has it been since Shu had fallen from his throne and lost his crown. But now, just as he is about to accept his crushing defeat and live with the bitter taste of loss, he makes the sudden realization that only death can end a king's reign. He may be a fallen one, but a king he still is nonetheless. He will reclaim his throne and reunite with his queen or die trying.

6. God Save the Queen

Wow, holy crap. Just look at the time! No update in almost two months! Madness! Well, what can I say? I screwed up, horribly. There are many reasons for this huge delay. Mainly my mistake to evaluate the length of a certain arc I had planned beforehand. In my head, this whole void realm business was supposed to be a short arc that should have ended quickly, but I just failed to see how big it really was until I had to write it down. Now that I finally finished writing it, I see that its length is 47k words! That's MORE than the length of the WHOLE story up to this point. You could say that with this update, I will pretty much double the length of this story which is just sick. How could I have been so wrong about this arc's length? I will never know.

What I should have done, though, is splitting this up and giving it to you in bits. Yet I made another huge mistake. I promised for Inori to appear in my next update, right? As soon as I realized that the whole arc was getting longer than I previously intended it to be, I could do nothing but curse at my stupidity to have done that. Now I was forced to either break my promise and bring an non-Inori update, or stick to it and make everyone wait. I obviously ended up choosing the latter option, because I don't wanna be called a liar. I fail so hard, lol.

With that being said, I have to say that I WILL be splitting up my huge ass chapter in two to enable you, my dear readers, to take a break after about 16k words. But since you will be getting the WHOLE chapter, just split into two for easier reading, you will STILL get Shu and Inori's reunion. Just not in THIS chapter, but the next. So rest assured regarding that matter.

Before you start digging yourself through this endless amount of words which happened to fill 80 pages in MS Word, I would use this opportunity to thank my dear readers blazingreaper, NeoN120291, RTNknight, DukeScarlet, WLLXTREM, Aquamirandallen1, david42, as well as my guest reviewers: Tom37, Giarc, Radriar29, exopilot99 and the countless anonymous guests for their continuous support. I would especially thank every registered reviewer because not only did they review my story, they also sent PMs to make sure I wasn't dead after this month-long hiatus. Words can't express how much that made me happy. Not only does this show that you actually enjoy reading this, you also care enough to not see this story getting abandoned. I am grateful for that, really. I hope I can make you all stay with me until the day i finally manage to bring this fic to an end.

Sorry to all those guests who asked questions in their reviews. I have no idea how to answer you, since there is no way to contact you.

I guess that's all I have to say for now. Enjoy your read and make sure to tell me what you thought of it afterwards.

---

God Save the Queen

The flight back "home" wasn't particularly enjoyable due to Shu's haste, but it at least saved them a lot of time. The king figured that a walk by foot would have at least taken them about an hour or more, where his speed flight had shortened the travel time drastically to only a couple of minutes.

Before they could actually approach the giant cluster of crystals that was Inori's fortress, though, they were intercepted by two men who also flew through the air thanks to their voids. The first one was a man in his mid 20s and wasn't of Japanese origin. Shu could tell that from the military uniform the stranger wore. It clearly said "U.S Army" on it. That wasn't all that surprising as the apocalypse hadn't only affected Japan during the peak of the crisis. The king was unable to tell the hair color of the stranger, for whatever the man in front of him may have had left of his hair, was kept hidden under the army cap he wore on his head. Only the stubbles of his three-day-beard could have been an indication for black hair. His eyes had a faint green color and thus matched the camouflage on the uniform the man worse. His void looked like some sort of jetpack which he wore on his back. It emitted blue flames that apparently kept him airborne. There also were two pipe-like cannons on each of his shoulders with a faint blue glow coming out of them. It wasn't very hard to guess that these things could spew some kind of energy projectiles which would clearly hurt like hell should someone make contact with them. Shu wasn't all too keen on finding out about that.

The second man was a teen. Probably something between 17 or 19. It wasn't as easy to figure out his origin as it was with the soldier next to him, but he didn't seem to be Japanese either or at least hasn't been in Japan for a very long time. He had tanned skin to such an extent that he obviously had to have lived in a very sunny region unless he had been to the tanning salon for every day in his life. He lacked any sort of Asian facial features as well and had short black hair, dark brown eyes and wore some baggy shorts alongside a long red T-shirt. Shu could see some expensive looking sneakers adorning the feet of the youth as well as an ear clip on his right ear. Everything about this kid screamed "Islander!" to Shu and he wasn't sure if he was right about that or just being stereotypical. The void the laid back young man rode was a hover board with nothing special to say about it. It flew which was pretty much its only function as far as Shu could tell. If he had to guess, he would assume that the jetpack was at least A rank where the hover board was B at most.

"You are entering a flying ban area. Identify yourselves and state your business." Was what the army-guy told them. What surprised Shu was the fluent Japanese the guy was able to speak. That were some serious language skills that guy put to display there. It was quite impressive.

Shu for his part just gave them a joking smirk. "Flying ban? Aren't you guys flying, too?"

The easy going youth chuckled, obviously agreeing that Shu had a point there and earned a stern look from his partner for that. The military man then directed his attention back to Shu.

"If you have to know, sir, I will inform you that we are on patrolling duty to make sure no one with the ability to fly gets past this point as of Queen Inori's orders."

Hare only groaned at that. "Oh, that's right. I forgot that since I am no flyer. Still, you guys could as well make an exception seeing as it is ME. You know, the girl who patched you guys up more than once?" She looked at them with pleading eyes and the hoverboarding guy was about to say something when he was cut off by the soldier.

"No exceptions, ma'am."

"Come on, Jimmy. Cut that army crap. She clearly is one of us and can be trusted." That was the first thing Shu had heard the Islander say.

"It is called 'taking your duty seriously'. Something you obviously still have to learn, boy." The U.S. soldier whose name appeared to be "Jimmy" said.

"Don't call me 'boy', man. It's Juan and you know that." The youth called Juan stated with a growl. "Besides, this is patrolling duty. The most boring duty there is."

"Doesn't change the fact that this is important so you better take this seriously. It is our obligation to make sure the civilians back home are safe. What if they were Mana's spies or if they came to launch an air attack? You ever thought about that?"

"Hare? A Mananite? Best joke I have heard in a while." He gave off a snort, apparently holding back a laugh.

Shu raised a brow at that. Mananite? A term that referred to Mana's soldiers? Hare noticed his confusion, so she whispered: "We used to call Mana's soldiers 'Mana knights'…it was shorter than calling them her soldiers all the time. Over time, it just became 'Mananite' and we decided to leave it that way. Especially since there never was anything knightly about them in the first place."

Meanwhile, the little discussion between both guards continued.

"Yeah? And what about that stranger she is with? What if he is dangerous?"

"Dude, he's with Hare, how dangerous could he be?" Juan shrugged it off.

"Ever heard of those voids that could create clones? What if this isn't even Hare?"

Said girl only sighed with closed eyes. "The current security code is 62KB. If that's not enough then I can give you the previous one which was 79LP…and the one before that was…" She was about to continue announcing random codes which didn't make sense to Shu when Jimmy decided he had heard enough and cut her off.

"I get it. The codes are correct. You must be Hare, alright."

"See? Told ya." Juan showed them all his biggest grin. "So who's he?" He wanted to know afterwards. He pointed at Shu while asking.

"A friend." Was all she said to them. To Shu's surprise, they both just nodded as if that was all they needed to know. That's why he couldn't help but give them a puzzled look while asking:

"You two are fine with that explanation?"

The American just folded his arms in front of his chest and nodded. "Hare was there for me when I needed help. I trust her with my life. If she says you are a friend, then that's all I need to know."

"Same here!" Juan agreed.

The brown haired king smiled when he heard that. Unlike the Tennouzu thugs, these guys actually trusted each other. That certainly was a good sign.

"The name's Ouma Shu. Nice to meet you."

He noticed how both of the men shared a meaningful look before turning their attention back to him.

"THE Ouma Shu?" They asked in unison, disbelief clearly showing on their faces.

"Better believe it, guys. He's the real deal." Hare answered with a huge grin. Shu only laughed nervously.

The confirmation of Shu's identity obviously delighted the guards as they commenced to cheer and high fiving each other.

"Finally, that means we get to leave this rat hole, right? Hell yeah!" Juan happily made some backflips with his hover board and held his arms high into the air while yelling: "Kiss my ass good-bye, you damn realm of the void! Wooooh!" His voice echoed through the whole area before finally fading.

"Not so hasty, Juan. That was only the theory, remember? Leave the cheering for when we actually get out of here." It was Jimmy who tried to get his friend back into reality. They weren't free yet, after all.

"Right." The youth scratched the back of his head while smiling sheepishly. "So what's the plan?"

Shu didn't even need time to think for an answer. "First I want to see Inori. Everything else can wait until after that."

"Of course." Jimmy nodded understandingly. "You both probably have a lot to talk about. Please, follow us. We will escort you." With that he turned around and flew away, Shu followed suit with Juan covering the rear. They slowly made it to the ground and walked the rest of the way, which wasn't very much. Shu could clearly see their base already, figuring they would need about 5 minutes by foot…10 if they took it easy. The king decided he might as well continue the conversation for the duration of the trip.

"Thanks for the escort. Your name's Jimmy, right?"

"Oh, sorry for not introducing myself. I am Jim Adams. You can call me Jimmy. Everyone here does. That loud fella behind you is Juan Diaz. It's nice to finally meet you, Mr. Ouma. We have heard a lot about you."

"Shu's fine." Shu said with a smile. "You Japanese is pretty good, by the way. Have you been there before? In Japan, I mean."

"Nope, not even once in my whole life. I learned it all here. Bet my friends back home in L.A. would shit bricks if they saw me speaking all sorts of foreign languages. I definitely am going to show off once I get back." The soldier said with a huge grin.

"Languages?" The use of the word's plural form immediately caught Shu's attention. "You learned more than one?" He asked in bewilderment.

It was Juan who laughed at that. "Pff, please. I can speak at least twice as many languages as Mr. Muscles over there. I am pretty much fluent in Spanish, Italian, English, Japanese and Turkish. And I am getting the hang of French, too." He stated proudly while counting all those foreign tongues with his fingers. "Pretty impressive, right?"

Jimmy merely chuckled at that. "Quit joking around. Your Turkish sucks…and don't even get me started on your French. It's always a pain to hear that."

"Like you are one to talk…I don't know a thing about Russian, but even I can tell that you are pronouncing everything wrong. At least you got Japanese right or you would be in some serious trouble since no one would understand you."

Hare sighed at their antics. "Cut it out, boys. No fights between friends, remember?" Shu only stared at them in complete disbelief. They were kidding, right? They couldn't possible have learned all these ways of speaking now, could they? That's why he decided to ask them directly with a confused look on his face.

"You guys aren't serious, right?" It was Hare who answered him with a proud grin.

"They are, Shu. I've learned quite some stuff myself. German and English. A bit of French, too."

"Stop shitting me, Hare. You always sucked at languages."

"Das war früher, Dummerchen." Was what she told him with a wink. He just looked at her in utter disbelief. He didn't know a thing about German, but that sounded genuine enough. Especially since he knew Hare hadn't been able to utter a single foreign sentence for the heck of it in the past. She giggled at his shocked face and continued to talk.

"We got a lot of different people from all over the world in our community. When Inori took charge, people had to learn Japanese in order to understand her or there wouldn't have been a point. Luckily, most of this world's population is Japanese, so people had plenty of opportunities to learn. Not only did we all have lots of time to kill while being off-duty, we also realized that we somehow could easily learn new stuff if we put enough effort into it. Before people knew it, they were remembering vocabulary and pronunciation by talking with other people. Once everyone got fluent in Japanese, they pretty much started learning every other language they were interested in. It sort of became a hobby for everyone, since there wasn't exactly much to do in their free time."

"And that's it? You all learned multiple foreign languages in 5 years? No, sounds more like you MASTARED them. This is freaking unbelievable…"

"Well, it seemed to be more than 5 years to us, but I can understand your disbelief. All I can say is that it probably has to do with the evolution we had gone through. Maybe it made us smarter?" She figured with a shrug.

"More like geniuses…people usually get to learn 3 different languages at most and even those not necessarily fluent. Heck, I can't even speak proper English while you apparently know enough to move to Europe or North America and start a new life there."

She just smirked at him "Jealous?"

"Pff, who would be…?" Shu stated while pouting and looking away.

"Don't worry, I will teach you some day." She told him with a smile while poking his cheek that was turned at her.

"I'll pass. You suck at teaching anyway."

Now it was Hare's turn to pout. "That's mean. I always tried my best, you know…"

"Yeah, that's true. Though in the end, we still always had to ask Yahiro for help, remember?" He told her, but she wasn't even listening anymore. He saw her sulking with teary eyes.

"Uuuu~…I do not suck at teaching." She said absently. The brown haired man simply sighed and patted her head.

"There, there…"

The small group of four reached the crystal fortress right after that. Since he was now on the ground, Shu could see nothing other than the tall and sturdy looking wall that obviously held unwanted visitors at bay. Guards could be spotted at the top of these walls, as well as on the ground, right outside the defensive structure. Something which struck him as odd…why would you place people outside the wall, when it would be so much more efficient to let them stand on it? While he was wondering about that, they closed in on the two men who stood in front of the wall casually.

They both wore pretty expensive looking suits and shades which made them look like some kind of secret service. They also wore gold necklaces and Shu thought he had spotted a tattoo which was partly hidden behind one guy's neck. One of them had brown hair and leaned against the wall with folded arms while the other one with black hair simply stood there with his hands in his pockets, apparently talking to each other. Shu thought they looked pretty intimidating…like members of a yakuza gang or something.

"They say this world is supposed to provide us with everything we need, right? Well, I sure as hell miss alcohol…"They could hear the one leaning against the wall say with an annoyed voice.

"I hear you…I would kill for some cigarettes, too." His partner agreed. They then seemed to notice the new arrivals. "'Sup, guys? Is your patrol duty already over?" The question was obviously directed at Jimmy and Juan.

"No, we just happened to run into someone interesting and decided to bring him here. We will return to our post once we showed him around a bit." Jimmy explained and pointed at the brown haired man they had brought with them. The yakuza men took a look at Shu once they had heard that.

"That guy? Never seen him before. What's with him?" They wanted to know.

"That's Shu! He is the king we have been waiting for!" Hare said with a big smile.

"King, eh?" The yakuza guards gave each other a look with folded arms, not looking impressed at all. "Says who?"

Hare's expression turned into an annoyed one. "He does, I do and if that's not enough for you, then I will let you know that Inori says so, too."

"Really now? 'Cause this is the first time I even heard that there was a king in this place. All I know is that there are two queens, one of which is a mad bitch and the other one who is our boss. I don't know any kings."

"Oi, you never listened to Inori's stories?" Was what Juan asked them angrily. "How could you not know?"

"We heard her stories, alright. But never did she refer to anyone as 'king'. It was you guys who automatically assumed that Ouma Shu was the king, just because some hobo called Keido told you he was." The brown haired guard stated with an unimpressed voice. The other one nodded.

"Yea, and besides…how should we know that he IS that famous Ouma Shu she kept talking about in the first place? It's not like we have a clue how he even looks like…to be honest, I kinda imagined him to look stronger, or scarier. The person you brought here just looks like your average guy."

Shu merely chuckled at that. Back at home he was either regarded as some kind of super hero or the biggest scumbag there ever was. To finally meet someone who thought he was "average" was a welcomed change in things. However, he wanted to get in, so he had to change their impression of him for the better. With an amused expression he stepped up to the black haired guard and looked right through his shades and deep into his eyes. "I suppose you want some proof then?"

"Well, y-yeah…?" The man in front of him replied nervously as he noticed Shu's eyes becoming redder and the glowing hole which appeared on his own chest. "Hey, how the fuck are you doing that?"

Shu lifted his right hand up and turned the back of it to the guard so he could see the symbol of the power of kings that had magically appeared on it. "See that? When this appears I can pull out other people's voids. Let me show you."

He shifted his weight and readied himself for what appeared to be a strike with his hand. Before the guard could prepare himself, the king had used his power to quickly thrust his right hand into the man's chest only to immediately pull it out again. What appeared in his palm was a void in form of a small caliber pistol. The guard only groaned in pain and bewilderment due to Shu's roughness during this whole process. He felt like he had just been hit by a truck and was about to fall unconscious, but Shu simply put the void into the man's hand which brought him back to his senses instantly. Both yakuza men just blinked at the king's display of his own power, apparently not able to fully understand what they had just witnessed. It all had happened in a couple of seconds.

"And that, gentlemen, was the power of kings. Any questions?" Shu asked with a big grin to which the guards just exchanged confused looks, followed by looking at the just-extracted void in the black haired man's grip.

"Dude…he just pulled out your void…no one was ever able to do that…" The brown haired guard said in shock. "It also matches the stories. You know…him pulling out voids and stuff?"

"Yeah, it does." The other guard agreed while massaging the back of his neck tiredly. He then faced Shu again. "Still, you could have done this in a more gentle way…what was the point in almost knocking me out?"

"You sounded disappointed when you said you thought I would look stronger in your imagination. I thought I would do you a favor by at least showing you that I am not weak." Shu explained with a smirk. "Satisfied now?"

"Satisfied my ass…that hurt, y'know? Tch, whatever…" The black haired yakuza-guy faced the rest of the group. "I'll let you all in…bring him to the queen and keep an eye on him. I will be responsible if he turns out to be dangerous since I was the one who let him through. If I get scolded by the boss, I will make sure to let my frustration out on you all, got it?"

"Yeah, yeah…" They all waved it off since they knew that wasn't going to happen anyway and stepped forward towards the wall after telling the guards their security codes. Shu wondered how they would get in, since he saw no gateway of some sort. All there was in front of them, was a huge, hard crystal wall. That's when the brown haired guard, who leaned against it, simply touched it with his hand, which in return made the wall start glowing faintly.

"Alright, the gate is open. Go." Were the guard's words. Shu only looked at him questioningly.

"Uh…go where exactly? There is a crystal wall in front of us…"

"Hah! Watch!" Juan laughed and touched the wall. As soon as he had done that, a glowing hole appeared at the spot he had touched it. The king watched in amazement as the youth in front of him simply stepped into said hole. Next thing he knew, the boy had already vanished…as had the strange 'gateway'.

"Holy-…! He just merged with the crystal!" He said while stepping back in shock. "How is that possible?" Hare was quick again to raise her finger and explain in an all-knowing manner.

"Evolution, remember? We can merge with crystals if we want to. These in front of us are special, though, as we can only go through them, when they are activated. Only the guards can switch them on and off because Inori gave them the right to do so."

"That's insane…just how powerful did you all get? Improved senses, the ability to draw your own voids, merging with crystals…what's next? X-ray vision?" Shu asked, completely baffled.

Hare only grinned mischievously at that. "Now wouldn't you like that, huh? But nope, no such thing. Come on. It's your turn now. Try it!" She pushed him forward with him looking slightly reluctant. After all, he was just about to become one with a structure for god's sake! Who knows how that would feel like…?

"Wait, Hare…I am not ready for this! Can't I just fly over the barricade?" He protested while constantly getting pushed nearer to the gate.

"If the guys on top of the wall see someone flying, they will shoot them down. That's the rules. Only way in and out are the gates, so you guys better move it." Jimmy said while passing them with a shrug. "I will be waiting on the other side. Don't keep us waiting!" And with that he simply walked into the crystal wall like it was nothing. Was it really that easy or did it only look that way because they were used to it?

"Fine, I get it…stop pushing, will you?" Shu said while stepping away from Hare. "So what do I do? Just walk into it?"

"Pretty much. You just think about passing it and then you simply do it. It isn't hard. Like walking through water, only that you don't have to hold your breath. Come on, give it a try!" She explained while cheering him on enthusiastically.

"Easy for you to say…" He grumbled silently, so that the girl couldn't hear. Another skeptical look at the crystals and a heavy gulp later, he finally found the resolve to move forward. "Well, I guess here goes nothing!"

With these words he then touched the gate. At first nothing happened, but he then remembered that he had to think about passing the wall for it to work, so he envisioned himself actually walking through it. And to his surprise, the hand which touched the wall actually sunk into the crystals like it was nothing at all, despite the obvious sturdiness the wall had displayed only moments ago. He turned around to his brown haired childhood friend who only nodded at him with a kind smile, urging him to go on. And so he turned around again and continued to venture forward until his whole body had vanished into the structure.

The experience of being inside a crystal wasn't as special as he had previously assumed, yet was still kind of fascinating. As soon as he had stepped through the surface of the wall, he had found himself inside of it. The best thing he could compare the interior of the defensive structure with, was a tunnel, which he had just entered sideways. The barricade appeared to be completely hollow to him on the inside, despite being at least ten meters wide. He could look to the left and endlessly stare into a corridor, then he could turn to the right side and see the same. If he was right to assume that this wall surrounded their base, then he would probably be able to start walking into one of these two directions and eventually end up here again at one point, making one run around their whole camp. Another interesting fact was, that he could look outside through the crystal's surface as if it was made of glass…something he wasn't able to do when he had still been outside. That he was sure of.

He made use of that ability to take a glimpse at Hare, who was still outside. She said something to the two yakuza guards and then stepped in, leaving them to themselves again.

"See? It wasn't that hard." Was what she said to him as soon as she had appeared next to him.

"True, but why is this wall hollow on the inside?" He asked her that since he found it to be odd. What was the point of a hollow barricade? Even under the assumption the crystals themselves were as hard as diamonds, it would still be foolish to not make them massive…there was also no point in the wall being so thick if all that was inside was air…

Hare only shook her head at that question. "The wall isn't hollow. It's massive. It only looks that way because we are passing through it. It's easier to move around that way." She explained.

"…I see…so if this all is actually massive…that makes this wall a pretty tough obstacle, right?" Shu realized while taking a look around him again.

Hare nodded. "It is. It was never breached in all these years, though there was a time Mana had launched an air attack and killed a lot of civilians on the other side. Hence the flying ban in and around the city. It's easier to make sure the enemy stays outside that way."

"That was probably a smart decision…you even got security codes and stuff. I can't believe Inori came up with something like that. I certainly wouldn't have."

"She didn't have to come up with all that stuff alone. People are glad to share their ideas around here. The security code was introduced because people were afraid of spies tricking the guards to get through the wall where they could start to either kill the defenseless civilians or collect information about their enemy. In certain intervals, the guy in charge of all the guards changes the code and tells the new one to the guards. Whenever someone leaves, they will get the new code told to them. When they return, they have to repeat the code. If it is correct, they can enter, if not, they get two more tries. If they fail again, they get killed." She explained.

Shu looked somewhat shocked when he heard that. "Killed? That's rather harsh…"

His childhood friend only shrugged, albeit not looking exactly happy about that fact as well. "It is, but it is better than taking the risk of letting enemies into our home. This place has to stay safe at ALL costs, since there are a lot of people living here who simply cannot fight. Besides, the code itself is rather simple. It is easy to remember it and even if you get captured by Mananites and forced to tell it to them, you could easily give them a fake…they would never know unless they tried, which would be their doom."

"Clever, but people could still find their way around that…"

"True, but the guards have been in charge for a long while. Since there hasn't been any newcomer in ages, they have started remembering the faces of everyone in our community. If someone strikes them as suspicious, they will be denied entry until the suspicion is lifted. That makes infiltrating our base a lot harder, I think."

"I suppose you are right. These guards also seemed pretty tough. Not easily impressed, either. Guess they are the right guys for the job."

"That's the Italian mafia for you. They sure as hell know their stuff." She noticed Shu's doubtful look and couldn't help but grin at that.

"Did you just say mafia? So they really were yakuza?" He asked her in shock and took another look outside, where both men from before were still standing, backs turned towards them.

"Well, it's not like they SAID they were from the mafia, but everybody thinks they are. They all know each other and claim to have worked in a 'family business'. Apparently said 'family business' had a 'business meeting' at the day of the last apocalypse. When the virus struck them, half their gang ended up here. No one really cares, through…not anymore. These guys know how to kill and thus keep us save. Plus, in all these years they have never turned against us, which pretty much earned them their place."

"So you mean to tell me these criminals are actually good people?"

The girl made a troubled expression and said: "They probably weren't before they came here and probably won't be should we ever leave, but we share a common goal here which is survival, so we all stick together. No matter what we once were, we are allies now. Besides, they are all loyal to Inori…some people think they might think of her as their new mafia boss or something…"

"I see…" Shu replied with a nod and tried to not laugh at the mafia boss comment, which was just way too ridiculous. He WAS concerned about them having criminals for allies, but well…being forced to live in a world like this changed people. If it could make Hare somewhat colder, why shouldn't it be able to make Mafiosi trusted allies? Who was he to complain when he hadn't been here in all these years to help his friends when these gangsters actually had? If Hare said they were alright, then he would have to believe that. After all, she had been stuck with them for years. Who would know better than her?

"But still, gangsters taking orders from Inori…I guess now I have seen everything." Shu added with a grin. Hare couldn't help but laugh at that.

"You are right, though it may be because Inori's orders feel like she was asking a favor of you, unlike Mana, who forces you to obey. It might not hurt their pride as much that way, but who knows…" She voiced her thoughts with a smile. "Anyway, we should be going. There is still much to see…"

The king nodded and followed her to the other end of the wall, where he could already see lots of people walking around through the see-through crystals. When they both stepped out, he couldn't help but gaze at them all open mouthed. Hare had mentioned civilians and he had assumed that she had meant the F and D ranks by that, which was probably correct. The point in which he had been wrong, though, was that he had also assumed the civilians to sit around in groups while looking tired and weak…waiting for this situation to be finally over like "his" F ranks had used to in Tennouzu High. These F and D ranks, however, seemed to be rather content with their current situation, seeing as most of them were happily talking to each other while keeping a smile on their faces. There wasn't a single frown to be seen anywhere, which surprised him.

"These people don't seem to be that troubled about their situation in this world…" Shu stated while scratching his head. This certainly wasn't what he had expected.

"Of course they aren't. They are safe here." Came Jimmy's reply. The grown man had waited for them on the other side of the wall together with Juan like he had promised.

Juan folded his arms behind his head and leaned it against them. "These guys haven't seen death ever since the aerial assault and that was loooong ago. I bet some of them have even forgotten that there still is a war going on outside these walls." He explained while sounding a bit bored.

"Maybe, but that's alright. Seeing happy faces every time the soldiers come back from outside is good for morale. It gives them something to fight for. Something to protect." Jimmy added. "Plus, the civilians are making themselves useful despite being unable to fight."

Shu could see what Jimmy meant. There were a whole lot of people doing work around here. He could spot a guy with scissors for a void cutting people's hair that had grown too long. A washing machine like void obviously took care of dirty clothes while a group of girls with sewing-related tools seemed to be fixing said objects if they were torn. He figured that some of them could even have been able to create new clothes from scratch, seeing as there were more clothes around than people to wear them. He could also spot a woman in the back who apparently gave lessons to people by writing stuff on a big crystal which served as some kind of board to her. To sum it up: These people looked like they were pretty busy, even though they weren't taking part in the war whatsoever.

Not everyone appeared to be working, though. There were people sitting together playing cards or kids running around while kicking a ball. Both, cards and ball, were voids, of course. Shu had found it a bit reckless to be kicking a void around like these kids were doing with that ball, but he figured that not every void had to be as fragile as the ones he had seen break in his lifetime, so he let it go and smiled instead as he watched them play.

"You know there is still hope if kids manage to play around like that in a world such as this…" Shu said. Everybody nodded at that.

"That sounded like something an old man would say, but you are right, I guess" Hare said and giggled..

He narrowed his eyes on her and was about to complain about the "old man" remark, when he suddenly heard his name from somewhere, which obviously caught his attention.

"Man, I am telling you…I am Ouma Shu this time." The king looked into the direction he had heard the voice come from and was surprised to see two young boys talking to each other. Were they fighting?

"No fair. You were Shu last time. It's my turn now."

"Yeah, but my void is stronger than yours so obviously I have to be Shu. You can be Gai."

"Who wants to be Gai? You be Gai!"

"No way in hell!"

Shu looked at them in confusion. "What's up with them?" he asked his friends.

"They are playing around I guess. The kids like Inori's storys. Maybe they want to act like they were you and pretend they are saving the world? I think it's cute." Hare said with a sheepish smile to which Shu only sweat dropped. This was way too awkward.

"Why me? What happened to Spiderman and Batman?"

Juan only laughed at that. "Come on, don't be like that. Spiderman and Batman are only fiction. You, on the other hand, are the real deal. Of course you would be more popular."

Meanwhile, the kid's fight had escalated and the two little boys started using their fists and nasty looking kicks to sort out their differences.

"Uh…dunno, but shouldn't we stop them?" Jimmy said while watching the fight with a troubled expression.

Hare smirked and pushed Shu forward. "Right. Showtime, hero." The king stumbled a few steps forward and turned around to object, only to see the three of them giving him a thumbs-up and a reassuring smile. He frowned when he realized there was no way in hell that he was going to back out now, so he simply had to swallow the bitter pill and get it over with. What made this hard for him was the fact that he never had been good with children…he just never knew what to say to them, thanks to his crappy socializing skills he never got to improve during his high school days. Hopefully he had improved enough by now to still get this whole situation solved peacefully somehow.

"Hey boys, what's the matter?" he decided to start after he had walked up to them. They were both little kids, probably something between 8 or 10 years old. One of them was blond with blue eyes, while the other one was brunet with green eyes. They both wore pretty unremarkable clothes, probably made by one of the seamstresses Shu had seen earlier. They weren't exactly fashionable, but would withstand almost everything a kid could do to tear them, so he figured they would probably serve their purpose. Neither of them seemed to recognize him as the real Ouma Shu, which didn't surprise him in the least. They had never seen him after all.

"He won't let me be Shu again, even though he got to be him last time we played." The brunet kid explained while pointing at his friend.

The blond boy was quick to defend his decision. "That's just because it would only be more realistic to have the one with the stronger void be the hero. What point is there if the hero was weaker?"

They both showed him their voids and Shu had to hold back a chuckle when he saw them. The blond kid's void was a slingshot while the brunet kid was unfortunate enough to have a hand-held vacuum cleaner for a void. The king could only imagine how boring that must seem to a kid who saw people use swords, guns and other cool weapons all the time.

"I see…that certainly is a problem…" Shu agreed with closed eyes and looking like he was deep in thought. He had crouched before them so that they wouldn't have to look up to him so much. The slingshot user grinned in victory while the boy with the vacuum cleaner looked at him with teary eyes. "However…you don't necessarily have to look at the void's strength, you know. There are other ways to decide this."

The kids looked at him as if he had said something funny. Both raised a brow at him questioningly. "There is?"

Shu smiled at them. "Sure thing. For example, do you know what Shu's void was able to do?" he asked them, thinking that there was no need to tell them that he was the actual Ouma Shu right in front of them. It might have made them happy, but it also would have been way too awkward for him to deal with the situation.

"It could assume eeeeeeverything!" the kids said while spreading their arms to symbolize how much they meant by "everything".

The king nodded. "That's right. And which of your voids do you guys think is closer to that power?"

The boys looked down on the gadgets in their hands for a while, before the brown haired kid's face lit up with excitement "Mine is!"

Shu ruffled said kid's hair and grinned. "Exactly. It isn't the same thing, but it at least sucks in stuff, so it's closer to Shu's void than a slingshot." He then looked at the blond kid and said: "This way he can be Shu, right?"

The slingshot kid seemed to not be happy about that in the slightest, yet couldn't deny that Shu had a point there. "I guess he can…but I don't wanna be Gai!" He added with a frown and folded arms.

Shu just looked at him questioningly. "Why not? He is pretty badass."

"Because he's evil. I don't wanna be the villain…"

Shu looked at the kid for a couple of seconds and seemed to think. After a while, he simply sighed and said: "You know…I wouldn't say Gai was necessarily evil. He just did the wrong things for the right reasons." He tried to explain. Truth to be told, it wasn't exactly easy for him to say that…especially since he had had to go through hell because of Gai's actions in the past. But in the end, it still was true. At least he thought so.

"Still, he hurt Inori! Inori is nice. Gai is bad! I won't ever forgive someone who hurts Inori!" He said while sounding awfully determined. It made Shu share an approving smile with him.

"You and me both, kid…you and me both…but, see…Gai, he thought he would help a friend by doing that. So he might not be entirely good, but he isn't completely evil either. Plus, he was once someone who Shu had originally looked up to because he was a great leader. How does that sound?"

"Woah…I never knew that Shu looked up to him. He must have been kinda cool then!" The blond said in awe, suddenly starting to get interested in being the villain as long as he got to be someone interesting.

The brown haired kid also seemed to be amazed by Shu's knowledge. "You sure know a lot, mister. Do you listen to the stories, too?"

"You kidding? I am a huge fan." He told them with a grin.

"Seriously? Cool. Let's share information some time, okay? Maybe we will learn more stuff about Shu and the others!"

"Yeah, sure. Sounds like fun."

The kids beamed once they heard him agree. "Awesome!"

"Come on, let's play." The kid with the slingshot said to his friend and started to run off, the brown haired kid quickly followed him. Before they were gone, they turned around and waved Shu good bye. "See you later, mister!" Then they vanished behind some crystal structures. The king sighed while absently looking into the direction the boys had vanished into.

"These kids sure got me thinking about the past…" His thoughts were interrupted by Hare who approached him with a big smile.

"Good work there, Shu. You were adorable with these kids." The brown haired man only averted his eyes nervously and seemed to blush a bit. That compliment meant a lot to him, considering that he previously thought he had no talent with talking to kids at all. Maybe he had been just lucky this time.

Jimmy and Juan followed suit. "'Doing wrong things for the right reasons', huh? You really believe that?" Jimmy asked with a doubtful expression to which Shu only nodded.

"I do. Gai was willing to do everything for the person he cared most about in the world as long as it bore the slightest possibility of saving her…even if it meant to become humanity's public enemy number one. If our roles had been reversed, I might even have considered doing the same thing, you know…"

"So that means you forgive him?" Juan asked in amazement, but Shu only shook his head slowly.

"No…I could never. The things he did may have had their reasons, but they were bad nonetheless. He knew that I would never forgive him and still decided to go along with it, which only shows how important it was to him. From that moment onward he and I started to walk different paths and I am afraid that should they ever cross again, it would only end in battle. There is no turning back for us now and I am sure he knows that as well."

The three of them watched him as he looked up to the "sky", lost in thought. Hare felt bad for Shu, who knew that he and his best friend could never be how they were before. She knew it must pain him deeply, but there was just nothing to do about it. Sometimes people went different ways forever…that was just how life worked. She decided to silently vow that she would never ever do the same to Shu. Once they would all get out of here, she would always stand by his side and support him, like she had always done. It probably won't be easy for her, but if it spared her the look of a sad Shu, then it was worth all the pain in the world to her.

Jimmy went up to Shu and laid a hand on his shoulder. "I know it's hard, but it's good that you know where both of you stand. With things standing as they do, he could turn out to be your enemy any moment now. He is Mana's right hand man and the mastermind behind their operations, after all."

The look in Shu's face grew determined. "I figured as much and I am ready should that moment come, but I don't plan to stay long enough to meet him. I just want to see Inori, think about a plan to get us all out of here and leave everything else behind like it's supposed to be. Maybe by doing that, Mana will also get her peace, knowing that there will be no one left to fight."

"That sounds like a reasonable plan. The soldiers are slowly getting tired of battle anyway." The American soldier nodded approvingly with folded arms. "Perhaps we should make haste then. There is no time to waste, no?"

"You guys think Inori will be in the palace?" Juan suggested and pointed towards the biggest crystal in the area. It was the huge, glowing one Shu had spotted when he and Hare had gotten a view of the area from above. He had previously figured it served as some kind of beacon to guide the fallen back home, but apparently it was a palace after all.

Hare seemed to share Juan's thoughts. "Probably...if she were out here, we would most likely have noticed by now. People tend to swarm around her."

"Let's take a look, then." Jimmy said and took the lead. Everybody else simply followed him. While they kept getting closer to the gigantic crystal before them, Shu used the opportunity to look around once more. No matter where he looked, though, he always saw more or less the same. People doing either work or relaxing together and doing something to kill time.

And to be honest, he was relieved about that. He seriously doubted that these people were the same as the ex-students he fought earlier. No, the people around him still had something to look forward to…something to hope for. They may have had more darkness inside them than your average person would, but considering their circumstances, that would still be acceptable. After all, these men and women had been stuck here for ages. Some were probably cut off from their family and friends and ended up all alone in this harsh environment. And what about the kids he had seen earlier? Gosh, if they really were between 8 or 10 years old now, they might have come here when they were between 3 or 5. What sort of childhood was that supposed to be? They may have been safe in here, but still. Kids their age deserved to go to school, meet more kids and have a normal life. This shit was seriously fucked up if you asked him. Hopefully he would manage to fix this mess soon.

They had reached the entrance to the huge crystal building after a couple of minutes. Standing right next to it only made it appear taller than you would have thought it was by looking at it from afar. There was nothing Shu had seen in his life that he could compare its height to. All he could say about it was that the Tokyo Tower would have been a huge joke were it placed next to it. What made it even more impressive was the fact that it was hollow inside, allowing people to go inside. It probably had several stories, too, seeing as he could spot several windows and balconies further on the top. Just how the hell did they build this thing?

"There we are, Shu." The American said while proudly pointing at the huge building as well as grinning from ear to ear. "The pride of our home. Inori's palace. Everything important happens here. Community meetings, announcements from the queen, court, infirmary…heck, it pretty much is the heart of our base."

"Dude, you gotta see it from the inside. The light from the outside shines through and gives off a SICK look. It's seriously breathtaking." Juan added enthusiastically while moving his arms around in an attempt to put some emphasis on the words he said.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go in." It was Hare who said that, gesturing them all to get a move on while venturing into the building herself. Once they had all set foot into it, Shu was quick to understand what Juan had meant when he talked about a breathtaking view. The crystals somehow managed to break the light coming from the outside into various colors, creating a display of pure beauty everywhere you looked. The ground beneath them looked like a mosaic of dozens of different colors and if you looked up you got to see sparkling crystals everywhere.

"Holy…" Shu managed to utter in amazement. "I don't think there are words to express this beauty."

"Told ya." Juan grinned proudly.

The ground floor they had entered was pretty much the main hall of the building with no ceiling to be seen, except for the peak of the crystal far to the top. There were several floors above theirs which were connected by the branches of a huge tree-like crystal standing in the center of the lowest floor. There were no stairs to be seen anywhere. Another interesting thing the brown haired man noted, was the huge amount of people who appeared to sit right next to the wall of the building in some sort of meditating position. They had their eyes closed and seemed to be deep in thoughts. He wasn't sure if it was because of the lights from the outside that shone through the wall, but he also thought they might have even been glowing faintly. It got him rather curious.

"Guys, what's up with the people sitting around over there?" He asked while pointing to the meditating men and women in question.

"They try to reach the outside world." Hare explained. "Remember how we tried to reach you from inside this realm? We used this gigantic crystal as some sort of antenna to channel our thoughts and send them into the real world. It may look easy but it took us ages to learn it. Most of these guys decided to try it as well, but rarely anyone ever succeeds. I think only ten or so people managed to actually reach the outside world with me and Inori being two of the ten. That still doesn't stop people from trying, though."

"To make it easier to understand…they are all trying to watch some reality vision, but get nothing but static. Bad reception, get it?" Juan tried to explain it in a more funny way. He didn't seem to mind that no one even as much as smiled at that.

"I see…must be very tough…some of them look pretty exhausted." Shu noted after he took a closer look at them.

Hare groaned, obviously remembering her own experiences with that kind of telepathy. "It gives you headaches, too. People need to rest for a while after every session, which only made it harder to connect with the outside world. No wonder it took us years to finally reach you."

Jimmy cleared his throat to get back to the main reason they came here. "Anyway, the throne room is on the highest floor. We can check out everything else after that, if you want."

The king winced when he heard that. "Top floor, huh? Time for some stair climbing, I guess…which reminds me…where are the stairs?"

"No worries, mate. We have the elevator of the future right here." Juan laughed and ran up to the tree-like crystal. So it wasn't merely for decoration?

"This baby takes you anywhere you want, as long as it is connected with the place you wanna go, of course." He continued his explanation. "You simply touch that thing, think about the floor you want to go and then…" To demonstrate the actual process, Juan touched the tree himself. What happened next was him vanishing in a flash, followed by a glowing light rushing through the branches right to the top.

"This world never ceases to amaze me…" The king said as he watched yet again something he would have never believed to be possible.

"Alright…your turn, Shu." Were Jimmy's words to him right after that. Shu had already walked through crystals at this point, so he wasn't going to back out of yet another crystal oriented kind of transportation.

"I guess this shouldn't be very…" He simply said with a shrug and went over to the tree to touch it. To his surprise, the moment his hand met its surface, he was already at another place, standing next to Juan. Hare and Jim appeared right after that. "…hard…?"

He looked around confusedly, thinking that this had been a bit too sudden. This must have been the fastest way he had ever traveled, literally. It was like closing your eyes at one location and opening them again at another. This sure as hell even surpassed sorcery.

"This totally needs to find its way to the outside world, just saying." The king obviously approved of this useful way of public transport and well, why shouldn't he? It was fast, it was environmentally friendly and it was…only available to people who had gone through evolution…Shu's friends noticed how said man's shoulders started to slouch in disappointment. For this awesome invention to work, billions of people had to die beforehand, which, of course, wasn't worth it. Still, it was such a shame…he should probably find some time later to try it out a couple of times again before he left this place…first things first, though. He couldn't wait to see Inori again, after all.

"Shu, you okay?" Hare said with worry in her voice, but the brown haired man only shrugged it off.

"Don't worry, I am fine. So, are we there?" He started to look around and noticed that this was the floor closest to the top. It was a big room in which thousands of people could have fit in effortlessly. The ceiling was made of a dome in form of a five sided pyramid and its peak right over the center of the room. Unlike the walls further downstairs, the walls up here were see-through like glass and allowed to take a view over the whole camp, its protective wall and a bit beyond that which could have been useful to detect invading armies early. Further ahead, on a small pedestal, stood a very decorative crystal throne which, very much to his disappointment, was empty.

"Come on guys, you said she was here…this isn't funny, you know…?" Shu sounded sort of sad and a bit irritated. He had been patient so far and tried to enjoy all the new stuff he got to see, but all that started to mean nothing to him if he didn't get to see the person he longed to see ever since he had lost her what felt like an eternity ago.

Hare for her part looked completely surprised about that herself. "Huh, she isn't here either…? But then were could she have run off to?"

"If she went into hiding because the stress got to her again, then there is no way of finding her until she wants to be found…" Jimmy grumbled, slightly annoyed. Juan only sighed at that.

"Would you blame her, though? She hardly gets time for herself with all the people swarming around her...of course she would try to sneak out every now and then. She is no robot, after all."

"The burden of being a leader…it must lie heavy on her shoulders." The king thought out aloud. "I remember when I tried to be one with only a fraction of the people SHE has to lead. When I found it hard already, how must she feel about all this?"

"It doesn't seem like she has problems with it most of the time, though…" The islander replied with a shrug.

"Well, of course not. A leader has to look strong and reliable. What purpose would it serve to show her people her weak side?"

"Shu's right. That's why she needs time for herself every now and then to collect her thoughts. That way she can continue to stay strong in front of the others." Hare agreed with Shu but sighed in the end. "Still, her timing just sucks. Why does it have to be now of all times?"

"Well, it seems like it can't be helped. I will have to look for her then." Shu declared while turning around and attempting to leave. Of course he would have preferred Inori to be here so he could finally meet her again, but when were things ever easy…?

"That's hopeless, Shu." Jimmy tried to reason with him, apparently speaking from experience. "We don't even have the slightest idea where to start looking. The best thing we could do would be to simply wait this one out. She will show herself again eventually."

"No way in hell am I simply sitting around, doing nothing. Inori is somewhere in this world, right? That's all I need to know. I will check behind every crystal one by one, if I have to." He merely replied without turning around. He simply went back to the small hole in the middle of the room through which the crystal tree "grew" through and vanished after touching it.

"Stubborn, isn't he?" Juan said and folded his arms in front of his chest. When he saw Hare suddenly taking off after Shu, he just watched her with a surprised expression. "Hey, where are you going?"

"I am going to help him, of course." She told him with a smile and vanished right after that.

Jimmy sighed as he watched her go. "Geez, what's up with them? Hare of all people should know it's hopeless…" He then massaged the back of his neck in a very annoyed way. "Guess it's back to patrolling for us now, huh?"

That immediately caused any sort of good mood, the younger man next to him might have had previously, to vanish instantly. "Urgh…I completely forgot…fuck my life…"

And with that, they decided to leave the throne room, albeit very reluctantly.

-GC-

Shu stepped out of the huge crystal building, figuring that if Inori wasn't going to show herself to people in the place they would expect her to be, she also wouldn't do so in the rest of the building in which the said location happened to be in. No one in their right mind would do so. No, if you didn't want to be found, you would want to avoid places people would look for you at.

Well, he at least knew that much, but you wouldn't have to be a detective to figure THAT out. So what now? He sure as hell said some cool stuff up there but he couldn't deny that Jimmy had had a point. He really had nowhere to start at. And looking around again at the sheer amount of people, who could possibly be covering up for their dear queen in need, or the billions of crystals, she could have decided to either hide behind or INSIDE of, he was going to have a very hard time searching for her.

"The hell was I thinking…?" He mumbled to no one but himself. "Well, no use getting all pessimistic…better start looking, Shu…"Was his pitiful attempt at self motivation.

"The things one would do for the people dear to them, huh?" He heard Hare's voice behind him. He turned around to see her slowly walking up to him, smiling and with her hands folded behind her back as if she was taking a stroll through the park.

"Indeed. Do me a favor and never make me look for you this way, will you?" He said with a sigh.

"You know me. I would never cause trouble for anyone. I am a good girl." He saw her big, innocent grin and couldn't help but pat her head while laughing quietly. She didn't say anything…just closed her eyes like a happy cat that enjoyed getting spoiled a little. Shu was sure she would have purred, too, if she had been able to.

"That's true. I suppose you are here to help me looking?"

"Maaaaybe…" She answered playfully while eying the brown haired man suspiciously. "If you would promise to treat me to something good once we get out of here. Well, what do you say?"

Meanwhile, some random people who passed them by seemed to notice their conversation and chuckled.

"Oh? Is that Hare? Quite bold of her to ask someone out on a date. I always thought she was the shy type."

"Give it your best, Hare! I am rooting for you!"

"Eh? How come you ask him out when you turned me down? You are so cruel, Hare!"

While Shu looked around confusedly, Hare was busy turning redder than ever. Her face felt so hot that she feared you would be able to see steam coming from it. In a panic she faced the people, waving her arms around fiercely in an attempt to deny every embarrassing thought they may have had.

"D-d-date? W-what are you g-guys talking a-about? I was just asking him to hang out, right Shu? You tell them!"

The man in question saw her looking up to him for help while he was busy scratching his cheek with a confused expression. What was all this fuzz about? It's not like he hadn't treated her to some food before. "Uh, yeah, I guess."

"See? See!? Nothing special here. Just friends being friends…haha." She awkwardly tried to explain with a nervous laugh.

The people around them all sighed in disappointment and started to walk off boredly.

"Aww, man. She chickened out. Too bad…"

"Better luck next time, Hare…"

"It was starting to get interesting, too…what a bummer…"

And with that, they all left. Hare just stood there, looking down at her feet with teary eyes while letting her shoulders sink in a defeated way.

"Uuuu~, why is this always happening to me…?"

"Uhm…are you alright, Hare?" Shu managed to ask her while standing behind her. What was he supposed to do in a situation such as this? How the hell should he have known when he wasn't even entirely sure what had happened just now in the first place?

"Yeah, yeah…I am alright…" Hare replied exhaustedly and commenced to scuffle away into a random direction, looking like a zombie. "Let's go look for Inori."

Shu sighed as he watched her go. Now, weren't they off to a good start? With her being like this, there wouldn't be a difference if she wouldn't have helped him at all. He was about to go after her with the intention to find some way to cheer her up somehow, when they both heard some screams, followed by seeing someone running towards them from the very same direction the screams came from.

"Outta the way, folks! I got a wounded soldier over here! Move it, damnit!"

The brown haired duo turned towards the direction the commotion was apparently taking its place at and soon noticed a man carrying another man in his arms emerging from the group of people that had gathered around him in curiosity. Earlier, Shu had heard Jimmy mention an infirmary being inside the palace they were still standing in front of…maybe that was where the stranger was headed to? It certainly would have explained why he appeared to come closer to them.

He eventually ended up recognizing Hare as he was about to pass them by and his face had lit up noticeably that very instant. Shu couldn't see much of him…he was all covered in dirt and blood to such an extent that you wouldn't even be able to tell if his hair was naturally black or just looked that way because of the mess he was covered in. Same went for his clothes, actually, if you could even still consider the torn rags he wore to be clothes at all…

"Thank god, it's Hare. Just who I was hoping to find. You gotta help him." The newcomer said and showed them the injuried guy he was carrying. The brown haired king had expected the worst when he had seen all the blood dripping down their clothes, but surely couldn't have been prepared for the view he was going to behold. With widened eyes he stared at a man whose half body appeared to have been blown off. Literally! His left arm and leg were missing as was part of his face. There was so much blood everywhere that anyone would consider it a wonder that this man was even still breathing. Wait, was he even breathing? Shu had no idea. All he could tell was that the victim was either unconscious or dead, seeing as he wasn't moving at all. He felt like throwing up after facing such a gruesome sight.

Next to him, Hare had already released her void once she had heard that there was an injured man coming in. "Lay him on the ground, quick." Were the orders she gave off with a serious look, her face being clearly devoid of the depressing sight she had shown Shu earlier. The man who held the victim didn't hesitate to comply. The moment he let go of the soldier in his arms, the void-bandages wrapped themselves around him and started to do their job.

Deciding to step aside to avoid being in the medic's way, the king watched from afar as the body of the poor man slowly started to levitate into the air while being engulfed in a faint light. Bones and flesh started to slowly grow back to the places where they had originally belonged to and everything looked like it was healing well, albeit taking its time in doing so. Time the man in front of them maybe didn't have, anymore. Every second counted here.

"Is he gonna make it?" The dirt-covered-man asked after some seconds of watching in silence.

"I don't know. I can heal his injuries, but chances are the blood loss already got to him first. There is nothing I can do if that's the case." Hare explained in a matter-of-factly without leaving her patient out of her eyes.

"He is one of our best soldiers. If he dies, it would greatly weaken our forces until he revives…" A new voice sounded off not far from Shu. A young brown haired man had emerged from the crowd and was now watching the scene grimly. He was slightly younger than the king and wore a black coat with a white shirt underneath. There were also dark jeans adorning his legs. Shu couldn't help but think he had seen this guy somewhere before, yet couldn't quite put a finger on it.

While he was busy figuring out why the young man somehow seemed familiar to him, the crowd around them started to grow bigger as the situation started to gain the attention of more and more people. Of course, Jimmy and Juan also noticed that something was going on once they happened to leave the palace. They spotted Hare and Shu and walked over. Since Hare obviously appeared to be busy they decided to ask Shu what was going on.

"What happened?"

"Some man brought in this half dead guy Hare is healing over there. No idea how he ended up that way." The king told them what he knew. Both newcomers decided to take a look at the victim and cringed.

"Wow…I wonder how that happened…" Juan asked while looking half disgusted and half pitiful for the man.

"Trust me, you don't want to know. If someone looks like that, their story usually isn't very nice to hear…" Jimmy said to him with a sigh and a slowly shaking head. Meanwhile, the people who had gathered around them grew more and more restless. Some started yelling:

"Hey, the hell is up with him? What happened out there?"

"That's the work of Mananites, isn't it? Are they close? Are we in danger?"

"Yeah, come on. Answer us already!"

That type of reaction wasn't all that surprising. Rather, it was to be expected when they usually didn't get in contact with sights such as this. It must have clearly worried them to see one of their soldiers being in that horrible condition. Before the situation could have escalated, though, the familiar man from before turned towards them, raised both hands in a calming way and spoke loud and clearly:

"Everyone, please calm down and give the medic the space she needs. I will find out what happened here and make sure to explain it to everyone later in detail, so please leave us for now and wait a bit."

Shu merely chuckled at that attempt to handle the situation. In his opinion it was a naïve move by someone who didn't know better as there was no way in hell that some halfhearted action like that was actually going to solve the problem. All the more reason for him to raise a brow in confusion once he saw the crowd actually calm down and slowly dispersing after they had heard that. Things usually didn't get to be settled that easily as people in fear tended to be unreasonable and selfish. In this case, however, it looked like the people trusted the word of this guy enough to leave things to him. This made the king only more curious about his identity. Who was he to hold this much authority in a place like this?

"Guys…who's that guy? I think I know him." He asked Jimmy and Juan.

"Him? That's Jun. A smart kid who acts as the voice of the people around here. He listens to everyone's smaller problems and concerns…the ones they don't really want to bother the queen directly with. He collects their thoughts and brings them to Inori. A troublesome job, but thanks to that, people trust him. When he says he will find out what's going on and tell them afterwards, then he will." Jimmy explained to him. Shu only backed off in shock.

"Did you say Jun? Jun Samukawa?" The American next to him only looked at him as if he had gone crazy. He nodded, though, not really getting what all that shock was about. Shu for his part only returned his attention back to Jun again to have another look at the boy he had killed all this time ago. He felt like smacking himself in the face for not realizing earlier. Yes, he may have only seen Yahiro's brother that one time without the virus covering half his body and yes, the boy had noticeably grown in the last couple of years, but still…to not notice the similarity between Jun's past appearance and his current one was still an embarrassing feat. How could he not have recognized the face of the man whose very life he had ended with his own hands? He truly was the worst…

Due to Shu's shocked reaction, the young man in question couldn't help but think he had just heard his name being used, so he decided to turn around to the source of the noise in curiosity. As soon as he had done that he immediately appeared to recognize Shu and, contrary to the kings expectations, happily ran up to him to greet him in this strange, new world.

"Shu? It's you, right? You really came! It's so great to see you! So our hard work to reach you from in here finally paid off!" He happily said while taking the kings hand and shaking it just to make sure he wasn't merely speaking to a hallucination. Shu himself didn't come around looking confused about receiving this kind of treatment. He had expected Jun to be sort of angrier with him for ending his life and banishing him into this sort of hellhole, yet that guy apparently was just happy to see him here, alive and well. No malice or hatred was to be felt in that friendly handshake of his.

Still, even if Jun was fine with what had happened…Shu wasn't. He would still say the words he thought he owed to say to the person in front of him.

"Jun…I am so very sorry about what happened to you back then…if only I had…" He started while putting both his hands on the slightly smaller man's shoulders, but got cut off gently. Jun just slowly brushed off Shu's hands and smiled.

"Just what the hell are you talking about? You saved me, Shu, and you saved my brother! You allowed me to die as the person I wanted to be, instead of letting me become a being driven by madness like the people we are fighting off today. I feel nothing but gratefulness towards you, Shu. So please don't apologize." Were his honest words to him.

Shu just stared at him once he had heard all that, completely baffled. This guy, despite the hardships he had gone through in his life, had still somehow managed to stay such a good person deep down in his heart. He was a man who had decided to see the good side of the things that had happened to him and be happy for it, rather than mourn over the bad side of it, which would have brought him nothing. And Shu? Well, it was probably accurate to say that he was seriously impressed by that, because in that regard, Jun apparently was even stronger than he had been himself.

Back in the days when he had just saved the world, Shu had done nothing but to shut himself away from the world, getting angry and feeling betrayed by it for taking away almost everything he had once held dear. He had refused to look at the bright side which was the fact that he had saved billions of people, because deep down, he honestly hadn't cared about that at all…at least at that time. After all, what use would their happiness have been to him? He couldn't have used that to somehow heal his broken self with it, right? So why had they got to be happy instead of him in the first place? It just hadn't been fair. That had been his thoughts at the time.

He simply hadn't been strong enough to think positive and thus had chosen the easier way which was to sink into despair. Now, the king couldn't help but wonder how he would have fared at that time, had he only had a fracture of Jun's strength. Would he have been able to put all his negativity behind him? Would it have been easier to come to the point he was standing on today? Or would he have been able to become an even stronger person than he was now?

He shook his head as he realized that he would never know the answers to these questions. What he DID know, though, was that he would get this man out of here together with Inori and the rest even if it was the last thing he was going to do. He grabbed both Jun's shoulders again and looked at him with a look so full of determination that it would have been able to convince him Shu could change the direction of their planet's rotation if he wanted to do so.

"I will bring you back to your brother, Jun. No matter what happens."

Jun gave him a relieved and bright smile upon hearing that. "Yes, please do!"

Their happy moment was interrupted by a heavy sigh from Hare. Apparently she had finished healing the wounded man. Everybody remained quiet as they watched her checking for a pulse and if her patient was breathing regularly.

"He's alive, but weak. Bring him inside and let him rest close to the crystals so that he recovers faster. Also, get him new clothes for when he wakes up. His old ones are obviously done for." Hare ordered the nearest two guys around while giving off the aura and authority of a doctor. No complaints were raised…everyone just did as she had told them. While the recovering man was brought to the infirmary, the remaining man who had brought him here was now receiving treatment from Hare. He was awfully loud and tried to resist her, yelling something about "having to return to the fight" and that someone "needed him", yet in the end, she still got him where she wanted and checked up on him against his will.

"Hare's amazing…" Shu caught himself mumble in astonishment while still watching her do her job.

"You bet she is. She has the strongest healing void in our whole group, probably even in the whole realm, and the matching kindness in her heart to make good use of it." Jun explained happily.

"Sounds like you are keeping a list of everyone." Shu said jokingly, only to be met with a serious look.

"That's because I am. It makes finding the right man or woman for the right job way easier. Or the best soldiers for certain enemies. It also helps keeping track of who is alive and who is currently reviving."

"So you actually cataloged EVERYONE along with their void power?" Shu asked in complete bewilderment. That would have meant they kept track of the status and strength of thousands of people. Jun only laughed nervously, feeling a bit uncomfortable by Shu's shock.

"I keep a list on the fourth floor of the palace. Don't be so surprised…I have very much free time in this world…"

The king only stared at Jun for a while before chuckling in amusement. "Man, you are Yahiro's brother, alright. He ended up doing the same thing in our school…only that we didn't have so many people as you do. I would have gone insane if I had to keep a list as long as yours surely has to be."

"I manage, somehow. Though I would be lying if I said I wouldn't long for the moment I finally get to throw all that shit out of the window and be done with it." He told him with a sheepish grin. Shu just laughed before he decided to change the subject and ask about the incident that had occurred in front of their eyes just now.

"Anyway…what was that about? That guy looked horrible."

"I guess that's what we will have to find out once Hare is done with the man who brought him here." It was Jimmy who said that, probably feeling left out of the conversation and thus deciding to make himself known once again. However, this only made Jun look at both him and Juan with narrowed eyes.

"Aren't you two supposed to be on patrol now?" He asked with a very accusing sounding tone. Juan gulped while Jimmy remained cool.

"Yeah, we are. But we found Shu and decided to bring him here. No harm in that, right?" The American explained with folded arms. Jun seemed to agree since he gave him an approving nod.

"I see. That's true. Still, you should hurry back to your post soon. This is a dangerous time, right now…"

The king raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Does this have something to do with the guy Hare just saved?"

"Probably. There is a huge battle going on right now. Mana's whole army was spotted earlier. She has mobilized every man she has and lets them march towards us. The queen and our soldiers headed out to intercept them. That way they cannot overrun this place." Jun told them with a serious expression. Everyone's eyes widened in shock.

"Mana is on the move? And you are only telling us this NOW?" Juan immediately used the opportunity to complain about the fact they haven't been briefed about such important information until now.

"Why not? There is no need to worry. Queen Inori went out herself to make sure the enemy won't reach this place. You all know that no one is a match for her." Jun stated rationally. "Besides, how could I have possible informed anyone who was outside the walls? I informed everyone I could reach via crystal phone as well as everyone who was inside the camp…that was all I could have done."

Shu gestured for the man in front of him to hold on while looking a bit frustrated. "Wait a second, just to make sure I am getting this…you have THEM attack you HERE, where you have these high, massive walls for protection and then you decide to send Inori OUT to fight on the bare field? Where is the logic in that?" He demanded to know.

"You don't understand, Shu. Mana's people outnumber ours 3 to 1. If Mana attacks this place full force they will simply overrun us. And even if we would somehow win, the damage would be enormous…not to mention the amount of civilians who would fall victim to enemy fire. Plus, fighting HERE would only slow Inori down, since she would have to hold back in order to not damage our own home. She is far more effective if she has room to fight. Since she is our biggest trump card, it would be a serious disadvantage to not let her use her full potential."

The king only looked at Yahiro's little brother in confusion. He wasn't sure if he exactly understood what the man tried to explain to him.

"Are you trying to tell me Inori is some kind of one-man-army?" Everyone around him nodded.

"I know it's hard to believe when you haven't seen it with your own eyes, but yes. If she gets serious, she is nearly unstoppable. She isn't the queen for nothing, you know." Jimmy said. "It's thanks to her we have won all our battles so far, since Mana isn't actively fighting herself and thus giving us the advantage."

"Yeah, Mana is probably the only one who would be able to match Inori. Good thing for us she thinks a queen shouldn't get her hands dirty or something like that. All she ever does is stand on the side lines and watch over the fight like it was a game to her." Juan added with a shrug.

"Exactly. So don't you worry, Shu. Inori got it covered." Jun assured the king, who for his part didn't seem all too convinced about that.

"Guys, I think you should hear this…" Hare suddenly called out to them. The group gave each other a worried look, before walking over to Hare and her loud patient. Once everyone was gathered around them, Hare talked to the man she had just healed.

"Okay, now tell them what you have told me a moment ago." She asked of him. The man gave everyone of them an angry look, apparently very displeased that he had to waste his time with this.

"How often do I need to tell you? I said I need to go! The queen needs me! I just wanted to drop my friend here and then hurry back to the fight!" He yelled impatiently.

"Calm down, soldier." Jun attempted to reason with the restless man. "Tell us what's going on out there."

Shu didn't know if it was due to the aura of calmness that surrounded Jun or because the man realized himself that they all deserved to know, but he eventually tried to relax. Once he was done doing that, he started to talk in a calm manner, so that everyone could understand.

"As you surely know, I was one of the soldiers who accompanied the queen on her campaign to vanquish the enemy threat that approached us. It was a routine mission for most of us, seeing as we have done this a couple of times already. We head out, flank the enemy, engage them in battle and drive them back. That's how it usually works. This time was different, though."

"How so?" The group pressed further.

"We soon spotted the enemy in a valley not far from here and thought they would gather their units for the upcoming assault, but we were wrong. It turned out that the entire army we found was merely consisting of decoys placed there to lure us into a trap, knowing that we would attack them. As soon as we realized that we were just attacking fakes, created by some sort of void, we were getting surrounded by the true enemy who had kept hidden in the crystal formations present in the area."

"That was awfully clever of Mana. She has never been this prepared before." Jun thought out aloud with a concerned expression.

"That's exactly what worried us as well. Not only had Mana not attacked us in a while to gather her soldiers for an all-out attack, she had even prepared such a big trap beforehand, which she had never done before. It was also highly suspicious how they constantly tried to lure the queen away from our reach. I didn't understand why they would do that until my comrade got hit by an explosion and I attempted to return him to the camp in order to save him. Once I had grabbed him and started to lift off with my void, I managed to get a glimpse of the enemy queen…she is there!" The soldier said with his voice full of worry.

Jimmy shrugged that information off, looking not impressed in the least. "Mana was previously seen near the battlefield. Never did she interfere with the fight herself. She was just watching."

"You don't understand!" The man in front of them suddenly yelled seriously. "She had her void drawn! Isn't that reason enough to suspect she is going to join the fight? They are trying to isolate the queen so that Mana can strike her down! We can't let this happen, you hear me? Send backup! Now!" The man demanded while grabbing Jun fiercely by his arm. The young man was quick to break loose, though. With a serious glare at him he answered:

"Even if you said that, there is no one to send! Inori took everyone we could spare with her!"

The soldier looked like he was about to reply to that, but before he could have even thought of something to say, he saw Shu step up in front of him. Tall and strong he stood there with a look full of resolve. One would have suspected him to be completely calm, if it hadn't been for his clearly visibly clenched fists left and right.

"In which direction is the battlefield?" He asked the man in front of him. His voice sounded calm, yet tense. It seemed like he desperately tried to appear patient while he obviously didn't want to waste another second standing around.

Unfortunately, the soldier didn't seem to have noticed that. Rather than telling the brown haired king the answer he was seeking out of him, he just eyed him suspiciously and asked:

"And who the hell are you? I don't see why I should tell that to someone I don't even know. You could be a spy for all I know…" The soldier said angrily while provokingly pressing a finger against Shu's chest.

Shu, on the other hand, was having none of that crap. Feeling that his patience was growing shorter with every wasted second, he simply grabbed the finger that was pointed at him and slowly started to bend it into the wrong way. All while glaring at the man in front of him. "Where?"He asked once again.

The soldier winced and tried to free himself of Shu's grip, but to no avail. Still, he didn't plan to give in that easily. He was about to give Shu a piece of his mind, but stopped all of a sudden when he noticed something off in the eyes of the stranger.

At first, they had been looking completely normal. Just a pair of brown eyes, glaring down on him. But the longer he had looked into them, the more he had started to see something else in them. It was as if there was a storm raging inside them, or rather in the brown haired man himself. A storm of different emotions which rampaged in him, pleaded to be freed and yet were still somehow locked up behind the wall of seriousness the man had surrounded himself with.

The soldier saw the worry for Inori in those eyes, as well as the anger Shu held towards Mana for threatening her. Then there was also the slight fear of having to face her once again and...nervousness.

He felt nervous because he was going to meet Inori again after all these years. He had looked forward so much to this moment ever since he learned of her well-being and yet…now that the time of meeting drew closer, he couldn't help but be plagued by doubts. He had seen what she had been able to build up in this world during his absence. This giant camp with thousands of people to call it home…all of which had sounded like they would gladly throw their life away for her. No one would have ever done that for him. He would have never been able to unite people the way Inori had. In a way, she had clearly surpassed him…did she even need him anymore? He knew it was a ridiculous thought and he had no idea where it even came from, but it was still there and worried him.

Yet, even though all that was going on inside him, his face showed none of it. The man in front of him had seen a glimpse of it in his eyes, but the moment he had snapped out of his trance and looked at the king normally again, he could see nothing of the things that troubled him. His face was like a mask that he used to hide his worries behind of. And it worked so well, that the soldier couldn't help but feel respect towards Shu for being able to pull it off.

"That way…" He finally said while nodding in the directing slightly behind Shu. "If you hurry, you can reach it by foot in 15 minutes."

Shu immediately let go if him and summoned Ayase's void. Much to the shock of his friends.

"What are you doing? You can't just…" They tried to stop him, but the moment the void hat fully materialized around his legs, he simply took off without a word, leaving behind nothing but a cloud of dust. He had been gone so fast that the people on the wall, who were supposed to look out for airborne things in order to shoot them down, didn't even have time to aim at him.