Chapter 10:
"Shun? Where are you? It sounds like-"
"A plane," Shunsuke Otosaka cut in. "We're done sitting around."
"I can do this," Nao said. She held her phone closer to her head and covered her other ear as the sailors on the small boy with her called out to each other. "I have a lead on someone who can change size, but only become smaller. Still, I know one of them will go after her-"
"Nao, listen to me," Shun interrupted again as Nao was speaking fast and not giving him a chance. She hesitated then let out the breath she was holding in. Shun continued once he heard her relax a bit, "We have new information, but I'm not just going to give it to you and have you continue with this on your own."
"Don't come," Nao whispered. "It's too dangerous," she continued.
"No more dangerous than anywhere else in the world," Shun countered. "You may not have noticed because of your fixation on my brother's condition, but his health is not the only thing that is deteriorating anymore." Shun paused and glanced around the seats of the plane he was on. Shichino, Medoki, and Maedomari were sitting on his side and across from him on the small plane they had chartered. Each of them had grim and serious expressions as Shun said that, and it only got worse as Shun described what he was talking about. "The world is falling into chaos. In a matter of a couple of months, or even the past three to four weeks, everything the majority of the population thought to be impossible became real to them. They believe in monsters, and new religions are sprouting up everywhere. They're small, but even those groups are fighting each other over ways to appease and please the Cat and the Reaper."
"Shun, I-" Nao began.
"Just listen for a minute Tomori," Shun said, his voice deadly serious. She shut her mouth and Shun continued in a dark tone, "People are rioting against the governments as news about the research facilities keeps getting leaked from somewhere. The citizens are blaming their governments for creating these monsters, and truthfully, they're not wrong. We've discovered who the Cat really is, though this information has yet to become public knowledge."
"Who is he?" Nao questioned. She walked around the center console of the motorboat she was on and up to the bow of the small ship. There was a crew of three men behind her, and they were heading down a river in the middle of Africa. Nao looked off one side of the boat towards a herd of zebra grazing in the savannah. How nice it would be to be one of them. No cares of the collapse of the world.
"Dimitri," Shun said.
"Just Dimitri?" Nao asked after a second's pause.
"We paid off a contact in Russia who knew about a secret army they were trying to build. He was in charge of recruitment, codename 'The Duplicate.' His ability was Copy, and we assume that's how he got Yuu's power. His ability only lets him take one power at a time, but with Plunder..."
"He's able to take as many as he wants," Nao finished. "Still, your contact doesn't have anything other than a first name?"
"His past was unknown even to the Russians who recruited him. Apparently unlike the others, he found them." Nao got a confused look on her face that darkened as Shun continued, "He requested to be recruited, and he even allowed them to do tests on him without complaints. They called him the 'Ideal Soldier,' the 'Siberian,' and they used him to abduct other ability-wielders. But when he copied Yuu's, he betrayed their organization as well as the country. The attack on Moscow was him, and Yuu showed up in the middle of it."
Nao hummed and then leaned forward as she spotted a village in the distance. No smoke rising from it, that's a good sign. It was something she had been worried about: reaching the village in time. "So this Dimitri, do we have any idea of what his plans are? To me, it seemed like he just wants to fight Yuu."
"That may very well be the case," Shun replied. "We'll try to find out more as we continue. As for now, check your rumor then head to Cairo. We have a source there with some interesting news, and you will want to hear what's going on."
"Why don't you just tell me?" Nao asked in annoyance.
"They wouldn't tell us much over the phone," Shun replied. "But trust me, if what they claimed is true, there may be a way to stop both Yuu and this Dimitri, before it's too late."
"It already sounds too late," Nao whispered, referencing the start of their conversation. "Well then, I'll see you guys soon. I'll head to Cairo as soon as I can, wait for me, yeah?"
"We will, I'll call you if there's a change in plans," Shun said it but he hesitated at he end and Nao could tell there was more he wanted to say. "Also, Nao," he continued. "We're going all in on this one. You alone said you got Yuu to relax a bit and open up, so I think we can get through to him, but only if everyone is there."
"Just tell me already," Nao snapped.
"Hey Tomori!" A high-pitched voice called over the line. Nao pulled her phone from her ear and tapped on the video button on the bottom. She heard Shun sigh over the line, then he accepted the switch to a video call.
"I can't believe you," Nao said as she looked at her phone and all the people on the screen. Yusa was leaning in close next to Shun's face, then he lifted it up a little and she saw Jōjirō wave over to her from some seats across the aisle. "And your sister?" Nao asked. "Tell me you didn't-"
Shun turned the phone and Nao grimaced at the sight of the small girl on his left side who was leaning on him with her eyes closed peacefully. "She still doesn't know anything about what's going on," Shun said softly, turning the camera back to him. Yusa kept leaning in to stay on screen too, and Medoki had to lean in as well as she was stuck between them. Shun continued, "But Yuu loves her more than anyone. If she can't jog his memory..."
No one will be able to, Nao thought, though she was frowning for a different reason at what Shun just said.
"That sis-con better recognize Ayumi-chan," Shichino growled from the seat across from Shun. "If he doesn't, then we're taking the measures we need to."
"What does he mean by that?" Nao asked, glaring at Shun whose eyes darted over the phone at the blond boy to shut up. "Don't hide things from me Shun. I trust you," she reminded, and she hoped he was not willing to break that trust.
He nodded at her over the phone, while the girls to the right of his head got more grin and sad looks to their faces. "We've, developed a virus. The vaccine we produced and sent around the world, we were able to repurpose it, and, weaponize it."
"For what purpose?" Nao asked, though she already suspected what the answer would be.
"Killing ability-wielders," Shun replied.
Everyone on the plane stayed quiet for a few seconds, then Nao's voice came over the line, "Have you all forgotten that you were ability-wielders until not long ago?"
"We haven't," Shun replied.
"And this virus, will it spread to the others besides Yuu?" She asked.
"It will," Shun replied again, right away without lying to her.
"But there aren't many of them left anyway," Shichino began.
"Does that really matter?!" Nao snapped. "You're okay with it as long as you only kill a few innocents?"
Shichino shut up, then a few seconds later he replied, "If it's between them, and the rest of the world... then yeah. I could live with it."
"But that's a last case scenario," Shun added. "We won't throw away what could be hundreds, even thousands of lives of innocent ability-wielders and carriers still out there. Not unless it becomes a necessity."
Nao frowned and did not like the sound of any of this. "When we jog Yuu's memory, he can take the remaining powers and we'll be done with all this. There's no need for such a virus."
There was hesitation over the line. "I hope you're right," Shun said. Then he said, "Ayumi's waking up. Talk later."
"Yeah, got it," Nao replied, then she ended the call and shoved her phone back in her pocket. "Dimitri, the virus, whatever's going on in Cairo," she muttered these things to herself then rubbed her forehead in aggravation. Hundreds? He said hundreds before thousands, meaning he thinks there are under a thousand left. What happens when it reaches zero? What happens when there are only those two left? If they start fighting at that point, Shun will have to release the virus, and Yuu will... Nao's expression hardened and her fists clenched at her sides. I'll save him before then. In her head she saw how he had lifted his arm, how he had extended his pinky while flying in front of her. He remembers our promise. As much as he's forgotten it, he remembers somewhere inside! He needs to come back! I need him, to come back to me.
A/N Hey guys, hope you enjoyed. This is the last chapter I had finished before I started publishing, but I'm continuing work on it today so I'll probably still post pretty fast, though maybe not a chapter or two a day for the next week. Shun and the others are heading to Cairo, Nao's got a new lead but so do they, and the ability-wielders are still running low. Things are escalating in the center of the world as everyone starts to gather in the same region. Where are the Reaper and Cat? How long until they make their moves? The world fears that time is running out, and it's causing chaos throughout it. Thanks for reading! Leave a review below what you think, predictions about future chapters, or questions you might have!