"Alright guys. This is it. Here are the facts : we're no longer the red clan. Our powers are gone and so are those of the strain criminals we were hunting down. The question is what to do now?"
It'd been a week since the battle with JUNGLE. Once more, all of HOMRA was gathered in the bar. For once Mr Mikoto seemed wide awake and an expression of melancholy was obvious on his face. Anna was sitting next to him, also paying close attention to Mr Kusanagi. I was sitting between Yata and Kosuke at the counter, and the rest of them were either standing or occupying the chairs of the room.
"Isn't it obvious?" Said Yata standing up, and clenching his fist. "That just makes us normal bounty hunters doesn't it? I don't even know why we're having this conversation! I mean, we can still fight!"
I looked at Yata, feeling the sadness show on my face. This discussion was suppose to decide if we'd dissolve HOMRA. We had to face it : we weren't the red clan anymore. And our sure source of income was practically lost. It would be like dissolving a family, but it was even worse for Yata. He'd built himself in this place and with these people, and very frankly he wasn't done growing. None of us were. For the crow, it'd be like loosing a big part of himself. Saruhiko saw it coming long ago, and I hated to admit that he was right.
Kosuke was the first to respond. "Sure we can fight, but there's no telling how hard it's going to be from now on. I mean we were specialized in strain hunting because of our powers and our only competition was SCEPTER 4."
"Kosuke's right. If we decide to keep at it, it'll be a lot harder and we'll have more competition." Continued Shohei.
"The pay won't be as good." Added Bando. "That's for sure."
"Who gives a crap about the money?!" Shouted Yata, slamming his hands on the table. "As long as we have enough to eat it should be fine! And since when have we been afraid of competition? We have the best damn network in all of Tokyo! What's important is that we stick together isn't it?!"
Something tightened in my chest, and for some reason I was sure Yata felt it too. I couldn't find anything to back him up. A long silent fell on the room and remained there for a while until Mr Kusanagi spoke again. "I want you all to take a moment to think. You guys are young, you got your whole life ahead of you. So try to think about what you want to do."
"You're only 27 Mr Kusanagi, you don't exactly qualify as old." I said, making everyone chuckle. At least, I'd managed to bring the tension down a little. I decided to start since the others seemed reluctant. "If we're talking about money, I guess I could be a translator. I am fluent in four languages. And I could learn more. It was my passion... before I met you guys."
"I thought for sure you would go for gymnastics." Said Rikio.
"I love gymnastics, but I hate competitions. You have no idea how vicious contestants can be. Almost as bad a ballet."
"Why ballet?"
"Contestants put glass shards in each other's shoes."
The fat clansman made a face, imagining the scene. "Still, didn't you do loads of them in high school?"
"Since I was part of the club I had to. School requirement. But language and reading have always been my passion. What about you Rikio?"
The red clansman grabbed his chin and took a minute to think. "I could work as a mechanic. I fix my own bike and I'm pretty good at it."
"If you kept your summer weight, you could definitely be a model." I joked, thinking of how much he became handsome and fit when the temperature went up and his appetite diminished.
"Ouch." Said Chitose. "That's cruel Taiga."
"What?" I said frowning, as I knew he was about to make a tasteless joke.
"Saying that to another guy when yours is standing right there? You're shameless."
"Look who's talking." Muttered Eric.
I didn't give Yo the satisfaction of turning around to look at Yata's probably depressed face and immediately snapped back. "Too bad. I'm into hotheaded skateboarders."
The crow perked up, his face turning crimson and steam almost came out of his ears. To save him from further embarrassment because of us, I kept the conversation going instead of arguing with the playboy again. "What about you smartass? How would you make money other than bounty hunting?"
"Hmmmmmmmm... I suppose I could get something out of my dates..."
"If you say host, I'm gonna stab you in the eye." I interrupted.
"Yeah." Said Shohei. "For you, that would literally be male prostitution. And that has got to be illegal."
"Well shit then. I got nothing."
"Quit screwing around, man." Said Bando elbowing him. "Both of us were thinking of opening a diner or something."
"For now, we all have plenty of cash to go on for a while without working." Said Mr Mikoto, interrupting. "We'll get a long break first. Then we'll decide."
"A break huh?" Said Mr Kusanagi. "It's not a bad idea. It's been a while since we've had any rest thanks to the Slates. But remember that in a month, we have to make a decision."
"The beach..." Muttered Anna, making everyone turn to her.
"Did you say something Anna?" Asked Yata.
"We should go to the beach."
That cute remark put a smile on all of our faces. It would be nice to go to the beach. I couldn't remember the last time I went. Although it was hardly the season. If we did go, it wouldn't be for water sports or tanning. But it would be really nice to look at the sea again.
"Any objections to our little princess's wish despite the season?" Asked Mr Kusanagi, even though the bartender already knew the answer.
We all looked at each other and shrugged, since we had nothing to say. The bartender sighed before smiling. It looked like he was also worried about the outcome of this conversation. Our King had managed to delay the question. I think it was mostly to give us a real break to relieve the stress of the past year. We all really needed vacation. Yata was the only one who seemed still lost in thought, his forehead was practically wrinkled, betraying the worry inside. I scooted closer to him until our shoulders touched.
"Hey." He looked up. "We'll be fine."
He sighed but nodded. The guys had started taking out the food for lunch when the front door opened. Mr Kusanagi was about to say that we were closed, until Kuro and Neko walked in. I jumped from my seat and went to hug my brother. They had disappeared since the battle with JUNGLE ended.
"Where have you guys been?" I scolded. "I was really worried."
"Sorry to have worried you." Replied the young samurai. He looked happy somehow. "We had to wait for someone to wake up."
All of us turned our attention to the door. In the doorway was standing a tall man with long light colored hair and wearing a strange outfit that was outdated (still looked great on him though). He was very handsome, and something about his smile seemed familiar.
"Guten Tag*, Taiga." He said with a sweet and warm voice. "You look well."
The German was a dead give away and my eyes widened in shock. "Yashiro?!"
"WHAT?" Exclaimed the guys, as dumbfounded as me.
"Looks like you found your real body, Shiro." Said Mr Kusanagi. "Or should we call you Adolf K. Weissman now?"
"Don't worry, Mr Kusanagi. I'm still Shiro."
"Come in." Offered our King, who had bothered to stand up only to sit right back down.
"Thank you for your hospitality." Replied Kuro bowing. "We've brought someone else. Do you need help?" He asked to someone outside.
"I'm not crippled Kuro." Responded the familiar voice of a certain doctor. "Well, I am. But I got the hang of this."
"No you don't. You got out of the hospital two days ago." Replied the samurai handing his katana to Neko and stepping out, to push in the wheelchair in which Ome was sitting.
"I have to learn to do it alone at some point."
I froze when I saw that. Not only was she in a wheelchair, she had stitches almost everywhere and her eyes seemed to have lost their brightness. Like the light in them was gone. They had practically turned grey. Although, she still had that brilliant smile of hers and sounded as cheerful as usual.
"What's with the silence you guys? Do I have something on my face?" She asked joking. "I'm fine really, it's not as bad as it looks."
Her eyes weren't looking anywhere in particular. That practically confirmed my fear."Ome, what's wrong with your eyes?" I asked.
She smiled. "I'll be able to walk normally again in a couple of months if I don't strain myself. Bad news is, the green king's electrical aura fried my retinas."
Fried them. As in, they were unusable. She would never recover her eyesight.
"I know what kind of faces you're making right now. Don't. It's fine. It'll be a new way to 'see' the world. All in sounds and touch. Should be interesting."
"That means you can't perform surgeries anymore..." Said Kosuke, with a sorry expression on his face.
"Ah, don't worry about that." She brushed off as if it was no big deal. "I'm not out of options. Tokyo Central University of Medical Science has been harassing me to be a teacher there for years. I don't really need my eyes for that. And, not to brag or anything, but I'm a great teacher."
Ome Shiranui, the doctor, the professor, the eternal optimist... Not even something like this could crush her. But I doubted she could feel nothing about those losses. Ome loved her work and not just the Strain Society and her students. She loved saving lives, and being a surgeon was one of the best ways to do that. Now, not only had she lost her institute, she also lost the ability to perform the work she loved the most. Instead of rebelling against the world for doing this to her, she was smiling and reassuring us. I honestly couldn't stand it. I walked up to her and hugged her.
"It's okay not to be fine, Ome." I almost snapped.
She looked surprised for a few seconds before smiling again. "You're making it really hard for me to stay composed, Taiga."
"Then don't. Cry, shout, punch me, do something."
She smiled again, but tears fell out of her eyes, exteriorizing a small part of the sadness that was truly eating at her from the inside. I now knew what Yata felt when he looked at me and got angry because I wouldn't share what was wrong.
"I'll need an adjustment period, but I'll be okay in the end." Continued the ex-strain. "I'm not alone. I've got you guys, my students... So don't sweat it. I'll keep myself occupied and … rediscover the world I guess. It'll be fun."
I let her go and looked at her, that smile never leaving her face. Being an optimist was probably what kept her from breaking down. I envied her for it. How many times would I have broken down if some people hadn't given me well needed reality checks? The doctor wiped the tears from her face.
"Alright, enough sentimentality and fawning over me. On a more serious note, we came here to talk to you Taiga. About the Purple King."
Once more, a long silence followed and everyone was attentive especially HOMRA's skateboarding captain.
"You might want to take a seat. I'd ask if you want to hear this in private..." Started Ome.
"No." Interrupted Yata. "You tell her, you tell all of us."
I nodded in agreement which made both Ome and Yashiro sighed at the same time. We all sat down and focused on the blind doctor. But the Silver King was the one to speak.
"I think I know what happened to Ryu Karasuno. The reason he changed and became the monster that haunted you for so long."
They had my attention now. "Tell me."
Ome fake coughed a little and turned to where Yashiro was. "Are you sure you want to tell them the whole story."
"I can't keep it hidden forever. I learned a while ago that running away solves nothing." Replied the Silver king before turning towards us again. "Knock yourself out."
"A long time ago, back during world war II, I was a young and ambitious scientist in the German Army. I'll spare you the details but, that's when I discovered the Dresden Slates and their powers. At first I wanted to use them to unite the world that was being torn by war at the time. But the more I discovered the more I wanted to harness this power. And I did. I ended up releasing the powers of the Seven Color Kings into the world. But it still wasn't enough. I needed more and more power. People didn't listen to me, they didn't want to follow my ideal. I became angry with the world, so angry. If they didn't listen, then I'd make them. But the power I had acquired was never enough for me. So I tempered more and more with the Slates … until I did the unforgivable."
His hands were shaking. Whatever he was about to say must have been torturing him for years.
"I had a sister, Klaudia Weissman. She tried to stop me. And I killed her."
My heart tightened in my chest and I gulped. I wasn't the only one. No one expected the sweet, gentle, peaceful, almost delicate Silver King to have ever hurt even a fly. Heck, I would go as far as saying it was impossible for him to do something so horrible. But no one said anything and Ome continued.
"When Yashiro told me this story sometime ago, I decided to look deeper into it. I asked the previous Gold King, Lieutenant Daikaku Kokujoji, to let me examine the Slates. The carving in the Slates are Latin characters but most were incomplete. Most of them were erased and lost by time. I completed the ones that were left the best I could, and I was able to decipher a couple of things. First, the word Rex meaning King. And then, a small sentence. Septem peccata mortalia."
"Seven deadly sins?"
"Hold up, since when do you speak Latin?" Asked Yata.
"I speak French and Spanish. Both are Latin languages."
"There were a couple more I was able to decipher. Fatum, electio, maledictionem …"
"Destiny, choice and curse." I muttered, translating out loud.
The doctor continued. "The power of the Slates is dangerous, unstable and if you abuse of it, it kills it's host. I think each power carries a sin with it. And if a King doesn't find a good balance for it, it can turn them insane."
"Isn't that a little too much speculation, Ome?" Asked Mr Kusanagi. "I mean no offense to your research but it sounds far fetched."
"It is only a theory." She admitted. "It's not like I could run tests to affirm it. And now that the Slates are gone, it'll be impossible to confirm it. But I believe that so far, we've witnessed the KMS phenomenon three times."
"KMS?" I asked raising an eyebrow.
"King's Madness Syndrome. That's how I called it."
"So the Silver King was the first." Said Kuro, bringing his hand to his chin. "Which sin did he fall prey to according to your theory?"
"Probably greed. Or power lust." Guessed Kosuke.
"No, not greed. Yashiro's goal was to unite the world, but people wanted to use the Slates as weapons to tear it apart even more. Power was not the thing he wanted. What he felt was anger. He fell prey to wrath." Explained Ome. "Someone would give into greed by wanting to take from others. And for lust, it would be the endless thirst for something and always wanting more of it. Sounds like anyone you remember, Red King?" Asked Ome.
Mr Mikoto didn't answer but he frowned and crushed his cigaret in the ashtray a little too brusquely. No one missed it, but personally, I had no idea which King she was referring to.
"The Colorless King." Said Eric, earning himself the attention of the room. "He took possession of my body once. I remember his thoughts. He wanted the powers of all the Kings."
Mr Kusanagi suddenly frowned. "Hold on. When Mikoto killed the Colorless King, he wasn't acting like himself. Are you saying that he was close to losing himself to wrath?"
"No. If something had taken your King, it would probably have been Sloth."
A couple of laughs escaped the red clansmen's mouths when they thought about their lazy King sleeping all day like a cat when there was nothing to do. But Ome was serious. "I'm not referring to your laziness, Suho. I'm talking about your devil may care attitude from when you were young. Before you met Izumo and Tatara."
Mr Mikoto was staring at her dead in the eyes, even though she couldn't see him. "They saved you from yourself, and building HOMRA was your purpose. Your power had a true reason to serve : protecting your clan. If you ask me, that's what saved you from the sin. Loneliness is a deadly ingredient for people with a lot of power. All the Kings I've arbitrarily diagnosed with the KMS, have killed someone impulsively, lead by the madness."
Everything she was saying made good sense, and Ome wasn't one to just speculate like that. Her life was ruled by science and facts. But something must have happened when she studied the Slates that convinced her that her reasoning wasn't wrong.
Anna who had been quiet and listening the whole time finally spoke. "Yashiro killed Klaudia. The Colorless King killed Tatara."
"And Ryu killed my mom." I finished. "You think he had KMS."
She nodded.
"But it can't be right. I mean, it is about the madness, but … Ryu wasn't lonely. Well he was when he was younger. But after we met, he made a lot of friends. He had a charm that made people easily take a liking to him. And I was always with him. I don't understand how he could've... become like that."
"Again, this is just my theory. Do you want to hear it?"
"Yes."
"He fell prey to Envy. A deep jealousy towards the rest of the world, towards anything and anyone you laid eyes on. That jealousy turned into the fear of loosing you, the first person who welcomed him. And that fear drove him mad."
Not even Yata had to brainstorm to figure out this one. But Yo was the one to say it. "He really was in love with you. Before you even realized you liked him."
I didn't want to linger on the subject and quickly went on. "So the KMS disappeared when the Slates were destroyed and their powers vanished. That does make sense. But how did you break free Yashiro?"
The Silver King looked at the ground while answering. "I don't know. I wish I did. But until Ome shared her theory with me, I never tried to think about this madness again."
"I won't say that my speculations on the link with the seven deadly sins are accurate. But it was my best shot at explaining the KMS. It's a real thing. It's your choice if you want to believe me or not."
"I believe you." I said immediately, earning myself a surprised look. The image of Ryu crying and pushing me away made a lot of sense now. I was sure of it now : he truly felt guilt and regret. And he was punishing himself for what he did. I sighed.
"Thanks Ome. Thanks Yashiro. For telling me this."
"The real question is what are you going to do about it now." Replied Ome. "I don't have my foresight anymore, so I can't exactly keep tabs on you and your stupidity anymore."
"Gee thanks." I growled. "I'm not gonna do anything."
"Okay... that was unexpected."
"Lana already went after him. And you know what, I'm not forgiving him. Not until he comes to look me in the eye and apologies. But even if he does, I'm not sure I'll ever forgive him. I need a lot of time. And I have more important things to worry about."
Yata was staring at me a little shocked. "That doesn't sound like you..."
"I can't ever regain the bond I had with him, not after all of this Yata. I have to move on." I explained. "Lana was right. I did find the place where I belong. Now Ryu needs to find a way to move on too."
My King frowned at me. "From where I'm standing, you sound like you think the exact opposite of what you're saying."
Damn, could they ever pretend to believe what I said? "I feel responsible for him, but I know I shouldn't."
"He heard what you had to say to him." Said Ome. "Now it's his move to make. Don't beat yourself up over him. Well now, if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting with the board of the Society."
"We'll take you." Said Kuro.
"Thanks. You better mean what you said Taiga." She threatened.
"Cross my heart." I said.
The Silver clan left with Ome, thanking us once more for our hospitality. I let myself fall back in the couch and blew all the air I had in my lungs out loudly and slowly.
"You okay?" Asked Yata.
"Yeah, don't worry." I replied. "It's just that I feel useless."
Somehow I felt exhausted even though I hadn't done anything all day. It's crazy how the psyche can affect the body. Talk about the power of the human mind. I let myself fall on Yata's shoulder.
"You look tired maybe you should rest a little more." Said the crow looking at me.
"I did that all week. But for once I'm with Mr Mikoto. I need a nap."
"When did you guys get so comfortable with each other?" Asked Yo, making us realize that we weren't exactly alone. I felt Yata tense up under me and I could just guess how red he was. As for me, I was way too exhausted to feel too embarrassed even though my cheeks still turned red. To be honest, I was tired of the womanizer rubbing it in every time.
"So what?" I growled. "We're dating, I don't see the problem."
"Nothing wrong. It's just that you guys are getting a step closer to..."
"I swear to God, if you finish that sentence, you're gonna end up with a broken nose." I threatened.
Of course he just grinned and kept at it. "What's this Taiga? Could you be dirty-mind … "
I threw my fist in his face and he grunted, taking a couple steps back and bringing his hands to his nose. I'm pretty sure I heard something crack. A drop of blood leaked on his chin as he threw me a shocked look.
"She warned you." Said Bando shrugging.
I sighed and looked at my fist. "Great. You guys are rubbing off on me more than I thought."
"How's that a bad thing?" Protested Shohei, a little offended.
"I'm suppose to be the cool-headed one. Like Mr Kusanagi. It won't work if I resort to punching you guys every time one of you pisses me off. That's your thing."
The bartender chuckled from behind the counter. "Don't worry Taiga. Even I loose my cool with you undisciplined brats."
"That was cheap Mr Kusanagi." Said Yo as he grabbed a handkerchief from Bando's pocket to stop the bleeding. "I think you broke it for real."
"Poor baby." I said, rolling my eyes.
Kosuke and Shohei laughed a little. "Dude, I think Taiga's immune to your teasing now."
"It's fine. I still have Yata. Hey skateboarding captain! Are you a good kisser?"
"Don't use me for your entertainment!" Shouted the crow, his cheeks still red.
"You guys are noisy." Said the Red King, laying down on his couch. "Pipe down."
"So what do we do now?" Asked Rikio.
Everyone stopped moving and we all got lost in thought for a minute. Then Anna and I glanced at each other before declaring at the same time.
"We go to the beach."
I have to say, we really earned a long vacation.
* German : Hello
Well, looks like we finally know what happened to Ryu. Is he really going to disappear forever?
Hey guys! Fair warning, next chapter might be the last. *might!*