Note: It's still pretty cool that we're in a new decade. Holidays were busy so I had no time to write. Now it's time to get back to my daily grind. Here's the next chapter. Also, looking forward to the OVA. For those who follow the story to get emails when a new chapter is uploaded, you would have seen that the previous chapter is exactly 2020 words.

Chapter 16

Getting attacked by two Toji, or two girls with swords, was something Francisco would have never thought would happen. It's mainly due to the fact that he didn't know what Toji were. A great part of his confusion was his ineffectiveness against the so-called aradama. For a weapon as strong as the shotgun, it had little to no effect against it. The virus gave him claws and it was unknown whether they would have any effect on those monsters.

Here he was sitting in an office at Osafune Girls' Academy. Ellen and Kaoru were standing by the director. The awkward stares he got from the students who were wandering about was an experience he'd want to forget soon. It's like some of them have never seen a guy in their life. His red eyes made some think he was injected with noro. The hell is noro? he thought. Rumors would spread that he followed two girls into a building.

"Francisco, was it?" said Director Maniwa without giving him a glance. She was too busy going over a form that displayed current Toji activities. Having someone who's affected with a virus seated a desk's distance away made her a little uneasy. Before Francisco made his way into her office, Ellen and Kaoru had to explain everything what happened. Of course, Director Maniwa argued that Francisco could be playing a trick on them and could strike the moment they let their guard down. It's probably why the director made Ellen and Kaoru stand by her side as guards.

"Yes, ma'am." Francisco responded as seriously as he could.

"I'm going to go ahead and call you 'Frank' if that's okay with you." she said as she finally set down the form.

"That's fine. Don't worry about formalities. Just my name is fine."

"Where did you come from? I want to hear everything," the woman said as she squinted to get a good look at his red eyes. "I'm told you are here to get rid of that despot, MacArthur. Is that correct?"

"All right. Before I talk about my trip here, I'm going over my origins. I was part of a group known as Project Douglas. Soldiers who worked for MacArthur."

"You mentioned 'was'. Interesting. Now the trip."

"A little over a month ago, I was sent to Germany to retrieve a sample of the Omni virus that was supposedly stolen from MacArthur. I don't remember the name of the city. It was located in a medical facility that I damn know. After successfully escaping the lab, I was soon injured by monsters that were unleashed. I was on the brink of death. My red eyes are the result of injecting myself with the virus. I had to survive and that's when I realized the path I was going. I soon found myself in an Egyptian prison and that's where I learned of MacArthur's trip here. I escaped and after pulling a few strings with several individuals, I ended up here. I just got here and already I was attacked by this orange and black creature."

It would take some time for the older woman to fully grasp every little detail of Francisco's endeavors to get to Japan. He traversed three countries in a month. Regardless, he was going to be a big help since he is the closest to MacArthur. Just what does he know about the man?

"Sorry for making you girls stand there for so long. You can have a seat," said Maniwa with an embarrassed chuckle.

"Finally!" said Kaoru as she threw her arms in the air. It was comical to see her grab a chair, slam it on the floor and sit down. Nene jumped down to her lap. Francisco does not make any mention of the little creature. He's seen so much that nothing fazes him anymore.

"What can you tell us about MacArthur?" said Maniwa, returning to her serious demeanor.

"What I can tell you is that he's going to unleash so much chaos. Shit will go down. We have to stop him. For someone who gets off to that kinda shit, I have never seen him angry, though."

Maniwa was about to speak but the knocking on the door cut her off. The door opened and a man came in. He appeared to be on the older side given the wrinkles. He had glasses and was dressed casually for someone who was allowed to barge in like that.

"Grandpa!" yelled Ellen.

"Ellen!" he yelled as he walked over to give her a hug.

"Dr. Friedman. It's good to see you," the woman said.

"Francisco Salazar," Friedman read from a file folder he held open in his hands. During the time when Ellen and Kaoru talked to their director before Francisco was allowed into her office, the older woman made a call to Richard Friedman and asked him to come over as soon as possible.

Francisco was taken aback at the sudden reveal of his actual last name. He knew he'd hear it one day but not like this.

"Who the fuck are you really and how can you possibly know something like that?" said Francisco in a menacingly dark tone.

"Francisco!" cried Ellen.

Francisco took a deep breath and said, "Continue. Lay it out."

"You are the youngest child of 5. Your father is Fernando Salazar. An immigrant from Mexico. Your mother is Andrea Rodriguez. An immigrant from El Salvador. You were born and raised in El Paso, Texas. Your family was suffering and was on the verge of losing their farmland. MacArthur soon paid them a visit, no pun intended, and single-handedly saved them in exchange for you. In other words, he bought you and your family was paid lots. At the age of four. The decisions people make during a crisis."

"Are you okay, man?" Kaoru asked as she saw Francisco just sitting there without saying a word. He was lost in thought. His true identity hitting him like a bus. Is his family okay now? What's become of them? Will his siblings remember him? There is a question he must ask himself. Does he still want to kill MacArthur even though he pulled them out of a crisis?

"Hey! Are you still set on killing MacArthur or not?" Kaoru asked. This time louder so she can pull him out of his thoughts.

Francisco stood up and walked over to a window.

"MacArthur pulled my family out a disaster and practically raised me. Regardless, he's still fucked up. I thank him but he's still going down."

"What do you plan to do now?" Director Maniwa asked.

"Anything that brings us closer to him. The rounds of my weapons will weaken him," Francisco clenched his right fist and claws came out. "These are going through his head," he said as he raised his fist.

"Does it hurt to bring the claws out?" Ellen asked as she tilted her head and had a finger on her chin.

"Every single time. The wounds heal after I retract them and again the claws have to cut through when I pull them out."

"That must suck," said Kaoru.

"I apologize for not introducing myself. My name's Richard Friedman," he said as he extended his arm to give Francisco a handshake.

"Good to meet you, sir," Francisco said as he shook his hand.

"How does that virus feel?"

"I don't feel any different. I actually don't know the full details when it comes to enhancements. Maybe it's something I'll have to learn as time passes."

"He used to be a colleague of mine back in the day. We used to work on experiments involving noro."

"You're bullshitting. Really? What the hell happened?" It was true when they say it's a small world. Someone who knew MacArthur years ago.

"We had severe disagreements. MacArthur was brilliant but power-hungry. He wanted to take the noro research in another direction. He sought ways to make some sort of weapon. He's never let that ambition go it seems. He's still planning to use noro."

"Then what are we doing sitting around? There could be Toji in danger!" Ellen said with concern written all over her face.

"Yeah, you're right. Someone's going to have to tell me what noro is in the future. What would be my or our next step?" Francisco said as he went back to the window.

"I want you, Ellen, and Kaoru to go to the Special Sword Administration Bureau to see Yukari. She could be of great assistant. She's the head of the administration," said the director.

"Then let's head to it. It looks like we got a lot of work to do," Francisco said as he walked toward Ellen and Kaoru.

Note: There's chapter 16. I'm thinking about that Nether Gate mentioned two chapters ago. Would it be too unrealistic if the thing is built in a few hours or a little under a full day? If I choose a few days, then I think I'll have to fill in the gap in the Toji part of the story. I don't know.