[A/N: Hey everyone, hope you're enjoying this story so far. As a warning, these last two chapters are a bit longer than the others, so take some time to make yourself a refreshing beverage and get comfortable before you dive in. Hope you enjoy!]
After they had finished their dinner meals, Kaminari and Jirou were both quite tired.
"Hey Denki, do you wanna watch a movie or something in my room?" Kyoka asked, wanting nothing more than to just lay next to Kaminari on her bed and watch something on the TV.
"That sounds great, why not?" Kaminari said, standing up. He took her plate, which she had already cleaned up pretty well from how much she enjoyed the food, and took it over to the sink. There were only a few bread crumbs here and there, so cleaning it wasn't too vigorous.
"Just let me clean these dishes for you, and then we can go. I'll meet you over there in a sec. Pick something in the meantime!" he added.
She smiled, happy that Kaminari was willing to do the dishes. She sat up and said okay, then walked down the hall to her room. Kaminari watched as she walked away, and doing so reminded him of that thing that was making him ridiculously anxious. In his mind, he had tried to sugarcoat it so that it wouldn't sound as bad. But he knew deep down inside what it was, he knew that he had cheated on Jirou. He knew that he messed up big time., but he was too afraid to admit it.
The anxiety was killing his mind, because now every time that he was with Jirou, he wondered to himself if now was the time to tell her what happened. He would get very close to telling her, but something would happen that would change his mind. Like the fact that some secret agent from the government came to visit them to inform them that Kenji has some sort of superpower, the very thought of that still seemed quite surreal to the two of them.
Kaminari lost himself in his thoughts, staring down at the sink as the warm water ran down across the plate in a near-foamy cascade. He thought back to the events of the past few days, his arrival in La Bella, getting the job at the library, going to the Night of the Harvest Moon and meeting Kyoka, their adventures in trying to find Kenji, to now. He snapped out of his trance of remembrance and realized that he still needed to wash the plates, which he eventually did. He washed his hands and dried them off with a paper towel, then walked over to join Kyoka in her room.
"Hey, there's this hero movie that's really popular. You down to watch that?" Kyoka asked as he walked into the room and closed the door behind him.
"Sure, why not." he said, climbing onto the bed and laying beside her. She turned off the lights and pressed play, then snuggled up next to him, feeling nothing but calm and tranquility. She enjoyed having Kaminari around, since he always gave her a sense of comfort, even way back when they were little kids. Kaminari, however, was on edge. He was afraid Kyoka would be able to tell that something was wrong from the way he was acting and the way his heart was racing. He prayed that she wouldn't ask anything of it, and that she would just focus on the movie. And for the most part, she did. There were a few moments where she would say something about what happened on screen, but Denki would barely reply with some lame "Yeah.." or "Haha!" response.
The 2 hour-long movie went by rather quickly for Kaminari, who wasn't even paying attention to it half of the time. He was too busy getting lost in his thoughts and anxieties, his eyes were sort of just glancing at the TV but his brain wasn't actually processing what he was seeing. After the movie, all he remembered was some group of heroes charging at some villain and his army in a big open field.
After the movie was over, Kyoka looked over to Denki to ask him what he thought about the movie.
"So, what'd you think?" she asked, looking up at him.
"It was good. Fun." he replied, his eyes still fixed on the TV as the credits scrolled by.
She raised an eyebrow at him. She then backed away from him a bit, then asked him what was wrong.
"Kaminari, what's wrong? Are you okay?" she asked, a bit worried for Denki. She hadn't seen him so emotionless before.
"Yeah, I'm fine, why?" he replied, breaking his glance from the TV to look down at Kyoka.
"You've been acting like a zombie ever since you came home. I can tell when something's off, you know." she replied.
"Nah, nothing's wrong! Just a little tired, is all.." he replied, trying to diffuse her suspicions.
"You're lying to me.." she said, seeing through his lie. Kaminari looked at her for a few seconds, and debated if now was the time to tell her. His heart started pounding. He felt like he was sweating, and he noticed how warm the air in the room had become. Some strange part on the back of his shoulder started itching from the fabric of his shirt, and he moved his hand to scratch it. As he moved his hand, it trembled a bit, and he realized that his time to make a decision on telling her the truth was only a few milliseconds long. If he waited any longer, Kyoka would really know that something was wrong. As he began to panic, he started speaking.
"It's just, you know how I told you about that girl, from earlier? From work? It's just been really bo-" he said. He was going to continue, but Kyoka interrupted him by placing her hand over his mouth.
"I had a feeling it was about that." she said, getting up from her cuddle position and sitting on his lap.
She removed her hand from his mouth and instead held onto his cheeks as she gazed into his brown eyes.
"You..you did?" he asked, worried that she already somehow knew that he cheated on her.
"Yeah, I get it. I can only imagine the whole her throwing herself onto you must've been terrible for you," she said, kissing him on the forehead. He was a bit relieved that she didn't quite figure it out. "Don't you forget what real affection and love is like," she said, leaning in to kiss him on the lips. Despite feeling relieved, Kaminari really didn't feel like making out or doing anything like that with Jirou. Kyoka, however, looked like she really wanted to go down on Kaminari. She began kissing his neck and feeling him up, but he just patted her on the back and didn't really make any sounds or signs of pleasure. Kyoka was confused and looked up at him.
"Kyoka, I don't really want to do that right now.." he said, exhaling nervously.
"Oh," she said, a bit surprised. Normally, Kaminari would have loved to, and she figured that since his day at work was stressful, he would've appreciated something like this. But she was wrong.
"I'm sorry," he replied.
"No, it's fine! I shouldn't of done anything.." she replied, getting off of his lap. She sat beside him and put her hand on her forehead, closing her eyes.
"Do you just want to sleep, then?" she asked.
"Yeah, I think that would be good." he replied. Kyoka nodded and turned off the TV, then the two of them got into the bed. She cuddled up beside him, and noticed his irregular heartbeat and deep breaths. She knew something was wrong, she just didn't know how bad it was or what it was. Kaminari fell asleep quite rapidly, which also surprised Kyoka because he normally took a while to fall asleep. Shortly after however, she fell asleep as well.
The next day, Kaminari and Jirou arrived at the warehouse at the agreed-upon time. The morning wasn't as eventful as usual, mostly just more of Kaminari's stoic expressions and Kyoka feeling concerned. Or so she thought.
It was quiet within the now-abandoned warehouse, with nothing but the occasional noise of some pipe high up in the rafters leaking a bit of stagnant water. The warehouse wreaked and smelled of overgrown vegetation, and likely of some rotten and dead animal behind one of the giant machines. Neither Kyoka nor Denki were quite sure what to expect when walking into this 'meeting' with the agent, but there was a feeling in the air that it wasn't anything good.
"Hey uh, Agent Tim? You here?" Kaminari decided to say, since he didn't see the agent anywhere around.
"Right behind you, Mr. Kaminari." he said, scaring the living shit out of Kyoka and Denki both. The two jumped around to face him.
"Jesus! A little warning, yeah?" Kaminari said, catching his breath after the shock.
"I do apologize. Walk with me, I need to explain an update in the situation. We know where your brother is located." the agent replied, walking to another part of the factory.
"What? That's great!" Kyoka said, happy to hear this information.
The agent walked over to a table near one side of the factory with an open laptop. He pressed a few keys on the laptop keyboard to reveal some sort of satellite imagery of a building.
"Kenji's power was detected by our systems again just earlier today. We believe it to be in this building not too far from here, about a mile away." he said, pointing to a part of the map. He enhanced the image to show a 3D view of the building, looking like some sort of mansion from the 19th century.
"This used to be a sprawling mansion in the 1800s. Some time ago it became abandoned, overgrown and infested with plants and foliage, much like this factory. Nobody really lived there except perhaps a pack of wolves or squatters. However, recently, we believe this is now the headquarters for a sinister organization." the agent said.
"Sinister? What do you mean?" Kyoka asked.
"As I informed the two of you yesterday, Kenji is not the only child showing signs of these...powers. With each day, more cases are being reported in every single part of the world. It was only a matter of time before these powers began to be exploited for cynical purposes." the agent replied, turning back to the laptop. He pressed another button which pulled up an image of a masked man. The man's mask was black like his short hair, and he appeared to be relatively young, possibly around 20-something years old. It showed him leaving a cafe somewhere in a big city.
"Meet the leader of the Del Mar cult, a man who goes by the alias "Mark Antony". We don't know much about him other than the fact that he loves to brainwash children and the vulnerable-minded. And now, he's trying to brainwash your brother, Ms. Jirou." the agent said.
"A cult? You've got to be kidding me. That son of a bitch.." Kyoka said, crossing her arms.
"We don't know what he plans to do, but nothing well can arise from a man with so much...power. We believe he's extremely charismatic, therefore it's easy for them to fall under the illusion of his lies. We believe he's trying to make them all feel like outcasts, that they should blame the world for their problems. All while really just utilizing them to do his dirty work." the agent said, closing the laptop and facing the pair. He lifted a few documents from an envelope and began cycling through them.
"A few weeks ago in New York, a mysterious green beam of light was reported around midnight outside a bank. Shortly after, a massive hole was created in the wall of the bank vault, reporting a loss of several hundred thousand dollars. In Los Angeles, another similar beam of light was spotted after a weapons factory was broken into. The list goes on. We believe these all to be connected to the Del Mar cult." the agent added.
"Well what is it that you want us to do about it?" Kaminari asked.
"Thank you for asking. You're going to going in there and rescue Kyoka's brother, Kenji, as well as any other children that might be under his control." the agent explained.
"But how do you expect us to do something like that? We can't exactly just roll up and ask him to give Kenji back to us. That would never work!" Kaminari said.
"Not dressed like that, you won't. Mark Antony already knows the two of you and what you look like. That's why we're going to have you two go in disguised." the agent added.
"Disguised? Are you serious? This sounds like something out of a cartoon." Kyoka said, frustrated that this was seriously his best plan. "And what do you mean, how does he already know what we look like? I've never even heard or seen him before in my life." Kyoka added.
"But he's seen you plenty of times, Ms. Jirou. He was there on the Night of the Harvest Moon, when you reunited with Mr. Kaminari. I don't blame you for not recognizing him, his mask blended well with the the masquerade theme." the agent said, somewhat ominously.
Kyoka was taken aback, trying to remember if she remembered a man with a black mask like that at the ball.
"He was also the one who wrote on that card in your left pocket," he added. Kyoka's eyes widened as she looked down and reached into her left jean pocket, pulling out the card that they found outside of the convenience store in La Bella.
Kaminari was also amazed by this, the fact that the agent knew all of this information about the two of them was incredible. Kaminari began anxiously wondering if the agent even knew about his relationship with Ashido, too.
"How..how do you know all of this.." Kyoka asked, in awe.
"We're the Central Intelligence Agency. We know everything. And don't worry about the disguises. We disguise ourselves all the time, and no one even notices a thing. You're in good hands." the agent replied, and out of the blue, a few men and women came out of the shadows. They had several different materials with them, such as hair dye, hair styling gels, tons of wardrobes, makeup, and more.
Denki turned to look at Kyoka, who in turn shrugged. She was too appalled by the agent's incredible arsenal of information about the two of them for her to object to the disguising plan.
"Guess we're doing this," Kaminari said, taking a deep breath.
They pulled up a few chairs out from seemingly nowhere and sat Kaminari and Jirou down beside each other, and began the work on altering their appearances.
For starters, Kaminari's hair was chopped from its typically long length down to a more reasonable length of around 2 or 3 inches long. Kaminari was a bit upset, since he liked his hair long. Then, they placed a barber's tarp around his body and began to dye his hair a dark black.
As for Kyoka, instead of cutting her hair, which was already pretty short, they instead began working on giving her extensions. She was never a fan of long hair, since it would get pretty difficult to manage and get everywhere. They also dyed her hair to a brown, something that completely transformed the way that she looked.
"Looking good, Kyoka," Kaminari said, glancing over at Jirou's new look.
"You too, Denki." Jirou replied, a bit bothered by having to do all of this.
Next, they gave the two of them colored eye contacts. Kaminari's brown eyes became blue, and Jirou's a hazel-brown. The makeup artists did her eyeliner and mascara as well as a tiny bit of lip gloss. Jirou never wore makeup, and apparently even this agency knew about it.
After makeup came the wardrobe. They moved them into separate parts of the factory that were private and allowed for them to change into their disguised clothing. For Jirou, the wardrobe that was chosen was that of a preppy, typical American girl. A white Aeropostale shirt with slightly ripped blue jeans and Vans slip-ons. For Kaminari, the look that was given to him was that of an emo scene kid from 2009, even going as far as to give him a lip piercing during the makeup process. His clothes consisted of dark black clothing, such as extremely skinny jeans, Converse shoes, and a hoodie.
The two were then allowed to leave the dressing rooms, where they saw each other in their full disguises.
"Emo, nice. It fits you," Kyoka said, looking at Kaminari.
"Thanks, the preppy look goes well with you as well," Kaminari replied, kind of digging this new look to Kyoka. Moments like these temporarily cleared his head of the anxiety.
The agent came out and observed the two of them, nodding.
"This will work. At least at first. I can barely make out that it's the two of you. Anyway, try your best to fit into the persona of your appearance. It doesn't have to be perfect, in fact, the less perfect, the better." the agent added.
"Fit into the persona? You mean I have to act like a sad emo boy?" Kaminari asked.
"If you want to put it that way, sure. Just do whatever you need to do. Now come on, I'll give you one last briefing." the agent said, walking back over to the main area of the warehouse. Kyoka and Denki followed.
The agent pulled out a flier from an envelope and handed it to the pair. It was a plain white flier with nothing on it besides the words 'KNOW YOUR POWERS.' in all black, followed by an address.
"This is how he's managed to gather such a following. When you knock on his door, make sure you show whoever opens the door this flier. It'll act as your ticket inside, they'll know you're not just some random person, rather some kid with powers looking to join the 'group'." the agent said.
"Powers? But we don't have any!" Kaminari said.
"I wouldn't be so quick to say that, Mr. Kaminari. You can never be too certain," the agent said, again sounding somewhat ominous. "Just let them know that you've had random bursts of energy or powers that aren't under your control. Make something up, just try to make it convincing." the agent added.
Kaminari took another deep breath, taking the time to process all of this information.
"So, are you two ready?" the agent asked.
Kyoka glanced over at Kaminari, who nodded in response.
"Yeah, I guess so." she responded.
"Very well. We'll escort you a bit closer to the premises. We'll drop you off in a discrete location, but from there it's all up to you. If things start to go crazy, don't panic. We'll be monitoring it all." the agent added.
"Okay." the two said.
The agent led them to an unmarked SUV and drove them to the mansion. The SUV dropped them off behind a forested area, so as to remain out of sight and give the illusion that they walked there. They stepped out and the SUV took off, then proceeded to walk towards the mansion.
Kaminari and Jirou made their way across the lawn of the mansion, which was quite big. From the front, it appeared at least 2 or 3 stories tall. It also had a slight orange tint from the light of the afternoon sun. The 'driveway', which was really just a gravel path, turned and swirled around a large center fountain. There were very few trees near the front since they would block the view of the large stone pillars that surrounded the front entrance.
"Are we really doing this..?" Kaminari asked as they walked closer, a bit unsure of the plan.
"We have to. Doesn't look like there's much else of a choice." Jirou responded.
Kaminari nodded in agreement, and together they walked up the front steps. The front doors had glass with diamond patterns on it, and as they knocked and waited for a response, they saw their reflections and remembered their disguises.
A few seconds passed of near-silence, but shortly after the sound of footsteps approaching became audible. They saw a figure stand on the other side of the door, but it was too blurry to see who it was.
The door opened slightly, and a girl around the same age as Kenji stood inside. It was a girl with pale white skin and very long black hair, some of which covered her face.
"Who are you?" she said, her voice sounding emotionless.
Kyoka pulled out the flier that the agent gave to them and handed it to the girl.
"We thought this was the place." Kyoka said, trying her best to sound like a preppy schoolgirl.
"Oh." The girl at the door said, then opened the door a bit more and stood aside. "You can come in."
Kyoka and Denki exchanged glances, then carefully, they walked inside. The girl closed the door behind them, the sound of it echoing through the mansion halls.
From the inside, the mansion appeared even more massive. The 'lobby' had a dark red carpet that covered almost the entire house. A large chandelier hung from the tall ceiling, and a bit next to it and below was a staircase that led to the second floor, part of which overlooked the main lobby.
"Great Mark Antony isn't here right now. He left a while ago to meet with someone. He won't take long." The girl said.
"Ugh. Okay," Kaminari replied, trying to sound as edgy as he could.
"I'll take you to the playground," she said, leading them down to one of the halls.
"The playground?" the two of them thought to themselves.
Sure enough, after following this girl down the hall, she opened another door that led to an inner courtyard within the mansion. As they walked outside, it was just that- a large playground with several kids playing on it.
"A playground? Why here?" Kaminari said, again doing his emo voice and trying to sound uninterested.
"Because, this is where we all make friends," the girl said, which admittedly sounded a bit odd. Kaminari and Jirou could tell that the girl was clearly brainwashed and under the illusion of the cult. It made them both a bit sad, but nonetheless, it made them want to free these kids even more.
Kyoka looked at the kids on the playground and tried to see if she could spot Kenji anywhere. Most of the kids on the playground, however, looked much younger than Kenji.
"Is there another place where we can make friends? Like, for the older kids?" Kaminari asked.
"There's the common room," she said, turning to lead them somewhere else. The two again followed her to the 'common room', which was upstairs. As they followed her, they started to understand the scale of the cult, given that there were several teenagers just walking around the halls as well, many of them looking like they haven't seen the sun in months.
The common room was, to put it very simply, just a common room. It was a fairly large room with windows all along the wall that faced the setting sun. It had a few tables and chairs, a grand piano in one corner, as well as a few other things they couldn't see at first glance. Here, there were about 7 or 8 other kids around their age, but still no sight of Kenji.
"This is my favorite room," the girl beside them said.
"Why?" Kaminari asked.
"Because, I get to watch the sun go down. I hate the sun." she said, almost sounding angry near the end of her sentence. Based on how pale she appeared, they could believe it.
"Oh, okay. What's your name, by the way?" Kyoka asked.
"Here, they call me Red Fox." she said, locking her gaze onto Kyoka's eyes and staring into her soul. Kyoka noticed that her eyes appeared almost black, something she had never quite seen before.
"Oh, uh, nice to meet you then, Red Fox.." Kyoka said.
"You will be named Hummingbird," Red Fox said, still looking at Kyoka. She then turned and locked eyes with Kaminari. "You will be Stingray." she said.
Kaminari and Jirou looked at each other a bit confused, but figured that this was okay, given the fact that they are supposed to be disguised.
"Stingray, that's cool I guess." Kaminari said, his emo voice starting to sound natural.
Red Fox led them over to an empty table and sat down, so the two of them followed her and sat down at the table as well.
"So Red Fox, what do we do here normally?" Kyoka asked, wanting to learn more about the types of things that go down in this place.
"I don't know. We do a lot of things." Red Fox replied.
"Like what?" Kyoka asked.
"We like to roleplay when Great Mark Antony isn't here." she said, then precisely turned her head 90 degrees to the left to look at the other group of teens on the other side of the room.
For whatever reason, they were dressed up in fancy attire. The boys were dressed in suits and the girls in dresses, and it looked like they were roleplaying being in some kind of host club.
"Okay, what else?" Kyoka asked.
"Sometimes we can play the piano. Not after dark, though." Red Fox said.
"Wow." Kaminari said.
Just then, they saw a few others walk into the room. Kyoka turned to look at who they were, and her eyes widened when she saw who was among them. It was none other than her little brother Kenji, who she hadn't seen in person since that horrible morning many years ago. She watched in silence a he walked in, taking a moment to note how much he had changed. He was taller, his hair longer, and generally just looked older. She felt a tear trying to escape from her eye, but she tried her hardest not to let it leave.
"Kenji.." she said quietly, catching the attention of both Red Fox and Kaminari.
"Kenji? No. You are mistaken. That's Blue Eagle." Red Fox said, noting that Kyoka was looking at Kenji.
"Oh, right. Sorry." Kyoka said.
Kenji scanned the room and looked in the direction of Kyoka and Denki, but he didn't recognize Kyoka at all. He looked past them and continued to scan the room, then turned and walked out of the room.
"Hey Red Fox, where's the bathroom?" Kyoka asked.
"Down the hall. I will show you." Red Fox said, about to stand up. Kaminari stopped her before she could stand, knowing that Kyoka needed to go after Kenji.
"Wait, Red Fox, do you like Black Veil Brides?" he asked, trying to think of some emo rock band off the top of his head.
"I..yes, I do." she said, completely forgetting about Kyoka. Kaminari looked over at Kyoka and winked, to which she mouthed 'thanks' and slipped out of the room.
Kaminari and Red Fox began to have a discussion about music while Kyoka left the room. Once in the hall, she looked left and right to see if Kenji was still close. As she turned to face right, she saw Kenji turn and walk into another room by himself. She walked down the hall and slightly peeked into the room to see what was inside. It was darker than the other room since the windows faced away from the sun and none of the lights were on. There was no one else except Kenji inside, and the room appeared to be some sort of library or reading lounge.
Kyoka carefully walked in, and decided she would try to get Kenji's attention.
"Uh, excuse me?" she called out to Kenji. He turned around to face Kyoka and smiled.
"Yes, can I help you?" Kenji said. Kyoka noticed how much his voice had changed, specifically how deep it got.
"I'm like kind of new here, I was wondering like what this room was." Kyoka said, trying to make something up.
"Oh, well you've come to one of the greatest rooms this place has. This is the crucible of knowledge." Kenji replied, holding his hand up to the thousands of books on the shelves. He picked one of the books up and walked over to Kyoka. It was a typical size and the cover was a light blue.
"This is one of my favorites. It's called Shadows of the Frozen Dawn, it's a mystery novel." Kenji said, showing it to Kyoka. Amazingly, Kyoka knew about this book as well, as it was one of the books she owned back in her apartment.
"Oh wow, it sounds like totally cool!" she said.
"I don't think I've ever seen you around before. Are you new?" Kenji asked. It hurt Kyoka a bit to hear those words from her own brother, but it made her realize just how good her disguise really was.
"Yeah, I like just showed up like today, actually. I'm Hummingbird," Kyoka responded.
"Oh, don't worry. I know it seems kind of weird or strange at first, but you'll feel right at home in no time. Great Mark Antony does an amazing job at making us all feel wanted. I'm Blue Eagle." Kenji said.
"How long have you been here?" Kyoka asked, trying to catch up with her brother while she had the time to do so.
"I found Great Mark Antony 8 months ago. I've got to tell you, it's been one of the best 8 months of my life. I actually feel loved here. We're all one big and loving family," Kenji said, looking at Kyoka and smiling.
Kyoka was saddened by the fact that the cult leader had managed to brainwash Kenji so much. She saw very little of the Kenji she knew 4 years before, and it made her want to cry again.
"You really think that, Kenji?" she said, forgetting she wasn't supposed to call him that. The expression in Kenji's face changed drastically upon hearing his real name. He took a step back, confused.
"How do you know that..how do you know my real name?" Kenji asked, gripping the book in his hand.
"Because, it's me, your big sister." she said, no longer using her preppy accent.
"Kyoka..? No, it can't be. You look nothing like her." Kenji said, not able to believe what was happening.
"It's just a disguise. It's me, Kenji. I've missed you so much." she said, leaping forward and hugging her younger brother with a warm embrace. It was then that she finally began to cry, unable to keep in her tears any longer.
Kenji stood in complete shock. He couldn't believe that Kyoka was actually there in front of him. He had almost forgotten about her, given the four years he had essentially spent living on his own. The memories started to come back to him, one by one.
The first memory that came back to him was that of his 4th birthday. He remembered running around in his backyard and being happy that it was his birthday, then accidentally tripping and scraping his knee. He remembered how much it stung, how his palms hurt from hitting the cement. 4-year old Kenji began to cry, and that's when Kyoka immediately ran over. She hugged him and held him close, telling him that it was okay.
"Ah! Kyoka! It hurts!" Kenji cried, gasping for air in between his words and sobs. Kyoka ran her hand gently through his hair to calm him down, then told him to look at her.
"Look at me. Kenji, look at me. You're a strong kid. You're going to be okay. It's just a little scratch. Now, let me take a look at it." she said, trying to get him to take his hands off of the scrape. By this point, their parents had come outside, and they took it from there. But Kyoka managed to at least calm Kenji down enough, and he always remembered it.
The next memory was from the first time he had ice cream. There was a local ice cream place in their hometown that Jirou's family occasionally went to. He remembered the first flavor he tried, which was bubblegum. He loved it because of the bright and colorful blue color it had, and even more because of how it tasted. He missed it a lot.
Then came the memory of the day he disappeared. He remembered how he woke up Kyoka that morning, eager to spend time with his big sister while she walked him to school. He remembered how she told him to walk to school on his own, and how that led to his disappearance. That's when the memories stopped being good.
Kenji backed away from Kyoka, breaking away from her embrace.
"Why are you here, Kyoka? You hate me!" Kenji said, his pent-up emotions getting to him.
Kyoka was surprised that he backed away from her. She was confused as to why Kenji thought she hated him.
"What? What are you talking about? I don't hate you, Kenji!" she said, taking another step closer.
"Lies! You let me go on my own that day! How could you do that? I was so little! You don't know what I had to go through out there, all by myself!" he said, raising his voice.
Kyoka put her hands out and tried to calm him down, not wanting anyone nearby to hear and come over. At the same time, she heard what he was saying, and it hurt her inside to know that Kenji was still upset at her. However, she knew that he had every reason to be upset. In the years since his disappearance, she spent many hours thinking of what awful things he must've had to endure, wherever he might have been.
"Kenji, I know. You don't know how much I regret what I did that day. It changed my life forever. If I could go back and do things differently, believe me Kenji, I so would. For the past four years, I've dedicated my life to just trying to find you." she replied.
Kenji remained silent, unsure of what to say. He was still amazed by the fact that his sister was here, the fact that she managed to find him. A big part of him really wanted to go with her, but an even bigger part of him remembered the words that Mark Antony had ingrained into his mind.
"Your sister didn't love you. Nobody did. Not even your own flesh and blood. They let you out alone into the real world because they didn't want anything to do with you anymore. They abandoned you." Mark Antony told Kenji the day that he found him.
Mark Antony met Kenji shortly after he escaped the scientific research facility that was studying his superpowers. Immediately, Mark Antony took Kenji in, and began feeding him lies. Mark Antony told Kenji that the only place someone like him would be accepted was here, within the cult.
"They viewed you as a lab rat, hooking up all of these wires to your body to study you and to research what you were capable of. You weren't human, to them, you were a freak. That's what the world views people like us as, nothing more than freaks." Mark Antony said.
His words echoed within Kenji's mind, making his thoughts as cloudy as a rainstorm.
"Just get out of here Kyoka," Kenji said, not knowing what else to say.
"I'm not going anywhere without you, Kenji." she said, taking a step closer.
Just then, Kaminari peeped his head into the room and walked in.
"Hey, I managed to sneak past Red Fox when she wasn't looking." Kaminari said, realizing that the boy in front Kyoka was Kenji.
"Oh, is this him?" Kaminari said.
"Yeah." Kyoka said.
"Who are you?" Kenji asked.
"Hey there little man, my name's Denki Kaminari. I'm a friend of your sister." Kaminari said, smiling.
Something about Kaminari's smile made Kenji want to smile too, but he tried his best not to.
"You guys need to go. If Mark Antony or the others find out that you're not really one of us, I don't know what they'll do to you." Kenji said.
Just then, a chime rang through the mansion. Kenji turned and looked towards the door.
"He's back," Kenji said.
"Who is?" Kaminari asked.
"Mark Antony. He wants everyone to meet in the dining hall for the weekly meeting. Again, you guys should go!" Kenji said, walking out of the room.
"Kenji!" Kyoka called out, but he walked out anyway.
Kaminari and Jirou looked at each other, then nodded. They walked out of the room as well and noticed many other of the cult members walking in a particular direction. They followed them to the dining hall, which was near the middle of the mansion.
The dining hall was extremely spacious, and several tables were laid out across the room. Kaminari and Jirou found a relatively empty table and sat down together as the room began to fill. There must have been at least 50 or so people there when it all filled up. Kyoka scanned around to see if she could spot Kenji anywhere, but she couldn't see too well from the table.
A few minutes later, Mark Antony walked into the middle of the room. As soon as he did, everyone stood up and held their arms out. To avoid sticking out, Kaminari and Jirou stood up as well and did the same. Mark Antony gestured for everyone to sit, and instantly they all did.
"Good evening family. It is with a great heart that I speak to you all." Mark Antony said.
"And with the purest heart," everyone else in the dining hall responded.
"For years, you have all had to live with shame. For years, many of you could not be happy with who you are. For many, many years, you have all had to struggle more than those who society considers 'normal'." he said, slowly walking around the dining hall as he spoke. Then he stood still.
"But tonight, this all changes." he said, very mysteriously. The way that he had set it sent shivers down both Kyoka and Denki's backs.
"As you all know, I have been planning something big for quite some time now. Earlier, I left the mansion to ensure that everything was prepared and ready for our plan. It is time that the whole world pays for the way it has treated us," Mark Antony said, an evil look in his eyes.
"This guy's nuts," Denki whispered under his breath to Kyoka.
"Yeah, I know.." Kyoka responded.
"Outside, a storm is forming," Mark Antony said, walking over to one of the windows and taking a look outside. Sure enough, dark rain clouds lined the sky outside of the mansion. Both Kaminari and Jirou remembered back to yesterday to what the agent said.
"And...be prepared for the storm." the agent had said.
"This storm will be powerful. But even then, it will be nothing compared to the storms that you all have inside you. Tonight, you will all unleash your powers to the world, and by the end of the night, no living being will treat you wrongly ever again." Mark Antony said, turning away from the window to face the people in the dining hall.
He removed his mask from his face to reveal his menacing grin. Everyone in the dining hall cheered and clapped, in awe of their leader. Kaminari and Jirou however, were horrified.
"At midnight, those with the powers of teleportation will scatter to different parts of the world. You will all then concentrate your powers to cause havoc and mayhem upon those who have wronged you. Then, and only then, will you all be accepted in this world. Show them your strength." Mark Antony said, continuing to walk around the dining hall. He started to walk in the direction of Kaminari and Jirou, and the two of them became uneasy.
"As I look around at all of your faces, I feel a sense of pride. You have all suffered so greatly, just as I. This will be the greatest vengeance the world has ever seen." Mark Antony said, stopping next to Kaminari and Jirou. Their hearts were pounding, unsure as to why Mark Antony had stopped beside them.
"You two, stand up." Mark Antony said.
Kaminari and Jirou weren't sure if he was talking to them or not, since she was directly behind them. After a few seconds, they turned around and saw that he was indeed talking to them.
Kaminari and Jirou got up from the table and stood up as instructed. They were both extremely frightened, fearing that they've been caught.
"What has the world done to you two poor souls," Mark Antony asked. They were both instantly relieved.
"Oh, uh.." Kyoka said, not knowing at all what to say. She started to panic and mumble, and Kaminari knew he had to say something.
"I'll tell you what the world did to me," Kaminari spoke up, giving Kyoka time to think of a response.
Kaminari took a deep breath and closed his eyes, taking a second to remember the pain and depression he suffered back home.
"I didn't feel wanted. My parents fought constantly. My job was going nowhere. I was robbed. The one that I loved left me. I felt like trash, I didn't see a point in the future. But then I found this place. And everything changed." Kaminari improvised in his emo voice.
Mark Antony put a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm glad that you've found a purpose here. Let's clap for this young man," Mark Antony said.
The others clapped and cheered, then waited to see what Kyoka had to say.
"And what about you, what has the world done to you?" Mark Antony asked.
"When I was little, I had something taken away from me that I love very much. After it was gone, nothing was ever the same. My life was nothing without it. I won't stop until I get it back," Kyoka said, angrily looking at Mark Antony.
Kenji, who was further away at another table, heard this and was amazed. A tear fell from down his cheek, and he knew that Kyoka was serious about wanting to find and save him.
"Thank you. Another clap for the two of these wonderful people," Mark Antony said. The crowd clapped once more, and he gestured for them to sit back down. The two of them did, and Mark Antony walked back to where he originally started. The two of them let out a sigh of relief.
"You see, stories like those are the driving force behind all of this. This has gone on for too long. As for those without the power to teleport, do not worry. You will all have an equally important role to play in this. Tonight, we will let the whole world know what we are capable of. Thank you all." Mark Antony said, putting his mask on and disappearing into one of the rooms in the back. The crowd cheered one final time and dinner began to be served.
"Did you hear what he said about his plan?" Kaminari asked Kyoka.
"Yeah. We have to stop him." Kyoka replied.
"I know, but how?" Kaminari asked.
Just then, Kaminari noticed someone reach their hand across the table to grab a napkin, except this hand looked familiar. He noticed that their hand was colored pink, as well as their arm, and also their face. His eyes widened in disbelief as he realized that Mina Ashido was sitting across from him at this table.
"What the hell is Mina doing here? And what happened to her skin?" Kaminari thought to himself. He remembered back to yesterday after she tried to make out with him at the library and how she had a strange pink spot on her arm. It looked like the spot had spread to the rest of her body. He then looked up at her eyes, her sclera now as black as darkness.
He immediately turned his head to the side as she began to look in his direction. He knew he was disguised, but he didn't want to risk the chance of her somehow knowing it was him. He began to listen to the conversation she was having with another person at the table.
"So, what's your story?" somebody had asked Ashido.
"Well, a few days ago, I started noticing these small pink spots on different parts of my body. And then, this strange..acid starting coming out from my hands. I didn't know what was happening, and yesterday..I.." she said, before pausing momentarily. Kaminari slightly turned his head towards her so he could see her face.
"I ran away. I didn't want to be home anymore. And last night, the pink spread to the rest of my body. I didn't even know about my eyes until I got here and someone pointed it out." Mina continued.
Kaminari felt bad for her, since she looked like she was uncomfortable being completely pink and looking that way now. Just then, he felt Kyoka tug at his arm, and he looked back over.
"Hey, let's see if we sneak out of here." Kyoka whispered to him.
"Sure, let's go." Kaminari said. The two got up from their seats and snuck out among the various people who were walking around and passing out the food.
It was dark within the halls of the mansion. The only source of light was from the twilight sky outside, and even then it was starting to dim.
"Okay, we have to find his room or hideout or whatever." Kyoka said, walking stealthily.
"Yeah. Luckily most of this place should be empty from everyone being down at the dining hall." Kaminari responded.
They walked up the stairs and began carefully checking out each room. Many of the rooms were relatively small compared to the size of the mansion, with just enough room for a twin bed, drawer, and a desk in each one.
"These must be all the rooms where everyone stays." Kyoka said.
"Yeah, I think so. There's so many people here, it's amazing how he managed to get so many of them.." Kaminari added.
"Mhm. And they don't even question his authority, either. They worship him like some kind of prophet." Kyoka responded.
The two continued until they reached the end of the long hall. There was a single door at the end of this corridor, and something about it seemed especially eerie. It might've just been the way that the light interacted with the end of the hall, but either way, it made both Kaminari and Jirou feel a sense of dread and uneasiness. They slowly opened the door and tiptoed inside, realizing the door led to a sort of balcony area for several people to sit. In the room down below, the two could see Mark Antony hunched over a strange sort of shrine. He bowed to the shrine, then got down on one knee. A girl stood beside him holding some kind of necklace in a small box. Upon getting a closer look, they saw that it was the pale girl from earlier, Red Fox.
"Finally, after all of these years, it's actually happening. Revenge has never tasted so sweet," Mark Antony said, a dark and hoarse tone in his voice instead of the charismatic and sympathetic one from earlier.
"Uh, Great Mark Antony?" Red Fox said, sounding a bit scared. It was the most emotion they had heard from her yet, even when Kaminari discussed bands with her, she had remained completely emotionless.
"What is it," Mark Antony said, a bit upset that Red Fox had interrupted his ritual or whatever he was doing.
"About your plan, are you sure that this is the right thing to do? I mean, not everyone in the world has treated us wrongly.." Red Fox said. They could tell that she was not completely onboard with his 'great plan'.
"I'm positive. Red Fox, I chose you as my assistant because I related the most to you. Ever since you were little, I knew you had the potential to be powerful." Mark Antony said, reassuring her.
"Yes Great Mark Antony," she replied, bowing her head.
Mark Antony then stood up and stretched his arms out, looking up to the large window in front of him. He began saying something that wasn't as easily heard from the balcony above, but shortly after he turned to face Red Fox.
"Now, I ask of you, Great Red Fox, to place this necklace of the Harvest Moon around my neck, so that we may have the fortune of the stars on our side." Mark Antony said.
Red Fox nodded, then reached into the box and pulled out the necklace. She placed it around his neck, and immediately he let out a deep breath.
"What's he doing?" Kaminari whispered to Kyoka.
"I have no idea." Kyoka replied.
Mark Antony turned once more to face Red Fox, and placed a hand upon her shoulder.
"Thank you, Great Red Fox. You don't know it yet, but your powers will prove most effective." Mark Antony said. Suddenly, a bright beam of light began to shine from Red Fox's shoulder. The beam attached to Mark Antony's hand, and it appeared as though he was somehow harnessing all of her power.
"Ahh.." Red Fox groaned, feeling like she had become paralyzed. She couldn't move or do anything, except watch Mark Antony take her power.
The beam of light eventually faded a few seconds later, and when it did, Red Fox fell to the floor, unconscious. Mark Antony turned and left the room, almost noticing Kaminari and Jirou up on the balcony.
"What the hell did he just do?" Kaminari said once he left the room.
"I don't know, but we should go check on her and make sure she's okay." Kyoka said. The two came down from the balcony through a set of stairs that led down to the floor. They ran over to Red Fox's unconscious body and knelt beside her, unsure of what to do.
Kyoka put her index and middle finger beneath Red Fox's chin and checked her pulse.
"She's alive, thank god." Kyoka said, relieved.
"I guess he somehow managed to knock her out. I bet that necklace had something to do with it," Kaminari said before hearing someone gasp for air.
The two looked down at Red Fox, who was conscious again. She took a few seconds to catch her breath and adjust to the situation.
"Hey, are you okay?" Kaminari asked, offering his hand to help her back up onto her feet. She appeared extremely scared of the two of them and began crawling backwards until she was against the wall behind her.
"Get back! I will hurt you, I swear! Where's Great Mark Antony?" Red Fox exclaimed, holding her palms out as though to defend herself.
"Whoa whoa whoa! Calm down! He made you pass out just now." Kaminari explained, slowly coming closer to her.
Red Fox stared at him, believing that he was going to try to attack or hurt her. She extended her hands once more and a bright blue light began to glow from her hands. However, as it began to get brighter, the light suddenly faded away, catching Red Fox off guard. She looked down at her hands, unsure as to why her powers weren't working.
"My..my powers.." she said, confused.
"Red Fox, listen to us. That guy, Mark Antony or whatever, he's not what you think he is. After you put that necklace on him, he, took your powers or something. I don't really know how else to put it." Kyoka said.
"No, you speak of lies! Great Mark Antony wouldn't do such a thing! He's our glorious leader!" Red Fox exclaimed, not wanting to believe what she was hearing.
"Well, I'm sorry to break it to you, but your leader is kind of an asshole." Kaminari said, scratching the back of his head.
Kyoka put her hand on Red Fox's shoulder.
"Red Fox, listen. We have to stop Mark Antony. If he pulls off what he says he's going to pull off, there's no telling what's going to happen. It won't end well for anyone!" Kyoka said, trying her best to reason with Red Fox.
Red Fox appeared unsure of what to do. She looked back down to her powerless hands, then glanced up at the window at the dark rain clouds outside.
"Even if we did do something, it's too late...there's no way we could do anything to stop him now." Red Fox replied, appearing saddened.
"Don't say that! We may only be three, but we can do it!" Kaminari said, trying to encourage Red Fox.
"Make that four," a familiar voice called out from above. The three of them turned to see who had spoke, and upon seeing who it was, a smile of pure joy fell onto Jirou's face. Up on the balcony stood Kenji Jirou, looking down at them with a smile.
"Kenji!" Kyoka said.
"Blue Eagle," Red Fox said, bowing her head.
"Hey Red Fox," Kenji said, walking down the stairs and over to the group.
"Great Mark Antony, he took my powers.." she began to say.
"I know, I heard you guys talking about it. Kyoka, what you said earlier, did you really mean it? Do you really love me?" Kenji asked.
Kyoka was amazed that he would even ask her that question. However, given the nature of the cult, she wasn't surprised he doubted it.
"Kenji, of course I love you. You're the most important thing in my life," Kyoka said.
Another tear fell down Kenji's cheek when he heard her say that. Kyoka hugged Kenji again, and this time Kenji let her. He thought he knew what love was when he joined this cult, however, after looking at things from a different perspective, he realized he had forgot what love really was.
"I've missed you so much," Kyoka said.
"I've missed you too." Kenji replied.
"You two are siblings?" Red Fox asked.
"Yup!" Kenji and Kyoka replied together.
The sound of thunder rattled the inside of the mansion, startling the four of them. Red Fox glanced up at the clock, seeing that the time read 9:30 P.M.
"We have less than three hours. What are we going to do?" she asked.
"That necklace, what exactly is it?" Kaminari asked.
"I'm not entirely sure, he didn't talk about it too much. He just kept saying it was really important. Something about a harvest moon?" Red Fox said.
"The Necklace of the Harvest Moon.." Kenji said to himself.
"What? Do you know about it?" Kyoka asked.
"I overheard him talking about it a few days ago. He said it would give him the ability to take anyone's power and use it for himself. This isn't good.." Kenji said.
"So that's what he did to me.." Red Fox said, finally coming to terms with his betrayal.
"Red Fox, did he mention anything else to you about the plan? What is he going to do next?" Kyoka asked.
"He's..he's planning on gathering the ones with the strongest powers..I wasn't sure why, but now it makes sense..he must want to rob them all of their powers."
"We can't let him do that. The more powers he collects, the more uncontrollable and strong he'll become. As long as he has that necklace, he has almost no limit." Kenji added.
"Well, at least he hasn't figured out that we're all working against him. Let's use that to our advantage. We can split up and try to find him." Kaminari said.
"Okay. I can go with Red Fox-" Kenji said, before Kyoka spoke up.
"No. I'm coming with you. I'm not leaving you alone again." Kyoka said.
"Kyoka.." Kenji said, appreciating her desire to be by his side.
"You can go with him. It's okay. It works out this way, since you two don't know the layout of this place." Red Fox added.
"Alright. Take care guys." Kaminari said to Kenji and Kyoka, confident in the two siblings' ability to work together.
"Thanks, you guys take care too. Let's do this." Kyoka said, a smile appearing on her face.
Agent Tim's words echoed in the minds of Kaminari and Jirou.
"Prepare for the storm..."