Author's Note: Like I said last week, I started on this halo rather early. We just had to go back to the tadpoles. I even brought one back that hadn't had much attention. October will be coming this Friday. I can't wait! That means I get to cut loose and write out all of the dark stuff for this season. I will try to be much darker this season. (I know that I always say that, but I mean it this season.) I am still looking for more inspiration for writing this season. (Wish me luck there.) The plans for the Halloween special are coming along nicely. I have the Durarara and Hetalia sections planned. I just need to get the -Man section planned. Speaking of planning, I already have next week planned out. For now, enjoy this week's halo.

Halo Eight: Tadpoles:

Kitano hit record on his tape player.

"It isn't enough for another player to be created. There has to be a calamity as well. One that will have catastrophic results. Making a player will not cut it. There has to be that push to activate them. Vozrozhdeniye, Mam, and our group all have three different ways of playing the game, but there is one unspoken agreement among us all. We do not directly make the players act. We can influence them, but not make them do anything. Their actions are all them." Kitano looked out the window.

"I don't know what calamity will befall us this time. I do have some idea where we are headed this time. The Church of Light is raising red flags, but they could be used to our advantage. We have confirmed that there is a tadpole is part of the Asahara. Most unfortunate, really. I think I know who it is too. The challenge is to what extent is she part of that cult. I don't know how deep she is just yet. The only way is to send someone in and see for themselves." The therapist frowned.

"That is not going to be the fun part. I just need to pick someone else. Whoever it is, I wish them luck." Kitano hit stop.

The tadpoles already decided they needed to find the others and soon. They already knew where to find the next one.

"Riku is in Shinjuku with her sister," Shingo said in front of his laptop.

"Good work," Yukio said, patting him on the shoulder.

"Now what?" Yamato asked on Shinra's couch. Chie looked around the living room. Was it possible to fit all of these tadpoles in this living room? How many people were there? Herself, Naomi, Saori, Yamamoto, Shingo, Yukio…

Chie's eyes followed around the room. Yeah, there's a lot of people. There were more like her too? Of course there were. It just felt so…

A hand rested on her shoulder. Chie looked up. Saori smiled.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," the older tadpole said. Meanwhile, Yukio shrugged.

"What else? Go out and get her," he said. The tadpole looked at his siblings in the living room.

"Anyone want to take a trip out there?" he asked. Midori rose her hand.

"What about her sister?" she asked. "I heard that she's really protective over Riku."

"Then talk to her," Yukio said. "Wouldn't it be easier to get through to her with honey and vinegar? Now, who wants to take a trip out to Shinjuku?"

"I'll do it," Hifumi said.

"Okay," Yukio said. "And who else?" No one spoke up at first.

"Come on," he said. "One of you isn't going alone." Chie looked around at the other tadpoles in the room. Part of her told her to pitch in with this. But could she do it? Ikebukuro had been easy to handle due to staying in Celty and Shinra's apartment. But how would she fare going out on the streets again? Could she take feeling the emotions of all those people again? But she felt that she had to help her brothers and sisters somehow. Chie clenched her fists by her sides. What should I do?

Midori raised her hand.

"I'll do it," she said.

"Very well," Yukio said. "Hifumi and Midori will go meet with Riku. Any objections?" No one responded.

"Right," Yukio said. "That settles it then." Chie breathed out. She wouldn't have to go out this time. Maybe next time.

"Are you okay?" Naomi whispered. Chie shook her head.

"Not really," she said.

"Need to sit down?" the other woman asked.

"Yeah," Chie said, nodding. She settled down into the chair beneath her.

Kabukicho.

Murata walked up to Alice's. If his girls couldn't get anyone, maybe he could recruit this famed "witch" they were talking about the other night. He looked over at Miya standing next to him. Could there right be others like her?

"Ready to do this?" Murata asked. Miya didn't respond. Instead, she walked inside.

"Okay then," the minister said. He followed behind.

Meanwhile, Erina watched as her spirit familiar carried a can of Tokyo Black to a shot glass. He looked like a little professor in his white shirt, black pants, and little black bowtie. The mini manbun was rather cute. Shinzo proved to be rather helpful around the bar at work. The little familiar wanted to help her.

"Okay, but you have to be really quiet," Erina whispered on the first night he went to work with her.

Shinzo slid the cup to his mistress.

"Thanks, buddy," Erina said. She picked up the cup and took a drink. Last night was a mild nightmare. Even though the club banned those crazy bitches from Asahara, who's to say that they couldn't sneak back in with plain clothes. Erina would have to be ready for when that happened.

Suddenly, that old chill ran down her spine. Erina jerked her head upwards. Hifumi stood near the doorway of the bar with her eyes widened.

You felt it too?

Where?

The tadpole waitresses looked around the packed club. There had to be another one of them here, but where?

Miya stood frozen in the doorway. Murata turned with a curious look on his face.

"What is it?" he whispered. His bodyguard pointed over at Erina at the bar. The minister followed her line of sight. The waitress eyed them down.

"Her?" he whispered. Miya lowered her hand. Murata grinned.

"I knew that I could depend on you," he said. The tadpole bodyguard inched away from his touch as he patted her on the shoulders. He walked over to Erina at the bar.

The waitress couldn't take her eyes off of Miya. More memories started to fill her head. There was a half-Japanese girl in her group. She didn't talk to anyone. Like the other test subjects, she looked sad and scared. Even though Erina was out of it most of the time, she could still remember Miya's face well. At least she thought it was Miya.

It's her. She's looking at me. What should I do?

Talk to her.

Sure.

Yes! She's one of us!

Erina nodded to herself. Okay. She was about to step forward when she noticed a man in a fancy white suit walking towards her. Erina froze as he got closer.

"Oh," she said. The man flashed a huge grin.

"Good evening, miss," he said. Erina sized him up as she looked him up and down.

"Can I help?" she asked. Murata cleared his throat.

"Good evening," he said. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Murata Kichizo. It's nice to meet you." Erina blinked for a moment.

"Okay…" she said. Murata bowed.

"I wanted to apologize to you for the other night," he said.

"The other night?" Erina asked. Murata grinned as she started to guess what he was talking about just from his hearing his thoughts. The waitress took a step back.

"I'm sorry, but you cannot be here," she said.

"I'm not planning to stay long," Murata said. "I just came here to an apology."

"Okay…" Erina said. Her eyes shifted back to the bodyguard at the doorway. She kept staring at the waitress. Erina wanted to go over and talk to her, but how could she get away from this creep? Murata flashed a charming smile on his face.

"Well, I won't hold you up much longer," he said. "I'll let you get back to work." Murata turned to walk away. He looked over his shoulder.

"See you around," the minister said. Murata headed out of the club with the bodyguard. Hifumi came up beside Erina.

"Was that…?" she began to ask.

"Yes," the other waitress said.

"He wants to recruit you," Hifumi said.

"Yes, I know," Erina said. She turned to her fellow tadpole.

"I think I have an idea," she said. The other tadpole gave her an odd look.

"You don't mean to tell me that…" she said.

"It's to get Miya-san out," Erina said. She turned to Hifumi.

"We have to do whatever it takes to get our siblings back, right?" Erina said. "We've got no choice." The other tadpole lowered her hand.

"I understand," Hifumi said. "Just… don't do this alone." Erina nodded.

"Okay," she said. Both women headed back to work.

Shinjuku.

The next morning, Hifumi and Midori stood in front of the apartment door. They could already tell that Riku was inside. Hifumi knocked on the door.

"Do you want to do the talking or should I?" she asked. Midori shrugged.

"Don't see why we can't both do it," she said.

"Fair enough," Hifumi said. They looked up in time to see the door open. Risa looked through the chained door. The tadpole women smiled.

"Good morning," Midori said. Risa tried to close the door, but Hifumi grabbed the door.

"Go away!" the lawyer yelled. "You think you can scare me?!"

"Oh, no, no, no," Midori said. "We're not here to scare you out of your Chou Mori lawsuit." Risa froze.

"What?" she asked.

"On the contrary, keep up the good work," Hifumi said. "Fight on!" She pumped her fist in the air. Risa stared at them through the crack.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"Can we come in?" Midori asked. There was another pause. Finally, the chain came off of the door. The tadpole women stood in front of the door.

"Hello, nice to meet you, Ishii-san," Midori said. Risa narrowed her eyes.

Moments later, the three women sat at her kitchen table. The lawyer didn't know what to make of her guests. They both sat, drinking their tea.

"Why are you really here?" Risa asked.

"How is your sister doing?" Hifumi asked.

"Why?" the lawyer asked. Midori set down her glass.

"We believe that she is like us," she said.

"What do you mean? Chou Mori patients?" Risa asked.

"That too," Hifumi said. "But she too was experimented on like us." The lawyer wrinkled her nose.

"Look, I don't know what game you are trying to pull here," she said. "But it's not going to work here! You're looking for money, aren't you? You will not get a single yen." Hifumi sighed. She set down her glass and held out her hand, palm down over the time. Little chains began to rain down from her hand. Risa stared with big eyes.

"How are you doing that?" he asked.

"This is what happened to us at Chou Mori," Hifumi said. She closed up her hand and the chains disappeared.

"I freeze time," Midori said. Risa didn't know what to make of this.

"So… this was what happened to you while you were at Chou Mori?" she asked.

"Yes," the women said. Risa looked behind her down the hall.

"Are you saying that…?" she began to say.

"Yes," Hifumi and Midori said.

"Which is why we need to speak with her," Midori added. The lawyer had a nervous look on her face. She laced her fingers together on the table.

"I don't think that will be possible," Risa said in a low voice. Hifumi reached forward and touched her on the hand. The lawyer looked into her eyes.

"I think we can speak with her," the tadpole woman said. "But only if that was okay with you." Something in Hifumi's voice seemed so relaxing. Risa dropped her shoulders.

"Alright," she said.

"Thank you," Midori said, bowing her head. Hifumi bowed her head as well.

Riku sat in her room. Her eyes were vacant, but she could sense they were here. The shot down her spine back made her jump. Through her hazed brain, pieces of faint memory started to take shape. She hadn't wanted to go back to that place. But lately with everything happening around, that didn't look like she had a choice.

Riku could hear a knock on her bedroom door.

Riku-san, it's us. We're going to come in, okay?

The woman froze. The voices in her head came through clearer than the muzzled voice of her sister on the outside. Her heart started to pound against her chest.

Who… are… you?

It's okay. We just want to talk to you.

The door opened. Midori poked her head into the room. When Riku locked eyes on her, more memories started to flare up in her head.

"Hey," the time tadpole whispered. She carefully walked up to the woman sitting on the bed. Riku stared at her with wide eyes. Midori held out her hand.

"It's okay. We're not going to hurt you. We just want to talk," she said. Hifumi quietly followed behind, holding her breath. Riku's eyes trailed behind Midori. She started to breathe heavily as her heart rate increased.

Hifumi.

She may have been younger than her, but she seemed to be so wise beyond her years. Seeing Hifumi's face seemed to calm her down in that hellish place. She was there to hold Riku's hand through the worst of the experiments. There was something that she said after the Amaterasu experiment was completed. What was it? What was it?

Hifumi knelt down in front of her and took her hand.

Do you remember me?

Riku's lower jaw tightened. Her breathing grew heavy.

She's about to have a panic attack. What do we do?

We have to calm her down. Here, just follow me. Midori placed her hand on Riku and Hifumi's.

Okay Riku-san, we're going to need you to listen to us. You need to calm down. We're going to help you. Please. Take a deep breath in.

Riku stared at them with wide eyes.

Come on. Take a deep breath. You can do this. Take a deep breath in.

The third tadpole took a slow breath in.

Good. Hold it for five seconds and then breathe out.

Riku held her breath and slowly breathed out.

Breathe in.

Riku slowly breathed in.

Breathe out.

The third tadpole breathed out. They did this exercise two more times. Hifumi looked her in the eyes.

Better?

Riku dropped her shoulders. Yes.

Do you remember who I am?

Yes.

Midori and Hifumi looked at each other in relief. They couldn't celebrate just yet.

How have you been?

Not so good.

How much do you remember?

Riku lowered her eyes. It's still hazy, but the pieces keep coming back. I don't like it.

Yeah, none of us do.

I don't understand. How am I able to talk to you like this? I haven't been able to talk to nee-san since I came home from that awful place.

We haven't figured that one out yet. Maybe because of your tadpole powers or something.

Tadpole powers?

Yes, that's what we are apparently.

Why are we called that?

That's just the name that they stuck us with. Don't ask. You'll give yourself a headache.

Okay… What do you want with nee-san and me?

We're here to help you. Something bad is coming for all of us.

We're trying to look for the others as well. Come back with us to Ikebukuro.

But what about nee-san?

Hifumi gave her a gentle smile just like in the old days.

She'll come with us too. We need her to fight for us. We're going to need all the help we can get.

Will she even believe you?

Midori chuckled. We'll talk to her, don't worry.

Riku let her hand go limp in theirs. Alright. If nee-san says yes, then it's okay with me.

The women let go of her hand. Midori held up a V-sign as she grinned.

"Don't worry. You are in good hands," she said. Hifumi flashed her own V-sign. Riku could only give them a vacant stare. Something told her they were right.

Ikebukuro.

Erina knocked on Yukio and Itori's door. She paced around after the shock ran down her spine. The tadpole could never get used to sensing her own. That chalky feeling returned to her throat. Erina decided she would need something to drink when she got inside.

She looked up when the door open. Yukio stood on the other side.

"Erina," he said. "What are you doing here?" The truth tadpole stood up straight.

"I think I found another one like us," she said. Yukio quickly looked around in the hall.

"Get inside," he said. He grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her inside.

Erina sat across from Itori and Yukio on the lounge chair.

"Run that by us again," Itori said. The truth tadpole took another breath.

"I think I found another one of us last night," she said in one breath. The couple looked at each other for a moment.

"What exactly happened?" Yukio asked. Erina closed her hands in her lap.

"She might be part of that Church of Light we've been seeing around the city lately," she said. Erina could see the concerned looks on their faces. She quickly waved her hand back and forth.

"Oh, no, no, no," Erina said. "I don't think she's a member. She wasn't wearing those white and orange robes like those other women that was in the club the night before."

"What did this woman look like?" Yukio asked.

"Long red hair," the truth tadpole said. "Long red hair in two ponytails. She had on a long blue cheongsam. She looked shocked to see me. That might have been because she sensed me too." Yukio froze.

"Did you say a blue cheongsam?" he asked.

"Yeah, why?" Erina asked. Yukio got up and hurried over to the TV.

"Yuki?" Itori asked. He turned on the TV and flipped through the channels.

"What is he doing?" Erina asked. Itori shrugged and shook her head. Yukio settled on a channel and pointed to the screen.

"There!" he said. "Did you see her?" The ladies got up and walked over to the screen. Yukio had his finger on the redheaded woman's face. Erina covered her mouth as she gasped.

"That's her!" she said. Itori narrowed her eyes for a better look.

"I think that's Miya," she said. The other two tadpoles stared at her.

There's going to be another body found in the city. Around three in the morning, an office lady will be beaten to death by an unseen assailant. No one will hear a thing. It will happen so fast. Around noon, her coworkers will get worried and call the police.

The police will not be prepared for a heartbreaking scene.