Disclaimer: See chapter one
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Chap. 14
.
Yugo concluded the meeting and sat down at his desk. Reports had come in that a zoanthrope suddenly went berserk near the dock of the city the day before. Normally, that wouldn't have gained notice. But then there were four more of the same occurrences that happened on the same day, at different times and places. Whenever something happens more than twice, then it's a concern. The wolf zoanthrope thought about this, trying to think of a reason as to why this was happening. He initially assumed that it was another movement, like the ZLF on the rise. But the accidents have been occurring too randomly for that and there was no real target in them. Perhaps...people disguised as zoanthropes? No. That had only happened once and that was stopped when the thieves were mysteriously killed. While Yugo was still in though, a familiar shadow entered the room. Yugo didn't notice at first, but his heightened senses brought him back to reality and caused him to look up.
.
"It would seem that your hands are full."
.
"Long? What are you doing here?"
.
The tiger zoanthrope stepped into the room, "The disturbances that have been occuring recently."
.
"You too, huh?" Yugo sighed.
.
"Three incidents." he nodded solemnly. "I fear they were just the start."
.
Yugo sat back in the seat, "You're right about that. I have five cases in just this area alone. I also talked to ol' Gado and he's coming up with cases around the world."
.
"Have any clues?"
.
"None."
.
Long turned away, "Well then I must continue my search. This must be solved before it gets out of hand."
.
Yugo nodded in affirmation. Many people still weren't over the Tabula incident and even more still distrusted zoanthropes as a whole. These incidents could push things over the edge.
.
"Well, I hope you have better luck than I do."
.
"So do I." Long agreed. "I'll keep in touch."
.
"Hey, what about your girlfriend?"
.
Long could just feel the grin on Yugo's face at the moment, beside the fact that his back was turned. Ever since he had been dating Shina, everyone had been joking about it. Long for his part took it in stride, which was more than what his feline compatriot did, who threatened to break anyone's arms if they continued with it.
.
"Jane has her own way of doing things. And I have mine."
.
"A race, huh?"
.
Long simply left in silence...
.
===================
.
Nagi left the restaurant shortly after the incident. She had seen that the man was a zoanthrope, but fortunately Shin managed to hide it from the rest of the customers. 'Why would he go berserk like that?' There was such thing as a short-tempered people, but transforming was a little overkill. It was amazing enough that Shin was able to stop him before he had gone too far.
.
'Shin...'
.
The honey-eyed enigma found his way into her mind a couple of times during her walk. He was quite handsome, true. But the fact that she knew little about him was what was endearing into mind. 'But why do I care?' It wasn't like she liked him like that. Or did she? Well in any case, he was taken. Or was he? His relationship with Rei seemed purely as siblings at best. But she couldn't tell. It was part of his mystery.
.
'Why am I even thinking about this?'
.
She shook her head of the thoughts and looked ahead in the street. She caught sight of several police cars circled around an alleyway. Yellow signs and officers had already barricaded the area, but Nagi had already caught glimpse of the body bags on the ground. Five of them. She nearly stepped back in horror when she managed to see one of the victims being zipped up inside. What she saw looked as though it had been through a shredder.
.
'Oh my...huh?'
.
She didn't know what, but something caused her to look upward and not a moment too late. A figure could be seen turning away from the scene from on top of the roof above. She couldn't make out the face, but a brush of silvery hair could be made out from the retreating form. That and a whip of a red coat that was pulled over the side as the person vanished. As Nagi watched him retreat, her arm suddenly began to burn. With a stifled cry, she grasped it in an attempt to stop it. The pain soon stopped abruptly, but Nagi was baffled as to why it happened. She looked back up at the empty rooftop.
.
'Did this happen...because of him?'
.
========================
.
Shin neared his home during the night. His thoughts, much like many of his companions today, were on the incident of the afternoon. 'Why did he go berserk like that?' It didn't make any sense. Even worse, he was a zoanthrope and was beginning to change before everyone. He knew enough about the NGO from Kenji to realize that he had to cover it and fast before anyone saw anything. But that didn't give any answers as to the reason. 'I better tell Kenji tomorrow.' He turned the corner of the house just to see Rei also approaching the house as well.
.
"Rei?"
.
"Oh, hi Shin." she answered. "Sorry I late."
.
Shin narrowed his eyes in question, "Where were you?"
.
Rei folded her arms behind herself and replied softly, "I was just walking around. It was a quiet night and I thought I could use some air."
.
Shin gave her a strange glance. She never went out on walks before. Why now? He shrugged it off, guessing that she was just doing something to change the pace of things.
.
"Hmm. Okay." He took a quick look around, "But not so late next time, okay. A lot of bad things can happen."
.
Rei smiled at his worry, although it wasn't necessary. Given her zoanthrope powers, anyone trying to harm her would be in serious trouble.
.
"Okay. I'll be careful."
.
Shin nodded in affirmation and opened the door. However, he only let Rei inside while he stayed out. Rei turned to him and gave him a confused glance.
.
"Shin?"
.
Shin looked up in the air, "I just realized. After what happened today, I could use some air as well. I'll be back in a moment."
.
"What happened today?"
.
He sighed, "Oh an incident at the restaurant. I'll tell you about it when I get back."
.
"Okay." she nodded.
.
Rei closed the door, leaving Shin outside in the night alone. Which suited him just fine. His gaze returned skyward and his eyes flashed...
.
===================
.
Kenji sat out on the roof on top of his house. Yugo often discouraged him from doing so for fear he might fall, but his fear was largely displaced. Kenji was more stable on the rooftops than on the ground. Yugo only said those things because seeing him up on high made him nervous. Kenji chuckled at the thought of his older brother being nervous of something, but the feeling soon left. He was still troubled over the mysterious dream that he couldn't quite remember. He felt that it was important for some reason, but he didn't even know what it was. He wanted to dismiss it, but that was next to impossible. And he couldn't sleep now because he was thinking about it too much.
.
He sighed to himself, wishing that he could talk to Uriko about this right now. She may be hyper-active, but she always listened to him. Largely because any time he talked was rare, as she said.
.
A light shift of wind suddenly caught his attention, causing him to look upward into the sky. High in the air above, a bird flew overhead in the night sky. But as Kenji examined it, the bird was much larger than at first glance. Not only that, but the shape was really off. Almost humanoid. If not for his night vision, Kenji would have never seen the tuff of feathers near the neck area, sharp talons on the feet and the hooked beak; all tell-tale signs of a bird of prey.
.
An eagle...