Chapter III: The Black Guide
Tsubasa had been right in the midst of his pain. After several years of having finished the matter of the Black Archangels, his ability to predict, and not so much the future, but the present was still as sharp like the blade of the sword he had forgotten he had had.
The being in black was getting nearer and nearer at a vertiginous speed. It crossed dimensions immediately in less than a flash, neither taking its time or resting. It only thought of one thing, and in several others that derived of the same thing: To find those that could defeat those that defeated its followers, the Black Archangels. Luckily its rival, the White Guide had died, and the Archangels thought that the Star of the Gods was their most powerful attack. Ah, how naive they were… And probably after so much time they had forgotten what they were.
However, it shouldn't underestimate them.
The Black Archangels had not been completely useless; they almost achieved the Black Guide's ambition, believing that their destination was fixed, unchangeable. But a failure is a failure. Now they were simple humans, unable to realize what was happening, and to finish it off, now they were their previous rivals' friends, and of the hated being that had thwarted its plans. But although the Black Guide was who taught them all what they knew, it had reserved anyway some things for itself. It couldn't let them know too much, and so it did before telling them that "everything had been said and done, and now it depended on them to complete their fate." Risks? It took them. Consequences? It never was affected by them. It was only devoted to manipulate humans as marionettes so that the Darkness -Its Darkness reigned. How much it wanted to see that: The New Genesis under the glorious cover of Its Darkness… Its Eternal Darkness.
Everything was as clear as water. It should find some suitable humans for its purpose. Maybe they were not dormant Archangels, maybe they didn't know that it was possible to have powers, but it could transform them into something beyond that. It would transform them into true custodians of their legacy, in fighters of the chaos… in Antiarchangels. And there wouldn't be a nemesis for the Kami no Tsukai; the Black Guide wanted to destroy him with its own bony, lethal hands.
Just thinking about sweet vengeance, the being of black felt a bubble of furious pleasure in its throat. And as it crossed the portal toward another dimension, it let out a cackle, cold as ice, dark as its mind, and as terrifying as death.
And to finish it off, it had already thought who could be the candidates.
But it didn't remember something crucial, because it was overconfident, or because it was so obsessed with its plan it allowed it to escape: The Kami no Tsukai could predict in the middle of his pain. And that could be a terrible disadvantage.
And while The Black Guide crossed dimensions laughing eerily, and Natsuko was serving Daichi the hot milk with honey so that the little kid could go to sleep, Tsubasa sat down on the bed, thinking of what he had seen.
"Is it or is it not Shiro's nemesis? And why do I have the horrid sensation that it doesn't come to guide us?"
"The Darkness… A New Genesis under the glorious cover of The Darkness…"
-Stop that -Tsubasa didn't realize he had spoken aloud. Sanae turned to see him, lying on the bed as she was, without speaking. He noticed his wife's look, but didn't dare say anything… Or at least something logical.
-Go to sleep, Tsubasa. You have to get up early tomorrow to go to college and it'll be a long day, just to finish it off.
-Yeah, I guess. Good night, honey.
-Good night.
Tsubasa turned off the night table's lamp and went to sleep. His mind digressed for many things, from what he had seen in his pain to asking himself how Daichi was from his cold, until he fell sound asleep. Ozora Sanae followed suit, and fell asleep although she wasn't really that sleepy.
In the meantime, in Japan, everyone was minding its own business, except Jinko who as the doctor Shibazaki's assistant, the doctor that was treating Taro, was fulfilling her duty. She assisted the rehab in silence, but the gentle soccer player tried to break the ice.
-Er, Doctor, how do you think our friends in Europe are?
-Akuji and Osorezan? I guess they're okay. I mean, they're not idiots, although Akuji still has that habit of using proverbs.
-I didn't mean only them -Taro said, as casual as always.
-You mean Tsubasa-kun and the other White Archangels?
-Bingo.
-I guess you must know that better than me, Misaki-san. After all, you and Tsubasa-kun are very close.
-Well… yeah. Tsubasa-kun's my best friend ever since we were kids…
-And vice versa for what he's told me.
In spite of what happened in the past, Jinko was still very formal, even almost ice-cold. She knew she could trust Misaki, since he had been there when everything had happened, but she had always been quite, no, way too distrustful. She had been so ever since she was a little girl, when people rejected her because she was a nerd.
-Doctor, can I ask you something?
-What?
-If you already know us all, keeping in mind what happened and I won't go into details, why do you only call Tsubasa-kun by his name and the others by their last names?
-I have my reasons, Misaki-san.
And well, Jinko, among all the acquaintances she had, only called Tsubasa by his name because he had been the first person that had treated her well, out of the ones who had shared her fate.
Meanwhile, Ishizaki was training with the Jubilo Iwata. The previous night had passed peacefully, while he and Misaki-kun had talked of several topics, between them the team, since Taro looked for a J-League team where to reappear after his lesion and he had chosen the Jubilo Iwata, although his pass belonged to the Paris Saint-Germain and they had too many players in the facility of the Japanese team.
But now Ishizaki Ryou was training and he couldn't lose his focus, although he was an absent-minded dude ever since he was born. A while later, the players were sent to the gym, since the doctor was going to make some exams.
The Monkey Boy waited his turn to be checked, leaning on the wall when…
-Ishizaki Ryou –he heard after a loooong time. The young man breathed deeply and entered the room.
-Let's see… -the team doctor looked for Ryou's profile. -Ishizaki… Ishizaki… Here it is. Ishizaki, Ryou. Defense line player; 5'8", 148 lb., number fourteen in the team.
-Yes, sir -the player said, trying to be as calm as possible. He had to make several tests, including breathing tests (he had to take off his T-shirt and the doctor saw the tattoo, but now it's no strange sight to see a soccer player with tattoos or piercings), and after a while Ishizaki went out of the gym.
"I thought this had no end…"
-How was it? -one of his partners (and an old friend of ours), Urabe Hanji, asked.
-You know. It's always the same. And it seems we'll travel to Hokkaido for the next game, but…
-The match against Consadole Sapporo is no big news, but… what?
-We'll only know who'll go when the exams finish.
Unconsciously Ryou had used his powers to read the doctor's mind when they were in the exam.
And he remembered very little about it, since in his subconscious he had blocked the memories of the battles and forgotten the powers of the Archangel of the Earth.
In the meantime, Genzo was already in the jet to Tokyo, fast asleep, and of course, the flight was a long one. Unlike the past times, he was flying in First Class; he didn't want to be bothered and you could see that on the ill-tempered look of his face in that instant. In one of his hands he had a booklet, but it wasn't printed, but the goalkeeper's small and square handwriting had filled several pages, and in the other hand he had a pencil. What had Wakabayashi written in that mysterious booklet?
Not his autobiography. For some strange reason, after the incident in the airport, what had happened to him when he was fifteen years old seemed like a weird story. However, he wasn't stupid so as to put his and the others' real names, and he still didn't know what title he should give the story.
But the booklet fell from his hand and a stewardess that passed in that instant with a glass of water for a passenger noticed it. Carefully she took the book and looking at the first page to see who the owner was, she woke up the sleeping keeper as delicately as she could, although obviously she didn't recognize Genzo, nor she understood what was written in the booklet.
-Excuse me, sir… -the stewardess said, a little fearful of the big guy.
-Er, yes? What happened? -Genzo griped.
-is this yours?
-Yes… Where did you get it?
-You dropped it, sir.
-Ah, thank you -and Genzo fell asleep again.
-Excuse me, but… -curiosity beat fear, and the stewardess proved it. -What did you write there?
-An essay on management of small and medium companies -Genzo lied, annoyed. -And now, if you excuse me, let me sleep.
Up to now, the only ones that knew there was trouble on the way, although they didn't know exactly what kind of problems they were, were the ex-Black Archangels.
Hyuga only foresaw it.
And Tsubasa and Sanae feared what will happen and had a clear idea of it.
But…
In Brazil, a door in an apartment opened and a young man with brown curly hair and cold, gray eyes went in. Seemingly neither his mother nor his brother had arrived, but he didn't care a lot. However, he found a note on the table of the dining room.
-"Son: I took to your brother to the doctor because of his cough. There are some beans in the fridge. Mom."
The man sighed, resigned. He hated beans, but those were hard times for him and his family, and besides, it's a sin to throw away good food.
He took out the beans, poured them in a pot and heated them, adding salt, a chopped tomato and some chili. He tolerated them a little like that.
A while later, while he slept on an armchair in the apartment, the door opened up again, or at least that believed the man. But who had arrived wasn't his mother or his brother.
"Could it be a thief?" –he thought, feinting he was asleep.
-I'm not a thief, and you're not sleeping. I came to do a deal with you -the person that had entered the apartment said. Was it a man? Or a woman? Or both?
-What do you mean, and who are you?
-I mean, I guess you'd like to beat your greatest rival.
-Well, of course…
-I can help you to beat him once and for all, if you wish.
The youth mumbled something unintelligible.
-You can call me Preto, answering your second question. And one thing: When I mean beating your greatest rival, I really mean it. And I hope you help me in this, Carlos Santana.
And Preto disappeared.
The same thing had passed in France, Germany, and even in Uruguay, but to that being who neither a man nor a woman, known as Preto, Schwarz, Noir or El Guía Negro was missing something, or rather somebody. It needed a feminine Antiarchangel, but it seemed that she, the Archangel of Love didn't have a rival. Not even among her closest friends, who apparently had accepted the fact that her last name was Ozora now.
There was no rival for Sanae, but it could create a… A clone, an antithesis, or better said the most powerful Archangel's dark side.
That was exactly what it needed.
Quietly, the Black Guide crossed dimensions until it appeared in Barcelona, right in the apartment where Tsubasa and Sanae loved. It could have put an end once and for all to Tsubasa, but that wasn't its goal in that moment. It had only gone to create Sanae's terrible rival.
And it already had an idea of how to make it.
It crossed some dimensions and appeared beside the bed. The youth was sleeping sideways and with her back to the Black Guide.
"That's it… Keep on sleeping. You don't even realize I will create your rival thanks to you… Thanks to your darker and wicked half…" -and the abominable being began to extract something from Sanae.
"No!" -screamed a strange and mysterious little voice, and a kind of mental push stunned the Black Guide, who tottered a step or two.
"What? Who are you, and how do you dare to stop me?"
"Don't do it… don't harm her… stop!"
"It is already too late" –answered the Black Guide mentally. "I already have what I need."
And while it disappeared, the little voice whispered "M… mom…" and said no more.
In the meantime, in another place, the being in black had already appeared, with what it needed. Of course, for Kuro (it's too complicated to say the Black Guide all the time), that was merely one more challenge.
-Now I only have to create her. She must be perfect, dark and aware of fulfilling her duty… She must be the perfect Kurai, the perfect incarnation of Darkness.
Starting from what it extracted of the Archangel of the Love, using its powers, Kuro began to create the being that personified the hatred, the darkness and the terror that existed on the Earth, born from the Love.
But of course, Kurai wouldn't do everything on her own. No for nothing Kuro had manipulated four rivals of the Archangels to transform them into dark beings too. It teleported Carlos, Karl, Pierre and Ryoma to where it was although they were fast asleep
"You, who have accepted your unalterable fate, listen carefully. The ones you consider your greatest enemies aren't only your opponents in what you most love, but are your rivals from eternities ago. It is your duty to put an end to them… So the Darkness that belongs to you and your ambition of winning is victorious. For that reason, I ask you to say only yes; with that you will obtain something nobody else has ever had. You will be powerful, practically invincible beings… But only if you decide to obliterate your rivals"
"What…? Eternal Rivals?" -mumbled Pierre mentally.
"Something nobody else has ever had?" -Karl thought.
"Our ambition of winning will be victorious?" -Ryoma said in his dreams.
"Only if we decide to put an end… to our rivals…" -Carlos said finally.
"Forever and ever" –was Kuro's final answer.
From then on things are a complete mystery. What could have happened? Would four of the most famous soccer players in the world sell their souls perhaps only to defeat their greatest rivals, in what they believed it was only in soccer?
Of course, that was what they thought before.
Now they thought of defeating them literally. Now darkness and the bitterness they felt toward their rivals had transformed them into evil beings. But of course, they couldn't live in darkness, hidden as assassins willing to kill at night. They had to live as normal as possible, but there would be some things, almost imperceptible that would change in them. Sadly.
However, up to where I know, the four Antiarchangels didn't remember absolutely anything of what happened that fatidic night. They continued being exactly the same ones, but something had changed, and still nobody noticed it: Carlos, Ryoma, Pierre and Karl's eyes had become cold and opaque.
Back in Japan, Kumi and Yukari were in college, leaving a class of the career they were studying.
-Gee, I thought that class would never end -Yukari admitted.
-Don't mention it, Yukari -Kumi added. Her hair was now quite short. -By the way, have you talked with Ishizaki?
-Not ever since the day before yesterday. You know, the teachers have left us too much homework, and he's very busy with the team.
-I can see clearly that it's not fun for you.
-Of course not! I mean, I love him deeply, and I know he also loves me, but we don't have enough time to see each other. However, that lack of time is what makes us cherish each moment we're together, you know.
-Whatever.
-And what happened with Kouichi?
-Hey, don't you begin with that. I don't like Kouichi, OK? -Kumi answered, annoyed. A guy who studied in the same college had invited the Nankatsu ex-manager to go out with him, but she didn't accept, and now Yukari bothered her for it. -By the way, how do you think Sanae-chan is in Spain?
-I hope she's OK, 'cause if Tsubasa ends up hurting her or leaving her, I swear I'll take the first flight to Spain and I'll beat him up!
-Hey, calm down. I mean, you know well he was that for a long time, Tsubasa isn't an insensitive idiot now that he's married. However… -Kumi sighed unconsciously. -I can't help but have a little envy of Sanae.
-You still like him?
-Not really, but there are things that are very difficult to overcome.
Meanwhile, Natsuko was thinking about what Daichi had said before she gave him his milk.
"But I don't like how that black Shiro looked. Does Daichi know something about the Archangels? Up to where I remember, I haven't told him anything about the Archangels because Tsubasa asked me to, but Daichi knows something."
Mrs. Ozora went upstairs and entered the room that had been the guests' room before and was now Daichi's room. Although things there were usually in a mess, and Daichi was a messy boy, things were neatly in its place because of the boy's cold. He now slept with the back towards the window, where the evening sun was shining.
Natsuko came closer toward her youngest son and touched his forehead to se if he had a fever. Although he sweated, it seemed he was okay. But of course, that's not the way to taker a temperature. She placed the thermometer delicately in Daichi's armpit and waited three minutes. She took the thermometer, and checked. Daichi's temperature was OK; he could return to school in two or three days, although he didn't want to.
-No… Niisan, don't use the Scream… Jump…! The Black Shiro's behind you! -began to murmur Daichi in his dreams, while it seemed that in his dreams he was stopping someone.
"The Black Shiro is behind you! Daichi definitively knows something, and it's not my fault!" -Natsuko thought immediately.
And naturally everyone wonders why Daichi-chan knows it… But even I ask myself that.