To Lyger 0: That would seem to be a prudent move. After all, those swords should be good for something, right?

To Butterfly: Thanks!

While Ryoku showered and changed in the apartment's single bathroom, Viperion installed a pair of security cameras, one in the window pointed down at the street and the other in the hallway to watch the stairs, and synced both of them to his miraculous communicator using one of the programs that Pegasus had installed on all their tools. With that taken care of, he started putting something together for breakfast. Miki and Kimiko were still asleep in the bedroom; Shiro sat at the table with his head in his hands, eyes closed, Ryoku having replaced his bandages with fresh ones after the wounds had reopened during their sparring match. The teapot finished steeping, and Viperion poured a cup and placed it in front of Shiro, who stared at it without touching it. With a sigh, Viperion carefully measured out rice and water, covered the pan, and turned on the stove to start it cooking. It would be a while before he had to start on the eggs, so he turned around, leaning against the counter and watching Shiro, listening to his heart-song. Closing his eyes he began to hum softly, a mournful tune full of dissonance. Frenetic rhythms gave way to a ritardando as the song progressed.

"What song is that?" Shiro asked.

Viperion opened his eyes to find him staring at him in confusion. "Yours," he explained. "I can hear people's heart songs. Though it's only really clear for the people I know really well. Yours isn't too clear to me at the moment, but it is definitely a lament – not that I'm surprised."

"Yeah, well, you wouldn't be overly happy after losing your father, would you?" Shiro demanded, raising an eyebrow. "Especially when you're the one who killed him…"

"No, I probably wouldn't," Viperion agreed calmly, pouring himself a cup of tea and downing half of it in a single swig. "Although I never actually knew my father, so I'm not sure what that would really feel like."

"What, did he die?"

Viperion shrugged. "Not sure. It's only been my mom and sister and me for as long as I can remember."

"Didn't you ever ask?"

"A few times," he confirmed, nodding. "But Mom has never actually wanted to talk about him. Whenever I asked, she just pretended not to hear me. Eventually I just stopped asking. So I never knew him, and I still don't really know anything about him. But you at least got to know your father."

Shiro sighed heavily. "Yeah… right up until I got him killed." He smacked his fist on the table. "And it was my own fault that it happened! If I had been quicker, none of this would have happened! If I had just gone along with my orders, none of this would have happened! If I had just found another way–"

"–none of this would have happened?" Viperion finished, raising an eyebrow wryly.

"Well, yeah…" Shiro's shoulders slumped. "I've brought shame on my family. My father is dead. My family is in danger. My cousin is missing. And it's all because of me."

"Your cousin is safe," Viperion told him. Shiro gave him a confused look. Thinking fast, he explained, "I saw her door open while I was getting your mom. She'd left a note that they were going into the city to see the lights while they're still up."

"What about today? What if they try to go back?"

Shoot. "The house is going to be a crime scene, isn't it?" he asked rhetorically. "They'll see the police and crime scene tape and stuff and know to steer clear."

Shiro furrowed his eyebrows, staring at Viperion suspiciously.

This was not a safe topic – at least not right now. Viperion checked the rice before walking over to put his hand on Shiro's shoulder. "Grief, guilt, shame… all of these are powerful emotions, and understandable under the circumstances," he told him. "Believe me, I've felt all of them, too. When things go wrong, it is so easy to blame yourself. Do you know what my power allows me to do?" Shiro shrugged. "I can rewind time to relive the same five minutes over and over until everything goes the way I want it to. Can you think of a more useful ability to have? Nothing ever has to go wrong. But that only works when it's actually active. Last night, for example, I wasn't in time to activate it – and even if I had, we might not have had enough time to save your father." He sighed, his shoulders slumping. "We can blame ourselves all we want for what happened last night, but ultimately what is important is for us to trust those around us and do what we can now."

"There is no coming back from this," Shiro muttered sullenly, clenching his fists. "Not only is Father dead, but when news of his death and its cause gets out, the family name will be permanently dishonored. What are people supposed to think when they find out it was a Yakuza hit? Father will be dishonored, and it wasn't even his fault."

The bathroom door opened, and Ryoku stepped out, her hair still wet from the shower. "The family's honor is not as important as the family," she told him curtly. "Honor can be restored. Life cannot. Right now all you can do is keep what's left of your family safe." She looked straight at Viperion as she said it, and one corner of her lips lifted into a hint of a smile.

Viperion held his hand out to her and she took it, squeezing it gently. Giving her hand a tug, he pulled her to himself, wrapping his arms around her as she rested her cheek on his chest, sighing in contentment. Out of the corner of his eye, Viperion could see Shiro staring at them. They stood in that position for several minutes until the pot of rice started to boil over and Viperion sheepishly released Ryoku to take it off the heat. She pulled out the chair opposite Shiro and sat down, resting her elbows on the table and staring fixedly at him.

Shiro pursed his lips. "So how do I keep my family safe?"

"We could get all of you out of the country," Viperion suggested. "Pegasus could open a portal, and we could stash you anywhere – Russia, America, an island in the North Atlantic…"

Shiro shook his head. "The Yakuza has a presence everywhere. Even if we left the country, there's no guarantee we'd be safe."

Viperion raised an eyebrow dubiously. "Would they really want to risk the wrath of the Heroes of Paris?"

"With the Kami-gumi on their side, they probably wouldn't be too worried."

Ryoku shared a look with Viperion and frowned. Viperion furrowed his brows in thought for a moment before he nodded. "In that case," she announced, "it sounds like the only way to make sure they're safe would be to stop the Yakuza – or at least give them more to worry about than targeting your family."

Shiro stared at her, jaw dropped. "You want to actually take on the Yakuza head-on?"

"Did I stutter?"

"You people are insane."

Viperion sighed heavily. "I don't like it all that much, either, but it's the best idea we have. Do you have a better one?" he asked, rummaging through the old spices in the cupboard.

Shiro glumly shook his head, his shoulders slumping. "No, I don't."

While Viperion heated up the prepackaged miso soup he had bought and started frying eggs, Ryoku folded her arms on the table and fixed her penetrating gaze on Shiro, who swallowed nervously. "Now if we're going to do this, you have a lot to explain," she informed him. "Starting with this 'Kami-gumi.' Who – and what – are they?"

Shiro sighed. "I don't know too much about the others," he answered. "I had only been part of the group for a couple months. But I do know that their abilities come from training and meditation. Kamisenshi had only just started to teach me the proper meditation techniques to access and manipulate Chikara."

"Start with Kamisenshi, then," Ryoku told him, frowning pensively. "He was the one with the sword, right? The one who cut you?"

Shiro nodded, shifting his shoulders with a wince. "He's the leader of the team. He's a master of kendo, and his reflexes are faster than anyone I've ever seen."

Ryoku hummed contemplatively, arching an eyebrow. Viperion allowed himself a small smile – of course she would want to put that claim to the test. "What about the others?" she asked.

"Kamiyama is the mountain with the hammer," Shiro continued.

"I remember him," Viperion interjected, placing dishes with rice, eggs, and bowls of soup in front of the other two. He turned the stove down to keep the rice and soup warm until Miki and Kimiko woke. "It felt like the ground moved whenever he swung that hammer."

"That's his super-strength. He can rock the earth around him, or he can bring a building down – he did that to a rival's headquarters once." Shiro drummed his fingers on the table, poking at his breakfast. "After that, the rest of the Kami-gumi is harder to explain: Kamikaze and Kamikangae."

"Try to describe them anyways," Ryoku commanded evenly.

"Kamikaze manipulates the wind. He carries tessen, but he never seems to need them to channel his ability."

Ryoku furrowed her brows. "How strong is this wind control?"

Shiro thought for a minute. "I've seen him strip the leaves from a tree before." She arched an eyebrow dubiously. "You don't believe me?"

Ryoku scoffed. "No, just – is that all?" She shrugged dismissively. "Then what about this Kamikangae?"

"He uses Chikara to make himself smarter," Shiro explained. "It's hard to describe. But he can think faster than anyone else I've ever met. And he can also move objects with his mind."

"Just anything?" asked Viperion, furrowing his brows. The more he could learn about their opponents and their strengths – and more importantly weaknesses – the better.

Shiro furrowed his brows and thought for a minute. "As far as I can tell, it depends on the size. If it's too big then he struggles. But anything smaller than a backpack or so he can move without much trouble."

"Okay. That just leaves one," Ryoku observed, arching an eyebrow. "You, 'Kamiken'."

Shiro shook his head, a dark look in his eyes. "That's what Okamura-san and Kamisenshi called me, but I never really enjoyed hearing it – too much of a reminder of what I was doing. And who I was doing it for." He looked across the room at the katana resting in the corner next to the door and sighed.

"Fine. I take it you never learned any of these Chikara abilities?"

"No. Not much good in that case, am I?"

Viperion put a hand over Ryoku's on the table. "You may not have super-speed or super-strength or anything like that, but you can still do something. Just sharing what you know helps."

At that moment the bedroom door opened, and Kimiko stepped out, her hair a tangled mess from sleep. She stretched her arms over her head and yawned. Ryoku started to put a hand on her shoulder but stopped, instead guiding her to a chair next to Shiro. Viperion jumped to his feet and served a plate of rice and soup for Kimiko before putting a couple eggs in the skillet to cook. Just as the eggs were done frying, Miki entered the kitchen, her eyes red, the skin around her eyes bruised from crying. Ryoku threw her arms around her aunt in a hug, which Miki hesitantly returned.

"I–thank you for rescuing us last night," Miki finally managed to say, her face set in an emotionless mask. "I don't know what more could have happened if you two hadn't come when you did. I–" Her voice trailed off, her shoulders shaking.

Viperion shrugged as he set food in front of her on the table. "No thanks are necessary," he told her. "I'm only sorry we didn't arrive sooner."

Miki nodded, sniffling, gripping the back of a chair to stay on her feet. "I am, too."

"Mother," Shiro began, standing up, bowing his head, and staring straight at the floor. "I am so sorry. I am so ashamed of what I did." His shoulders slumped. "This was all my fault."

Miki put her hand on his shoulder and pulled him into a tight hug, sobbing on his neck, as Kimiko joined them. "I am just glad that you are safe," Miki whispered as he hugged them back. He flinched when her hand found his injury, and she eased the pressure slightly. "No matter what happens, you are my son. And I love you."

Shiro hugged them both tightly. "I love you, too, Mother."

"I–I still don't understand…" Kimiko trailed off. "But you're my family. And family sticks together."