AN: Just in case anyone is wondering, I don't use honorifics at the end of names because I don't like the combination of Japanese and English. I don't like it when people use a couple random Japanese words in their stories, so I won't use them.
Also for the story I switched Jiki and Iva to the other ships, just in case that wasn't clear.
There's more I wanted to put into this chapter but it was already late so I finished it here. I'll just try to make the next chapter a little longer.
As soon as the four left the room Jiki turned to the captain. "So what's the real reason for the sudden field trip? We've stopped over towns before and you didn't say anything about needing to take a break so don't give me the same excuse you gave Gareki."
Hirato chuckled at Jiki's suspicion. "Why don't you go down as well, it's good to get out often," was his only reply. He walked out of the room swiftly, not giving Jiki the opportunity to ask more questions.
Hirato went back to the control room and accessed the city's street cameras. The four kids appeared on one of the cameras; they were currently boarding a bus and no doubt heading toward Yogi's favorite store.
"That's cruel you know, using them as bait," Tsukitachi said as he entered the room. This wasn't the first time Hirato's used these tactics, granted no one has ever gotten hurt since they were all well-trained Circus members, but this time they had two new and barley trained fighters.
Hirato only smiled in response, sitting back casually and completely unfazed to watch the events unfold. "Yes, but they are perfectly safe," he replied, "and that is also why you and your ship are here, I have no doubt that Kafka will be making an appearance today. I assume you are aware of what you will need to do when they come?"
Tsukitachi smiled at his friend as he sat down in the chair next to him, leaning back comfortably against the chair's back. "Come on, I'm not that unreliable, I already know what you need me to do."
"So you are set up on the North side of the city, ready to cover the West if need be?" Hirato asked.
"...yes..." the first ship captain mentally face-palmed. Whipping out his phone he sent a message to Iva telling her to head to the Northern area of the city and to spread the word to other first ship members.
Hirato casted a quick glance at the other captain and smirked knowingly.
Gareki sighed as he glanced out the window of the city bus they were taking. Yogi had gotten excited and wanted to show them his favorite shop, hence why they were currently riding the bus across town. It was about noon by now and the sun was straight above them, leaving as little shade as possible. The temperature that day was extremely hot, making visible heat waves rise off of the road.
Nai was currently sitting next to him, on his right, while Yogi and Tsukumo sat behind them. He glanced over at Nai. They haven't spoken much in the past few days with all their training and the Karoku incident. Come to think of it, he still hadn't asked Nai about how his training was going.
"Nai," Gareki said, getting the niji's attention, "how has your training been going?" Gareki propped his elbow on the edge of the window and rested his head on his hand.
"Um, it's going well. I have a kind teacher and he is very helpful," Nai said with a smile.
"Huh? He? I thought you were being trained by Tsukumo..."
"Well, training wasn't going so good since I'm not very good when it comes to weapons so they had Akari teach me," Nai said.
"Oh, so you're in medical training now?" Gareki had not seen that one coming. Sure he never expected Nai to able to use a weapon but who knew he had a talent in medicine.
Nai nodded his head in reply just as their bus had reached their stop. A wave of heat slammed into them when they stepped off the air-conditioned bus and into the hot summer air. Gareki held up his hand to shield his eyes from the sudden bright light. With the sun being so high, it reflected off of every glossy surface, making the street unbelievable bright.
"Ah! There it is," Yogi said eagerly. Looking over to where the blond was pointing, his eyes fell upon a tall, pale pink building with a gargantuan yellow cat head. "Welcome to the Nyanperona Store!"
Gareki's eye twitched as he looked at the gaudy store. "I'm not going in," he said as he turned to walk away.
"Eh? But Gareki it'll be so much fun," Yogi looped an arm around Gareki's shoulders and dragged him inside.
"H-Hey!" He said as he was pulled inside and dropped off in the crowded store. Since it was midday, it was the busiest hour for business so there were many shoppers currently occupying the aisles. The inside of the store consisted of an abounding amount of bright colors with hundreds of different toys lining the walls and on stands in the middle of the room were mountains of Nyanperona plushies.
Gareki hid the look of disgust that was fighting to rise to the surface. All of the bright colors and childish toys were irritating him, not to mention the crowded aisles that were not helping his mood in the least. He took a quick glance around to see if Tsukumo or Yogi were around him but luckily they were all over by Nai showing him different Nyanperona toys. Taking their distraction as an opportunity, Gareki slipped through the crowd and out the front doors.
A sigh of relief left him once he was safely outside. The heat from the sun was extremely intense but anything was better than the suffocating store he had just come from. Deciding he was going to explore the rest of the city on his own, Gareki headed down the street, having no particular destination in mind.
After spending the next hour wandering around, visiting only a few places, Gareki found a decent amount of shade beneath a tree and decided to lie down for a bit. Pulling at the neck of his shirt, Gareki attempted to cool himself off. Walking around in the sun—in this heat—for an entire hour wasn't the wisest idea, considering he was already feeling immensely dizzy.
He put his hands behind his head to give it some support while he closed his eyes to stop the world from spinning. The raven haired teen lied there for a while, keeping his eyes closed, letting only his sense of smell and hearing to tell him what was going on around him.
As he lied there, the hot summer air changed into a swift cool breeze and the hard ground beneath him changed to that of soft, well-grown grass. Gareki's eyes shot open once he noticed the sudden change. He was no longer in the city beneath a tree but instead in a very familiar open, grassy field. Stopping a groan from escaping his lips, Gareki sat up and lock eyes with the blue haired man who had brought him here.
"Hello Gareki," Karoku said pleasantly. He was standing about ten feet away from him and was dressed in clothes very similar to the ones he had been wearing the first time they had met. "I expect you have your answer ready?"
"You sure didn't give much time to think about it," Gareki replied as he stood up to match Karoku. His hand subconsciously felt for the gun that was in his back pocket; it was a natural reaction for his after his years in the lower districts.
"I apologize for not giving you much time but I can tell that you have already made your decision."
"Yes," Gareki said. Pulling out his gun he aimed it for the center of Karoku's forehead. "I don't give a damn about you or Kafka, nor do I need your help with anything. I am perfectly fine in Circus so you better leave me the hell alone."
Gareki saw Karoku grimace at his response. Karoku began to walk forward and Gareki didn't hesitate to pull the trigger on the gun.
Hirato searched for the raven haired teen on the cameras but yielded to no result. A moment ago he had been watching Gareki when he suddenly disappeared. Hirato checked for the tracker he had put into his phone but there was no signal coming from that either. Using the computer, the captain called Yogi.
The phones the Circus members used possessed a holographic system that protruded multiple screens from it's base screen. When the phone was called, the system projected a video of the other person, allowing the users to view each other when speaking.
"Hello?" Yogi asked from the other end. He became a bit confused at why Hirato was suddenly calling.
"Yogi, I want to go and look for Gareki, I have a feeling he is in a bit of trouble right now," Hirato watched the blonds face turn from confused to that of shock.
"Gareki?!" Yogi looked around and finally realized that the teen wasn't with them. "Right! I'll head out right now."
"Look around the park area, that's where is signal cut off last," Hirato cut the connection once he had finished, only to reopen it when a new call came through. "What is it?"
"Kafka has appeared in the Northern area," came the first ship captains voice.
"As expected," murmured Hirato, "keep me updated if anything happens. I'm going to be stepping out for a bit."
-Step Step-
The area around them was completely silent except for the crunching of grass as the Kafka leader continued to walk forward. The gun in the teens hand was still positioned between them, aimed at the blue haired man's head. Gareki's figure was tensed on the trigger but no splitting sound ripped through the air, nor did anything erupt from the barrel of the gun.
'I can't move!' thought Gareki as he failed to pull the trigger. The raven soon found out that no part of his body would respond to his attempts to move it.
Karoku advanced on the boy and stopped only a few feet away.
"I want you to rethink your answer," Karoku said slowly, almost threateningly, to him. "Right now you are in my world and completely at my mercy. I could decide to kill you right now if I so please. Now tell me your answer."