Chapter 14

Origins

I wander around my room, trying to get accustomed to what will probably be my new home from now on. Its unpainted stone walls are very different from the white ones of my old place, which gave off a more welcoming air compared to the cold and stillness I feel from the whole headquarters in general.

This new bedroom is fairly austere, having only a chest of drawers, a desk, a chair and an untidy bed I must do after having slept on it for probably most of the day. I have no idea what time it is now since there are no windows in here and I don't have a watch on me. My phone was killed by Funell when he first attacked me, too, so I have no means of knowing just for how long I slept other than checking outside on the corridor.

Just like the GHQ's headquarters, the Funeral Parlor's also has a thing for crystal roofs. They get to save energy by using the sun's light, I guess. Anyway, back to business: there is something more important than knowing the time. Haruka pointed it out a few days ago, and the streak of events that happened recently has prevented me from following her council: I need to bathe, very urgently.

Hell, I need to brush my teeth too – I stink from everywhere in every possible way. Being in mortal peril makes one forget about personal hygiene, but now that I'm in a relatively safe place, I have no excuse not to keep myself clean.

I open a drawer from the wooden chest and find a uniform set neatly folded inside, most likely because Tsugumi or someone else put it there while I was away with Inori and Kyo. Giving thanks in my mind to the unknown person, I take the clothes with me and make for the door, praying I'll stumble upon someone who can guide me to a tub or a shower.

Once outside in the corridor, I see the place is illuminated only by the moonlight entering from the clear glass above me. I can only estimate the time, so I'll believe it's about midnight to keep my inner clock at track.

I start walking and immediately find something is abnormal in me. Given how it is pretty dark, I thought I'd have to wait for a bit so my eyes could get used to the low amount of light, but surprisingly I can see quite well already.

This is strange. Back then inside the GHQ's headquarters, when Inori jumped and the sniper was about to blow my head off, I could see him and even hear what Scarface said despite being very away from both of them.

At first, I thought it was the adrenaline that sharpened my senses to unnaturally high levels, but now I see that they still remain far more sensitive than they used to be before. Proof to this is the fact that I can hear a door being closed in the distance and a pair of footsteps walking ahead of me in the same direction.

It's nighttime, so all sounds can be caught more easily than during the day, but even being able to recognize who the steps belong to is too much. I hasten my pace to reach him, but he stops and turns around upon sensing my presence approaching from behind.

"Shu?"

"Enjoying the night, Triton?"

He laughs lightly, making the eerie atmosphere a bit warmer.

"Just heading to the bath house; I presume you'd want to join."

Hey, both of us are carrying a set of clothes. Getting around here has been very easy, as somehow I keep running into people who can help me out when I need them to. Finding Triton in here going to the very place I was looking for is no exception.

"Yeah, I'm made a mess after the previous battle."

More precisely, I've been a mess ever since I got into the fight by the tunnel, but I omit the small details and motion my friend to lead the way.

"Let's go, then."

We keep walking together in the darkness, which for some reason fits the cold corridor much better than I thought at first. The dim light shone by the stars and the moon melts into the stone around us, giving rise to a slight sense of mysticism as the echo of our stride betrays the secrecy of our movement.

Before long, we arrive at a section of the building I had never seen before, where Triton opens a door and enters ahead of me. I follow and he flicks the lights on, killing the mood of mystery I had found so much enjoyment upon.

I survey the place with my eyes, and see there are a large number of aisles with showers lined on each of them, all of them making a huge open shower bay. I should have known.

Well, shyness can go to hell. I commence stripping my clothes off together with Triton, who wordlessly does the same. It is only natural a military organization wouldn't bother with niceties like individual showers, so I won't ridicule myself by even asking.

We step into the nearest aisle and turn the hot water knobs of two adjacent showers. Triton walks in without problem, but I immediately retreat upon coming into contact with the flaming magma spitting from the perforated nozzle above me.

Triton laughs at me in amusement, and then reaches for the cold water knob to balance the temperature. I sigh and try again, to find that the heat is nothing short of perfect. This bastard has quite some practice, I can see.

"I didn't know you were into sports, Shu."

Hm? Triton says an unusual statement as I grab hold of a bar of soap and a washing mitt.

"I'm not, actually. Why do you ask?"

"What are you talking about? Look at yourself."

I do as he says and – MOTHER OF GOD!

"What the hell? I'm ripped!"

Jesus, I can't avoid showing my surprise as I realize that all of my muscles are extremely defined and toned, as if I had carefully trained them for months. Triton seems to be confused by my reaction, but I myself have no idea as of what happened to me.

"Man, I wasn't like this yesterday!"

I elaborate, honestly saying this is entirely new to me.

"It couldn't have been… but wait. Could it? It has to be."

Triton is talking to himself aloud as he ponders about the reason behind the change in me.

"What is it?"

I ask him to tell me what's going on.

"I can only assume it is the Void Genome's doing. Intel we gathered before stealing it said that Sephirah intended to bring about humanity's evolution with it, so if the Genome modified your body to be genetically perfected, it wouldn't be strange for this to happen. Has anything else been different lately?"

I get it now! As Triton explains the most believable theory as of why I suddenly am so physically fit, I finally understand why I feel as if my senses were over the edge: they really are more potent than they had ever been before!

"Yes; I have been able to feel everything around me more vividly than I used to, as if my senses had been sharpened like an animal's."

To test just how much impact the Void Genome has had on me, I bring the washing mitt to my nose and smell it. Horror fills my heart as I believe to have identified who used this piece of cloth last.

"Argo showered here a while ago, didn't he?"

I ask Triton, to confirm my conclusion. Hell, I feel like a dog.

"I believe he did; he said he wanted to cool down after Kyo's, eh… revelation."

Yet Triton treads into the fields of a taboo.

"Pretend you never heard that; it's just Kyo making up things."

Triton scratches his head stiffly, not believing what I said.

"It did get you out alive, though."

And he points out something I can't deny.

"Scarface can think whatever he pleases; I have Inori and she's all I want."

To put an end to this topic, I clearly establish my posture towards Kyo's claims that I charmed my way out of danger. Triton falls silent as I speak, however, making me realize I probably made an ugly mistake just now.

"You did confess to each other back then, didn't you?"

Uh… shit. Inori said she and Gai were very close, even to the point of considering him family. That means that the possibility of more-than-familiar feelings existing between them is high, thus making it entirely plausible that I stole the chick away from my friend.

"Ah, that…"

I don't know what to say. Triton prevents an awkward silence from emerging by slapping my back soundly with the heavy palm of his hand.

"What a way to become a couple, Shu. Well done."

Of all things, he is smiling. It's possible he could be genuinely happy about Inori and me, but there's also the chance he is swallowing his pride and letting her go. Agh… I feel like I stabbed him in the back without even realizing. Yet here he is, telling me it's alright for me to stay with the girl in question without knowing if he loved her too or not.

Back at home when I got jealous of Gai after Inori told me she still remembered the exact day when they met, I told myself I either had competition or was becoming the usurper. By this point in time, I entirely see myself as the latter, yet I don't dare to ask Triton if that was the case or not… which leads to an invisible tension from my part that I can't break.

"Yeah, I'd never been confessed to before plunging to certain death. Inori is the real deal."

I carry on with what he said, unable to bring myself to ask him about what's bugging me.

"You'll have great stories to say with that, I'm sure. Only our team was hearing the conversation, so not everyone knows yet."

So it still hasn't become public knowledge... unless word has spread already, which is probably the case with the likes of Kyo in the Parlor's ranks. Ah, fuck this! I'll ask.

"Hey, Triton, tell me the truth. Did I steal her from you?"

Straight to the point, Goddamn it.

My friend sighs, making me understand that was pretty much the case.

"Inori and I have very close history, but romance was never part of it. I'd be lying if I said I didn't like her, but since she has chosen you then I will quietly accept her decision."

Ah, I knew it. Today I have failed as a friend. I try to say something in return, but Triton suddenly interrupts by poking his finger hard at my chest.

"Since it has come to this, you have to look after her in my stead. Don't do something stupid like feeling bad about me; both of us are above fighting over a girl. Understand?"

Jesus, Triton is more of a friend than I deserve. And still he is staring straight to my face, telling me he is serious about what he is saying. Fine, damn it, I'll let him take one for me and accept his request of manning up and claiming the girl as mine.

I offer my hand to him, putting up as much of an air of brotherhood as I can.

"No shit between us?"

Triton seems glad with my compliance, clasping my hand with strength as I ask him.

"No shit between us, brother."

Ahhh, this guy is fucking awesome. We share a moment of unmitigated comradeship, during which I realize I'm sure glad I don't have a sister. Right, Ron?

"She did grow fond of you very fast, though. Can't compete with that."

We let go and he breaks the silence, saying something I've heard before.

"Kyo said the same thing."

But I can't deny it is true; I can still count the days we have known each other with the fingers of a single hand. Talk about lightning speed.

"What, Kyo liked Inori too?"

Triton says something fun. Although jokingly, he's pointing the fact that I left it open for interpretation that the young girl wanted to compete over Inori's heart as well.

"Yeah, she's into girls."

I carry on, taking revenge from her abuse of the incident with Scarface.

"Right, right. Speaking of which, I heard you were hitting on Ayase earlier. You aren't trying to get a harem, are you?"

Say what!?

"Who told you that? I just grabbed a bite with her, that's all."

Jesus; gossip flies in this place.

"I'm just shitting on you, I know."

Bastard. Keep laughing, go on.

"It was Kyo, wasn't it?"

If someone did say it like that to him, I can't think of anyone else.

"Yeah, she said she saw you together in the dining room."

Really? Seems I've got someone stalking me.

"She's keeping a close eye on me. Afraid I'll walk away again?"

Triton looks up as if thinking about it, making me wonder if I was or not on the mark.

"Kyo is looking after you, in her own way. She has been like this since she was a girl... always maintaining a straight face, pushing us to stay alive."

Whoa, that's intense. THE Tsutsugami Gai is attributing his survival to a young girl just barely in her teens. Would this be why her Void is shaped as a shield? If one's nature is what defines his soul's physical appearance, then this would make perfect sense.

"She did save our asses last night, now that you mention it. But just how did she do it before she could use her Void?"

I'm very curious, actually. We made it alive specifically because Kyo literally shielded us from all harm, but even still Gai is saying she has protected her comrades since time ago. Just what kind of maneuvers could she use in conventional warfare to defend them?

"She kept us alive from the inside, I mean. The only reason why all of us still retain our sanities is that both Kyo and Tsugumi were there. Or well… so I'd like to say."

"What do you mean?"

"Shell shock got the best of Kenji, leading to his capture."

Fuck, too much information. Okay, so both Kyo and Tsugumi kept everyone in their senses but Kenji still snapped in the end. Kyo mentioned she had been in the business for a long time, and Gai just implied that he has known her since she was a child. Connecting all of this together, I can only assume that Triton has been through hell and back these past ten years we've been separated.

"Why did they get him?"

I ask what's most important first: I want to confirm if what Scarface said of Kenji killing innocent children is true.

"When he was getting into position to provide Inori with assistance in stealing the Void Genome, a group of thugs ran into him along the way. They pulled out guns on him, so I granted permission to use lethal force over the radio.

He dispatched them with his combat knife, but a group of kids happened to be leaving a nearby building and witnessed the scene. The children screamed, forcing Kenji to recall the memories of his past and he reflexively opened fire on them.

What Segai surely told you about Kenji being a murderer is true, every word of it. He caused the death of seven boys and three girls who were entirely unrelated to our conflict; I had Tsugumi investigate and confirmed their unfortunate fates.

You may believe I am in the wrong in rescuing someone who has sinned the way he has, and you have every right to think that way, but I still cannot abandon him. The bonds that tie Kido Kenji and me were forged with fire and blood, and nothing will ever break that."

Holy shit, dude. Just what on Earth happened to him in all these years?

"Could you tell me the story? I want to know. About your past, that is."

For a while, only the sound of the warm water running from our bodies to the floor can be heard. Gai breaks the silence by sighing, telling me he is about to comply.

"Do you really want me to tell you? Largely, it's the story of shitty childhoods filled with horror and war. Perhaps you'd be best by not knowing about our origins."

Yeah, this is bad. Triton told me to be careful with that I ask, since every piece of new information can potentially change the way I perceive everyone around me. However, I do not want to stay in the dark, merely seeing the surface of everyone I will be fighting together with from now on. If we are to be comrades, I must understand what they have gone through: I cannot truly be part of the Funeral Parlor if I am ignorant of its past.

"Go ahead, I'll listen. Don't hold anything back… tell me everything cold and straight."

I resolve myself to hear it all as it was, asking Triton not to sugarcoat anything. My friend seems to understand the reasoning behind my request, as he projects an air of seriousness that tells me shit will get real from now on.

"It all goes back to the immediate aftermath of Mana's death. I couldn't endure seeing her shattered body, so I ran away from the church and got lost in the mayhem that engulfed the city shortly afterwards.

Everything went to hell that day; people were crystalizing everywhere in a matter of seconds, violently succumbing to the Apocalypse Virus. As you might imagine, chaos ensued immediately, and I was unable to find my way back to you or Haruka in time.

When I finally got to the church, you had been already taken away and the military had surrounded the place to secure what was left of Mana. I attempted to find the hospital where you had been interned, but someone attacked me before I could.

I don't remember exactly how it happened; someone hit me from behind and I fell unconscious. Next thing I knew, I was inside a cramped truck full with other children about my age, and we were all being taken away somewhere.

We were forced into an airplane, and set off to a place unknown to us. They intended to sell us in the black market, you see… Human trafficking rocketed sky-high during the riots of Lost Christmas, and I as well as the other kids was unlucky enough to fall in the hands of the yakuza.

The plane landed at some point, apparently for refueling, and one of the other kids managed to pick the lock of the compartment we were being held inside. We immediately broke out running, scattering everywhere to avoid capture.

I could tell we were in a foreign country; the dense vegetation surrounding the hidden airport was entirely uncharacteristic of Japan, but I had no choice but to brave the jungle and pray for the best. Many of the children were recaptured, but I managed to elude the pursuers and eventually ran into two other kids that had been kidnapped with me.

They were Shinomiya Ayase and Sendo Tsugumi, the latter crying and being comforted by the former. We were very young, you know. Both Ayase and I were ten… I think Tsugumi was yet to reach seven by that time.

The three of us immediately became a group with me as its leader, and we wandered through the wilderness in search for other children and a place to find refuge. We slowly grew in numbers, having found Kyo, Argo and Kenji along the way. There were other kids with us as well, but they weren't so fortunate and died to hunger and illness before we got to a small village that took us in.

As soon as we saw the village folk we realized we had been stranded somewhere in Africa, where we didn't know any of the local languages nor had any way to go back to our native country.

The people in that nameless community were still kind enough to take care of us for a couple of months, and during that time we learned to collect food in the wilds while avoiding danger such as natural hazards and predators. We had to adapt very quickly, or else we would have died in a place as hostile as the jungle.

A few of us fell sick very badly, too, since we hadn't been inoculated with any vaccines to endure the diseases that torment the African continent. Ayase contracted malaria and nearly died from it, even. Tsugumi was with her for days straight, and the two of them have been extremely close ever since.

We were starting to learn the local dialect when things went wrong again. You should be aware that guerillas used to be raging very hard in several parts of Africa, and fate was gracious enough to curse with being dragged into one of such conflicts.

A notorious warlord and his band paid a visit to the village and forcibly took away most of the children inside, us included, to fight for them as cannon fodder. It was a miracle the girls in our group were not raped by them on spot, given how the soldiers gave priority to the women old enough to grow secondary sexual characteristics.

We witnessed it all, however, bidding farewell to our childhoods. It wasn't before long that we were given rudimentary weaponry like handguns and such and then pushed into a battlefield we neither understood nor cared about.

I took leadership of my little group, composed by the children who had escaped with me from the yakuza, and concentrated on staying away from danger as much as we could. There were times when we had no choice but to fight, so we did, and it was then that we learned what it felt like to kill other people… in this case, other kids our age.

Every day was hell, really. The higher ups had us under very tight surveillance and we couldn't run away; there were a few others who tried and were killed then and there in front of us. Those guys were ruthless, forcing children to fight in order to preserve their own men intact, and they knew very well how to keep us in line.

There was a point in which I couldn't continue laying low in the battlefield and was forced to take my team into open combat, relying on ambushes and hit-and-run tactics to avoid taking casualties.

We eventually became a highly organized group, having fought for two years straight and lived to tell the tale. My team and I became masters of guerrilla warfare, and were capable of dispatching priority targets with relative ease by utilizing communications equipment we had stolen from an enemy camp.

It's really a wonder what a team with proper role cohesion can do, both in and outside the field of battle. While I gave it my all in keeping us alive through the war, Kyo took it to herself to keep our psychological health within functional levels. Even now, I still have no idea how she stayed optimistic through it all, with her head held high as she kept doing what she called 'fighting for a better future'.

Killing other kids hit us very hard, and the most affected one was Kenji. Kyo frequently spent entire nights talking with him, convincing him that life was worth struggling for, always telling him he should not lose hope.

I must say again, I don't understand how she did it. It was ten-year-old girl who kept all of us from breaking down, giving me the strength to rally everyone for battle every time we were pushed into the fray.

The hundreds of days we spent together in combat made us grow very close to each other, as you might imagine, and whenever disputes rose between us, Tsugumi immediately rose to break them apart.

If Kyo was the one keeping us sane, then Tsugumi was the one who made us all get along. It is ironic that the two little girls of our group became the pillars that supported the whole team as we clung to life in the hostile foreign lands.

Kenji worked as our lookout most of the time, given how he wasn't specially fit for combat, and worked together with Tsugumi to provide us with information about the enemy's movements before, during and after we engaged in battle.

The ones who actually got into the firefights were Argo, Ayase, Kyo and I. Naturally, there were times when Kenji and Tsugumi needed to join us in action, and so they too had their extensive share of battlefield experience.

By the time our fate was meant to change, we had already become seasoned veterans who knew exactly what they had to do and how to do it during engagements. And still, even all that preparation wasn't enough to face him, the man who became the turning point of our miserable lives in Africa.

We were tasked to eliminate the leader of a mercenary group that had joined the conflict. Kenji and Tsugumi gathered information about his forces, and after careful planning we pulled off an ambush on him as he crossed through our territory.

However, he turned the tables on us entirely, and my whole squad ended up surrounded by the mercenary troops. I offered my surrender in exchange for my team's lives, but the soldiers took all of us as prisoners of war instead of executing us on spot.

Turns out, the man who took us in was Japanese, and went by the name of Shibungi. Shortly after our capture, I had the chance to speak with him in person, and learned that he was very surprised to find children from his homeland fighting in such a remote place.

We had a long conversation where I explained everything that led us to that distant country and how we wound up fighting against him. Shibungi sympathized with us, understanding we were not truly enemies, and offered to keep us under his protection while the conflict was resolved by him and the Undertakers, his mercenary company.

I was very blessed that day, really. I would have never imagined encountering an idealistic Japanese man hell-bent on crushing those who abused the weak. Shibungi was just that man, who went to the extreme of founding a private military company with the specific purpose of ending conflicts he deemed as unrighteous.

And there he was, giving me a chance to quit fighting and hide behind him while the war was done. Of course, I turned him down, and immediately offered my services to him: like he did, I wanted to put an end to those who turned innocent children into soldiers.

Shibungi was unwilling to let us fight, but he changed his mind when the rest of my group backed me up unanimously, with even Kenji pressing him to accept us into his ranks. He equipped us with proper gear, introduced us to the rest of his forces, and even allowed me to continue having command over my team.

We fought like we had never fought before, lashing back at our former captors with all our fury. We kept pushing forward, even though many of the casualties we inflicted were against other children who had once fought by our side; they stayed loyal to the warlord who abducted them, and we had no choice but to kill them to get to him.

After a long and dangerous series of battles, my squad and I made it to the middle of the enemy camp, where we fought our way through the men who had enslaved us. Ayase and I eventually found ourselves face to face with their leader, and a very fierce fight ensued between us. In the end I managed to dig a bullet into his head, but our side did not go unscathed: Ayase was grievously wounded by him as we exchanged fire.

I really thought she was going to die that day; she was hit by a bullet right in her spine. Shibungi regrouped with us and hastened to take her back to camp, where he had high-end medical equipment for military use, and gave Ayase emergency treatment.

For the second time in her life she slipped from the hands of Death itself, but she has been confined to a wheelchair ever since. It was this very experience that made all of my team and I learn field medicine from Shibungi, in case you were wondering.

The Undertakers and we withdrew from African soils after Ayase was stabilized, and traveled to their headquarters on a desolate island in the southern end of Japan.

Shibungi offered to send us back to our families in the mainland, but none of us really had anywhere to return to. I did some research and found Haruka and you were still alive, but the families of everyone else were dead, either made victims of the Lost Christmas incident or already deceased beforehand, as it was in Tsugumi's case.

I couldn't go back to the Ouma family and leave behind everyone who had fought by my side during all those years, so I officially joined the Undertakers and assisted Shibungi in deciding which would be the next war we would throw ourselves into.

Deep investigation of Japan's GHQ revealed evidence of the Void Genome Project, which was backed up even by the UN behind the scenes, and so we decided we would take the fight ourselves to stop them.

Things happened to the Undertaker's inner workings, some people left, some people joined us, and Shibungi named me the leader of the new group that was created specifically to fight against Sephirah and the Apocalypse Virus.

We changed our name to the Funeral Parlor and have been acting in the shadows ever since. This building in particular has been our headquarters for less than a month; we acquired and prepared it to serve as our base of operations for the next few weeks.

And well, that's largely the Funeral Parlor's history. Quite a tale, isn't it?

Uh… Shu?"