強い人と弱い人
The Strong and The Weak
Chapter 22: The World of Kingsー
The setting reminded Saruhiko of what occured three years ago. It was raining. There were four lines of five men lined up before the gated entrance to headquarters. Munakata stood in front of his men alongside himself and Awashima who called out,
"Haruna Aigasa, to the front."
Yes, those were the exact words he heard three years ago. However it was Saruhiko's name the vice captain called. Instead of a cloudy sky, it was pouring rain that day. He watched Haruna step out from the rows of men and approach the captain. She stood her ground clad in her uniform once she made it to the front and stared at her smiling superior in the eye.
Saruhiko noticed her chocolate eyes held no fear. No brightness. They carried nothing. For the first time he didn't know what she was thinking. In Awashima's hands she carried a saber. The woman gave a slight bow and her captain accepted the weapon. The king unsheathed his sword and Haruna took that as a cue to kneel.
"For Heaven and Earth to be at peace..."
The man gently brought his sword down to the girl's shoulder, tapping it gently.
"With every heartbeat performed by your heart, to certainly protect order, you will become the blue justice's guardian."
Munakata retracted the sword and sheathed it back into its scabbard. He held the sheathed sword out to Haruna.
"Take the sword, you who is worthy to be a swordsman who holds honor and faith. Vow conduct to your sword."
'You say that but its neither an honor or a vow.'
That was what he said to the king after defecting from HOMRA. Munakata had chuckled and admitted it was an unspoken truth. Regardless, it was what motivated his men to complete their goal, sword in hand.
Saruhiko watched Haruna reach out to the sword. She reached out hastily, whether it was still out of fear, he didn't know.
Blue sparks flew from the sword and engulfed her body. It was like electricity was bouncing off her limbs. She retracted back a bit and her face contorted in pain, but her grasp remained strong. In a few seconds, the aura died down and her crouching figure gave a soft, blue afterglow. Haruna stood up with caution as she took the sword from her new king.
"What's supossed to happen now?" She brought both hands to the sheathed sword and examined it with awe,"Are there any life threatening effects after this...?"
"Now that you've reminded me, yes." He mused aloud,"You'll incapacitated in approximately two minutes from now. A shock from the aura will shoot through your heart, stopping it momentarily."
"E-Eh?!"
Saruhiko raised his brow at that nonsense. Even during a time like this he was capable of joking around. His irritation grew. The boy was getting tired of standing in the cold.
"Captain," Awashima coughed into her fist and advised,"I don't think you should joke about that."
"I apologize. I just wanted to lighten up the mood!" He chuckled and looked back down at his new vassal approvingly,"Welcome to the special division, Aigasa-kun."
"I..."
She uttered a word, but her mouth closed before she was unable to say more. She pledged herself to a king. Haruna Aigasa was finally a part of this new world.
His world.
Briefly after the ceremony, there was a certain duty that had to be carried out before the day was over. Saruhiko reported that his pursuit squad was apprehended by the Black Dog, Kuroh Yatogami, leaving one of their own injured with his PDA taken. The targets are well aware that the traffic surveilance system is continuously monitored, as they have been undetected.
Just as expected, Munakata had received an afternoon call from Yashiro Isana using the stolen PDA and convinced him to take the silver king into custody. On Awashima's orders, the third in command took Haruna and the first division to pursue the targets based on the location of the signal created by the PDA. Despite striking what was supossed to be a fair deal with the murderer, another pursuit was quickly dispatched during their conversation.
Haruna couldn't wrap her head around it at all. This power that resided within her now... she could feel it. The new clansman didn't really understand the blue aura's attributes. She hasn't used it yet either.
"Listen up, Yashiro Isana's location is along the Tokyo Express Line."
Fushimi's voice cut through her dazed state. Several of her clansmen were lined up at the front gate again as their superior briefed them of the mission.
"Aigasa, are you listening?"
Why was he calling out to her so formally? Oddly, it irritated her.
"Yes, Saru."
The guy clicked his tongue in response to that name and sharply shifted his eyes to the side.
Haruna was surprised she wasn't scolded for her casual address towards him.
Doumyoji, the red head, had actually started to snicker away. Akiyama, to his left had nudged his shoulder to shut him up. Fushimi then shot a glare her way and stuffed his hands into his pockets.
Did she embarass the fish? Well... regardess, this situation was serious. They were tracing the location of a murderer. How would she get used to it right away? She was dispatched as soon as she was endowed with her aura. All the work she's done in school and work was papers. Haruna would laugh and take enjoy her tasks at a steady rate, but now she had a saber at her hip. And she would advance with her sword in hand, for their cause was pure.
Or so the motto goes.
"There's no time." Fushimi ordered as he looked out towards the city,"Let's hurry and move out."
The group dashed out of headquarters with Haruna trailing behind. It was unbelievable to see that she was capable of catching up to them? Was it their aura that made them all stronger than ordinary humans? Or maybe it was a new found excitement of this power that propelled her forward.
Before no time they entered the traffic of the main city highway and weaved through the seemingly endless jams of cars to get to their location. Fushimi split the group to increase their efficiency. This left Hidaka, Fuse and Goto with him, and of course Haruna.
The third in command halted and scanned the packed area.
Hidaka spoke up, voicing the thoughts of everyone present,"Fushimi-san, do you think we can handle the accomplices? The Black Dog rivals your strength and the strain has power over our perception. It would be a difficult battle."
What Hidaka said meant that they could fail the operation once the enemies attacked. Haruna found it hard to believe.
"It's two against eight though." She pointed out,"How can our team not apprehend them?"
"You don't understand who we're dealing with here, Aigasa." Fushimi clicked his tongue,"It's not that simple, which is why you will apprehend Yashiro Isana. He has no known powers he can use against us."
Ugh. She felt it and it was quite obvious to everyone already. Haruna was annoying the daylights out of him.
"Hey, you damn blues!" Haruna whipped around to find an angry truck driver yelling furiously at them,"Don't just stare! I'm trying to get through here! What's the big deal?!"
Embarassed the driver noticed her staring, she quickly turned away. Of course he would be upset. They intentionally stopped traffic in order to pursue someone. The situation did not matter to them because they weren't apart of this 'world'. They were interrupting normal people's daily lives for their own gains.
Normal people, huh?
"Aigasa!" Fushimi, who was accompanied by the three other men called out a few cars ahead of her,"With me!"
Regrouping with the team, Fushimi approached another delivery truck and referred back to his PDA.
"This is the one." He called out to the rest of his men as they surrounded the truck's perimeter. One by one, the other five clansmen crowded around the automobile. Haruna and Fushimi happened to be the ones in front of the truck's front window and she couldn't help but once again feel sorry for this particular driver. His expression screamed innocence. She too would be frazzled to have so many blues surround her if she had done nothing wrong.
Fuse was the one who approached the back of the truck and lift the flap covering the cargo.
"It's empty." He called out loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Unbelievable..." Fushimi murmured and made his way to the back to verify for himself and judging by the frustrated sigh that escaped his lips, it was true.
Haruna, wanting to see for herself also peeked in and noticed two pieces of some connected hardware by one of the crates closest to her.
"Monkey fish, is that...?"
"You have got to be kidding me." Fushimi clicked his tongue the loudest she'd ever heard it before grumbling again,"What a cheap trick."
Upon heading back to headquarters, the pursuit of Yashiro Isana was abandoned and the whole sword division was sent out to detain the first and Silver King, Adolf K. Weismann.
"Aigasa-kun."
Munakata called out to her in the deployment center and approached her with hands behind his back.
"How are things coming along so far?"
She thought about it to herself for a bit before answering. Truthfully, for her first day this was intense. Now, they were carrying out a full scale operation to capture a king.
"A bit hectic..."
The king nodded his head at the response,"As I had expected. You weren't briefed very throroughly."
Hah. Yeah. He got that right. Haruna shook her head inwardly.
"Join our transportation unit tonight. I'll give another briefing on our way to the helicopter space regarding the comandeering of the Himmelreich."
They say the Himmelreich was a large airship Weismann has been flying for decades. Often times at her late nights at Ashinaka, she would stare out the Student Council window and observe the airship soaring through the night clouds. There were certain weeks of the month in which it could be seen from the island and other weeks where it wouldn't fly by at all. Even then, she knew the days she would see them as it seemed to follow some sort of flight pattern.
Haruna entered the space at back of the armored transport with Fushimi, followed by Domyouji, Kamo and Benzai. The truck started started itself up and went on its way to the designated area. Everyone stood around the meeting tabl, Fushimi and Benzai stood across from her. Haruna stood between both Domyouji and Kamo and as she stood her ground, she felt someone nudge her shoulder to the left and turned her head to see Doumyoji's piercing green eyes focused on her with a grin. Those green eyes and red hair were definetely foreign.
"It's gonna be your first large scale operation, huh?" Domyouji grinned excitedly at Haruna,"If things end up going sour, stay behind me and I'll protect you."
Protection?! She didn't need and it and she didn't want it.
Before she could deny any need of protection, Kamo spoke up from her left,"She can fend herself without your 'assistance'."
Haruna couldn't help herself and retaliated,"I can fight and protect myself, thank you very much."
"I didn't say that because you're weak," Domyouji waved his hands in front of himself,"You see, you're a really cute girl and I've always wanted to protect a cute-"
Fushimi clicked his tongue and cut the boy off,"You talk too much, Domyouji."
"Is there any girl you don't hit on...?" Benzai murmered under his breath.
After the chew out session, Munakata stepped into the back of the truck with Awashima. As the automobile continued to move, the captain sat in front of the meeting table at the center of the space with his busty lieutenant standing beside him. Haruna and her clansmen took their own seats and awaited his debriefing.
Munakata pulled up the hologram on his table and clasped his hands together.
"We still haven't gotten a response from the first king." Awashima referred to her tablet and reported,"We sent a third request at 1700 hours that is still yet to be answered."
"We've completed the required formalities. We will now take him into custody."
Everyone but Haruna and Fushimi was looking at each other now in disbelief. Haruna didn't understand what would make the operation difficult.
Awashima interrupted and hugged the tablet into her chest,"In accordance to Protocol 120, we do not have the jurisdiction to conduct any investigation of the Himmelrich. I think its best to ask for for permission from the gold king."
Munakata shook his head. It wasn't going to work out at all.
"His Excellency will do everything in his power to prevent us from making contact with Weissman. Which is why we will do whatever we can before he stops us." He added, turning to Awashima with his expression unwavering,"There's no need to worry. I will personally explain the situation afterwards."
Haruna could see the instant blush rise to Awashima's cheeks. It was difficult to decipher whether it was caused by her adoration of her king or she was deeply touched by his words. It was rare to see the woman that everyone feared in the division to act a bit girly.
As quickly as the heat rose to her face, Awashima composed herself and asked in return,"Then will you tell us why you are willing to go such lengths to apprend the silver king?"
This question had him stare back into his hands. Munakata visually appeared to be troubled. His eyes closed, eyebrows furrowing together.
"All right, then."
A/N: Question, would it be annoying if I posted a chapter once every week on a spontaneous day? (*´-ω・)ﾝ? Responses would be appreciated as always via PM or review.
The next chapter will continue with Fushimi's point of view.
The very end had turned out to be a filler... which I don't really like. It would've felt awkward for me to just cut off the chapter after Domyouji is like,"PROTECT THE CUTE GIRL~ THE CUTE GIRL!" What an idiot. (・`д・´｡) I like idiots. (˙◁˙ )ﾊﾟｧ
Guests: Glad you enjoyed the last chapter! And to the guest that was being all emotional with me, you deserve a hug. ヾ(´｡••｡`)ﾉ Give me a hug, haha. We deserve comfort for our feels, bwahaha. Thank you so much! (´,,•ω•,,)
SmileRen: Ah, a stranger! I don't think I'd even become a vassal for a king who's a stranger, lololol. I would probably run for my life if I became the vassal for the green king. I don't know who the guy is, but if I pledged myself to him and found out what he was like afterwards (K: Missing Kings flashbacks)... I would defect as soon as possible, haha. (눈_눈)
See you guys again next week! -Maki