Agito Chapter

Count: 4

"Go on in." Ryou patted Shouichi's shoulder, indicating the doorway. "Let's get this started." In the living room sat Hongo, Ichimonji and Godai. With himself and Ryou joining them, that made every Agito and Rider on their side…Shouichi's shoulders slumped.

Except the most important one.

"I'm…sorry," Yukina had said, gently pushing him away. "It's still hard to remember…being around you, I know who you are but I don't…it hurts my head. I'll come back. Just give me some time, please."

With that, she slipped off into the night. Again.

It was hard to think of her as real, with her only half-there, physically and mentally. Like she was a ghost.

No. She's alive. I've held her hand in mine—my sister is alive, and she's coming back! I trust her.

Clearing his thoughts, he entered the room with Ryou, sitting opposite the three Riders. The Professor had taken the kids out for the day: Kids, plural. Mana had made up her mind.

"I thought I needed to be there to understand myself…but they didn't know much more than me. Not really."

She'd whispered in Shouichi's ear on the journey home, "The Unknown—uh, Lords—are targeting people with powers like mine. I don't want to put you all in danger, but…I don't know where to go."

He just smiled. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna lose, whether they're after you or anyone else. I'm gonna be fighting them anyway, so you're not putting me in any more danger. And close to me is the safest place for you."

"Shouichi…"

"Yeah?"

"I…think I might've…" She paused, biting her lip. "It's possible…" That she'd killed her father? God, how could she think that, she scolded herself.

"What?"

"…never mind…"

Shouichi buzzed from one new acquaintance to the other, now he finally had time to sit down and talk with them. "It's so cool to meet you all! You're cyborgs? Really?!"

Ryou shot them an amused look at these antics. "He once said he wanted to start an 'Agito Club' when we found more people like us."

"Yeah, yeah!" Shouichi babbled, looking very pleased with himself, oblivious to Ryou's condescending tone. "This is kinda like that, huh? Hehe…oh!" He sprang up and vanished into the kitchen, shouting that he'd be right back.

In his absence, Ryou leaned forwards. "Looks like this stuff won't leave me alone…all right. What do we have to do?"

"Keep fighting the Lords, obviously," Ichimonji offered, slouched back on the opposite couch, staring at the ceiling.

"And discover why they want to stop humanity's evolution," Hongo added. "Assuming what Kino said is true."

"Maybe they're just scared of us, y'know?" Ichimonji shot back.

"The weird guy I saw, in my mind," Godai cut in, "that was probably the person Kino was talking about—the Lords' boss. Whatever they're doing, it's his idea."

"And Kino?" Ryou prompted.

"Hopefully he'll stop," Ichimonji said, shifting to get more comfortable. "I was thinking if I, the 'puny human', gave him a good beating he might have a long hard think and stop being a problem. But if he keeps at it we'll have to take him down."

"And there's Yukina, too," Hongo reminded them. "Not only would she be a powerful ally…without each other, that brother and sister are suffering. Hopefully she'll return soon…"

"Right!" Shouichi returned with a large basket of freshly-picked fruit and vegetables, setting it heavily down on the coffee-table and crashing into the nearest chair with a self-satisfied smile. "Next time we have this meeting, she'll be here too! Now c'mon, c'mon, dig in!"

Hongo took two tomatoes, tossing one to his partner; being veterans of eating whatever they could get on the road, it was impossible to tell if they enjoyed it or not, biting in impassively. Godai grabbed an enormous orange with enthusiasm, expertly peeling it with his pocket-knife and explaining, though nobody was listening, that this was one of his famed 2000 Skills.

Ryou just looked at the basket with a mix of confusion and disgust that said more about his own eating habits than anything else. "Isn't this…kinda weird to give your guests?" he mumbled.

Shouichi looked at him, wide-eyed. "Is it?"

"Ah…I dunno…never mind." He snapped his fingers in Godai's face to bring him back to the present. "So. Stop the Lords. Figure out their boss' deal. Get Yukina back. Hope Kino leaves us alone." He stopped talking as he realised Shouichi was frantically writing something. "Are you…" He peered over at the notepad. "…making a checklist…"

"Yup!" Shouichi said, studious, drawing a little box next to each objective. "I'll tick them off at each meeting for everything we've accomplished!"

Ichimonji rested his head again, his hands crossed under it. "You're really getting into this, huh, kid?"

"I think his enthusiasm is wonderful," Hongo said, chuckling at his partner's unimpressed tone.

"Then I guess you'll keep dragging me to these little meetings, old friend…can't be helped," Ichimonji huffed.

"Um…" Godai raised his hand as if asking permission to speak.

Ryou smacked a hand against his forehead. "You wanna say something, say it."

"Well…Mr. Ichimonji, not to be rude but…how old are you?"

The slouching Rider cracked an eye open. "Eh?"

"Well, you're saying stuff like 'kid' and 'old friend', but you don't look much older than I am…"

"Oh, right. Well, I'm getting on into my 50s—I've been fighting with Takeshi almost since the beginning. But, in case you forgot…" Suddenly he was behind the couch, easily lifting it (with Godai and Hongo on it) over his head one-handed. "Cyborg." He set it down, jumping back into his place.

"His semi-artificial body doesn't age," Hongo explained, not having so much as flinched during the whole process, while Godai had been flailing around in surprise. "The same should be true for me, but…" He traced a finger along the lines of middle age on his face. "I'm a less advanced model cyborg than Hayato; I'm probably supposed to have regular maintenance to prevent this, but the ones who remodelled me are my sworn enemies, so…" He brightened up. "It seems to be aging in appearance only, though. At least for now, I'm as strong as ever."

"Awesome, awesome!" Shouichi was mulling over his notepad when the mental shock hit him, his eyes dilating for a moment. Ryou gave a jolt, too.

Hongo noted the reaction. "An Unknown?"

"Yeah." The two Agito were already getting up, grabbing their coats, when Shouichi looked back to the other three. "Hey…just once, do you think we could all go?"

"Oh no, God forbid anything be easy for once," Ryou said, trying to keep his face straight.

Yukina watched the five of them drive off, sitting in a car on the opposite side of the street. She couldn't remember how she'd got it. Or any of the last 12 hours. Her mind was still freewheeling, but she was feeling pretty lucid now. This house was the closest thing to her past life that survived. So, when the Professor's car pulled up, and he and Mana and Taichi, laden with bags of groceries, clambered out and headed into the house, they found Yukina leaning against the front door, staring them down.

The Professor stared for quite some time before regaining enough composure to speak. There was much spluttering, grasping at empty air and repeating her name.

She cut him off as he made to lead her inside. "I'm not going in with you. I'm not going to sit down and make myself comfortable. We're going to talk, briefly, then I'm going to leave."

"But—how are you alive?"

Mana bit her lip. She wished she'd told everyone, but there was no way to just casually drop that kind of bombshell into a conversation. Oh, by the way, you know those psychic powers you're not sure I even have? Some strange guy brought me to a hospital to use them to bring Shouichi's sister back to life, also she's Agito, also he's Agito—

—wait. How did the Professor know Yukina, anyway?

"I came back here to…" Yukina gestured vaguely. "Try and pick up anything I could find of my life. But I can't feel it. No, it's…" She folded her arms, looking down. "I can't face you, after all."

They were all on the verge of replying when she suddenly continued. "Mana. The police were right. Your father was killed by an unconscious use of psychic power."

All that fear and self-loathing rushed back in. Bile rose in Mana's throat. Then I really…I…!

"It was me," Yukina breathed, and Mana's world turned upside-down again. "Ask your uncle. And," she added with venom and a glance at the Professor, "he owes you the truth.

"Well, that's about it." She shoved her way past them, leaving them shell-shocked in the driveway. "After that, I killed myself." She stopped for a brief moment. "Even as bad as things were…that was a mistake. So…thank you, Mana." That was the last they heard of her before she drove off.

On the other side of the road, Shouichi stood slack-jawed, tears welling in his eyes.

Five minutes ago…

Agito, Gills, Kuuga, and Riders #1 and #2 stood in a loose semi-circle around the diminishing fires signalling the only remnant of the poor solitary Lord they'd encountered. It hadn't even reached its target before they'd intercepted it.

"Man, that was easier," Shouichi said, kicking idly at the embers.

"We should do this more often," Godai concurred.

"Nostalgic…" Hongo said, sweeping a proud gaze around the quintet.

Ichimonji gave his shoulder a light shove. "This is nothing. We've had teams more than twice this size." After a second, he relented. "But all right, this is nice. Riders working together, that's how it should be."

"Right. It gets lonely, sometimes…we should make the most of times like these."

With a flash, Shouichi reverted to human, the others following suit. "Well, it's getting late, I should head home. Uh…the house is pretty full most of the time, so I don't think you can stay over or anything."

"It's fine, we've made arrangements," Hongo assured him.

Ryou stepped closer, holding a finger in Shouichi's face. "Hold on a minute, Tsugami, did you include me in that? You don't think I have a place to stay?"

Shouichi grinned, backing away. "Calm down, calm down, I just…well, you don't look very responsible is all! I didn't know if—"

"I have a house! How did you forget my house? You've slept in my house!"

"Oh…right." Lacking any kind of comeback from that, Shouichi fled to his bike, swinging it back towards home. "Well, see you guys soon! Let's keep on working hard and beat the Lords! Bye!"

"Really." Ryou shook his head, smirking. "A total idiot."

"He's a good guy," Ichimonji said.

"Sure. That too."

Now…

Before Shouichi could cry out, his attention was jerked away—A Lord! And mere minutes after they'd just beaten one. This had never happened before.

Swallowing his tears, he remounted his bike and turned away from home, spotting Yukina's car going the same way further down the street.

Ryou was also riding towards the source of the new signal. Damn things just won't leave us alone… And they wouldn't have Godai, Hongo or Ichimonji this time. But hopefully Shouichi or Yukina, or both, would turn up to help—

A black van lunged out of a side-road, straight into his path. He swerved as fast as he dared, barely avoiding a full-on collision, finally managing to screech to a halt with the front wheel buried in a garden fence. He was tossed off his seat by the impact, cold pavement smacking into his face, trying to get upright but still disoriented as the van door opened, heavy footsteps coming his way.

He looked up, and Kaoru Kino stood over him.