Chapter 2: Bitter candy

The usual warm and bright day it would seem. Sugane felt a little better though still tired considering the distinct lack of sleep he had last night. The usual weight of his katana in his hands and the usual weight on his back. Today was normally usual as usual. Joe san told him the plan this morning and it made him feel better. He wonders if this is what Katze feels like when he plans the misery of the people. Schadenfreude at its distinct best. Soon the people will realise what they have done and the consequences of their actions. Schadenfreude. He can't help but laugh a little as the girl in his class across the road trips and falls.

The three girls are here today as usual, though they were missing the past few weeks.

"Sugane..." they greet. He nods and walks by them. The rest of the day they chat like nothing happened, but they notice he isn't being himself. They don't blame him though, but they don't know. Not yet.

"Sugane, whats wrong?" Pink hair asks. He just smiles at them "Oh nothing. You know, there will be a Gatchaman special later on The Millione Show?"

"Seriously? I'll watch it!" she exclaims.

"Please do." He replies smiling slightly "Please do."

After classes, he heads towards club. The Kendo club. Waving a sword was basically all he was good at after all.

"Oh Sugane!" the club president calls out "How rare, usually you're off doing hero work!"

"It seems I have time today president." He replies, a little softly.

"Well get ready, today we will be having a small kendo competition."

It takes five minutes to get ready. Ten minutes to prepare the competition. An hour to defeat everyone. No mercy was given, he felt like he could win an entire war going solo.

"Sugane," the president talks to him after "you were using quite the force there. You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm going now. Don't feel too well."

"Sure..."

Joe and Paiman stood in the middle of town, assessing the situation.

"...There's quite a lot isn't there Joe..."

"U...Uhuh"

"Thats quite some damage..."

"Uhuh..."

"There are also too many bloody Kuu sama in the area..."

"Uhuh..."

"They're surrounding us..."

"Uhuh..."

And the rest of the day was spent taking out the trash.

OD was running around getting makeup and clothes for Rui.

"Hmm...I think this outfit is better for today hmmm?"

"Ehhh...maybe we could do without the bunny ears today. We are going to give some pretty bad news today after all."

"Hmmmm true. Then this one..."

In the corner Utsutsu tenderly takes care of Hajime. Gelsadra is up to give some life force to Hajime now. She can't help but take more life force from her though. She shouldn't but she does hold some resentment towards her. It is her fault that Hajime is like this. Gel notices but stays silent.

"Al chan..." she calls to the kitty "I hope she wakes soon..."

He meows and jumps onto Hajime, curling up and taking his nap. Utsutsu is amused. She laughs a little, it felt really good. Picking up the kitty, she tells him he can't disturb Hajime when she is sleeping.

"S...ne..." she whispers inaudibly. Utsutsu could almost cry. Hajime she knows, talks in her sleep. She notices because Hajime likes to creep into her room and cuddle up with her. She also knows things about Hajime that is best left unknown. Hajime will talk when she is ready she tells herself, if she ever wakes up.

"Hang on Hajime...Hang on." Gel offers to give some more of her life force, Utsutsu smiles and declines.

The air in the room became more lively. So much so that even Sugane felt a little better. He smiles when Utsutsu tells him that she talked. Sure she left out a small detail in that she called his name but still, Sugane should figure it out on his own.

"It is almost time guuuys" OD exclaims "so go out there and do you're best!"

"We will D san." says Tsubasa "Let's get some ice cream later alright Gel chan?"

"Okay!"

Utsutsu and Sugane never really talk much with each other. Usually when they would, it was through the presence of a common friend. Mostly Hajime. Actually only with Hajime. Now they talk, discuss what they did during the day. Sugane wants to be an engineer, but also pursues the theoretical physics a his hobby. He tells her about Field equations and whatnots. Utsutsu talks to him about plants and their medicinal properties.

"I want to be a biologist, or a doctor." she says and he nods.

They talk a lot that day, though they felt like they were talking more to Hajime than to each other. Its fine, they decide, we'll work on it slowly.

"Man I'm tired..." Paiman says as he plops down onto the cushion.

"You alright Pai-Pai?" OD asks.

"Damn Kuu sama are everywhere...Joe and I had such a hard time cleaning the town up with them still running around. No matter how many times we popped them, they just kept coming. Multiplying in fact, although they cleared up much after the newbie went on TV. Speaking of which, where is she?"

"Out eating ice cream with Gel."

"Is that okay? The entire city is out after her blood you know."

"She will be fine."

Joe plays darts. And smokes. A rare occurrence these days.

"Still, it would be best if they don't go out. Not now." he says scoring three bullseyes.

"I agree with Joe san. Gelsadra needs to remain under our supervision." Sugane says.

"But then it would seem like we are putting her under arrest you know," OD counters "she is still a guest here."

"Well I understand how you guys feel but I think we should let the newbie handle it." Sugane wants to argue but Paiman stops him. "Of course we will still keep a lookout so Utsutsu will observe from a distance."

"I'm gloomy..."

"Well it would seem that the problem is resolving."

"I agree. Perhaps I may have been wrong about CROWDS. Although I still feel a little wary."

Rui likes talking with Joe. Their little discussions always brought joy to them. An intellectual equal they felt. Suzuki Rhythm too was wonderful, if a little extreme. Deep down though, they knew they had always been three steps back.

"Hajime, probably saw this coming didn't she?"

"That girl. She is too reckless, despite her calm and insightful nature."

"I think it was because se felt responsible."

"How so?"

"Most likely, she tried to warn us. She tried to tell us. I think she felt it was the only way Tsubasa chan was going to learn, that was why she did not actively try to stop her."

"...That sounds like her alright."

"In retrospect, this event was probably unavoidable."

"Yeah, if she had stopped the newbie now, it would only delay the inevitable and perhaps be even more disastrous. The newbie has brought quite the trouble huh?"

"Indeed, but its not her fault. Like the rest of us, she was just trying to help."

"A child would not be of much use in the battlefield."

"A child needs to learn to grow up. Now, she has learned, she will not be presenting much trouble from now on."

Joe gave a huff of acknowledgement. Tsubasa was indeed the cause of this, and she has learned her lesson. Joe also felt a little guilty.

"It was my fault as well. I knew that putting Gelsadra in power was going to be disastrous, even so I did. I had thought that I could handle it should it go south. Again, Hajime had to clean up for our mistakes."

"You did what you felt was right."

"No. I did what I thought was necessary. Necessary to push this country forward. Hajime talked to me, during the campaign. She asked me, in her own way, if this was what I felt was right."

"..."

"I said yes. I lied. Deep down I knew what i was saying was no different from the lies those politicians I hate spout all the time. she looked into my eyes, I knew that she knew, but she said nothing."

"I guess we are both hypocrites."

Chuckling slightly, Joe agreed. Soon they began planning for the reinstallation of the government. They had quite the governmental mess in their hands, worse than any scandal. They had to make sure everything was in order for when Hajime wakes up. Two hypocrites trying to change a hypocritical world, how insane. They won't give up though, not even if they were wrong they will always try.