The road was crowded that day. The sound of siren was heard loud and clear. A number of Scepter 4 members brought out men from the building. It was a raid.
"Tch.. They're doing as they like in our territory.", grumbled Yata.
"They are responsible for crimes like this, Yata-chan.", answered Kusanagi.
Tatara scoped around the area, partially curious.
"Hey, why don't we go inside?", he asked.
The three approached the building. Awashima found the sight of the three.
"Ah, Seri-chan, mind if we look inside?", asked Kusanagi.
Awashima gave an annoyed look but made way.
"This is your territory after all. Don't make another mess inside.", she said.
The inside of the building, designed to look like an office was a base for illegal trading and gambling. It was unfortunate that this happened on the Red's territory.
Tatara found a hole on the wall, big enough for a cat or dog to pass through.
"Eh, what's this?", asked Tatara curiously.
"The fight must've caused it.", commented Kusanagi.
Tatara crouched down to peek through the hole. He can actually fit his two hands through it. He saw only darkness on the other side, but there was a small ray of light.
"I saw a light from here. Yata-chan, can you blast through?", asked Tatara.
"What?", Kusanagi asked surprised.
"There was something in there. We need to check it out."
Yata took a few step backs and fired a large fireball to the wall, opening a much bigger gap for them to pass. At the sound of the explosion, Awashima and Fushimi came running to them.
"Oi, Misaki, what do you think you are doing?", asked Fushimi.
Kusanagi stopped Yata from exploding towards Fushimi.
"What is the meaning of this?", asked Awashima.
"Tatara saw something from there, so we checked it out."
As the light slowly filled in the mysterious room, the view became clear.
"What is this...", said Awashima slowly.
A number of vertical pod like things stood around the room, roughly almost 20 of them. Tatara was the first to brave himself to enter the room.
Kusanagi blew a small fireball to light the room.
"Kusanagi-san..."
Kusanagi approached Tatara who was frozen with a pale face in front of one of the pods. He was shocked to find a person inside with eyes closed.
"Seri-chan, do you know about this?", Kusanagi asked.
Awashima jogged towards Kusanagi, her uniform clinks at her movement. She too, was surprised.
"It's impossible ...", she mumbled.
"What is it?"
"A few months ago, there are rumors about this."
"Rumors about what?!", yelled Yata impatiently.
"A loan shark found a new way of doing the business, especially the bigger sum of money. When you borrow money, you give a relative or loved one as an insurance. The insurance is then put in cryogenic pods like this with countdown given on it. If the person are able to pay back before the countdown stopped, they can save their loved one, but if they can't the insurance will die. It was a win-win because the loan shark can harvest the organs and reap profit from it. But then even the customer found a loophole, so they kidnap another stranger and pose them as their loved ones for insurance. The loan shark found out about this loophole and we started the hunt for this immoral method at the same time, so maybe he left it.", explained Awashima.
"And then closed off this room with a wall, these people ... then left to die?!", asked Kusanagi in disbelief.
Tatara's eyes went wide and he ran towards the ray of light.
"Kusanagi-san! One of this is still on!", he shouted.
Tatara looked at the young woman sleeping inside the pod, his hand touched her face through the glass. He mumbled to himself, he'll save her.
"Goodness, she still got a day left.", said Yata.
"How do we open it?", asked Fushimi.
In a blink of an eye, the pod was split into two by Awashima, drowned in anger.
Tatara quickly catches the body limping forward. He checked her palm for a pulse and sighed in relief.
"She got a pulse. It's weak, but she's alive.", he said happily.
The rest of the group was relieved to find out about the news too. Tatara knelt on the ground with the body still in his arms, examining the peaceful face unaware that she just escaped death by one day.
"But we failed to save all the others in here...", mumbled Kusanagi.
"It's like twenty person here, died in vain.", continued Awashima.
"We are taking that girl back with us. We need to question her.", Fushimi said.
Tatara's hands on the young woman unconsciously tightened their grip.
"No, she is found in Homra's territory. She's ours.", Tatara said sternly.
Kusanagi was surprised at Tatara, seeing the certainty in his eyes. He won't let this girl go, Kusanagi is sure of it.
"Fushimi-kun, Seri-chan, don't worry. We'll take good care of her, if there's any information you should know, we will tell you."
Fushimi gave an annoyed look but Awashima thought she couldn't win this debate either.
"Fine."
At that moment, Tatara gave a solemn vow to the girl in his embrace. He doesn't even know her yet, but he had a feeling, he'll give his whole heart to her.
Mikoto sat on the couch with Anna following him diligently. Mikoto scanned the room, unable to find one face.
"Where is Tatara?", asked Anna.
"He's upstairs.", said Kusanagi from behind the bar.
"What happened?", asked Mikoto.
"We rescued a girl from the Scepter 4's raid. Now, he's not leaving her side. It has been like half a day.", explained Kusanagi.
"What girl?"
"Well..."
Kusanagi explained the whole scenario to Mikoto. Even though the latter gave no reaction, only Anna.
"That's cruel ...", she said with her soft voice.
Mikoto stood up and walked towards the back of the bar. Kusanagi followed him upstairs.
Tatara turned around as the sound of the footsteps came.
"Ah, King, Anna, welcome back."
Anna walked towards the bed beside Tatara.
"This is her?"
"Yes.", Tatara answered with a nod.
"This is another stray you're picking up?", asked Mikoto.
"She's not a stray. She might have a family waiting, or someone. I'll give her back, I promise."
"What is she don't?", Mikoto asked again.
Tatara sighed and placed his arms on his hip.
"You got me. I'll have her stay with me.", answered Tatara.
Anna silently watched over the body under the blanket. She puts up her marble and looked through it.
"What is it, Anna?", asked Tatara.
Suddenly the girl's eyes opened wide and she made a loud gasp as if she hasn't been breathing for a long time. The rest of the room jolted in surprise.
She coughed then, a seemingly endless cough that's even painful to hear. Kusanagi was the first to react when he saw the change of expression in the girl's face as he quickly grabs a bucket for the girl.
Tatara caringly wiped the girl's face as she had thrown up whatever was inside her. Her face was unhealthily pale.
"Are you feeling better now?", asked Tatara.
The girl nodded and took the towel from Tatara's hand. Tatara found time to examine her face, her complexion and her golden eyes.
"Who are you?", she asked Tatara.
"I'm Tatara. Totsuka Tatara. This is Anna-chan. Kusanagi-san and our King, Mikoto.", answered Tatara gleefully.
The girl scanned the faces with her bright golden eyes. She gave a small nod towards the two man looking at her. And a smile for Anna who was looking at her with curious eyes.
"What about you?", asked Tatara.
"I ..."
The girl stopped, as if she just realized something. Then she looked at Tatara with a surprised eyes herself.
"I don't know ..."
Tatara was at loss. Well he wasn't expecting this.
"You don't know your name?"
The girl replied with a shake and she looked like she was about to cry. Tatara smiled and lifted his hand to comfort her.
"Don't worry. What will we call you then ...? Hmm... Nemu-chan! Sleep ... Nemuri... Nemu-chan it is!"
First Chapter! Any thoughts? To those who are confused, the timeline moved backwards from the prologue. So this happens before the prologue.
See you on the next chapter!