Chapter 4: Allies

Disclaimer: I do not own this. Spiral: The Bonds Of Reasoning is the property of Kyo Shirodaira and Eita Mizuno. The only ownership I claim is for this story and the OCs involved.

A/N: I would love it if you would review this story. I'd appreciate any kind of review, be it positive or negative. If you see something you think should be changed, please feel free to comment on that as well or send me a PM telling me about this. My hope is that this story can bring happiness to those reading, but without reviews I really don't know if I'm doing that. So please review. I'd appreciate it greatly. Thanks

The next morning was clear and once again, Eyes rose early. Practicing at the piano allowed him to quickly pass the time, and it wasn't until the sound of a cellphone ring broke through the air that he ceased his performance. Rising from the piano bench, the young pianist walked to a small table near one of the windows and retrieved his phone. Checking the number quickly, he answered the call.

"Good morning," Hiroshume's voice came through slightly muffled and reminiscent of exhaustion. "You ready for your first day as a normal teenager?" He asked. The sound of footsteps and street noise could be heard in the background, alerting Eyes to the fact that Hiroshume was outside. Eyes didn't respond.

The hacker sighed on the other end of the call. "I'm heading your way. With your popularity, I don't intend to leave you alone until you can meet up with your associates." He said, referring to the other Blade Children as associates rather than friends, silently challenging Eyes to correct him if the description was inaccurate.

Again, Eyes didn't give him the satisfaction and said nothing on the matter. "That's fine. I'll await your arrival, then." He said calmly.

"I'll be there in about ten minutes. Be ready to leave." Hiroshume said before ending the call without so much as a farewell.

The young celebrity quietly closed his phone and walked into another room. All of the supplies necessary for his attendance at Tsukiomi Academy had been delivered the previous day, so it was simply a matter of collecting the materials and transferring them into his bag. Hiroshume had taken care of gathering all of the necessities, and had even gone as far as to acquire a book bag for the young performer. Hiroshume had chosen an over the shoulder bag rather than a backpack for the pianist. He had kept Eyes' fashion preferences in mind and had chosen black as the material color.

Eyes quickly loaded the bag and turned to change into the uniform that Hiroshume had taken the liberty of providing for him. The uniform was plain blue with a straight collar with a black edge that continued along each side of the jacket zipper. The pants were the same color as the jacket, but lacked any black accents.

The musician was not keen out the outfit design, but he said nothing about it and changed quickly, fastening the collar fully around his neck. He had just lifted the bag off the floor when he heard a knock at the door.

oOoOoOo

Hiroshume said nothing when Rutherford opened the door. Not expecting conversation, Eyes quickly exited the apartment and joined the hacker in the hall. "Let's get going. Wouldn't want you to be late on your first day." Hiroshume said sarcastically as they made their way to the elevator at the end of the hall. Eyes simply nodded.

Nothing more was said until the two had made their way out to the street. At that point, Eyes elected to speak.

"You seem tired." He commenting, silently questioning if his companion was unwell. Hiroshume nodded.
"I didn't sleep last night. I was working on a program." He said absently. Eyes nodded. He was used to his companion forgoing sleep for one technological venture or another. The young hacker had regularly told Eyes of his late night work and the profits that such ventures produced.

After a few moments of silence, Hiroshume attempted conversation again. "So are you nervous?" He asked, casting an amused and slightly sarcastic glance at Eyes. Eyes shook his head. "Apprehensive. Not nervous." He admitted. Hiroshume nodded. After a moment, a thought seemed to strike him and he quickly reached into his pocket. "Here is your student identification card. I took the liberty of composing an alias for you. It would be unwise for you to attend using your own name." He said, handing the small plastic card to the pianist. Eyes took the card from him and looked at the name. It read "Izo Yaiba."He looked up when Hiroshume spoke again.

"I also found these for you. They should help hide your identity a little." He said, handing Eyes a pair of black square-framed metal glasses. The pianist looked at the glasses for a moment before taking them from his companion and placing them on his face. He had noted that the image that was on his fake ID had him wearing the glasses, as well as wearing his hair tied back.

He glanced back at Hiroshume once he had put the glasses on and was presented with a thin black hair tie. Nodding, Eyes quickly tied his hair back into a short ponytail in the middle of the back of his skull. He left the hair surrounding his face untied so it framed his face. Hiroshume watched as Eyes finished tying his hair back and he nodded.

"Looks pretty close to your ID picture. It should be possible for you to not be discovered as long as you stay away from the music department." Hiroshume commented.

"Inventive alias you chose." Eyes commented under his breath, slightly irritated by the chosen surname and debating whether to read more into it than should be necessary. Hiroshume gave no response to Eyes' comment, apparently not having heard or not caring to respond. They continued on in silence until they reached the gate that led into Tsukiomi's campus. Both the hacker and the musician paused at the entrance, staying a few feet back in order to survey the building before them without being swept up with the flood of entering students. Hiroshume was about to speak when a voice from behind them interrupted.

"Eyes! You made it." Rio Takeuchi called as she ran up to them. Hiroshume watched as the smaller girl rushed up to the pianist and gave him a quick hug. He quickly redirected his attention to the other two individuals that approached.

"Who's your friend, Rutherford?" The male of the duo asked, using a far more appropriate volume than Rio had. Hiroshume looked back at this comment. He had been surveying the crowd of students to make sure that there was no one who had paid attention to the smaller girl's outburst. He didn't want people finding out Eyes' true identity, especially not before he had even managed to enter the school. However, the masses appeared preoccupied with their own conversations and paid no heed to the people standing to the right of the gate. Hiroshume waited expectantly, wanting to see what Eyes told his companions. Eyes remained silent. The red-haired male looked from Eyes to Hiroshume, silently redirecting his question to Hiroshume in light of the fact that the celebrity had elected to remain silent on the matter. With a sigh, Hiroshume answered.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Hiroshume Hadaka. I know Eyes through online communications." He replied curtly. The three nodded, though it was clear that they had more questions they wanted answered. Before any questions could be presented, Hiroshume returned his attention to Eyes. "You're acquaintances are here, so I will make myself scarce. Call me if you have any trouble." He said as he turned to walk away. "I'll know where you are." He added. "Have a good first day, Izo. It was nice meeting you." He called as he slipped into the crowd and disappeared from view.

oOoOoOo

Eyes paid Hiroshume no mind as he excused himself from the group. The others, on the other hand, were extremely curious about him.

"Who was that, Rutherford?" Kousuke presented the question once more, hoping to get a bit more information than had been provided by their object of discussion. The answer provided was less than enlightening.

"He is an acquaintance of mine." Eyes replied evenly.

"'He' told us that much, Rutherford." The second female, Ryoko Takamachi replied irritably. "What Kousuke's asking is what your connection to him is. You're not the kind of person to just pick up a pen pal for the heck of it." Ryoko challenged. The other two nodded in agreement, though refrained from speaking. Ryoko had covered anything that could be said for the moment.

Eyes remained silent for a moment, debating whether or not to answer the question. He was not excited about having the other blade children knowing about Hiroshume any more than necessary. Anything that his companions knew was likely something that the hacker would be able to find and he had no desire for Hiroshume to get involved in the affairs of the blade children.

Seeing that the three before him were not willing to let him remain silent on the matter, he consented and spoke.

"We have been in communication with one another for many years. He works for me and does what I ask him to. He is the one that has been coordinating communication between the three of you and me since my arrival in Japan. He also provides me with any information that I request from him." The pianist replied. He was met with looks of mixed understanding and confusion.

"How did you meet him, Eyes?" Rio questioned. "You don't usually deal with people outside the blade children on a personal level." She added, dropping her volume as she mentioned the blade children.

"He contacted me." Eyes answered.

"How?" Kousuke questioned, knowing how tight Eyes' security was.

"He contacted me a few months after I entered into professional music. He hacked my email and requested that we stay in contact with one another. I ignored him, but he was persistent so we started exchanging emails. It went from there." Eyes explained. He was saved from further explanation by the crowd of students thinning out as time grew short before the start of the first class set.

"Hey, you guys should get moving. Classes are going to start soon." One of the students called as he passed.

"We should head inside. We can talk about this more later." Kousuke said. The others nodded.

"So you're going as Izo here?" Rio questioned as they approached the building. She had caught the name that Hiroshume had called Eyes, and though she hadn't thought anything of it initially, she recalled the hacker calling the pianist by the name Eyes. This revelation led her to the conclusion that the aforementioned name was likely an alias and one that they should all know so as not to blow Eyes' cover.

Eyes responded with a curt nod, handing her the ID in place of speaking. Rio took it quickly and looked over the information on it.

"Izo Yaiba? Why did you pick "Yaiba" for your surname? Isn't that a bit risky?" Rio questioned, looking up at Eyes with confusion. Eyes' expression didn't change.

"I didn't choose it. This identification card was created for me without my knowledge, so I did not have any say in the matter." He replied. Rio nodded, turning her attention back to the card.

"So that Hiroshume guy made it for you?" She continued. A nod from Eyes confirmed her suspicions.

"Wait, so then does he know about the blade children?" Kousuke asked, immediately going on the defensive. He had dropped his voice so that others would not overhear his question. Eyes shook his head and the red head relaxed a bit.

"To the best of my knowledge, he does not know about the blade children. Also, I intend to keep it that way, so I would like to ask the three of you to stay away from him if possible." The performer requested. The others were silent for a moment before they nodded.

"Fine, but I don't see what the big deal is. How would he find out unless one of us told him? Simply meeting him in the halls wouldn't matter." Ryoko pointed out and the others silently agreed. Eyes did not respond.

By this time they had reached the entrance to the academy. Rio handed the identification card back to Eyes before bidding him farewell and leaving with Ryoko to head for their class. Kousuke remained behind and, checking Eyes' schedule to help him locate his classes, found that they had all the same classes. Kousuke looked with slight confusion at the apathetic teen, but realizing that he did not see the connection, said nothing.

"Come on. Let's go. We have the same first class." Kousuke said as he led Eyes down the hall and up to the second story of the campus.

oOoOoOo

"Everyone, This is Izo Yaiba. He will be transferring here to Tsukiomi Academy today. Please make him feel welcome." The instructor announced as Eyes stood at the front of the room. He was irritated by the required procedure, but his expression showed nothing of the irritation. When the instructor looked at Eyes, waiting for him to respond, Eyes bowed before the class. "Please regard me kindly." He spoke the required greeting with little emotion and took his seat beside Kousuke without another word. With the introduction over, the class commenced as usual, but there were the muffled whispers about the new transfer student that could be detected by anyone in the class, though the content was sometimes difficult to decipher.

Each class proceeded in the same manner. Nothing eventful occurred and the student body soon paid little mind to the apathetic transfer student.

"You're awfully quiet." Kousuke commented as he left the final class, the white-haired pianist beside him. Eyes didn't give a response, his mind occupied with other things and never being one for lengthy conversation.

"Kousuke!" The two teens turned to see Rio and Ryoko walking up to them, Rio waving at Kousuke as they approached.

"So how was it being back in school?" Ryoko questioned as she stopped beside the males.

"Interesting to say the least." Eyes admitted. He hadn't quite known what to expect from the public school experience, having been away from it for so many years. Since his ascent into the music world, he had only had private tutors. Returning to the crowded atmosphere of an institution was a change of pace for the quiet teen.

"Not what you expected, Rutherford?" Kousuke asked, speaking low so as not to alert the other students with the use of the celebrity's real name. Eyes nodded slightly but said nothing.

Over the course of the brief conversation, the four had moved to stand beside one of the many hall windows so as to stay out of the path of other students. The sunlight of late afternoon filtered in through the thick glass, illuminating the hallway and casting a warm yellow light on the four companions.

"So have you met with 'him' yet?" Rio asked curiously, looking around as if searching for the person she spoke of. Both males shook their heads in unison.

"He wasn't in class today." Kousuke replied, his tone betraying slight irritation. Ryoko shook her head in frustration.

"It's not like he doesn't skip all the time, but it would be nice if he would be around when he's needed." She commented with irritation evident behind her words. The others, with the exception of Rutherford, nodded in agreement. Kousuke sighed and looked at the others.

"We should get going." He said. The others nodded and the four made their way to the first floor to retrieve their outdoor shoes from the lockers. As they prepared to depart, Eyes chanced a brief glance around the room. His eyes fell on Hiroshume, who glanced up from securing his sneakers when he felt eyes on him. He gave the performer a discreet nod before shouldering his backpack and leaving the school building without so much as a word. Eyes watched him go. A tap on the shoulder brought his attention back to his companions. "Ready to go, Rutherford?" Kousuke asked, looking at Eyes with slight confusion at the usually alert man standing spaced out in the hall.

"Yes." He answered as he stepped onto the ground and followed his companions from the building. As they made it to the gate leading out of the campus grounds, a distinct killing intent caught Eyes' attention and he turned swiftly to face whatever was the cause, his body ready for battle despite his years of idleness from the battlefield. What he faced was a teenage male leaning casually against the brick wall that held the gate. He had jet black hair and golden hazel eyes. His face carried and amused and savage grin and his eyes carried a dangerous glint.

"Hello Eyes Rutherford. It's been a while."

Ending A/N: I just want to give my deepest apology for the length of time it has taken to present this chapter. I have no excuse to give that justifies my delay. I will try my best to update regularly from now on. I do not know how much life will interfere with this plan, but I will do my very best to post one chapter every month from this point on. The release date with be the 28th of each month and I will work my hardest to ensure that it is released. If I do miss the deadline it is only because was unavoidable. Please bear with me and I hope that those still reading this fiction will be able to continue gaining enjoyment from this story.

I also want to personally thank Ardent Observer for their thorough and extremely thoughtful review. It really gave me the motivation I needed to continue this story. So thank you so very much Ardent Observer for providing me with the drive to continue this story. I am so happy that you are able to gain enjoyment from this fiction, as that was my desire from the beginning.

Again, I apologize for my neglect of this story and will do my best to stick with it until the end this time and to post regularly. Thanks to everyone for their patience and I hope that you enjoyed this latest chapter. As always, reviews and comments are greatly appreciated.