-Chapter 13, Complications

Finally given respite from the beating, never-ending rain, Shido and Yoshino flopped onto the modest welcome mat within Shido's home, followed only by the crack-clunk of a slammed front door. "Home sweet home," spoke a disgruntled Shido, slowly picking himself up and shaking the slick trails of water free from his school blazer, sending tiny teardrops spattering against a nearby chest of drawers. It wasn't long until Yoshino had done the same, splashing the surroundings with decidedly more rain, before quickly shadowing Shido down the narrow hallway.

Upon taking a sharp left turn, Yoshino found herself flopping once more into the deep blue embrace of the couch. Shido, meanwhile, had comfortably positioned himself in the kitchen, flanked on all sides but one by a sink, a fridge, and endless cupboards and drawers. It was Shido who drummed up some conversation while dancing about and retrieving all manners of utensils and ingredients. "I really do hope an omelette is alright by you. I had meant to go shopping today, but obviously something more important came up."

Yoshino shuffled around and peeked over the sofa's backrest at him. "And what would that be?" she asked, her whisker-thin voice barely floating across the distance.

In response, Shido simply tilted his head toward her, complete with a questioning eyebrow-raise, as if to say: "Are you kidding?"

It took Yoshino a moment to catch on, but catch on she did, and when she did, she stowed her blush away in her big, floppy hood.

Shido failed to stifle a well-mannered chuckle, then said, "That puppet must be really important to you, huh? Most people would have given up by now and just bought a new one."

Once again, Yoshino's face appeared, all giant sapphire eyes and pale pearly cheeks. She watched as Shido cracked two eggs, pearl-like in their own right, into a clear glass bowl and firmly whisked them with some milk. "She is. Yoshinon is...my friend – my best friend – and she's my hero too."

Shido looked back over his shoulder, setting the bowl down for a moment and shifting his attention. By this point, his soggy jacket had been replaced by a thankfully dry apron. "Your hero?" He asked.

Yoshino perked up; finally something she knew she could talk about. "Oh yes! See, Yoshinon is the greatest. She's who I want to be. She's just so brave – so strong. She's not pathetic like I am. If I could be more like her I would be so happy, but I'm not. And I'll never be."

"Well, I don't know about all that," Shido replied, putting his back to the counter and letting his gaze drift wistfully. "As a matter of fact, I like you just the way you are."

Like a broken record, again Yoshino drew back, disappearing under her hood and behind the protective wall of the couch. To this, Shido anchored his gaze in the common realm once more. "Hey, something wrong?"

Yoshino started with a stutter as she conjured up the right words, "Um- Well- N-no-one's ever said that before. Thank you. It's nice." Her voice hitched, raising a little in pitch as she formed each sentence.

By this point, Shido's earpiece had stayed rather quiet for some time. That blissful sentiment, however, was instantly shattered by Kotori's snide remark, "What, did you rehearse that line? Or did it just come to you?"

But then Kotori herself was also unceremoniously interrupted by officer Shiizaki's observations of some damning security footage, captured from a concoction of hijacked phone cameras, CCTV around the city, and the AST's own suit feed. Its contents were...troubling.

Following their filling meal, Shido and Yoshino both retreated to the couch, the former of which having long since discarded his apron. His shaggy blue hair had finally made some timid steps toward dryness, but his clothes were still stubbornly soaked through. He started with the kind of frankness that could either be described as too searching or simply characteristic, "Yoshino, why don't you ever try and fight back when the AST attack you? There's gotta be a reason for it."

Yoshino's form was folded and defensive with her hands buried in her lap and her head tilted downward, all but one exertion from her legs away from the foetal position. Her voice almost seemed even quieter now, despite Shido's closeness. "Yes, there is. The thing is, I don't like pain – or being scared. I can't stand it. I bet everyone hates those things though – how could they not? Any creature that feels has to despise them. Don't you think so?" Yoshino glanced up, curious for reassurance.

"Yeah, maybe. One would hope, at least."

"Then again, I'm just a big scaredy-cat. When I'm scared, I freeze up. I can't move. I can't think. It feels like I can't do anything at all, except stand there and hope someone will save me. That's why Yoshinon is my hero. She's always there to save me. And because I'm just a coward, she's gone, and now there's no-one left to save me…" Yoshino's words fluttered away from her, having spent so much just to say so little, and so she curled her legs closer to her chest, resting her chin atop her slender knees.

Shido opened his mouth to say something, but quickly found no words to naturally express his feelings. Everything he came up with in those five seconds either sounded too pandering, too corny, or just unfaithful. The crew aboard the Fraxinus seemed to be making all-too-good on their promise of staying out of things too, which happened to leave Shido with just one option. He crouched down in front of the girl's fragile frame and let his hand rest on her head. In the next moment, he wormed his fingers between Yoshino's light-blue locks and began to stroke from side to side. Yoshino gasped and looked up with a blurry mix of emotions: confusion, wonder, apprehension, and so much more filled her rosy cheeks as her hood fell away. In return, Shido put on his warmest, most reassuring grin, and said with a soft, well-spoken manner, "Come on, I'm here to protect you. We'll get Yoshinon back, but you don't have to rely only on her from now on, because I'm gonna be your hero now, too."

Shido slowly leant back onto his behind as the Spirit collected her thoughts and feelings, never once taking her eyes off of him as she struggled with the goodwill gesture. "Th-thanks so much for your kindness," she hesitated.

Yoshino's uneven voice snapped Shido out of his well-meant but intense gaze, and he quickly lost confidence and turned his head sheepishly. "So...look…" he began as his cheeks warmed and became a similar tone to Yoshino's at merely the recollection of their prior encounter, "I'm sorry about what happened. I didn't mean to kiss you out of the blue like that, the other day."

"Kiss?" Yoshino queried with more confusion in her eyes.

"Yeah, you know...a kiss is when you...get really close and touch each others lips...just like this." Shido, distracted and drunk from the heat of the moment, couldn't stop as he crept toward Yoshino who, of course, made no attempt to stop him as unaware as she was at the significance of a 'kiss'. The gap between them continued to close as Shido's eyes fluttered shut. Yoshino, still uncertain, remained frozen in place. Their lips met as their hair overlapped. In that same heartbeat, Shido felt hot, cold, close, and distant, all at the same time. The room around him disappeared. For that one second, the only senses that filled Shido's mind were the feeling of Yoshino's lips on his and the conflicting smells of her sweet scent and damp hair. He was sure that the deed was done and that when he opened his eyes, Yoshino would be sat naked before him; her powers completely sealed and her heart completely repaired. He drew back, finally breaking that ageing second. "I-I'm sorry!"

Shido flinched for the wail of terror that was sure to come. Maybe a screech or scream? Anything that would surely batter down his ears' defences. Shido braced for the inevitable auditory assault.

And yet, nothing came. Not a scream nor holler nor yell. Shido cracked his eyes open, letting the room's light flood back in. At least the look on Yoshino's face seemed positive; a mix of quiet content and gentle peacefulness beneath a soothing smile; a relieving departure from Tohka's reaction. But, then, Shido saw that telltale splash of pastel green and faded yellow. He slowly pulled away. His quiet shuffling prompted Yoshino to let her eyes reopen, exposing her sparkly, baby blues once more. "Th-thank you, Shido," she started with a glowing complexion on her cheeks. "I-I liked it very much."

Shido, unwilling to give up hope of an easy seal, looked past Yoshino at the half-filled glass of water resting on the table across the room. Maybe her powers had been sealed? Maybe Tohka's case was a fluke? He quickly stood and retrieved the glass. "Yoshino, I hate to ask this of you, but could you please freeze the water in this glass?"

Yoshino looked up at Shido, confused, before quickly complying and holding her hand out from behind the sofa's backrest. At first, Shido's face lit up with jubilation, as the water stayed very much fluid. Then, the sharp cold met the palm of his hand and his heart sank. Not only did Yoshino's powers remain, but she had far more control over them than he anticipated.

"I-I didn't want to freeze your hand, Shido, so I just made it colder," said Yoshino, noticing Shido's crestfallen expression.

Shido shook his head and replaced the glass to its former position. "Of course it wouldn't be that easy. Right now, she needs her puppet back. If we find Yoshinon, maybe then I can seal her."

By the time Shido's inner monologue had finished, Yoshino had crept up next to him, her head barely coming up to his shoulders. He looked down and smiled. "Shall we continue looking for Yoshinon?"

Yoshino's enthusiastic head bob gave him all the answer he needed.

"Captain!"

Kusakabe's head shot up from where it had been resting on her desk for the last...several hours...at the sound of her personal intercom. Her vision was still blurry and unfocused as her small, modest office came into focus. With a wide-open window at her back, over-looking most of the base's courtyard and garages, her office was flooded both with the bright light of the early-afternoon sun and the cool breeze of the early-spring wind.

Beyond the oak desk, ageing computer, and black leather chair, the rest of her office was decorated with photos of her and the many girls under her command – snapshots of successful training exercises, joyful retreats from duty, and goofy poses. They even included the rare smile from a certain Origami Tobiichi.

"Captain?" The voice over the intercom repeated.

"Yes, yes, I'm here," Kusakabe sleepily replied before jostling herself awake.

"We just read a low-level spike of Hermit's spirit power in the suburban area around Tenguu City."

Kusakabe scratched the back of her neck and nodded. "Alright, show me."

"On its way."

Much like herself, Kusakabe's computer struggled to wake up as the screen slowly warmed and brightened. When it finally did so, Kusakabe lazily scanned the bland graphs and dull readouts. "Well, it's hardly a spike," she thought as she observed the tiny blip along the orange line. "Why am I being told this?" she asked as her finger plunged the button on her receiver. "We've already been tracking her since this morning."

"Well, admittedly there seems to be nothing out of the ordinary with the power used, apart from the fact that she appeared without a Spacial Qua-"

"We've already got experts working on figuring that out. Cut to the chase." Kusakabe hadn't meant to be so short with the young lieutenant, but the mixture of her general sleep-deprivation and side-effects from the accelerated realizer treatment had left her quick-tempered. Not to mention the headache Tobiichi had caused by using a civilian as a hostage, as well as the paperwork involved with that blue-haired girl, and Princess returning without a Spacial Quake, and…

Kusakabe rubbed her eyes with her forefinger and her thumb.

"Right, my apologies, ma'am. What I'm trying to say is this most recent use of her powers seems to be more deliberate. If you would take a look at this-" The officer cut herself off as she retrieved another readout and sent it across.

Kusakabe quickly scanned it before her back went straight. "Get a team ready. I want two short-range mobility units with eight long-range armoured units. And keep Tobiichi on a short leash. I want emergency restraint protocols activated on her CR-unit for this one."

"Y-yes ma'am!" the girl quickly responded.

Kusakabe leant forward and rested her chin on her hand. "What have you gotten yourself into, Shido?" With that, she stood and dashed out the door in the far corner, retrieving her khaki jacket on the way out and quickly buttoning it. The computer's screen showed but two things: the Spirit's mental state and the approximate location of this most recent flux of activity, which just so happened to neatly overlap with one boy of particular interest's living quarters.

On the surface, the military base resembled any other installation of the Japanese Self-Defence Force: a few tanks, a handful of jets, some helicopters parked alongside two long runways, half a dozen garages, a mess hall, the barracks, and the odd admin building, one of which Kusakabe was making her way through at that moment. Outside, through the flanking window of the narrow corridor, there was a general hubbub of activity among the thousand-or-so personnel. In this part of the country, domestic threats were rare, and even fewer elicited a significant response. In fact, the last time anything had been mobilised was over twenty years ago, during an incident even Kusakabe didn't have access to despite her prestigious rank. One thing she did know, however, was that the incident made it abundantly clear that the JSDF was hopelessly ill-equipped for this newest threat.

This, in turn, lead to the development of a contingency plan. A way to deal with supernatural threats that flipped conventional warfare on its head. This contingency plan, of course, is called the Anti-Spirit Team. None of the footsoldiers knew of the AST. Hell, only a few of the high-ranking officers within the JSDF knew either. Knowledge of Spirits was on a need-to-know basis, and as such, all AST operations on the base were conducted, carried out, and concluded underground in a labyrinthine mess of tunnels, rooms, and railways. Kusakabe checked her surroundings before disappearing into a door behind a biometric hand scanner and being whisked away down the elevator

A minute later, Origami ran into Kusakabe on their way down to the hangar. The corridor was all slate grey metal and bright LED strips; buried fifty feet under the earth. The 'hangar', so called, was more of a warehouse for storing equipment, connected to an intricate network of train tunnels that allowed for a hidden AST strike-force insertion anywhere within and around the city. For once, Origami struggled to keep up as her senior strode forward quickly and purposefully. "Captain?"

"Mmm? Oh, it's you. What's wrong?" Kusakabe answered, just barely turning her head at the voice behind her.

"It's nothing, just…" Origami frowned as she was forced to jog to maintain pace. "I know you're not as invested as I am in capturing the Spirits, so why the sudden change of heart?"

Kusakabe shook her head. "One week ago, you used a civilian as a hostage during an encounter with a Spirit – the same one you met just before during the prior encounter with that Spirit. Then, even ignoring all the nightmares both a civilian knowing about Spirits, and you using that civilian as a hostage, causes for me, a day later that same Spirit reappears without a Spacial Quake, something that hasn't happened for thirty years, as far as I'm aware."

Origami pursed her lips, unsure whether she knew any different.

"After that, Princess almost kills me, and I wake up to see her having dropped completely off the radar. Zero, zilch, nada. No readings whatsoever." Kusakabe suddenly jabbed her finger out in the general direction of Tenguu City. "Then another Spirit shows up and pulls the exact same reappearance trick as Princess. And what does all this mean for me?" Kusakabe's glare only prompted a shrug from Tobiichi. "Paperwork! I have to cover your ass, the chief of intelligence's ass, my own ass when the General comes knocking and asks why we haven't captured any Spirits yet!" Kusakabe slowed and leant in close beside Origami's ear. "I've heard rumours that the top brass want to bring DEM in."

Origami raised her eyebrow. She had only heard rumours of those rumours.

"Then there's that girl – no idea where she got that armour from – and the higher-ups are not happy about her kicking our asses. And the worst part? It's all connected to that boy, Shido. I know it. I heard he was present during yesterday's firefight."

"Yes, ma'am. As well as a figure we think was Princess, and someone new. Another civilian by the looks of things."

Kusakabe inwardly swore. "Christ, I had forgotten about him. That's another headache for me to sort out." They both came to a halt outside an offshoot that led to one of several barrack buildings. "Look, don't think you've gotten away without any punishment. The moment precursory signs die down, I'm putting you on suspension for misconduct."

Origami solemnly nodded.

"But until then, keep doing what you're best at. I don't want those DEM freaks down here and I know you don't either."

This time, a solemn shake of the head.

Kusakabe slapped at Origami's back, sending her shuffling down the perpendicular corridor. "Get changed and meet me in the hangar in five. You'll have your chance to redeem yourself."

"Yes, ma'am! Thank you, ma'am." With those parting words, Origami sped up to a run and vanished through an open door, meeting the rest of the squad in various states of dress. Kusakabe heard a barked order from the girl before the door swung shut, then continued on to the officer's barracks to get changed herself.

Origami stole a glance upward when she opened her locker. There, buried at the back on the highest shelf, a sad-looking rabbit toy glanced back at her. Origami grimaced. "I'll do what I'm best at, all right."

So I haven't written one of these in a while. If you followed Samanya's Story, you'll know that these little comments at the beginning and end of chapters used to be quite common for me. However, since this has been one of my longer absences, I feel that anyone still reading this deserves to know a little of what happened.

I finished mandatory education and I'm off to study Creative Writing! Which means I'll have plenty more time to write over the summer and over the next three years.

That's right, baby! Fractured Being is back! Thank you to everyone still sticking by me, and here's to even more stories to come!

-Ryan 'Kurukaze' McGowan