"Why are you standing in the corner of the room?" Rose irritably asks Sera, "I want to have a private conversation with Tensei."

"Rose, its alright." I try to protest from the hospital bed but I don't think Rose heard my voice. I just woke up a few hours ago and still feel pretty weak. 

The last few moments of the battle against the Alpha One were a blur and I don't really have any memory of what had happened before I collapsed. My last coherent thought was diving into the pit to rescue Rose, after that, everything becomes a jumble in my mind. I know that I fought the Alpha One and had some kind of quarrel with Gallant, but the details of the event simply elude me. 

When I came to, I found myself in this private ward with Sera standing by the side serving as my bodyguard. Sera initially refused to talk about what had happened, saying that I needed my rest. But upon my urging, she did tell me that Rose is recovering in the same hospital and that my collapse was caused by a sudden adrenaline crash. 

Sera does not bother looking in Rose's direction as she responds, "Why are you here anyway? Shouldn't you be resting as well after being swallowed by a giant monster?"

Rose scowls and her voice sharpens to an edge, "Thank you for the concern. Now leave so that I can talk to Tensei."

Sera finally turns to face Rose, and there is a smug expression on her face, "As Tensei's bodyguard I cannot leave his side. Just pretend I'm not here. Tensei doesn't mind. Right, Tensei?"

Sera, what are you doing? Don't throw the ball to me, especially since I have nothing to do with it! I begin to sweat as both Rose and Sera begin to focus their gazes upon me, waiting for my response. I need a distraction, now!

"Where's Irene?" I blurt out. Good thing I can think on my feet. That should shift the conversation away from me. 

Sera adjusts her uniform as she answers, "Inspector Scott went back to HQ a few days ago. She wasn't badly injured enough to require hospitalization. I volunteered to watch over you while Madam sorts things out on her end."

Rose grips me by the arm and gushes, "And its all because of you Tensei! You were so brave during the fight. Irene wasn't hurt because you charged in and didn't listen to that coward trying to give us orders."

I laugh awkwardly while scratching the back of my head, "Well, it was all very heat of the moment. I wouldn't really call it bravery."

"I don't care what you call it." Rose smiles as she begins to snuggle up to me, "If you didn't jump into the pit, I would have died."

I blush furiously as Rose's body rubs against mine, her fragrance overwhelming my senses. I turn to Sera for help but she expressionlessly looks away and fidgets with the grip of her saber. 

"Hey, I heard that you said something as well when confronting Gallant." Rose murmurs throatily, "Say it again for me, please."

As my mind is thrown into a frenzy at what is happening before me, Sera suddenly coughs loudly snapping both Rose and I out of our mutual trance. 

"You said to pretend that you weren't here." Rose complains to Sera with a pout, "Anyway, have you bathed in the last few days?"

Sera's lips are pressed into a thin line as she stomps towards Rose. Sera hooks her arm under one of Rose's armpits and begins to pull. Rose tries to hang on to me like a barnacle but she is slowly and surely being pried loose. 

"Alright. Fun's over." Sera says flatly, "Patients need their rest. Both patients. And yes, I have been using the shower in your suite, Rose."

"Tensei." Rose lilts as she is being dragged away, "I'll come back once this spoilsport goes off duty. Wait for me!" 

Sera winks slyly at me, "I spent the last few nights here with you, Tensei. I never go off duty." 

With that Sera continues to haul a deflated Rose towards the door. Just as I'm about to face palm at the antics of my friends, the door suddenly bursts open and Kira rushes into the room. 

"Tensei, we need to get you moved to Ascension Tower as soon as possible." Kira gasps in a fluster, "The doctors have said that you should be fit enough to be discharged after two or three days." 

My jaw drops at this sudden change in the mood. "Slow down Kira." I say, "What's going on?"

But Kira doesn't pay any attention to me as she is wholly absorbed at staring at Sera, as if Sera's a unicorn or something like that. On her own part, Sera begins to shift her feet nervously at the attention and plasters an awkward smile on her face. 

"Why are you wearing that uniform?" Kira asks a wholly unexpected, and frankly silly, question. 

"Because I am a SOPO officer?" Sera answers in a slow, cautious voice, not really understanding what got Kira acting so weird.

Kira raises her voice in shock, "You don't know? Why aren't you with the Inspector in the first place?"

Sera tilts her head and asks, 'I've been with Tensei the whole while. What are you talking about?"

"Can someone tell me what's going on?" Rose asks exasperatedly as she frees herself from Sera's distracted grip.  

"Mike sent me a video." Kira murmurs, "Hang on, let me get out my phone." Kira fishes out a cell decorated with cute bunny stickers from a pocket on her jeans and begins tapping away at it. Satisfied, she holds up the phone for all of us to see. 

....

"As reported earlier, ORPO had launched a raid against the SOPO headquarters involving not only regular officers, but also deploying mecha and tanks supplied by the P5." the newscaster says against the footage of the SOPO HQ burning, with parts of the building blasted into rubble. 

The camera pans and shows the HQ being surrounded by tanks while mech suits in ORPO colors drag out SOPO officers from the wreckage and clap on the handcuffs. Regular ORPO officers then take over and roughly shove the prisoners into trucks to be driven away. The camera then zooms in on a man wearing an ugly trench coat leading a portly SOPO officer towards the mech suits at gunpoint. 

"Commander Hernandez confirms that the former Senior Inspector of SOPO is currently in ORPO's custody and is being questioned on his involvement with the various crimes committed under his watch." the newscaster continues. 

"Isn't that Gallant?" I exclaim having recognized that ridiculous looking trench coat immediately.

The footage continues, showing Gallant kicking the Senior Inspector to the ground and four mech suits each grabbing the prone man by a limb. A skinny, mustachioed man smoking a cigar emerges from behind the mech suits and greets Gallant with a friendly clap on the shoulder. Both of them share a joke as the mech suits carry off the Senior Inspector to who knows where. 

"No way. No way." Sera mumbles completely unbelieving, "No one would allow ORPO to get away with this."

"We managed to interview the Commander in a press conference held just after the raid." the newscaster reports. The feed then cuts to a recorded interview of the ORPO Commander at the site. The cigar chomping, mustachioed face of the man who greeted Gallant appears on screen. 

"We conducted this raid based on overwhelming evidence that SOPO was using prisoners for unsanctioned and illegal experiments." Hernandez crows to the camera, "And we secured a mountain of more evidence and eyewitnesses from SOPO's detention block. ORPO managed to save some of the prisoners, but for many of them, we were too late."

Hernandez then clasps a hand over his heart and makes a show of sniffling a little before continuing, "ORPO will send what we have to the P5 as the administrative authority over policing. As for what happens next, its up to them."

The newscaster takes up the thread again, "The P5 in today's statement has decreed the dissolution of SOPO and will take possession of all the organization's assets. ORPO has directed any remaining SOPO personnel to surrender themselves to the nearest ORPO officer urgently."

Impossible. How could any of this have happened? Just as my mind is reeling, the picture of Sera's dad appears on screen, his bushy unkempt beard making his wild eyed stare look more intimidating than usual. 

"The raid has also caught a high profile individual in its dragnet." the newscaster continues, "ORPO reports that Archmage Naiberg was at the detention block while the raid was in progress and was killed resisting arrest. ORPO has not issued a statement yet regarding what the Archmage had been doing there. In other news ..."

....

"Sera, are you alright?" I cautiously ask. No response. Sera just keeps staring blankly into the distance as if she was catatonic. 

Kira quickly gets my attention and explains, "Tensei, Mike told me that with SOPO gone, you have no protection from the Legion. We need to move you to the Tower quickly before they try anything again." 

"Why the Tower?" I ask, my head spinning, "Wouldn't the P5 arrange another bodyguard for me?"

Sera comes to and sighs tiredly, "They might, they might not. You've been fighting Gallant recently Tensei, and it looks like the a faction within the P5 is the puppet master behind both him and ORPO. Father was close to the P5 as well and ORPO killed him anyway. The Delegates favoring you might no longer be able to help."

I frown in consternation before throwing out some of my thoughts, "But accepting the Representative's help might put me on a permanent collision course with both the Legion and the P5. And there's Rose to consider as well. I need to talk to Irene before I decide."

Kira hesitates for a moment before saying, "We don't know where Inspector Scott is. No one does. I was hoping that she was with Sera actually."

"Madam!" Sera wails before catching herself. She then hugs her sides and loses herself in her thoughts once more. 

Rose raises her head and queries, "What's this about SOPO officers needing to surrender? Does it mean that Irene and Sera are in danger?"

Kira shakes her head, indicating that she does not know. Sera simply slumps against the wall, completely defeated by events. 

"Kira, you got here by car right?" Rose asks, her confident poise returning. 

"By van actually." Kira clarifies. 

"Alright. This is what we'll do." Rose directs, "Kira, go to the ward next door. That's where I'm staying. My servants had brought me a few sets of clothes from the manor when they heard I had been hospitalized. Grab the clothes so Sera can change out of the uniform."

"Thank you." Sera says softly, bowing her head to Rose. 

Rose waives Sera off and continues talking to Kira, "Then you will take both of us to my manor. I'll arrange to hide Sera there for the time being until things quieten down. Maybe as a maid."

"Gotcha." Kira gives a thumbs up, "I don't need to go with you guys though, the van has a driver. I'll stick around with Tensei until you come back Rose."

Rose huffs, "Hmph. If Tensei is really in danger I suppose its for the best. I'll return as quickly as I can then."

.....

"I hope everyone will be safe." I murmur while Kira sits on the chair next to my bed. 

"Wow. Never thought that Rose was so take charge." Kira muses, "She's really quite amazing isn't she?"

"Yeah, she is." I concur, "She shouldn't be out there running about, but you really can't stop Rose once she gets an idea."

Kira nods in reply and closes her eyes, lost in contemplation.

"Penny for your thoughts?" I ask. 

Kira answers in a soft far-away voice, "Which is more important Tensei? Love or duty?"

Huh. That's really out of left field. But I did ask, so I suppose I'll have to respond to Kira's question. I rack my mind for what I hope is an honest answer. I love Sera. Do I love Irene? Not really no, but I do feel a certain obligation towards her, even if that obligation clashes with my love for Sera. 

"You need both," I declare, "Love is a part of life, and you can't live life without embracing your duty. One must always be paired with the other to achieve happiness."

Kira nods approvingly, "That answer's so you Tensei. Thanks for telling me what I needed to hear." She then rises from the chair and straddles my body before I have a chance to react. 

"Hey. Hey. What's going on here?" I ask while sweating profusely, a trill running up my spine. Isn't this a bit too sudden?

Kira's fingers dig into my shoulders as she breathes down on me, "I want to be happy Tensei."

"Let's be happy together."