A long night finally came to an end.  It was a rough one for Yuki, still fighting his body.  It didn’t seem to be recovering the way he thought.  He was still very tired and his body ached when it shouldn’t have.  Every back corner thought had worry plastered everywhere in his subconscious.  The biggest worry that could never be avoided.  He wondered if it was making it seem worse.  If he just ignored it maybe, he would get better.  Maybe it was just in his mind.

Morning came strangely quiet.  He expected to find Jun and Ken smashing into his room and yet they didn’t do anything.  He wasn’t even sure if they were awake.  ‘It is Thursday, right?  A school day…’  A look out his window reminded him that their world wasn’t the same, but things seemed more alive than when he left.  He expected things to be running again and normal life to have resumed.  Even with the overgrowth.

Yuki snuck around the upstairs quietly checking on his little brothers.  As he thought, they were asleep.  ‘Is school canceled?  I know things were crazy when I left, but I know our school was planning to reopen soon.’  It was part of the reason he was up.  While he had no plans on actually attending, he still wanted to find out the state of the city.

Downstairs, he found that Momoko had left something for him to eat.  The note mentioned it being for dinner, but he went asleep immediately after the message.  He grabbed a rice ball and started to munch on it while looking around.

He wasn’t sure if it was because he was used to the Palace or just the Atlantean architecture perhaps, but the interior felt very small and a little off.  Wandering around, he looked around at the different corners and surfaces with a light inspection.  He just needed to know it was still the same.  And to refresh his memories a little.

It was his house and his home.  The longer he stared the more depressed he became staring at it.  Unspoken thoughts popped up to corrupt his experience.  They were poor reminders.  He didn’t need to be reminded about reality.  His reality, the new reality.

Pushing the last of the rice ball into his mouth, he pulled out the device that Demosthenes entrusted to him.  ‘Look for your legacy, huh?  This really is turning into a quest.  We’ve already got super powers and a vast organization of evil and the dying wishes of a wise old man granting vague clues on how to beat the organization.  If I didn’t know better, I’d think I really was inside one of my shounen manga.  Far too classic of a setup…’

Flipping the device around in his hand, he picked up the last riceball and made for the front door.  He already changed out into his school uniform almost out of habit.  It was as if his body was trying to give him some normalcy, but it was impossible anymore.

Yuki clutched tightly onto the device and buried it into his pocket.  He glanced back at the rest of the interior.  ‘I still have time to tell them…  I won’t be done here until I find everything he left behind…  I can do this later…’  Leaving the difficult dilemma behind for some other time, he stepped outside.

Chapter 291 – Regretted Actions

The massive amount of grass that panned around in his full view reminded him how complete the capture nature had over the city.  It looked like a post-apocalyptic setting almost, if the buildings had actually been run down.  Around, he could see some of the lines of vehicles tearing through, but man struggled to reclaim dominance.

It was no more than half a block down his street that Saki appeared next to Yuki.  The way she effortlessly popped up not leaving anything disturbed or even disrupting much of the air around her was almost unnerving to Yuki.  She had already started to refine her talents.  ‘The time in Atlantis really improved her skills.  I’m not sure if I’m any sort of challenge for her anymore the way she is.’  Multiple considerations on how he might try to fight Saki ran through his mind.  All of the strategies he came up with required him knowing that she was coming or always being paranoid that she would do something.  She was just too fast for him.

However, none of that really mattered to him.  He had a different thing that he brought up.  “How long have you been waiting?”

“Eh?” Saki questioned, playing a little dumb despite knowing what he was hinting at.  She didn’t plan to tip her hand to him.  It wasn’t his problem.

“It’s quite the coincidence that you just appeared after I just left.  You waited long enough to not make it seem like you were stalking me, but still you didn’t just happen to leave at the same time as me.”

She wasn’t going to get out of it without some sort of an answer.  ‘He was easier to deal with when he was acting more ditzy.  He’s always been smart and observant, he just hid it in the past.’  Pressed into a corner for an answer didn’t change her tactic though.  “Five minutes or so.  I had a feeling that you’d be wanting to check out the school.  With the UN running around here, you’re probably wanting to see the situation.”  The direction moved back to him skillfully pushing the subject away from her.  She could see him staring at her with a little surprise to see how far she saw.  “Already thinking of what you might be able to do to help the people here?”

“Am I so transparent?”

Keeping them walking forward, Saki focused her attention forward.  In the distance, she saw a UN APC enter her view, far beyond Yuki’s sight, and then disappear down the block.  It wasn’t her city anymore.  “Even if it wasn’t so transparent, I’ve known you too long to know how you’re feeling.  Besides, you’re not alone in that feeling.”

He smiled a little as he stared at Saki before looking down the street as well.  It wasn’t as though he didn’t believe that he couldn’t count on her help, but it still gave him reassurance.  When they returned home, he sort of felt as if they were all going their separate ways.  “You’re right.  But this isn’t like Atlantis.  We got away with quite a bit since they were hidden and we had connections high enough up to help.  This time is completely different.  The whole world is watching us and likely fears us.  Just randomly charging in isn’t going to solve anything.”

“Not giving up or losing your nerve are you?” she teased a little to lighten the mood.

“Hell no!  This too is my problem.  I aim to fix what I’ve done.  I just don’t know how I’m going to do it.”

“You’re not alone.  I’ll help.”

“Thanks, Saki!”

On their walk to the school, the trip started to feel a little nostalgic.  Yuki almost thought he could see how things were before.  Images of other students running through the streets to get in early passed by.  Further ahead, small groups merged into the street.

However, it all ripped out of his mind suddenly when he found debris in the street.  Yuki searched for the source.  To the right, the house was completely destroyed.  Only a single corner of the wall in the far back still stood up.  The property wall surrounding the house was pulverized by some blast.  It all spilled out into the street.  “Is this the UN?”  He changed his course to walk into the ruins of the house some.

Saki moved as a blur ahead, checking around for signs.  She appeared back in front of Yuki blocking his path, shaking her head.

“What did you find?”  He tried to get around Saki, but she grabbed him to keep him from moving further.  Yuki pressed his body to struggle in her hold, but there was nothing he could do.  She had more strength than the world’s strongest bodybuilder tightly packed inside her thin athletic build.  “Come on, Saki!  I’m not a child!”

“You really shouldn’t.”

“Don’t just hide things from me!  I don’t need you to protect me!”  A ripple came out of his feet and suddenly Saki’s hold no longer felt like the god’s hand pressed upon him.  He broke free and ran ahead, while she fumbled in confusion at the loss of her strength.  ‘What was it that she saw?!’

Then he saw it.  It turned him white as a sheet and nearly made him throw up on the spot.  It wasn’t even the sight, but rather the stench.  He turned around quickly, immediately regretting his decision to look.

Yuki rushed back out to the street needing to sit out.  “What the hell was that?!” he shouted to himself not understanding what happened.  Saki joined him quickly, as she recovered from the loss and figured out the situation.  “They’re…dead…”  Just saying the words made him shake.  “I knew them!  Mrs. Mazawa gave me homemade dumplings when I was going to junior high sometimes despite my attitude then.  Why?!”

“…Yuki…”  She didn’t know what she could do for him.  ‘He doesn’t need to see anymore death…  Why’d he have to be so stubborn…’

“Was it them?”  He stood up looking out in the direction of the ocean, though he couldn’t see it.  The place where the fleet watched them.  Where the world stared with fearful eyes upon them all.

Saki could see the thoughts spinning in his head.  “We don’t know anything yet!  There’s more than just the UN here, remember.  Wild animals also roam now too.”  They had already talked about taking it easy and not rushing into the situation.  She couldn’t let him go flying off the handle only a minute after making such a resolution.

He stared for a while in the distance with his eyes not focused on anything in particular.  Saki’s words ran through his mind as a calming agent.  She was right.  “…yeah…but I want to know!  I need to know what’s going on!”

Calmed and a little redirected, the relief gave her a moment to sigh.  ‘I can’t remind him that most of the people here also have super powers like me.  The possibilities are far too big and dangerous.’  She didn’t want Yuki staying around the area much longer.  It wasn’t going to do him any good.  “We won’t know anything from just hanging around here.  There’s still the school, someone might know something there.”

“…yeah…  You’re right.”  Even Yuki didn’t really want to stick around.  Just the image of them made him want to throw up again.  He was weak, but at the moment he didn’t really care about it.

Progress continued to the school with them finally leaving their neighborhood and getting into sight of the school.  In the distance, they could both see it. “It’s still standing,” said Yuki with some relief and excitement.  He admittedly wasn’t sure what might have happened to it.  It would have been ironic if some disaster occurred after they left to ruin all of their work.

“Yeah…” agreed Saki softly.  Her sight drilled in the distance almost caught in a trance.

“Saki?  What’s wrong?  You see something?”

“Maybe…”  Saki didn’t have a good answer for him.  She didn’t know what was going on herself.  It didn’t make any sense.

“What do you see?”

“Smoke and strangely dressed people.  And a destroyed building nearby…”

“The UN?!” asked Yuki, already jumping the gun.  They suddenly became the easy source for everything to blame on the troubles that they found.  He started to sprint forward wanting to know what Saki saw.  She quickly snapped forward and slowed him down, grabbing his arm.  “Saki?”

Shaking her head, she disagreed with him.  “They don’t look like the same soldiers I saw on the ships.  These are different.  But the whole area doesn’t look right.”

“Doesn’t look right?”

“You’ll see,” replied Saki cryptically.  She released Yuki and took point as they marched deeper into the area.

The further they went the more things changed.  Windows were smashed and more debris fell around the path.  Then they came to a stop, finding a makeshift wall in the middle.  It forced them around it.  However, hidden on the other side they found craters and burn marks.  Even traces of blood and the unsettling smell they started to quickly recognize.

Yuki and Saki quickly stuck together.  He took up her back watching their rear.  “Something really doesn’t feel right.  It’s like we’re being watched.”

“You felt it too?”

“It’s unnerving.”

Slowly working around the street as it became an eerie obstacle course of debris and makeshift walls, they came in reach of the school.  However, the closer they came the more certain that they were that what they would find wasn’t going to be the school that they knew.  The whole neighborhood was completely changed.  They knew homes and shops that they passed every day, now abandoned or in ruins.

Only a block away from the school, they pressed up against one of the walls created in the middle.  Yuki could only see a loose sense of what was in the distance.  There were two people standing out front of the school’s gate.  The gate was closed, but there was heavy reinforcement on the metal.  It didn't even look like the gate anymore.  Massive spires and plates covered up the whole entrance.  All along the fence line were tall mounds of earth and stone almost like it was natural.  “What the hell happened to the school?”  Yuki pulled back from his investigation to look at Saki.  “What do you see?”

“I think they’re students, but I don’t know the uniform that they’re wearing.  It sort of looks like ours, but like someone modified it with new colors and altered the length.  It’s weird.  Doesn’t look welcoming and I don’t really want to go up to the front door and ask to go inside.”

Nodding in agreement, if they were students Yuki didn’t really want to get into a fight with them.  They seemed like guards and he didn’t understand what happened.  “We already have a habit of jumping in without understanding the situation.  I’d like to avoid making the same mistake and starting fights that aren’t needed.  Let’s look around for some answers.”

“Right!”  She stood up and guided Yuki away to an exit that she knew.  An alley, or former alley if the adjacent building still stood.  The ruins still put them between the guards, so they were safe.  However, the path dumped them out in a place that they didn’t expect.

“The hell?!” exclaimed Yuki, the moment he stepped out from the alley.  He nearly fell into a massive crater that wiped out the entire block easily.  It was only Saki’s quick reflexes that kept him from a nasty trip.  Everything was starting to wear on Yuki.  “Someone tell me what the hell is going on here?!”

“Yuki?” answered a voice in the distance on the opposite side of the crater.

He didn’t really expect to get an answer from someone else other than Saki.  It surprised him enough to shut him up and look around for the source.  “Yumi?”  She waved over to him so that he could narrow in on her.

Saki picked Yuki up and leapt the distance of the crater with ease coming to a pinpoint landing just on the other side of Yumi.  “What are you doing here, Yumi?” inquired Saki as well.

It was then that they both understood that Yumi wasn’t waving to them out of excitement to see them.  She wore a heavy expression on her face.  “You should see this.”  Yumi pointed them out to where her brother stood before guiding them away from the crater.

The mysterious answer left them more than a little curious until they regretted it once more.  It seemed to be the theme of their day.  Laid out all around them before they knew it was a mass graveyard, one that never existed before.  The land used to belong to a supermarket that they visited after school sometimes for a snack.  However, now it was just ruins of tile, stone and metal with broken earth everywhere.  Makeshift tombstones fell in lines.

“Wha…I…dead…”  Yuki was speechless, unable to form a sentence.

Saki had a little more together and looked over to Yumi for some answers.  Yori popped out from the corner of the graveyard taking up the answers.  “We found this on our way to the school.  I’ve counted more than fifty graves and they’re all fresh within the last few days.”

“Who did this?”

“We’re still trying to figure out what’s going on,” added Yori’s sister.  She pointed out the surrounding ruins and rundown buildings.  “Fighting has been going on around here, but we don’t know with whom or why.”

“I want to know who’s doing this,” demanded Yuki, finally recovering from his stun.  He looked around at the others already setting their course for them.  Though it wasn’t as though they didn’t have the same things planned out.  But it seemed that they were teaming up once more.

“A better question is what side you’re on,” shouted a new voice from the distance.  Everyone turned around trying to locate the source only to discover that they were suddenly surrounded.  Many of the faces they recognized as students in their class or other classes in the same year.  Even a teacher or two as well were in their ranks, but they all looked worn and tired.

While some bore weapons, others had powers on display making it clear that they wanted compliance.  They looked ready for a fight.  However, Yuki didn’t want to get involved in something that he didn’t understand.  He stepped out only to draw all of their attention and have threats of attacks aimed at him.  The sign of attacks hardly fazed him after everything in Atlantis.  He just wanted answers.  “What’s going on here?  And who is your leader?”

“Like I said before, the question I have for you is what side are you on?”  It was the same voice once more.  However, this time a shadowed figure stepped out from the second floor of the ruined building.

It took Yuki a moment for his eyes to adjust to the distance, but he recognized them immediately.  “Hiroshi?!”