At 7am on the dot, we, the Dawn Wolves, arrive at HQ. This is by far the earliest we’ve been here, and for good reason, the meeting is today. Naturally, Commissioner Watanabe and our seniors are here as well.

“Good to see that everyone’s here on time. Come along, let’s head to the circle.”

With those words, we follow Commissioner Watanabe to the depths of HQ. What lies waiting for us there is a large magic circle. Does that mean?

“So, we’ll be warping there?”, I ask.

“Warp?”

Naoya and Akai echo my question in unison.

“That’s right. Great Enigma Tower’s location is highly, highly confidential.”, Miyamura-senpai explains. “So this is the only form of transport there.”

Suddenly, I’m feeling a wee bit tentative. This is going to be a really serious deal, for certain.

“Oi, Govvy. What’s up with this warping thing?”, Naoya queries.

Ah, that’s right. Naoya and Akai don’t know anything about this kind of Magic.

“Basically, it’s a form of long distance teleportation, Naoya-nii.”

“What she said. Of course, there’s also short distance teleportation called Jump-Stepping, but it works a lot differently than just warping.”

“How is it different?”

Akai adds on another question, much to Yonaguni’s chagrin.

“Will you bastards quit playing fifty questions so we can get going, damn it?”

“Since when have you cared about punctuality, Nariki?”, Shirogane-senpai says with narrowed eyes. “Just let them learn.”

“Well...Besides the obvious, it’s that with Jump-Stepping, the location is up to the user. Whereas with warping it’s set and pre-determined.”

“You know a lot, Daisuke-san. I’m impressed!”

Haruhi-san compliments my knowledge. I have to admit, it feels good to have such a beautiful girl flatter you.

“Well, it’s the least I could know with my god-father being a big name in the field of magical research.”

“Another thing, warping isn’t technically a spell.", Sunni adds. “It’s more of a magical event, So even people who can’t Magic can participate in it.”

“Eh? That sounds dangerous. Doesn’t that mean that anyone can just walk into the circle and get transported somewhere? Or that enemies could just waltz in with ease?”

Akane seems worried by the safety and security of the warping circle, but before anyone could answer-

“Fret not, Akane-chan! Those who can’t use Magic can be transported, but it still needs to be activated by mana, see? And even if they can do that, the warping circle won’t transport them unless their mana is recognised by the system! Don’t I know a lot, Haruhi-chan?!”

Haruhi-san gives Yonaguni an exasperated look, as do the rest of us. The bloke’s girl-crazy, I have to say.

“You sure do…”

“Oi, tou-san, let’s get going before Yonaguni embarrasses himself any further.”, Gege yawns.

“Right. Come along, everyone.”

With that, we and the defeated Yonaguni step into the circle and disappear in a flash of light.

In an instant, our group is transported to our destination, the Great Enigma Tower. And blimey, this place is enormous.

“Woah, this place is huge!”, Naoya gawks.

“It used to be a tower of worship hundreds of years ago, Naoya-kun.”, Shirogane-senpai. “So you can expect it to be extravagant.”

A tower of worship? That’s interesting.

“Geez, tou-san! You made it seem like this place was like some dull business office.”, Haruhi-san whines.

“That’s for sure.”, Gege agrees. “I actually feel awake now.”

Yoko, Sunni and I silently marvel at our surroundings, enraptured by just how intricate and well-crafted this place is.

“This place is so amazing! I want to take some photos!”, Akane says, her eyes a-glow.

“I don’t think that’s allowed..”, Akai smiles wryly.

After getting a good eyeful, we head to the front desk, where a worker inspects our IDs and jots down all of our names onto various lists before letting us move on.

“Oi, old man. Please tell me that they have to climb that staircase.”

Yonaguni starts yakking about a staircase, and about us having to climb it. I’ll tell you now, if he’s this excited about it, it can’t be safe for us.

Much to my horror, Commissioner Watanabe nods.

“That’s right. It’s a tradition, after all.”

Yonaguni bursts out laughing, looks at us, and then bursts out laughing again.

“A-are we going to die?”, Akai asks shakily.

“Don’t be pedantic, it’s not that bad, surely.”, Gege assures him.

You don’t sound too confident, mate.

As they walk off, Yonaguni stops and turns around.

“No, wait! You ladies should come along with us! Come on!”

…..Oh.
…..Oh, no.

“T-tou-san..?”

“Good luck, young people.”

Akai’s as white as paper, and he’s shaking like a leaf. Naoya, on the other hand, is frozen stiff.
“They brought us here to kill us.”, he says in a hollow voice. “I can’t believe it.”

“Should we ring up everyone and let them know of our impending demise?”, I ask. “Nan will probably be chuffed planning our funeral proceedings.”

Yoko grabs a-hold of my wrist and starts to drag me along.

“Don’t mind Master’s nonsense, okay? He’s just being a pain in the arse, as per usual.”

“Yeah, he’s just being an idiot. Right, Haruhi-chan?”

“Uh, yeah!”

Like her brother, Haruhi-san didn’t sound all that confident…

“Govvy and Naoya should be used to this.”, Sunni says. “After all, we used to climb up the old light-house together. So, this shouldn’t be that difficult.”

Huff…Hah…Haaah….

We’re still climbing. It’s been an hour, and we’re STILL CLIMBING.

“Thi…This has to be some twisted joke…Haaah..”, Gege breathes.

“My legs feel like jelly….”, Akane moans.

We’re all labouring from this unholy exercise. This bloody thing must be the old light-house times hundred.

“Our senpais didn’t even-hah-tell us which-hah-floor to go to…”

Yoko gasps for breath heavily, clearly winded.

“Let’s stop on this floor..”, I sigh. “Before we actually die.”

We all sit on the floor in silence for about a minute, focusing on regaining our energy.

I can’t believe that they’re putting us through this, especially with what this place is doing to us. Well, if I’m right, it’s doing it to everyone.

“I’m going to kill Yonaguni someday for certain.”, Naoya growls weakly. “If he hadn’t brought it up, we wouldn’t be doing this horse-shit.”

“I wish you luck, Naoya.”, Sunni says.

“I wonder who it was that said that this’ll be easy? Do you have any idea, Sunni?”

“Hush.”

Akane and Yoko shoot us slight glares, am I doing something wrong?

“Aniki, I’m starting to think that it’s unfair that Arianne is the only one you refer to with a pet-name.”

“My thoughts exactly.”, Akane agrees.

Well, that is a good point, it is a wee bit biassed.

“Come on, you two.”, Gege admonishes. “Now’s not the time for a lover’s spat, okay?”

The two seem to have decided to drop the topic, but I’m sure I’ll hear about it later. Which is what I deserve, frankly. The three of them are my girlfriends, so I have to give them equal treatment in every facet of the relationship if I want to be the man I would like to be.

Although, I certainly don’t deserve this. I honestly don’t deserve anything at all-no-now isn’t the time to let those feelings resurface.

“Look everyone! It’s the Dawn Wolves!”

Hmm? Oh, it’s Ryuusei and his squadron.

“Oi, don’t tell me you guys have to climb the staircase too?”, Haruto asks in disbelief.

“Hell yeah, we do! They said it’s a tradition for rookies!”, Naoya barks.

I introduce my squadron to theirs, and of course, all of us boys get excited at the idea of our rivalry continuing.

But, I wasn’t expecting Yoko’s reaction.

“Saotome, eh? So you’re from one of the Four Shadow Clans?”

Yuuichi flashes a grin at her.

“So, you know about that, huh? I’m impressed.”

“Well, I’m looking to not only reach that level, but surpass it.”

“Is that so? Sounds interesting.”

“Oi, sis, he’s supposed to be our rival, not yours.”

Naoya interrupts their conversation with a bit of a joke.

“Sorry, but it’s too late!”, Yuuichi says bombastically. “I’m already invested! Yoko-san, try your best to keep up with me, alright?”

“Of course.”

Well, Yoko has begun her rivalry with Yuuichi, I would wonder who mine is if it weren’t obvious.

“Daisuke and I are have already been pre-determined, so it’s up to the rest of you to figure things out.”

Ryuusei pauses to think for a tick, looking at Akane before turning to Hoshimiya-san.

“Gya-chan, maybe you and the gyaru on Daisuke’s squadron can pair up. Gyaru vs Gyaru, you know?”

“I’m not a gyaru!”

Ah, there’s an echo in here.

“This is my natural hair colour!”, Akane protests. “And if anyone’s going to be my rival, it’s the thieving whore who kidnapped Daisuke-nii!”

“Whore?!”

Mizudori-san, who was wholly disinterested before, quickly snaps back to reality.

“So, it was you?”

The one who says this isn’t Akane, but Sunni, who walks up to Mizudori-san while casting her a downward glare while donning her trademark faux smile.

“What a misbehaving little girl you are, didn’t your parents teach you to respect others?”

A vein pops up on Mizudori-san's forehead. Oh, things are about to go badly.

“Little girl? I’m eighteen, and I’ll be nineteen in five days. I can tell that you and the lanky creep are close by the fact that you both are ignorant.”

“Haha, good guess. He and I aren’t only child-hood friends, but we’re also engaged.”, Sunni chuckles. “Although, my Govvy isn’t a creep by any means.”

“Really? Look at his eyes, they look like they belong to a dead fish.”

“Like your Leader’s?”

“Don’t you dare compare my Ryuu-chan to him, you cow.”, Mizudori-san says disdainfully. “His eyes have been like that since he was born.”

“Is that so? How interesting.”, Sunni says coldly. “My Govvy was born with them too, you silly little girl.”

“Are you looking for a fight?”

“Of course not, why would I fight with a child? Besides, we can’t use our mana in this tower.”

So, I was right about our mana being affected by this place. Thank goodness, because a fight was definitely about to break out..

“Say, why don’t we all climb the tower together?”, Hasegawa-san suggests.

She’s clearly trying to clear the air, and Akai picks up on it immediately.

“That sounds good to me! Let’s go!”

Gege yawns loudly.

“Which floor do we have to go to anyway?”, he asks.

“The 549th.”, Kentaro answers.

“You’re joking.”

Looking at the number on the wall, I can see that this is only the 200th. Huzzah.

“I hate it here.”

Yeh, me too, Haruto.

Gratefully, we all make it to our destination, the 549th floor. There’s only one door on this floor, so I’m guessing that’s where we have to go. Ryuusei slowly opens the door, and immediately all eyes are on us. The old man at the head of the absolutely gargantuan table speaks to us.

“You’re late.”

“Fashionably, no doubt.”, I say.

Ryuusei quickly cracks a smile before going back to a neutral expression. Meanwhile, Commissioner Watanabe and the Yonaguni group nearly fall out of their chairs.

“Our apologies, we got lost.”, Ryuusei says flatly.

The old man stares at us silently for a moment before speaking again.

“Quite churlish, aren’t you? Take your seats.”

“Yeah, you would be too if you had to climb all those damn stairs.”, Naoya grumbles.

My squadron and Ryuusei’s squadron take our seats at opposite sides of the table. The old man clears his throat and speaks.

“Now that we’re all present, it’s time to commence the meeting. We’re here to discuss two topics: the World-Tree Templars and Midnight Fox.”

I’m already quite familiar with the latter, but the former is foreign to me.

“The World-Tree Templars are a religious terrorist organisation. Their goal is to find all of the world’s Blessed and Cursed Weapons, after they do so, they will perform a ritual to free the ‘Spirits’ that dwell within them.”

What? Blessed and Cursed Weapons? Spirits? What’s he waffling about?

I look at my mates, and they look just as confused as I am. I turn to Ryuusei, who simply nods at me.

“These ‘Spirits’ are the Gods that were all defeated over 600 years ago during the Mortal Rebellion.”, the old man continues. “Should they all be freed, a war like that will break out once again. That can’t be allowed to happen again.”

“Pardon me, but are you saying that the Gods from various mythos are real? And that they’ve been sealed away into weapons?”

Gege interrupts the old man’s monologuing with some needed questions.

“Yes. We’ve already retrieved twenty of these special weapons. I was informed by Commissioner Watanabe that the Dawn Wolves came across one of them.”

That knife! So it was something unusual after all!

“The other rookie squadron came into contact with one, but things went far differently in their case. Leader Kageyama, we’d like to see it.”

Ryuusei sighs, and gets to his feet. He stretches out his palm, taking a deep breath.

“Come forth, Silver Sun!”

A large, bright silver magic circle forms in front of him, and a large silver broadsword encased in a bright yellow and red sheath emerges from it in and glides into his hand.

“This is Silver Sun. It’s a Blessed Weapon that holds the power of the God known as Mithra, the Persian sun God.”

Incredible! You mean something that awesome really exists?!

“That’s so badass!”, Naoya yells excitedly.

I look at Ryuusei’s face, and realise that he looks uncomfortable. Before I can ask if he’s okay, the old man continues and the sword is returned to the circle.

“Thank you, Leader Kageyama. Now onto the next topic, Midnight Fox. What once could be considered a mere gang is now becoming a major threat. They are in search of the Orb of Salvation, a crystal sphere that supposedly wields incredible power. Little is known of its existence, but if it happens to be real, we can-not let it fall into their hands at all cost.”

So we are trying to prevent two possibly world altering events? Should be easy-peasy.

“Leader Colen happens to have a history with Midnight Fox. Their leader, Shade, wants his head.”

“Hmm? Why is that?”

Some long, purple and black haired bloke with face piercings further down the table asks this question, staring daggers at me..

“Leader Colen, explain.”

Whatever happened to please, eh? Nonetheless, I begin to divulge on why I’m a major target.

“I happen to be responsible for the arrest and detainment of one of his members, and inadvertently responsible for the death of another.”

“Inadvertently? What does that mean?”

“I’d rather not say, sir, sorry.”

The piercing bloke narrows his eyes at me. That can only mean good things, I’m certain.

“Keeping secrets isn’t something that you have any rights to, rookie. Spill it!”

An unexpected ally then comes to my aid.

“Oi, drop it, Arima.”, Yonaguni snaps. “It’s not your damn business.”

“What was that?! Are you looking to die, Yonaguni?!”

“Come on! I’ll beat the shit outta you again, asshole!”

“You really are looking to die after all! Well, who am I to refuse you!”

“Enough.”

The old man puts an end to their tiff with a strong, firm voice. The two glare at each other intensely, but ultimately sit down.

“Let’s put this meeting to an end, shall we?”, the old man heaves. “This is a time for constant vigilance, as this is probably the most difficult time for the Enigma Organisation in over fifty years. Be on your guard, always. Understood?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Good. Remember: Work hard, rest well and stay alive. Dismissed.”

With that, our first ever meeting comes to a close. And with it, a lot of information is gained, and a lot of new questions are born.

Although, I have an overwhelming feeling that those questions will be answered soon enough, one way or the other.