[Author: Mikan Citrus]

Story Arc 1: The Hero’s Journey

 

   Once we were ready, Violet and I exited her house and flew to my place. However, this time I was the one to lead our flight together, holding her tight in my arms as we soared through the open skies. It must have snowed while we laid in bed earlier, as there was a fresh blanket of white covering much of the expansive city. We didn’t talk much during our aerial trip, but sometimes there was no need for verbal speech, and a tranquil silence was just as meaningful. The two of us were comfortable with each other, even compared to many others who have known each other for years, it was a simple matter of trust and confidence for us. It helped that she was able to see what was in my heart, just as I could with hers. From what she told me, our emotions could interlink and allowed me to literally feel what she felt due to her divine nature. Perhaps though, the fact I was a metahuman played a role, along with magic and the metaphysical in general—the world worked in mysterious ways. 

 

   We arrived at my house, a residence painted an eccentric blue in contrast to many of the plain neighboring buildings, reminiscent of the cool colored aura from my magic and electric abilities. It paled in comparison to Violet’s lavish home, but it was still much better compared to its past appearance from both inside and out; I managed to add renovations with the money I saved up from bounty hunter jobs over time. 

 

   “This is a nice place you got here,” Violet said and got up from my arms once we landed, then bounced across the pavement and into my house’s driveway as her frilly pleated skirt twirled in unison. 

 

   “Thanks, your house is still way nicer though.” Violet ceased her dance for a brief moment, then held out her palm toward me. Once I took her hand, she pulled me forward and performed a quick rotation, then caught me in her divine white wings

 

   “Maybe, but it’s still the place my boyfriend lives in and puts the effort into taking care of—it has a certain charm.” The angel pulled me closer with the feathery wing she nestled my back with. 

 

   “I’ll tell you right now, I am not a good dancer.” I stood upright from her blanket of plumes and straightened my posture, my hand still interlocked with Violet’s. 

 

   “That’s okay! I just dance a lot when I’m alone to vent out stress or let out some extra energy, but now that I have a partner… maybe we can do something together as a duo.” Violet stretched out her free hand and traced her fingers against my face and neck, then finally rested upon my collarbone.  

 

   “Well, just like you said yesterday, you have a lot of things to teach me.” I grabbed the arm she used to reach just underneath my chin. 

 

   “Hero?” A familiar and mature female voice traveled from behind us; we jumped at the sudden vocal intrusion, then turned around to discover that the woman was my dear Aunt Lucy. 

 

   She was a tall, curvaceous and well-endowed woman with scarlet eyes and white hair; the hairstyle she had was a medium length bob cut that reached just below the peak of her shoulders, and had bangs that covered much of her forehead in waves. Believe it or not, she was 49 years old and would soon turn 50 in the current year of 2025, but her youthful appearance made her look like she was around the same age as Violet and I. It was thanks to her potent metahuman genes and regular practice of magic that she had retained her beauty over the decades, and in another 50 years she would still look the exact same—the perks of having superpowers are pretty cool. While it was not a huge family gathering—which I honestly preferred compared to having a bunch of unfamiliar people around, especially for a celebration as personal as my birthday—my Aunt Lucy did bring a few of my closest relatives. Of course, with my aunt came Uncle Raiden, whom Lucy was married to.

 

   He was my uncle related by blood rather than being an in-law of the clan, so his appearance was quite similar to mine: he had short and messy black hair, his ruffled bangs covering his forehead and extended to ear-length with the back of his hair going down the neck. Our core family tree was mostly of Filipino blood, but there were a few Japanese ancestors from previous generations, which did show as his neotenous yet masculine facial features was a handsome fusion of his mixed heritage—just like with me, as Violet would say. However, what really stood out about him was how much he towered over everyone else; he was an absolute giant of a man at seven-foot-three and had a jacked muscular physique to go along with his impressive stature, making him just barely able to fit through the average doorway in Arisaka. Note: the average doorway height in Arisaka is one hundred inches, which is quite literally eight-foot-four high. I was already considered extraordinarily tall at six-foot-nine in height and possessed my own lean athletic muscle, but even among the men of the Dimalanta Clan, Uncle Raiden was just built differently. 

 

   Next to my aunt and uncle were two other individuals: my Cousin Lyon, who inherited traits from both of his parents, such as the graceful white hair of Lucy, with the spirited blue eyes of Raiden. The last person to catch my attention was a familiar young woman, she was a naturally blonde gyaru gal that stood out with her brilliant and fashionable appearance. Her name was Momoko, and she was my Cousin Lyon’s girlfriend. 

 

   “Aunt Lucy!” I called out to my relative, then waved a friendly greeting toward her with my free hand. She gasped as she stared at Violet and I, then jogged toward us with the three other individuals walking right behind her. 

 

   “Happy Birthday Hero! Oh darling look at you, a young man all grown up, and now you already have a girlfriend!” Lucy’s dazzling scarlet eyes darted between us as she had her hand placed upon her small chin, her gaze meeting my dark blue colored irises and Violet’s evergreen orbs. Lucy studied Violet’s face in particular, then looked downward to her exposed cleavage. “She’s so beautiful too… I approve.” The mature woman formed a grin with her plump lips and displayed a thumbs up; Violet bursted out in laughter, then performed a respectful bow toward the white-haired woman. 

 

   “Thank you! My name is Violet Tsubasa, I’m happy to finally meet my boyfriend’s family—your nephew has been very wonderful to me.” Violet smiled back as she grabbed my arm, her left hand still interlocked with my right. 

 

   “Violet Tsubasa? Oh you’re Shion’s daughter, and you have a little sister too, no wonder you look so beautifully familiar.” Lucy took a step forward and squeezed my shoulder. “Looks like Hero managed to bring a literal princess into the family.” 

 

   “Yeah, I’ve been really happy with Violet… and thanks for always coming to celebrate with me, my birthday or whatever else.” I couldn’t help but show off an expression of pure joy; it had been a while since I met up with my family, but they were always there to cheer me on and validate who I was as a person. Maybe it was due to my depression, anxiety, past trauma or whatever other negativity in my head that caused my pitfall into stagnation, but as I looked around and dug deep into my memories, I knew I could rely on my true family. Good thing Violet was able to knock some sense into me, and all thanks to our fateful encounter, she changed how I viewed myself and life in general for the better. 

 

   “Happy Birthday big guy, of course we’d be here to support you, any good family has to cover each other’s backs.” Uncle Raiden stretched out his muscular arm, giving me a firm handshake as he patted me on the back. The others began jumping into the conversation, with the first part of Raiden’s comment being quite ironic, but it was all in good spirit and I was grateful for that. The older gentleman that was my uncle—even if he only looked a few years older than me at most despite turning the age of 60 this year—always acted as a good male role model and mentor for me whenever he was around. 

 

    “Happy Birthday Hero!” Cousin Lyon and the blonde peach girl Momoko said in unison. The golden-haired and bright-eyed girl in particular was carrying a big white box, on its top was an illustration of a cake and other smaller baked goods, all outlined in a floral frame centered around the images of such sweet food. She was also carrying around a long guitar case strapped onto her shoulders; it appeared that the skilled and talented musician was ready to play me some cool birthday tunes. 

 

   “I have brought the cake, and I helped make it with Aunt Lucy!” Momoko said as she presented the box toward me. 

 

   “Thanks Momoko, you can put it on the kitchen table when we get inside.” I bowed my head for the blonde lady and my aunt for going out of their way to bake me my own personal birthday cake. 

 

“I’ll go in right now, I can bring out the plates and kitchenware to prepare us for this Happy Birthday feast!” Momoko gave me an affirmative nod, then walked through the driveway and into the house’s backdoor. “Oh, I won’t open it yet though, you can have the honors of doing that and slicing it up!” Momoko hollered out to me, her energetic voice still loud and clear despite already standing by the doorway. 

 

   “Good to see you Brother, it’s been a while, looks like you’ve been busy with a special lady of your own too.” Lyon smiled as he raised his hand; I accepted the fellow tall man’s gesture of brotherhood and responded with a strong high five. “I’m happy for you dude.” 

 

   “Look Hero, everyone here has already accepted me as your wife!” Violet let out a melodious giggle as she leaned her curvy body against mine, her fair-skinned complexion blushing just as much as mine did, but it was out of pure excitement and happiness rather than any sort of shame or embarrassment. Aunt Lucy followed up with her own harmonic laugh, then patted the angel girl on her white wings. 

 

   “Of course we’re glad to have you join our family, especially when Hero has caught such a pleasant angel girl,” Lucy said and patted me on the back as well. 

 

   “I just hope that Lady Tsubasa has been treating our nephew with proper respect. I’ll only go into detail if he’s comfortable with it… but there have been many female bullies in the past that tried taking advantage of him, leeching off his pride as a man.” Raiden looked at Violet and stepped forward with his big hands clasped together. 

 

   “Oh really now?” Violet glared back at Raiden, her yandere expression reappearing as her emerald green eyes entered a crazed aura of intense aggression. “I would love to hear more about these evil she-devils that hurt my precious Hero, make it easier for me to deal with them.” My girlfriend lifted the lower half of her ribbed sweater, showing off her toned midriff and the custom Shinigami 1911 that she carried by her appendix, holstered inside the waistband of her pleated skirt. My Uncle Raiden erupted in a bellow of laughter, both of amusement and approval, then further validated the angel girl’s statement with a nod. From what I have seen and heard from my girlfriend though, she was not joking about her threat against those who have hurt me before—I found it to be a very attractive quality of Violet rather than something to be scared of, quite the opposite really. I would much rather have my Violent Violet’s loyal and relentless personality protecting me, rather than allow someone else to enter my life who was too hesitant and squeamish to pull the trigger when it mattered the most. 

 

   “Violet…” I turned my head and locked with her yandere gaze. “We already got rid of the main one that bothered me the most on our mission yesterday, the rest are just a bunch of lame wannabe delinquents.” 

 

   “Oh sweetie, I know you have a heart of gold, but whoever hurts my baby deserves to receive an explosive payload of divine retribution—very fitting for an angel like myself to carry out such a punishment .” Violet smiled at me and kissed me on the cheek. 

 

   “Your girlfriend has the right idea, a crime against your loved one is still a crime, no matter how long it’s been. Sure, it might not change the past and how their actions affected you back then, but the point is? That you hold the evil ones accountable for their crimes, to make it known to the world that such heinous acts shall not go unpunished.” Just like his father, Lyon showed a nod of approval as Uncle Raiden did. 

 

   “Hey, I’m on board with it, especially if Violet says she wants to, I was just saying that it’s been a while—it might be difficult to track them down after all this time.” I gave Violet a gentle nudge on her arm with my elbow. 

 

   “Trust me, when you’re part of ARIA and have those types of connections, it’s not difficult at all,” Violet said as she rested her small chin on my shoulder. “If they really did work with Calla in the past, then I’m sure those clowns are associated with the Insurgency one way or another. Also in my case especially, I served in the Airborne Ranger Wing: ARAW. So yes, I know all types of people.” 

 

   “ARIA?” My three relatives questioned in unison. 

 

   “And you’re a Ranger too, nice to know my nephew’s girlfriend served in the same SOF unit as me.” Now that the topic was mentioned, I was reminded that Uncle Raiden did deploy with the Arisakan Airborne Rangers back in the day, meaning that the big man was a certified veteran badass. 

 

   “I was just about to ask what you meant by mission, maybe you two share a career and work together, but I guess I got my answer.” Lucy leaned a bit forward, her scarlet eyes possessing a shade of curiosity as she studied Violet. “So you recruited my Hero into ARIA? Now this is something I would like to hear an explanation about.” 

 

   “Oh I can tell you all about it, I’ll try my best to answer as many questions as I can.” Violet bowed her head out of reassurance for my aunt. 

 

   “Lucy, Hero is a grown man now, he can handle a job like that. Besides, Shiki is a trustworthy woman, and she’s a close friend of the family.” It appeared that Raiden knew Director Shiki Tachibana as well, but it wasn’t surprising in relation to his background. 

 

   “I know honey, I’m just a concerned mother is all, I still remember when Hero was just  a little boy.” Lucy showed a compassionate smile and rubbed the top of my head. 

 

   “I think what we’re really worried about is you getting directly involved with the feds, but with Violet here and Director Shiki overseeing things, it just might be fine.” Lyon said with his chin placed between his thumb and index finger. 

 

   “Hey come on now, what are you guys doing?! It’s Hero’s big day, and we’ve got a birthday party to throw!” Momoko’s animated voice echoed at us from the house’s backdoor, waving her hand as she waited for the five of us to enter my home. 

 

   “We were just talking, we’re going inside now!” I shouted back at the hyperactive gyaru girl, then began walking toward the entrance with Violet by my side as we held hands. My three relatives moved along with us, but a vibration emitted from my girlfriend’s pocket as we were about to step inside the house. Violet pulled out her phone from the side of her skirt, then checked to see what the notification was about. 

 

   “Damn… speaking of Shiki.” Violet showed me the screen of her phone, an encrypted magic text from the Director herself. 

 

   “I hope you and Hero are enjoying your day off, but I figured I should let you two know that for work tomorrow Monday, there is some business with the bosozoku to deal with.” The ominous Director’s message read out.

 

   “The bosozoku? Actually, I remember that the girls who bullied me hung around those types of biker gangs,” I said in awe of the pure coincidence—or perhaps it was destiny. 

 

   “Really now? That’s very interesting.” A devious grin appeared on my girlfriend’s face.