Date: 7/04/2013

The figure just stood there and was seemingly indifferent to Kosuke’s statement and looked up, facing Kosuke, before talking

“Is there something you need?”

Kosuke tried his best to listen to the voice coming through the mask but to no avail with the filter in the way, even so Kosuke was sure this figure was Izumi.

Though he didn’t have much to go off of aside from the fact that their height would match with Izumi’s current age.

Despite the lacklustre evidence, Kosuke was absolutely convinced that this figure was Izumi and there was just one more thing he needed to check

“Can you show me that pistol?”

“Yes this is a newer generation Colt Python, although it’s the standard model it boasts incredible accuracy.”

“Can I see how you should hold it?”

“Of course.”

The figure reaches to grab the gun and that’s when Kosuke saw it, they had no pinky finger and when they were about to grab hold of the gun Kosuke grabbed their wrist and pulled them forward

“I know it’s you, Izumi.”

However before Kosuke knew it, there was a gun barrel pressed to his chin

“I suggest you let go.”

As Kosuke let go of the figure, he noticed small cuts all along his arm, upon inspection they seemed to be made from incredibly thin and razor sharp wires.

Knowing he can’t do much here, Kosuke simply took the gun and left the area, going back to searching for more weapons.

As Kosuke browsed the weaponry and equipment, he came upon a table covered in knives, he took a look at each knife that was presented but a feeling of disgust came about just from looking at the blade.

Kosuke wasn’t reacting this way consciously and didn’t even realise that he was in a trance until Issac, a member of the Fortress squad, had brought him out of it

“Hey, you okay? You've been staring at that knife for a while.”

Isaac had a talent for reading people but always had trouble with Kosuke because of his expressionless face, so Isaac knew whenever he could read Kosuke it would be something major

“Huh? Ah… yeah I’m fine.”

He simply brushed off Issac’s concern and continued to look at all the knives until one caught his attention, it was rather large and more like a shortsword than a knife, however the design was definitely that of a cleaver, with the blade itself being a beautifully sinister silver colour with plenty of seemingly ornamental patterns etched into the sides of the blade.

Despite its eye-catching beauty there was just something about this blade that made Kosuke uneasy, as if he should know it but just can’t remember. He tried picking it up but it was far too heavy to do so by himself and thought of leaving it alone until he noticed two members of the Jackals, the twins Cain and Lily, walking behind him

“Hey you two!”

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They turned to see Kosuke calling for them

“What’s the matter Kosuke?”

They both replied in unison which was something everyone else found somewhat creepy

“I need you two to lift this knife for me.”

“Ok.”

They both reached across the table to pick up the knife and with much effort they managed to bring it off the table

“S- so what do you need us to do Kosuke?”

They were clearly struggling to keep it up despite both of them being older and more built than Kosuke which showed how heavy it really was

“I need you to hit me right here.”

He pointed to the side of his head

“Are you sure?”

Lily asked in a confused tone

“Yeah, but hit me with the side.”

The twins looked at each other and just nodded in agreement

“Ok, 1… 2… 3!”

They swung the flat of the knife against the side of Kosuke’s head which knocked him to the ground. The twins immediately threw the knife back onto the table and went over to Kosuke to check on him

“Are you ok Kosuke? Did it hurt?”

Cain kept asking if Kosuke was ok until Lily whacked him on the back of the head

“Of course he’s hurt! We smacked him on the head with a chunk of heavy metal!”

As they turned to look to look at Kosuke, they saw him standing with his hand clutched to his head and mumbling to himself

“Oh no! Did we break him?”

As the twins continued to watch, Kosuke started to become more erratic with faster breathing and tugging on his hair, the mumbling got faster and he started scratching at his head more.

*This pain is so familiar but why? Why can’t I rememb-*

For a moment it seemed as if he had calmed down but Kosukes knees just buckled and he collapsed onto the floor, the mumbling stopped but was replaced with desperate gasps for air as if he were drowning, tears were running down his face and pooled onto the floor

Everyone saw Kosuke on the ground as he had begun to convulse, they all rushed to his side with Jiwoo passing through everyone else to get to Kosuke as fast as she could. As she reached Kosuke and tried to place a hand on him but

Eventually the cries had stopped and he fell unconscious, but the tears continued to flow.

With Kosuke now unconscious, the cloaked figures scooped him up and took him to the medical centre located next to the warehouse.

…

As everyone watched Kosuke get carried away, they all immediately turned to the twins and they all started to yell at the two of them

“How could you do that to Kosuke! You know that he has an injury on his head!”

Anya yelled at the twins with anger and concern in her voice

“Wait, wait everybody, it's not what you think!”

The twins tried to plead with the others but to no avail as their voices were covered by their angry teammates. The yelling kept going on and on until a deep voice came from behind them all

“That’s enough!”

Everyone fell silent and turned to see Number 0 stood like an impressive statue. Number 0 approached the twins and crouched down in front of them

“Tell me what happened children, why did you strike Kosuke?”

The twins now both on the verge of tears from the constant yelling and blame directed at them responded to Number 0 in shaky voices

*sniffle* “Kosuke told us to pick up a really really heavy knife and then said we needed to hit him on the head with it.”

Number 0 just stroked his beard for a moment

“I see… was that all that happened?”

Cain and Lily nodded in response.

With their answers, Number 0 rose back up and addressed the rest of the children

“You heard them, resume your activities!”

Everyone scattered back to looking and picking weapons.

The twins finally relaxed as they felt the pressure come off their chest but both of them were immediately greeted with a strike to the face as Number 0 pulled them close

“Don’t misunderstand, I have shown you pity this once, however if you ever put on such a pathetic display like that in front of anybody, including your allies, then you shall face harsh punishment. Have I made myself clear?”

The twins once again nodded in response to Number 0

“Very good, now off you go.”