July 30, 2022 - 2:10pm

E.C. Campus, Eden City, New Eden

Fridays were a good day. It was the only day in the week that the kids were guaranteed to have time off, and each of them relished in it. Soji and Israel sat in the lounge, playing Super Smash Bros. yet again while Dione nagged Israel to hurry up and lose.

Penny rested her head in Anish’s lap, giggling at how flustered he got every time they hung out. The girl reached up to squeeze his cheek.

“You’re such a cute teddy bear,” she cooed. The boy only blushed. Suddenly, Soji yelled out in frustration.

“I blocked! How did you kill me!? That’s bullshit!” He passed the controller to Dione and crossed his arms in a miniature tantrum. Penny threw a pillow at him.

“Nakakainis ka! Stop yelling!”

“Now’s a good time for you to get back in that kitchen and make those burgers again,” Dione teased.

“You guys are never getting those again. Half of you are annoying, and the other half seemingly decided you’re all in love now,” he groaned.

He, of course, referred to Penny and Anish’s sudden closeness, and Kuro and Monika’s recurring hushed meetings at random hours in the day. It also went without saying that the amount of time Niko and Esme spent with one another was so great, he’d go days without seeing them.

“This all started after that stupid first mission. And when is Doc gonna be back? These bandages are starting to itch. At least I haven’t heard any of those voices again,” he grumbled internally. He didn’t notice that he’d subconsciously made his way to the kitchen. That seemed to happen a lot more these days. It felt like he was under someone else’s guidance. It was especially evident during his second mission—clearing a smaller group of blooms approaching the city— when his arm shot out to purge a bloom he didn’t even notice. But that was a problem for another day.

“Soji, I want jollof,” Israel mocked.

“I’m not your maid, you monkey!”

“Yeah,” Dione chimed in, “who would want that ketchup rice that you Nigerians call jollof?”

“Woah, okay, if I throw the entire kitchen into the pot, will it suit your tastes? Or better yet, should I just bring you a plate of eggs?”

Dione paused the game and turned back to face Soji.

“How dare you!?” She decreased her mass and leapt at the boy who caught her midair, and threw her over his shoulder. Her technique rapidly returned her weight tenfold, hoping to make him drop her, but his body temperature rose to accommodate the strain. The girl kicked and squirmed until Soji finally dropped her.

“So do you want eggs?”

“Shut up!”

A loud squeal drew everyone’s attention to the doorway, where a sweating Esme and Niko were smiling, both holding wet ice skates. Esme vibrated excitedly as she skipped into the common room. Penny glared daggers at the girl, irritated by the sudden noise.

“Let’s go upstairs, I wanna watch something,” she grabbed Anish’s hand as she pulled him into the world of shadows.

“Where’s Angelo?” Esme asked excitedly.

“He’s still with Alex at the hospital,” Soji replied, “why, what’s up?”

“I’m doing my Saint Trials expedition next week! I’m so excited!”

“That’s amazing! You’ll definitely do great!” Dione clapped.

“Yeah, agreed, you’re a beast with that Net,” Soji nodded. Israel gave a thumbs up, impatiently waiting for Dione to unpause the game.

“Thank you guys! I’m gonna go tell Angelo!” Esme turned to leave, “When I pass, we have to celebrate. Food, drinks, everything! Are you coming, mi corazón?”

Niko shook her head.

“I have to go to the estate and pick up a new rifle. Using the spear is so much work,” she said.

Esme shrugged as she dashed out of the room, and kissed Niko on the cheek. Soji frowned.

“Lovebirds everywhere!”

“Bloom boy,” Niko called, “where’s Monika?”

“You can’t keep calling me that. What if I was depressed?” He feigned tears.

Niko shrugged, turning towards the stairs.

“She’s with that your friend again, huh?” Soji and Niko may not have gotten along, but they shared similar opinions on the matter of Kuro and Monika’s escapades.

~

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Monika huffed, crossing her arms. She sat on her bed surrounded by papers of the mission reports they’d been able to check out from the city’s Central Archives.

“Of course it doesn’t,” Kuro replied from her desk, “All we have are fractured bits and pieces.”

His voice had grown tired from the lack of rest, as he followed a dangerous pattern of doing nothing but assignments and research. He felt a small tinge of guilt each time he and Monika left Soji behind to peer into the past.

“It’s for the best. Right now, Soji looks up to Tamara…I don’t think he’s in the right headspace to learn the truth.”

“Not just that. Tamara kept saying she didn’t know Daisy, but the few mission reports that we’ve been able to get mention the two of them together numerous times. Could she really have forgotten someone like her?”

“Maybe not intentionally,” Kuro handed Monika some papers, “look at this. The last time they’re mentioned together is about a year before the Cain Massacre. Something traumatic might’ve happened.”

Monika scanned through the documents. Her eyes lit up.

“Wait! The one file that Lucia and Daisy are mentioned in is Lucia’s mission to kill Daisy. It’s labeled as a Saint Trial, and is one year after the Massacre. Your sister’s first Saint Trial is mostly redacted but look at the date…it’s the same year as Tamara and Daisy’s last assignment together.”

“So what are you saying?”

“I think that whatever happened the year before the Massacre resulted in Daisy leaving the Institute, and Tamara carrying on by herself,” Monika pointed at the pile of redacted Tamara documents dwarfing Daisy’s.

“Then,” she continued, “the Cain Massacre happens and then Lucia is ordered to kill Daisy. The rest of the mission is redacted. We only have the result at the end of the document confirming that Daisy was found dead.”

“Then maybe it is like I suspected. Tamara has trauma-induced amnesia. Some unknown event in 2011, the Cain Massacre in 2012, then Daisy’s death in 2013. But why only Daisy? She seemed to remember Lucia. More importantly, is this woman that’s after Soji the same one as back then? Or an impersonator?”

“There’s no way for us to know that. That Archive lady has been shutting us down ever since we started getting somewhere with this. It’s probably my grandmother’s doing…” Monika’s voice trailed off before a massive realization crashed down on her.

“Daisy was part of the Cain Massacre,” she whispered.

Kuro paused. He suddenly remembered that Monika had mentioned the Cains being afflicted by a special kind of blight. It was no coincidence that this woman who terrorized them was also able to create unique types of blooms.

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah.”

“But that doesn’t tell us if the woman claiming to be ‘Daisy’ now is an impersonator, or the original. If it’s the original, did she fake her death?”

“No,” Monika said, “it has to be an impostor. Why would Daisy work with someone who tried to kill her? Secondly, Tamara has the Agya. She would have been able to recognize the residuals if it was the one she knew.”

“Not if she had amnesia. Would she even recognize the one she knew if they met face-to-face? And perhaps Lucia never killed Daisy. Her assignment to do so is the last one on record. After that, she’s recorded as ‘missing in action’. Maybe that’s when they started colluding.”

“But to trick the Institute into believing you’re dead? How’d she pull that off?”

“I have no idea. But I still feel like there’s a bunch of information missing. What happened in 2011? Why did Lucia kill our father? Why was Tamara there? What’s up with her and this sword? And what do these people want with Soji?”

“I don’t think we’ll be finding that out anytime soon,” Monika yawned then fell back on her bed, sending papers flying all over the place. The sleeves of her amber-yellow hoodie and matching shorts crawled up as she stretched in exhaustion.

“We could always look into this Koji Hiroki that’s listed as part of Tamara and Daisy’s squad. It’s annoying that the fourth member of the team is redacted, but we haven’t hit a dead end yet,” Kuro stood up, rubbing his temple in frustration. He quickly gathered the mission reports and the notes they’d taken into a folder and slid it beneath the girl’s bed.

“You’re not leaving already, are you? You need to relax! You’re pushing yourself way too hard.”

Before he could protest, she latched onto the side of his t-shirt and pulled him onto the bed. Their mingling atma sparked. Miguel would have been pleased at how quickly the boy instinctively raised his reinforcement.

Kuro sat on the bed awkwardly, propping himself up with his arms.

“You can lie back, you know. I’m not gonna bite you,” Monika teased with a smile. The warm light of her lamp illuminated her curly black hair with strings of gold.

“In fact,” she said, shifting her position, “take off your shirt.”

“I-I-I mean—”

“Get your mind outta the gutter! You’re still a little boy to me. But I’m good at massages. And you’re like five seconds away from collapsing,” she explained. If Kuro could’ve gathered the composure to look away from the floor, he’d have seen the glowing redness of her face. Reluctantly, he obliged.

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“You’re nine months older than me, I’m hardly a little boy,” he managed to stutter. Resting on his stomach, he could only hear her exhale with an air of amusement.

Monika rested her full weight on his lower back, and took a moment to regard him. He wasn’t particularly big, but it was obvious that the past month had kneaded a bit of muscle into his arms and back. His triceps were like iron rods, wrapped around the back of his arm, melting into modestly emerging biceps. Even in the low light, his veins visibly ran along his taut forearms, spreading into a silken web against surprisingly smooth hands. And although his fingers were slender and elegant, she knew his palms were hardened by combat. She subconsciously bit her lip.

“Stop reinforcing,” she whispered. The gentle hum of his atma waned.

“I wonder,” Kuro said, “what does my atma sound like?”

With her hands hovering over his back, the girl thought for a moment.

“Like a violin. It’s more frantic when you’re scared, and more intense when you use your technique.”

“And when I’m calm?”

“It’s so soft I can barely hear it. But when I’m close, it’s like a serenade. I feel like I could fall asleep.”

Monika brushed all five of her fingers along Kuro’s back, delighting in the subtle twitches he gave in response.

“What do you sound like?”

“I…I can’t hear myself. My mom used to tell me that I sounded like a trumpet,” she chuckled.

“Is it always an instrument?”

“No. My mother sounded like a robin’s chirps. It used to be so comforting, waking up to that.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. None of that has anything to do with you. But, you’re the first person that’s asked me what I sound like.”

The girl leaned in close, her torso just inches from pressing against Kuro as she carried her gentle caress to the tips of his fingers. She grew drunk on his peppermint-scented body oil and slowed her movements. Even his silver hair, still echoing with atma, smelled of a fresh shower. Monika’s breaths tickled the back of his neck.

“I can’t think!” Kuro thought to himself. Her closeness was beyond comforting, and the strength with which her thighs squeezed against his side emptied him of sense. The shea butter in her hair, and lavender on her skin almost lulled him to sleep. Finally, he managed to form a thought.

“What about Tamara?”

“Huh?”

“She never asked you about your sound?”

“I mean, she knows a lot about all the Families. I assume she already knows about our inability to hear ourselves.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

The tracing evolved into a powerful kneading, ironing out muted pops from Kuro’s spine. He moaned quietly.

“But how do you feel about all this?”

Sitting back upright, Monika sighed.

“I’m…conflicted. On one hand, she lied to all of us about your dad and she didn’t say anything about Lucia being related to you. But on the other hand, I think…I think she’s off. Her character has been inconsistent recently.”

“I’m surprised you’re not outright defending her. Didn’t she pretty much raise you to this point?”

“It’s true that she was there for me when I needed somebody to save me, and even now, I’m struggling to believe there isn’t a good reason for all this, but—”

“A good reason? It’s fairly obvious she wanted to use us.”

“I can’t say that for sure. It’s not like she had to save you guys. She even tried to let Soji go back to his old life even though she knew he was a bloom.”

“Your argument is that one time she lied and got Soji’s parents killed?”

Monika stopped massaging. He was right, of course, but his judgment was harsh. This was her savior, the woman who held her on the nights she cried to sleep, who washed her hair and showed her the world. However, this was also the woman whose face stayed blank even covered in blood, and whose eyes shone brightly because of it. And now that side of her was slowly becoming harder to ignore as that wickedness blighted the lives of Monika’s friends.

“I don’t know. I just…I dunno.”

Kuro was quiet. It was unfair to lash out at Monika because of her mentor’s sins, but it was hard not to when she defended the woman. It was even more frustrating that there was nothing to do with what they’d learned. He could only sit on this information while they marched towards Tamara’s war. As long as I can take care of mine.

“There has to be some way out of this…if we can get rid of these people that are after Soji, we’d only have the M.I.I. to deal with. Maybe we can cut a deal with an Elder…Tamara’s brother, perhaps. He’s supposed to be older than her, right? If I can explain to him what’s going on, then maybe he can help us,” the boy's mind raced, bouncing back and forth in a desperate search for a way to protect the ones he cared about. Tamara was a liability who could no longer be trusted, and would not sit idly by.

“Kuro?” Monika’s lilting tones drew him out of his thoughts. She laid down next to him, holding her head in her hand. He turned to stare into her eyes.

“Yeah! Sorry, I…I’m sorry. I don’t mean to blame you or be angry with you or anything. I’m just worried about us.”

“Us?” She raised an eyebrow.

“The three of us,” he clarified, “The future seems so uncertain. I don’t like that.”

This was usually the part where Monika reassured him that Tamara being around meant they’d be okay. That seemed inappropriate now. Before the girl could think of something to say, a loud banging on her door dissipated the rising tension between them.

“Monika! You better not be with that boy again!” Niko yelled as she exploded into the room, surprised that the door was actually unlocked. Her jaw dropped at the sight of a shirtless Kuro sharing a bed with Monika.

Without thinking, she pointed at him, threading her atma wings onto the boy, while Soji appeared behind her.

“Kai! So you’ve gone and done it, Kuro!”

Horrified, both Kuro and Monika stuttered to explain themselves. As Monika noticed Otta take a peek through her room door, she gave up on keeping her cool.

“Everybody, out!” She raised her hand, launching wires of atma at the intruders.

~

July 30, 2022 - 2:34pm

Rose Estate, Eden City, New Eden

Niko’s wings dropped Monika and herself unceremoniously onto the gravel covered walkway of their family estate’s courtyard. Meticulously designed and maintained, it radiated a timeless elegance inspired by the Imperial Palace of Japan. The matter of which one came first—the Estate or the Palace—was a popular debate among the Roses.

Young Japanese men, dressed in plain black t-shirts and pants tended to stone lanterns, and carefully pruned trees. The girls walked through the greenery towards a cluster of traditional wooden buildings. Monika was taken aback by how little the place had changed.

“You know ojisan doesn’t do change,” Niko read her mind.

“Yeah,” Monika replied as she watched younger versions of Niko and herself run across the grass they weren’t supposed to even look at. Echoes of her mother’s laughter brightened her memories.

“So, you and that boy,” the older Rose said.

“There’s nothing happening,” Monika interjected.

“But you like him.”

The girl had to stop herself from giggling. She still wasn’t quite sure where they stood. Talking about her love life seemed too…vulnerable. Nevertheless, she took the leap.

“I do…”

“But?” Niko cocked her head slightly, her short, lavender hair falling to frame her sharp jawline.

“It would make things weird. I dunno, there’s just so much going on, I don’t think it’s a good idea…”

“And yet, I caught him shirtless in your room. Shiatsu? You know that’s how I got Esme,” she chuckled.

“I’m trying out this thing called bravery. It’s my new aesthetic. Yasu would have a heart attack if she knew you were using that to seduce women,” Monika laughed. Niko winced at the mention of her grandmother’s name.

“Not just her, my mom, too. Niko, that is not why I teach you this,” Niko mocked. “Although, I can’t begin to guess why we had to learn that stuff.”

“It’s for improving atma flow,” Monika replied, recalling a lesson her mother taught her.

“Eh? How do you know?”

“Mom told me…she said it was an essential part of the Inking Ceremony.”

“Ah, that explains it,” Niko’s tone sharpened, “a Rose like me who can’t hear atma has no need for that kind of knowledge.”

It was clear the disdain wasn’t directed towards her, but if there was something to be learned from the past few interactions she had with Niko, it was that she tended to misplace her frustrations. Knowing this, Monika attempted to tread carefully.

“To be fair, a usurper like me has no need for that kind of knowledge either. And besides, using ink from the Devil’s Spine to graft a second technique onto us seems kinda…”

“Sacrilegious? Yeah, that’s why ojisan has a big vat of it sitting in a cellar somewhere. I don’t think she’s into that kind of thing for herself,” Niko’s softness returned, once again confusing Monika on the nature of her relationship.

“Niko. Why didn’t you stand up for me? You loved my mother too, you heard what they were saying about her, but you didn’t do anything. And when you finally saw me again…” Monika’s throat hurt from the creeping cry she didn’t realize she’d been holding back.

“I…” The answer was there, but Niko was ashamed. Monika was a prodigy. She exhibited the family’s gift from a young age, and had atma control better than some of the children twice her age. Being from the main branch, the same was expected of Niko, the elder of the two. But from the moment she was declared ‘deaf’, there was a neverending look of disappointment from almost every family member around her.

So when Monika embarrassed Yasu publicly, she guiltily felt a sense of relief, that for some time, she’d no longer be the main disappointment of the family. She’d follow orders and be the perfect daughter, to a point that her defect could be forgotten, like a chipped fine china, whose damage was hidden away from onlookers. The first thing Niko felt when she saw Monika’s growth was fear. Fear of being turned around to reveal the cracks, of being thrown away so as to not impede on a picture perfect set.

“You had Tamara,” she sputtered.

Monika glared at her cousin.

“I didn’t want Tamara. I wanted you. I needed you.”

Niko glanced away.

“I’m sorry,” she rasped, “I…I’m…” A coward. She couldn’t bring herself to confess her sins. She could only ask for forgiveness, and hope to begin her penance.

“You girls ought to be taught a lesson in punctuality. Although, I suppose your mother wasn’t around to teach you,” Yasu Rose turned a corner, cane in hand. Monika flung spheres of atma at the woman who sank her hand into the stone wall next to them. A stone hand emerged from the wall, blocking three small explosions from reaching the Elder. Debris broke off from the sudden emergence as Yasu retracted her hand.

The groundskeepers turned to the women, attention drawn by the noise. Yasu raised three fingers, summoning exactly three of the men to rush to her side and begin cleaning up the mess.

“That Cain girl taught you bravery. And stupidity. It suits you,” the old woman said, stepping on the back of one one of her staff.

“Is there a reason you called me here?” Monika spat as she wiped away her tears. The bubbling anger and sadness she had with Niko settled into plain anger.

“You seriously have no respect. The ignorance is astounding. Do you know who I am?” The woman asked incredulously. Before either girl could respond, she pointed at a worker who’d started packing loose bricks into a black bag.

“Die,” she commanded. Without hesitation, the man produced a small blade from his back pocket, unsheathed it, and slit his stomach open. He slumped over lifelessly.

“Clean this up,” Yasu barked at the worker below her as she stepped off his back. Like his coworker, the man obliged immediately.

“Can you understand now, the enormity of your stupidity? The only thing keeping you alive is an ability birthed from my womb.” Yasu closed the gap between herself and the girls. Monika only nodded, holding in the rage she felt boiling over.

“Now that we’ve exchanged pleasantries, let’s carry on to business. Niko, you’ve been given a chance to bring us honor. You’re going to marry Andel, to unite our clan with the Talias.”

The girl went rigid. She remembered Andel from the few meetings she was allowed to serve tea at. His gaze alone felt like he was licking her. What the fuck?

“I know you’ve been running around with that disrespectful little Saint girl, but it’s over now. She’ll be too busy with her new job, and you will start serving this family properly.”

“It’s bad enough that I let a commoner into my home, but for her to bring lesbianism with her and seduce my granddaughter…I’ve been too lenient. If it wasn’t for her closeness with Angelo, she’d be dead by now.”

Niko said nothing, only trembling as a result of a tumultuous myriad of emotions gathering within her. Monika, too, was struck silent by the announcement, not that she could have done anything. One only had to stand next to an Elder to be reminded of their mortality.

“As for you,” Yasu continued, “I called you here to carry your things. Your room will be needed for Niko’s children, in time.” The old woman stepped between the two girls, then turned to survey her older granddaughter.

“You’re eating too much.”

And just like that, she walked away. Like a natural disaster, she had no concern for the blood and grief she left behind. Niko’s fists clenched, while her face slacked. Wordlessly, she made her way to the family’s storage, itching to get her hands on a weapon. Monika followed a few steps behind her, observing.

“I’d almost gotten distracted. Whether Tamara is a liar or not doesn’t matter. Yasu has to die!”

~

August 6, 2022 - 5:15am

E.C. Campus, Eden City, New Eden

Soji danced between the world of sleep and wakefulness. His concerns for Kuro and Monika were only exacerbated further when they returned from their separate journeys last week looking drained of life. The few hours he could bring himself to sleep were filled with horrors, memories. His gloves now itched to the point of burning.

Outside his room, he could hear footsteps making their way downstairs. Most likely Esme on her way to prepare for the Saint Trials. The boy sat up.

“This is too much! Doc is nowhere to be seen, Kuro and Monika are acting weird, and Miguel’s training is killing me! And these stupid gloves!”

Soji ripped off the Instruments, and sighed at the immediate relief as the itching subsided. When he opened his eyes, however, he saw that he was no longer in his room. Miles of desert stretched over the horizon in every direction he looked, the sky singing brightly with nighttime blues and purples. In the distance, he could make out the figure of a boy with blazing red eyes. Soji had seen those eyes before.

“Hello!?”

The boy turned around, although his features remained obscured.

“Wá…Soji…”

“I don’t understand! Do I know you?” Soji ran towards the boy as a familiar sensation of bliss warmed his body. It felt like he ran for an eternity, with the sand desperately pushing him back with each step that he took.

The boy turned away, as black wisps rose from his body. The closer Soji got, the larger the boy in the distance grew, and the less human his form looked. Finally, an obsidian garden exploded into view, startling him, as Soji blinked awake.

Again, he found himself far from where he should have been, this time, at the infernal entrance of the Garden. The Spine loomed over him, calling to him.

“How did I get here?”

Soji looked down at his blackened hands, his sharp nails and orange-hot veins reminding him of Doc’s warning. He could see the lights of the city twinkling in the distance as the sun’s rays spilled over its buildings.

“What the hell is going on? Did I sleepwalk all the way here? And what was that dream?”

Screams, followed by the ringing of metal clanging against something hard drew his attention. Without hesitation, Soji ran in. As he delved deeper into the Garden, he felt the bloom part of him crash against the back of his mind, struggling for dominance. The transformation of darkening skin raced along his arm as power surged through him, and tendrils of smoke rose from his hair.

Blooms, grotesque in form, shied away from his approach as he ran towards the sound of conflict. He finally made his way into a small clearing, a rarity in this maze of sin and plant matter. The boy recognized Esme, covered in blood and whatever it was that came out of blooms, but not the maestros surrounding her. They battled against huge, humanoid creatures, utilizing fantastical Instruments he’d never seen.

One boy wore shining red boots, and when he moved, he was like a blur, jumping and kicking at their opponents with lightning-quick speed. A woman armored in dark silver plates pulled two swords from the void of her deep purple cape. She spun around, disappearing into the cape and reappearing midair, near the nape of the tallest bloom. Maintaining her momentum, she cut the thing’s head off.

Another girl flicked a blade that looked like a letter opener.

A small tear rippled in the air, from which the thick, monstrous hand of a wraith emerged, and grabbed the nearest bloom. The hand retracted as it squeezed the creature into a pulpy mess. Soji felt as though he was witnessing a dance he wasn’t meant to see. The grace and determination with which the maestros moved was entrancing.

However, it didn’t take long for his uninvited presence to be noticed as both sides stopped to face him. Esme’s eyes widened in horror.

“What are you doing here!?”

Before anyone else could say anything, the blooms stepped away from the maestros. One by one, they fell to their knees and bowed before Soji. With voices that sounded like hissing steam, they spoke one word:

“Kabiyesi…”