“Damn, that shit was terrifying....” Jian pants. He is laying fully spread out on the tan rooftop he is on, attempting to catch his breath. Quib sits next to him, drinking from a thermos filled with pineapple juice.
“Thank God I got here in time! I had to leap to catch you. A second late and you would have fallen to your death!” Quib says, screwing back on the lid of her thermos and flapping out the bottom of her cloak. “Either way, that sigil head shouldn't bother you or anyone else any further.”
“That man...” Jian says between pants. “he's dead, isn't he....?”
Quib giggles under her breath because of Jian's concern. “That sigil head nearly killed you multiple times and you're concerned about his life?” She gets up from her sitting position and goes to lift Jian back up. “Come on, I'll show you him!”
Although Jian doesn't particularly want to see the mess that the madman had left on the pavement below, he still opts to go along with Quib. He takes her hand and she lifts him up, after which they walk over to the edge of the rooftop.
Jian leans over to look at the bloody mess the madman had left on the ground. He has obviously died from the impact, with a pool of blood forming where his body had landed. “You're lucky, my friend.” Quib states, patting Jian's chest. “That jump off of the roof was definitely a brave one, and that sigil head would have killed you if you hadn't decided to go for it!”
“Sigil heads, huh.... Why are you calling him tha?” Jian asks, backing himself away from the rooftop's edge, given the height was starting to make him feel sick.
“I wish I could tell you more, Jian, but my commander told me not to tell you. All I can tell you is that me, my allies and my leader are here to help you and your friends until all this eventually ends.” Quib answers, also backing away from the rooftop's edge.
“That brings me to a more important question. Who are you, exactly? And who is this commander that you're talking about!?”
Quib lowers her head in thought over what she should say. If what Henry had told her earlier yesterday is true, then this boy is in love with her, and she also is starting to feel some mutual attraction. If their love is to prosper, then there can't be any lies or secrets, she knows that just as much as any other person, but... “Listen, Jian, I can only tell you a limited amount of information. All I can let you know is that there are four of us. The Guardian, the Key, the Taurus, and me. We've been sent to help you and your friends throughout your journey. We're mainly here to keep you guys alive, but also to guide you towards your ultimate goal. After we leave here, I'm going to need you to gather your friends at your dorm room. There is a lot that all of you need to discuss.”
“Oddly enough, I would have done that even if you hadn't told me to.” Jian says, regathering himself and looking straight into Quib's eyes. “How do you know all of this?”
Quib sighs, realizing that Jian's curiosity over her is getting in the way of him seeing the bigger picture. She grabs a hold of her cloak hood and lowers it, revealing that her hair is currently down. She takes a band out of her pocket and uses it to tie her hair back into a knot. When Jian sees her with her hood down, his feelings from the earlier day come back. “Oh my God, I almost forgot how beautiful she is....” Jian thinks.
She walks over to Jian and gently places her palms on his cheeks. Quib can feel Jian's cheeks heating up in her palms, which makes her smile. She kisses him on the forehead and then places her forehead against his, keeping her face tilted away from Jian's. “Jian, please understand, I must keep quiet for now, but everything will become clear in the end. Just give us time and you and your friends will understand everything. Even though I must remain silent, I hope it will not leave a hole in our relationship. If it makes you feel any better, then I will stay with you until the end, guiding you along with my commander. I hope that will be enough for you and all of the others....”
Jian can barely think with Quib so close to him but he is still able to blurt out “Alright....” before Quib moves her face away from his.
“Perfect!” Quib says while motioning away from Jian. Before she can motion for Jian to follow her to the rooftop exit, the sound of police sirens can be heard coming closer to the building. “Okay, not so 'perfect'.... Come on, Ji' we need to get back to your dorm room before night arrives.”
With a smile on his face because Quib will be staying with him for at least a little longer, Jian nods his head and follows Quib through the doorway leading into the building.
Quib and Jian remain in a relative silence as they walk through the building. When they arrive on the second floor of the building, Jian remembers that when she had risen her hands out of her cloak earlier, he had caught a quick glimpse of a blade on Quib's person. “Hey Quib,” he queries. “Do you have any weapons underneath of that cloak?”
“I honestly was wondering when you were going to catch on to that.” Quib says, raising her hands to her cloak strap. “It should be obvious that if we are going to protect you that we need to at least be armed. I can show you what I have on me, if you want?”
“Honestly, yes.” Jian admits, his eyes fixated on Quib.
“Okay.” Quib says, releasing her cloak strap and removing her cloak from her shoulders. She grabs her cloak and folds it neatly under her arm.
From the assortment of bows, short swords and knives strapped to her body, Jian wonders if Quib must be some kind of archer. On her back is strapped a large, current day hunting bow, with the ammunition for it stored in a waist quiver on her belt. A sheath strapped to her leg holds a thigh-length steel short sword with a ruby-engraved handle. Fitted across her abdomen is a fold out crossbow with a single bolt already loaded in to it. Bolts for her crossbow are held in another holster across her abdomen. She is also wearing a utility belt that holds many little items, like her thermos and a satchel filled with beef jerky, along with other items that are more related to the mission and combat. There is also quite a few knife holsters on her body, seemingly used for activities outside of combat, based on their build. Finally, she is wearing leather armor with small pieces of chainmail exposed at certain portions, like where there is a large hole in the leather armor around her stomach area showing her street clothes underneath of both.
“Are you an archer or something, Quib?” Jian asks his new friend and possible lover after he has seen enough of her weapon assortment.
“Yep. I'm the very best archer that my group has! Hell, I've even been called the best... on the planet! I know that I'm one of the best shots and the most accurate person with a bow of any kind out there. I have actually been interested in archery since I was a child, and have put my mind into becoming the best ever known.” Quib says cheerfully back to Jian, giving him a quirked smile.
As Jian and Quib move down to the first floor, Jian starts to wonder if this new girl in his life even harbors any emotions towards him at all. “Quib...” he asks half-halfheartedly. “I was wondering... do you like me at all...?”
Quib smiles at Jian's question. She knows what he means, she's not stupid and she has been looking for the right person for a relatively long time. “Listen Ji', you and me are like two opposites. You're really good with computers but haven't exercised a single day of your life. I, on the other hand, suck with computers, but I'm a trained warrior who knows how to fight an assortment of enemy types-”
“I take that as a no then....” Jian says with his head tilted down.
Quib lightly sighs through her nose and then wraps her arm around Jian's back, pulling him close. “No Ji', you didn't let me finish. A lot of the time opposites attract, like how you currently think about me. And I won't lie to you, I'm starting to have some feelings for you too, it's just that I need to get to know you better first. During the journey you're going to take, we'll get to know each other better and maybe I'll learn to love you as much as you love me. If you need a better answer than that, then maybe we can learn from each other, like how you can teach me about technology and I can teach you how to use a bow. So please, don't feel bad about this. It's going to take a girl like me some time, okay?”
Before Jian can respond, Quib puts a finger to his lips and listens intently. Through the walls of the building, Quib can vaguely hear the murmur of voices, quite a few of them to be exact. “Hold on.” she says in a low voice before putting her cloak back on and motioning Jian away from the front entrance of the building.
As both her and Jian walk into a side room, she says to him “There's a crowd gathering outside. We're going to have to find another escape route, and we need to find one fast before the police start investigating the building.”
“Alright, I'll start looking around.” Jian says after following Quib into the side room. Soon after he wanders into another room to the left of the room's entrance.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
“Shit... Jian, have you found anything yet?” Quib quietly yells, hoping that Jian has found another way out after she realizes that there is no way out in the room she is in.
“Quib, come over here. I think I've found an alley exit.” Jian says back to Quib. Quib acknowledges Jian's response and walks into the room he is in. She sees him attempting to open the door to the right of where Quib had come from, but the door isn't giving way. He notices her out of the corner of his eye and says “From what I can see through the door's window, there's an alleyway on the other side, but the door is shut tight. Do you think you can cut through it with your sword?”
“Back up.” Quib says to Jian, drawing her short sword out of it's thigh sheath and walking to the side of the door. She pulls her sword up high and aims for the doorknob. With a grunt, she swings her sword and slashes it clean off. After which, the door swings helplessly open.
“After you.” Quib says with a smile, doing a polite bow to Jian as he walks by. She follows close behind him and then motions for him to take a route back home through the north end of the alleyway, since taking the way back that Jian had come from during his chase might get them seen by the police or bystanders who could link them to the death of the sigil head from earlier.
Soon enough, after a long stretch from the crime scene and through the city, Jian and Quib arrive at the entrance to warehouse alley. “Come on, not much further and we're at Unimori.” Quib says, grabbing Jian's hand and walking forward.
Although Jian wants to put on a brave face for the woman he loves, he can't help feeling uneasy about the alley. He fears that going back into warehouse alley might trigger that odd reality shift that he had seen before. He remains planted in the ground, not moving an inch despite Quib's attempts to pull him forward.
“Hmm? Is everything alright Ji'?” Quib says in concern after realizing that Jian isn't moving.
He shakes his head,pushing away his fear and then says, although now breaking out in a cold sweat “Oh... it's nothing, let's keep going.”
Quib then gives Jian another pull and he then continues behind her, but he remains relatively close to Quib, his fear starting to get to him. They continue through warehouse alley until they are about halfway through when Quib realizes something.
“Hey Ji', we haven't told everyone to meet at your dorm room yet, have we?” Quib says, stopping in her tracks.
“No, I don't think we have. Do you want me to call everyone up and tell them where to meet at?” Jian asks Quib, who has now walked over to the wall of a destroyed warehouse and is resting her back against it.
“Yeah, you should call them up. Start with Boz. He should be with Lera right now, so that would knock out two birds with one stone, so to speak.” Quib says while taking out a piece of beef jerky and taking a few bites.
“Alright, just a moment” Jian says, pulling out his smartphone and starting it up. He then switches over to his contacts and pulls up Boz's phone number on his quick dial. He touches the call button and then puts the phone to his ear.
The phone rings about four times before Boz's voice comes up on the other line. “Yo, what's up little buddy?” Boz says over the phone.
“Great, I got a hold of you the first time.” Jian says, putting his left hand in his pocket while he speaks. “Listen, where are you right now?”
“Remember that I asked Lera out a few days ago? Well, me and her are out at that new french restaurant that just opened up in the market district. What's it's name... Francis Iconomie? Yeah, that's it. Were in the middle of dinner, so can you call me back later?” Boz says, making a slurping sound in the middle of his speech.
“Wow, you must be going all out if you went there! I heard that an entree fee for that place costs around a thousand yen each! Anyway, I'll make this short. Something just came up and I need you and Lera to meet me at my dorm room. Carie is going to be there too, along with a girl that I just met yesterday. You can tell me what happened this morning at the dorm room, alright?”
Does this have something to do with the Yomatza?” Boz asks, saying the name of the his nations organized crime syndicate, given he was dealing with them earlier today and they might be coming after his friends. At least, that's what he thinks.
“The Yomatza!? What the hell would make you think that!?” Jian retorts, now wondering what exactly had happened earlier in the day. “No, this has nothing to do with them. Just head to my dorm room with Lera when you're finished your food, okay?”
“No problem little dude! Besides, Carie probably has the same questions that you do, so telling everyone at once will make things easier. Now if you don't mind, I have some food to eat. I'll see ya later, man.” Boz says as he sees his food coming into view.
“Great, I'll see ya then, bye.” Jian says. He hangs up his phone and looks over to Quib, who is laying with her back against a wall and was watching him as he talked. “Alright, Boz and Lera are on the way, they just need to finish their meal first. I'll give Carie a call-”
Halfway through his sentence his phone begins to ring in his hand. “Hmm...” he grunts before putting his hand up to shield his phone screen from the sun to reduce the glare. Once his phone has been shielded, he notices that Carie's number and name have appeared on his caller ID. “Well hell, that's convenient.” he says before pressing the call button and raising his phone to his ear. “Hello...”
“Oh thank God I was able to get a hold of you!” Carie screams into the phone, not able to keep her voice at a respectable level. “Listen, that Quib girl that you were wondering about doesn't even have a birth record, not in this country, not in my country, not in Any freaking country! I can't find anything on her, she's like a damned shadow! Jian, if you ever see her again, run, run as fast as you can and get as much distance from her as possible!”
Jian lowers his head and closes his eyes, thinking of how he should handle the situation. “Carie, listen to me, please, just listen to me. Quib isn't a threat, she actually just saved my life a few minutes ago....”
Carie gasps at what she hears “Wait, is she with you right now!? Don't go near her Jian, she is an enigma and we both know nothing about her! Did she tell you anything about her or her past!?”
As much as Jian wants to tell Carie that she did so that she would calm down, he knows that it wouldn't be right to lie to a friend. He sighs and then speaks into the phone. “No, she didn't... but that's not important. She saved my life, Carie! If she hadn't caught me, I would be a splat on the ground right now!”
“Even if she did save you, she is still dangerous, and the fact that she won't tell you anything about her makes her even more dangerous! Leave her behind, you have no way of knowing whether she saved you on purpose or not!” Carie continues to yell back at Jian.
“Carie, first off, calm down. Second, she told me that her and her friends are here to protect all of us.” Jian says again in an attempt to fix the situation.
“Wait, she was wearing a brown cloak when you first saw her, right...? Wait, scratch that.... Aw shit, my minds in turmoil...” Jian hears Carie sigh through his phone before she continues to speak. “She's with you right now, correct? Can I speak with her?”
“Oh, yeah, sure.” Jian looks towards Quib, who is now finishing off the rest of her pineapple juice. “Hey Quib, Carie wants to talk to you.”
Quib looks toward Jian and nods her head in agreement. She speaks as she fits her thermos into her belt pouch and walks over to Jian. “Alright, if it will make things go faster, then I'll speak with her.”
She holds out her hand to Jian “Can you give me the phone please?” she asks him before he places it in her hand. “Thanks....” she says before raising the phone to her ear and saying “Hello? Are you still there Carie?”
“Listen to me, brown-cloaked girl, I know nothing about you and neither does Jian. If you think that you can just walk into our lives without explaining yourself, then you will be well mistaken!” Carie says into the phone. Despite what June had told her the day before, she is still completely in the dark about exactly who these people are that are supposed to help them.
“Carie, calm down before you blow a fuse. I wish I could tell you who me and my friends are, but you will have to remain in the dark for now. Trust me, everything will become clear by the end. So please, Jian has something very important to tell you so meet him back at his dorm room. He's on his way right now with me to talk with you and his other friends.” Quib says, holding Jian's phone up by the tips of her fingers.
There is a silence in between the two for a few moments while Carie processes her response. After five seconds, Carie finally responds. “Alright, I'll meet with Jian and listen to what you have to say, but don't think about getting romantic with him until you explain yourself! And since I know that you don't go to the school, I should let you know that the school has a curfew and a lock up time, so you need to get here before it gets dark, got it?”
“Yes, I got it. But please, you must understand that getting angry at me won't make things go any faster for either my identity or for your journey. Please remain calm from now forward, your supposed to be the calm and friendly person of the group anyway.”
“Wait, the calm person of what group? What in the hell are you talking about!?”
“You'll figure it out eventually, bye.” Quib says before ending the call and handing the phone back to Jian, not giving Carie a chance to respond. She then starts talking to Jian. “She'll meet us there. Whether she will be any calmer or not, I do not know....”
Jian turns off the screen of his phone, slides it back into his pocket and then gives Quib a broad smile. “Don't worry, she's just a little defensive of her friends.” Jian then points toward the other end of warehouse alley and says “Come on, we need to get back before the school closes.” and starts walking towards the area's exit.
Further back into the city, on top of one of Ignama's many buildings, stands another brown-cloaked individual. He looks down into warehouse alley through a pair of high-power binoculars. He sighs as he watches Jian and Quib walking through warehouse alley to Jian's school.
That individual is none other than the group's commander, Raphael Danteo. He couldn't believe that one of his men had ignored his orders. He told them not to come into contact with Jian or his friends, and Quib has directly disobeyed them.
Then again, now that he thinks about it, he realizes that direct contact is necessary if Jian and his friends are going to survive. The main reason they are here is to keep them alive and to help them towards the goal that they are destined to complete, but to complete that goal, they are going to need the JB's help directly, not indirectly. Jian and his friends will need their firepower if they wish to stop the sigil heads.
He had originally thought that Jian's group wasn't going to need to know his team's origins. They are aliens to each other, after all, but they are getting curious as to who the JB are, and why they are helping them. He can tell this from all of the day's events, from the incident that had occurred with the gang members earlier to the phone conversation that had occurred moments ago between Carie and Quib that he had hacked into.
He could simply give Quib the okay to release information, but giving away too much knowledge too fast might result in a fatal turn of events. He'll tell them personally, but just not yet. They need more time to get situated with the city's current and to-be state. Once they understand their situation, then Raphael will tell them everything.
Raphael lowers his binoculars and puts his communication glasses back on. He then puts his two fingers to the right leg of his glasses and presses the buttons on the front and back of his right glasses leg. He speaks June, Quib and Miyra's name and then waits momentarily for the communication session to start up. After hearing the chime of all of them entering his call he says “Gear up everybody, the real story is about to begin....”