Chapter 2
When they narrowly escaped from their captors, they arrived from the frying pan into the fire, so to speak. The news reporters and journalists and everyone else was gathered around SeRAPH Headquarters, assaulting Reito and Hina when they exited out of the car with flashing cameras and scribbling pens.
“Reito Kazuyuki, you’ve been involved in a recent event where you failed to protect an important client of yours? That was that criminal’s father there, wasn’t it?”
Another reporter said. “Kazuyuki-san, why are you protecting that criminal? Dr. Hatoyama is a respectable man who is known for scientific advancements in our community and has contributed much to our technology. Is it because he’s the son of your friend, Taka Fujimoto?”
Reito and Hina flocked over Junshin and shielded him from the reporter’s prying eyes and cameras. Though Reito seemingly kept his cool, Junshin could hear him grinding his teeth and uttering out, “Bastards” underneath his breath while Hina quickened her pace and kept her head bowed down while she helped Reito escort him into SeRAPH’s doors.
When Reito slammed the door behind him, his cool facade melted away. His grey eyes glinted like steel as he shouted, “Those rat bastards will do anything to undermine someone’s reputation. Don’t they know that I’ve been trying so hard to redeem myself for my previous error?”
Reito shook his head. “Nothing will stop them. But the most important thing is, we escorted Junshin safely to SeRAPH.”
Junshin remained silent, his skin prickling underneath Reito’s intense gaze. The remnants of anger still haven’t completely left him yet, though the steel edge in his eyes disappeared.
Hina lifted her head. “That’s so awful, Reito. You’ve trained us to become who we are, to be professionals; we’re indebted to you, so we won’t abandon your side just because of a couple of reporters or so. We believe in you.”
“Thank you, Hina,” Reito said while putting a hand to his brow and smoothing his black hair as though it would relieve him of the obvious stress that bubbled underneath his demeanor. “Rika, Shizuya, and Kanna should find their way in here shortly. They probably went the roundabout way, most likely. Our priorities lie with getting Junshin to see SeRAPH’s therapist.”
Reito snapped his fingers at a nearby adult staff member, who immediately saluted Reito and stood rigid straight upon seeing his gaze directed upon him. “Go tell those media people to fuck off, except in politer terms,” Reito said, and the adult nodded while he headed out of the doors and into the seething crowd of masses.
Reito prowled down the halls like a great panther or some other predatory cat, and he opened the doors to Therapy Services.
“Setsuna, we need your help,” Reito said as he started to number the things she had to do, “First, we need to get Junshin’s consent towards a telepathic scan. Make sure his mental shields aren’t too heavily damaged or fractured by trauma and then repair them if need be. Then we need to investigate the abilities that this Mind of God can do…because I have a feeling that it has infinite power and implications, though we don’t understand or fathom the full functionality of it yet.”
“What’s all this about?” Setsuna said with a frown towards Reito, before she smiled towards Junshin apologetically. “Consent is important of course. We have a policy not to read another person’s mind unless if they consent permission for it. There are a handful of tricky laws of the handling of telepathy, though we’ve got staff that monitors the misuse of telepathy or uses it to help heal broken minds or traumas.”
“That sounds awfully convenient,” Junshin said.
“It involves careful handling,” Setsuna said. “I prefer using traditional therapeutic methods to extreme methods like using telepathic wipes or fixing fractures inside the mind forcibly. If not under the hands of a professional, then a person could end up quite different from what they used to be, or even regress.”
“Regressing? It’s natural that there would be some consequences to something that could overwrite someone’s mind, but doesn’t it sound like brainwashing?”
“Well, it’s a very delicate process, and a professional should handle someone else’s mind and work to help improve any fractures and fissures inside the mind.”
“Hina cured me,” Junshin said. “I think.”
“She didn’t heal the trauma from your mind that you no doubt experienced,” Setsuna said. “She’s one of our best Medics, but she’s not a therapist or telepathic master. Though to some extent, every Psion has baseline telepathy and telekinesis, but to find someone who mastered a certain branch of that, like Hina specializing in biokinesis, her brain is wired towards healing and body enhancements. Her side effects are also being immune to diseases and aging, as her cells adapted to that certain effect of what deliberately practicing biokinesis.”
“You can get rid of it?” Junshin asked.
“I could, though there are certain risks involved,” Setsuna said. “You could end up with a completely different personality or you might acquire another trauma or personality flaw that you didn’t have before.”
“I’m not sure if I would get rid of it,” Junshin said. “I need to have these memories. To remember what I must do.”
“And what is it that you’re planning to do, Junshin?” Hina asked.
“Find Kazuki, I suppose,” Junshin said. “He’s mocking me. He’s trying to one-up me. He’s trying to make me feel incompetent.”
Setsuna frowned a little, before saying, “To be honest, we’re trying to track down Kazuki as well. But I think that should be put on hold before we acquire your consent to do a telepathic session. The reason why Reito took you to me first. We wanted to discover some things through your memory that your father left behind and try to track down Kazuki. He’s kept his tracks well covered this entire time and we can’t locate him. We’re not sure what kind of powers he has, though he seems to disappear without a trace and is wanted in several countries. But he eludes the authorities and organizes and rallies criminals together.”
“That sounds like my brother, all right,” Junshin said with a grudging admiration. “He had fearsome intellect, though he doesn’t use his talent for any good at all. When he was testing his powers, he used me as an experiment and would use all kinds of telepathic and telekinetic stuff on me.”
“I see,” Setsuna said. “You’ve always competed with your brother or something like that when you were little?”
“Every time that I would show times of outshining my brother, he would do one of his experiments on me,” Junshin said. “And he gave me cramps so bad that I thought I would die.”
“That must’ve been awful,” Hina said sympathetically before she clasped Junshin’s hand within her own. ‘Listen, Junshin, we’re here to help you. We’ll get you out of this situation and make sure that you live a free life, without being tied to your brother. We’ll catch him and bring him to justice, but we’re going to need your help doing so, okay?”
“I’ll do my best,” Junshin said, before Reito nodded towards the man who handled the media.
“They’re gone,” the man said, flipping a coin in one hand and catching it swiftly. “I also foresaw something interesting with our new charge here.”
“Oh?” Reito said, humoring the man known as Ichinose Gin.
“Yeah,” The white haired male said. “I saw that he’s gonna be getting a Happy Meal at Mickey D’s. Who doesn’t love their chicken nuggets?”
Hina laughed a little. “That’s just like you Gin. Though I think the food provided here at SeRAPH is good.”
“Awh, Hina-kun,” Gin said. “I think that Junshin needs to fill out a little. Have some chicken nuggets dipped in honey. But in all seriousness, though, I foresaw something interesting…I think that you guys better huddle around and hear about it.”
“Your predictions are usually wrong, friend…” Reito said while patting his friend Gin on the back. “But the times you are…well, it’s really helped give us leverage against our enemies.”
“Let’s go to the precognition room,” Gin suggested and gestured for Junshin and the others to follow. When they made their way down a narrow corridor, Junshin ducked his head under the doorway that entered into the precognition rooms and saw various identical women with brunette hair typing on the computers and wearing some kind of contraption on their head while they typed. As they typed, there would be a huge holographic projection of statistics and data that fascinated Junshin. He wondered why the women were all identical. Clones of some sort? Synchronizers to form a mother brain data analytic hologram that predicted the outcomes of disaster and crimes that happened around the area? This seemed so surreal, as though he were in a movie or comic book.
“These wonderful ladies train under me,” Gin said cheerfully. “Of course, they’re doing the heavy lifting, I just commandeer them all to take statistics and real live cams around Tokyo to see any activity that happens there. That’s how we got wind of you, Junshin. When we found you, we saw that you would be key to our success in capturing Kazuki.”
“Could you see the details why, friend?” Reito said calmly, and Gin gestured to Reito.
“Well, it was more of a feeling rather than visualizing a future, you see, but I just know that Junshin will be a great part of our success.”
“Isn’t that common sense though? “Setsuna questioned while she shook her head at Gin. “Obviously Junshin is our ace against Kazuki, I think. If we train him properly and give him the right leverage, then we will be able to take down the greatest mastermind behind Tokyo’s criminal populace.”
“Patience,” Reito said to Setsuna, and Setsuna seemed flustered when she was being chided by Reito. “We found Junshin because of Gin, remember? At least for each prediction that he gets right out of the ones he gets wrong, he’s proved fruitful on this one.”
“Yes, I contribute too, you see,” Gin said while winking at Setsuna, while Setsuna scoffed.
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“I think that you just slack off from work and go to McDonald’s whenever you can just to have chicken nuggets with honey sauce at every opportunity,” she said meaningfully.
Gin laughed. “Hey, a good appetite means that you’ve lived a good life.”
“As a doctor, you shouldn’t be eating those things!”
Junshin watched these interactions carefully, taking note of their mannerisms and expressions and how they interacted with one another. He wondered how they could be so open and carefree while dealing in unsavory matters such as the criminal underworld in a military police force, that was filled with death and morbidity. How could they smile and laugh while a serious situation was going on? They seemed to be bonded together, though something lingered in Junshin’s mind: the more they try to get to know you, the easier they can con you.
He suspected there was some catch to this whole thing. They didn’t give him any reason to believe that they were unreasonable people or even cruel like the scientists and Dr. Hatoyama did, but Junshin learned another important lesson from Kazuki; that the deepest betrayals were made from the people that you trusted the most. If he were to grow to trust these people, to let them in and share his problems with them, the wrench of the knife in his back would only hurt worse. So Junshin kept his eyes upon them, observing any signs of deceit or swindling cons.
He had been a slave to Kazuki. He had been a slave underneath Dr. Hatoyama. And now he would be enslaved to SeRAPH. However, SeRAPh might be the key to his freedom; it would be foolish of him not take advantage of the opportunity. It seemed like there might have been a divine intervention after all if there was a God. If he were to be truly free of Kazuki’s complex machinations to tear him and break him down and live with freedom, then he would have to survive and endure a little longer. He needed to gain the knowledge to overcome his situation. He felt like he was being thrust in without any preparation at all, but it looks like it's time to take action.
There were many possibilities. Maybe Junshin could use Setsuna to learn how to tamper his own mental engineering so that he can self-hypnotize himself into overcoming his fear. Yet, it was also this fear that kept him alive in all these situations, wasn’t it? His sense of self-preservation was too strong. He knew that if he openly allied himself with the ANGeLS, his brother would only bring down wrath and fury upon even harder. The ANGeLS were quite possibly using him, and where did Junshin’s interests lie? Junshin decided that he would use the ANGeLS to become so powerful that no one would fight him or control him. Ever.
His environment simply switched, after all. This SeRAPH seemed like a place conducive to learning. But he didn’t trust that the ANGeLS could truly help him? How can he trust someone that hasn’t managed to capture Kazuki and bring him to justice yet? No, this was his problem and his alone. As the underworld taught him, no one was your friend. Others only looked out for their own self-interest. Betrayal was common, and those who were kind and naive quickly got gobbled up in the maw of monsters known as men.
“Junshin?” Hina questioned, snapping his attention out of his thoughts. “You seem deep in thought.”
“Oh,” Junshin said, wondering what to gauge of Hina. Hina smiled easily and laughed easily it seemed, even after bouncing back after a stressful situation. How could she smile like that? And she was a professional Medic, it seemed. “There’s no need for concern. I’m simply thinking.”
Setsuna clapped her hands together, before saying, “Right, Junshin. We need to work on your memory constructs. You’ve had some time to consider it. What is your answer?”
Junshin felt frozen to the spot. Was he supposed to make a decision right here? He wished he had longer to think about it. On the one hand, it could lead him to undermine Kazuki, but it also gave SeRAPH leverage against him in his most intimate memories. Or they could straight up brainwash him if they so wished, or a person would be privy to his most private of thoughts and secrets. If he were to go through the procedure, how many people would be in on it? Would everyone know? Would they question him as ill and out of control, a danger to be kept confined out of sight from society? He wanted to be among other people again. He was constantly under the control of other people, had someone else make the decisions for him.
But if Junshin were to catch Kazuki and screw him over as badly as Kazuki did him…
“I don’t have much choice, do I?” Junshin said with a somewhat resigned tone.
“There is always a choice,” Reito said while he began escorting Setsuna and Junshin back to Setsuna’s office, while Gin and Hina went off to do their own thing. “You may have a circumstance where you feel everything is out of control, but it’s how you choose to react to the situation. We need someone like you on our side.”
“I’m on no one’s side,” Junshin said, sitting up and looking Reito directly into the eyes. “How do I know that you’re the good guys? You may have rescued me, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t have your own agenda.”
Reito suckled on the toothpick, before letting out a sigh. “What will it take for you to trust us, Junshin?”
Junshin hung his head. “I don’t know. I do want to get my memories back, but I feel like…those thoughts should be my own. My own memories. I don’t want to share them with anyone else.”
“That is perfectly understandable,” Reito said mildly. “That is why we won’t do memory work without your consent, Junshin. What we can do, however, is figure out solutions. The organization that kidnapped you is going to strike back again, surely. They will be looking for you. So long as you’re with SeRAPH, you’re under our protection.”
Junshin clenched his hands into the sheets. “So as long as I’m with SeRAPH, I have to be monitored closely and always be with an escort? Sounds like a breach of freedom to me.”
“Your circumstances are different from other people, Junshin,” Reito said patiently. “We are looking after your best interests.”
Junshin folded his hands together and stared down at them. They did rescue him, that much was true. It meant that he probably owed them a great debt. Yet somehow, Junshin couldn’t bring himself to completely trust them and submit to their will. He hated the thought of doing memory work, of having his memories penetrated and pieced together for someone else to see. He understood that Setsuna was a professional at her work through memory reconstruction through her telepathy, though Junshin didn’t want to surrender what little control he had.If he didn’t own even his own memories, what freedom did that give him?
“I understand your reluctance,” Reito said while putting a hand on Junshin’s shoulder.
“If I were to do this memory reconstruction thing,” Junshin said slowly. “How long would it take?”
“Probably several intensive sessions,” Reito said, shrugging his shoulders. “We can’t say for sure. It all depends on how resistant you are to our help.”
“If I were to help…” Junshin said, thinking over his thoughts carefully. He knew he was at a crossroads here, and a great destiny awaited him. He didn’t like surrendering his freedom and control, though he felt as though his destiny lay at SeRAPH Academy, whether he liked it or not. “I want as few as possible people knowing about my memories.”
“It will just be Setsuna and me,” Reito said.
“Also…I want a place to be on my own. No escorts or anyone monitoring me. Just a private room where no one bothers me and let me think. My own private space.”
“Agreed,” Reito said before he steadied Junshin into a standing position and led him down the hallway. “We’ll accommodate you with these things. The first session of memory work with Setsuna is about to begin.”
Junshin swallowed. He still had misgivings about the memory work, though he knew that SeRAPH wouldn’t let him just go free, especially with having important memories in his head.
Once Junshin entered the room with Reito, Setsuna was prepared.
“Are you ready for this, Junshin?” Setsuna asked, staring at him with vivid green eyes. “Are you absolutely sure?”
“I don’t like it,” Junshin stated. “But I have no choice but to trust you guys. I still have my reservations, though it seems like my only option is to go along with your wishes. It seems like the most beneficial choice to me, after all.”
“We will help you,” Setsuna promised.
Setsuna held hands with Junshin, interlacing her fingers with his own. Reito grabbed Setsuna’s hand and linked Junshin and them together, closing his eyes as well. When Junshin closed his eyes and relaxed, he felt that same probing presence trying to enter his mind once again. Junshin attempted to relax his mental barriers, imagined removing the barrier that he provided brick by brick, and eventually, after the bricks have been lifted away, Junshin saw an image of himself using telekinetic force to explode the windows in his house and scatter kitchen implements, food items, shattered glass, and more into a revolving whirlwind around himself. He was talking to someone, but who? Junshin couldn’t quite see the shadowed figure standing before him.
“So this is a piece of your memory,” Setsuna explained. This is you demonstrating your telekinetic abilities after having an argument with someone, it seems. Do you remember much else about this scene? Try to absorb the details and try to find cues that remind you of important clues to this memory.”
Junshin walked around the room, watching himself in third person detachment. He saw the water faucet spout water and the glass in the middle of shattering. He looked around, trying to find clues, anything that would give him more details about this memory, though he couldn’t find anything. The expression on his face in that period, however, looked pained, as though he were suffering agony.
“I don’t remember much of this,” Junshin admitted.
“At least we have a memory fragment that we can work with,” Setsuna said as she explored the Japanese home with interest. “You lived in a nice neighborhood. This must be the awakening of your telekinetic powers. Though what caused them? Stress? Anger? Some kind of emotional outburst? Though look at your expression here. It looked pained. It’s almost as though you didn’t want to use your powers. Why? Did you hurt someone, perhaps?”
“I don’t know,” Junshin said, his mouth suddenly going dry. But looking at the scene here, it was very possible that he could’ve embedded shards of glass into someone’s skin, or pierced a knife through their soft flesh. Whatever caused the telekinetic outburst, it was a dangerous power, for certain.
Though something else disconcerted Junshin, besides the fact that he discovered an unpleasant memory. He felt a presence watching them, an unknown entity that lurked in the shadows and observed their every movement and thoughts. Junshin hated being watched without his permission, and Junshin realized, with a sudden despair, that he wasn’t free even in his own mind. Something was there. He knew it. Something that was watching patiently, observing him, though it hadn’t spoken to him yet. But the presence was tangible, like the air that was choking the breath out of him in this room. He couldn’t breathe.
“Junshin?” Setsuna said, as she clasped him by the shoulder in the dream. “This is only a memory, it can’t harm you! Remember to breathe!”
Junshin opened his eyes, and suddenly the materialization of the memory melted away from his surroundings and he ended up in the SeRAPH corridors once more. Junshin took a long, deep shuddering breath, before saying, “Something was watching us.”
“What was?” Reito asked, looking at Junshin curiously.
“I don’t know…but something,” Junshin said, shivering. “We had to get there as soon as possible. It could’ve…hurt us.”
Setsuna looked towards Junshin, then to Reito, before saying, “Fascinating. His mind is resisting us even now. I think that presence that you felt is a manifestation of your resistance towards us, of not yet trusting us. You created a lingering presence that repelled us away from the memory and forced us out of your mind. This is going to take more intensive therapy then I imagined.”
Junshin’s mouth compressed into a thin line. “So I need therapy now?”
“To help you, yes.”
“You go on and on about helping me, but is this really beneficial to me? I was scared, I was frightened, I saw something I didn’t want to see and I felt something there that could…I don’t know. Something I didn’t like. Something monstrous. I don’t want to go back there again if I can help it.”
Reito put a hand on Junshin’s shoulder. “Junshin, you need those memories. You need to go back in. You may not like them, they may be unpleasant, but remember, Junshin—you’ve got to take responsibility for the memories that you see and the powers that you have. Running away isn’t going to do you any good.”
“You just want information out of me,” Junshin said in a bitter tone. “Am I just another lab rat to you guys? A golden goose who lays golden eggs.”
“Oh Junshin,” Setsuna said. “We care about you. Honest, we do. That’s why we’re doing everything in our power to help make sure that your powers are stable, that you can control yourself.”
“I have plenty of control,” Junshin said, turning away from them. “As long as I don’t…think about certain things, then I should be fine. I can control myself. I have power over myself.”
Reito shook his head.
“You obviously don’t. You sensed something in there that you couldn’t control, could you? Remember that memory of you losing control? Imagine that happening on a much larger scale. Imagine this happening when you’re a fully matured adult and you still don’t have a grasp of your growing powers. You could cause a city-wide scale of destruction if you don’t learn about your powers. That’s why you need us. That’s why we’re trying to help you.”
“I still don’t trust you guys,” Junshin said after a long while. “But what other choice do I have?"