"We're here," Harūn grumbled as he took off Izaak's black mask

Lights flashed in his eyes, revealing a round table in the middle of a large room. The furniture was velvet and gold-lined.

Izaak whistled, "Dang, you guys got it good, huh."

"Sure," another councilman said, "Sit down for now."

Izaak took a seat around the other councilmen.

"Hah, gonna make me join you or something? Not gonna work on me!" Izaak bellowed in laughter.

"Izaak, c'mon. It's... almost not what you think." Harūn responded and urged the other councilmen to speak.

"Aba," The short, athletic one raised his hand. His eyes looked hyperfocused on Izaak, which unsettled him.

"I am Micah," The chubbier one raised his hand almost robotically, "It is nice to meet you."

"My name is Zimri, it's always great to meet a brother." Zimri reached across the table to shake Izaak's hand.

"Quite the—uh," Izaak faked a laugh, "unique arrangement of personalities you got going on, Harūn. Not really how they're shown on television." He reluctantly shook Zimri's hand.

"Nothing in Abadd is the same on television," Micah said. "We invited you into our Councilmen's Office to discuss Jaffe, Democratic King of Abadd."

"Are you allowed to do that?" Izaak chuckled as he looked at Harūn.

"Of course not, but we got a good opportunity here." Harūn lit a cigarette and took a puff.

"That's you, bud!" Aba said in impressively less than half a second.

"Oh, okay. I see. So what you're planning to do is have me be a part of your superhero squad to take down Jaffe so I can secure my spot at the top?"

Harūn looked blankly at him, "Something like that. Either way, we'll need your help to get him out of office."

"The consensus outside of Abadd is that he'd live for another 20 years, which should be accurate in the case he gets terminally ill. If not, we're looking at another 50-60." Zimri said.

"A miserable 50." Aba continued.

"Woah, alright, this is a lot. I mean a lot at once. Mind if we just slow down-"

"From the time we have spent with Jaffe, we have come to the fact that he is a destructive person indeed. If his career were to be jeopardized—either by someone else or his health issues—he would likely go on a final rampage." Micah interrupted.

"He has access to nuclear devices on par with the Magdala Federation and its states. He's likely to use them eventually. We have a contingency-"

"Listen, are you in or not?" Harūn mumbled.

Izaak slammed his hands on the table, "Holy shit! Shut up for one damn second!"

The door slammed open and Sheba rushed into the room with a transparent blade in her hand. She grabbed and tugged on Harūn's slick hair and pressed the blade to his throat.

"Izaak! Are you okay?! Did they hurt you?!" She breathed heavily, strands of hair stuck between her lips.

"Sheba?! Why are you he—," Izaak erupted from his chair and waved his hands in front of him, "No—no I'm not hurt! Don't hurt them, at least not yet!"

Sheba's eyelids thinned as she held Harūn's head by the hair.

Harūn looked up at her and lifted his hands, "Woah...is that you Sheba? Been a while."

Sheba continued to look at Izaak, "Are you sure?" Her breath steadied as she pulled on his hair even harder.

"Not so hard..." Harūn winced in his seat.

Izaak lowered himself back down into his seat and breathed heavily, "Yes."

Aba leaned over to Zimri, "At least not yet? Does he think he could beat us?" He giggled.

Zimri pushed him away and crossed his arms in his chair.

Sheba let go of Harūn's hair and backed away, an animalistic look still lingering in her eyes.

"Why did you bring him here?" Sheba demanded.

"Sit down, I assure you that no one here is in danger." Micah showed her an extra chair.

Sheba sat down and scooted next to Izaak keeping herself in between Izaak and Harūn.

"To make this quick, the Four Councilmen—us—are attempting a coup-d'état to get Jaffe out of office. We believe that in due time, when his life inevitably runs short, he will release all weapons of mass destruction in Abadd's disposal as a last act of his monarchical presidency."

"Come to think of it, why doesn't the raisin just get a kid?" Aba swiftly asked.

"He lacks the critical thinking for that," Micah answered.

Sheba's lips curled into a frown, "So you're planning on replacing Jaffe with Izaak? Then what happens to the council?"

"That would be up to Brother Izaak, of course. Whether he wants to keep the council or create a new advisory board." Zimri stated.

"This sounds all too convenient for us, so what's in it for you?" Sheba looked at Harūn.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"As an advisory board, why wouldn't we want the best for this country? If we let Toffee destroy this country, and maybe even the whole continent, what would we be?"

"Toffee? Toffee...that's a new one!" Aba pondered for a moment, "It's meh."

"Is he usually this hyper? " Izaak asked quietly.

"I don't get to express myself on TV so I've become accustomed to speaking in two manners according to certain situations. Councilman Aba and Aba!"

Poor soul... Izaak thought. He looked over to Sheba who stared at him in concern, Guess I'm a poor soul too. Either I pick Sheba's way or their way. I mean, surely she wouldn't mind some help? Better than her doing it herself.

Everyone was looking at him now.

"Uh...I accept..?" Izaak shrunk in front of Sheba.

Sheba crossed her arms and looked away.

"If the world's against me, why not have some more friends, huh?" He laughed weakly and shrugged.

Man, I'm a horrible brother.

"We are not friends, we are advisors." Harūn said as he puffed.

"Hmph. Yes, especially you." Sheba remarked.

Harūn looked to Izaak and pointed at her back as if to ask, "Why's she so mad?".

Izaak rolled his eyes at him.

"Before we talk about this any further, I must ask, 'Sheba'," Zimri brought his hands together thoughtfully, "You are Izaak's brother, no?"

Sheba eyed him, "Yes, and what?"

"Why have you changed your name then? As a daughter of Zala-i, you should never be ashamed of your beliefs. You should be Zheba."

"If I didn't change my name I wouldn't be here now. That's all."

Zimri sighed and nodded using his whole torso.

"Well, unfortunately, this won't be easy just because you have us. Although the advisory are the strongest under the government, we are only 6 altogether. As you said, most of the tax money goes towards Defense, and for this purpose." Zimri continued.

"We cannot hope to defeat Jaffe, his military—and if we were to get past them—the nuclear weapons. Our best hope is to get to Jaffe directly." Micah added.

"But the advisory board is the closest to Jaffe, no?" Sheba asked, turning back around a bit.

"Kinda sorta. He's gotten distant with us lately. We have reason to think he's hired some third parties!" Aba crossed his arms heroically.

Izaak produced another layer of sweat, Just how much changed since I left? Sheba got a lot more aggressive, I mean, she always has been, but wow! Now Harūn, ex-middle school bully, is a councilman, whom are also the protectors of Jaffe all of a sudden? It's only been seven years...

———

"Omega?"

There was a knock at Omega's door.

"Um, yeah?" He responded, looking up from his book.

Enjō pushed his way in with his back, cartridges stacked up in his arms.

"Man do I got something to show you." Enjō turned around to reveal at least a dozen game cartridges, "Bayuuuuum!"

Omega analyzed the cartridges and shrugged, "Are they some sort of miniature books?"

Enjō sagged his shoulders and groaned, "Books, books...yeah, something like that. Now come on! We just got these." Enjō didn't wait for Omega to get up before walking out of the room.

"What? Hold on a moment!" Omega flipped back a couple of pages to grab his bookmark and put it on the right page before following him.

Enjō's room was surprisingly clean and organized for his rambunctious behavior. At the far corner of his room, a bright TV screen flashed in Enjō's eyes.

"So, whaddya wanna play first?" He flipped through the cartridges, "We got 'Holo-Ball', 'Rip N' Tear', 'The Cake is a Lie', 'Definition of Insanity', 'Kick Ass, Chew Gum'—"

"Wait, wait. What is this? What are these?"

"Huh? Whaddya mean 'what is this'? They're games man, video games?" Enjō waved a cartridge in the air.

Omega tilted his head to the side.

Enjō rubbed his head in confusion, "No way...don't tell me—Oh man, I am so, so sorry you haven't experienced heaven on Earth yet!" He got up and handed him a controller, "I'll teach you everything."

———

Uyama's shoes clanked down the hotel hall. He rubbed his face and shook his body before knocking on the door.

"Hello? Who is it?"

Uyama cleared his throat, "Excuse me, I'm here to talk to you about your car's extended warrantee—"

The door opened slightly and a tall shadowy figure walked towards the door.

"Not the welcome I expected."

The door slowly pulled away and revealed Spade Mask wearing a pink bunny helmet.

Uyama leaned on the doorway romantically, "Well, hello darli—" A laugh escaped his lips, "What the hell are you wearing?!"

"'Yama?! Why are you here?!" Spade Mask closed the door in his face, and growled, "Wrong. Helmet!"

There was a crash in the room, and Uyama covered his mouth as to not burst out laughing.

The door opened and Uyama stood straight with his hands behind his back, "Good evening, Mask of Spades."

"So what do you want? I had my last show here yesterday, I'm shuttin' down..." Spade Mask murmured under the helmet.

Uyama tilted his head and looked down at Spade.

"I know I've mentioned it before, but...is the mask necessary? Doesn't feel like you're..." He pointed back and forth to him and Spade, "talking to me, really. Your choice though."

Spade's helmet tilted down as they turned back to the hotel room, "So ya wanna hang?"

Uyama slowly shrugged as Spade Mask returned to her room to put the helmet down. She slowly walked back to the door with her eyes glued to the ground. Her hair was done in cornrow braids.

"Tada..." Uyama shook his hands, "Now let's go for a walk, yeah?"

"At least some sunglasses, alright?"

Uyama and Spade made their way to the park under the pure, blue night sky.

"Nice braids by the way, it's for the helmets I'm guessing?"

"I don't like them, I want to let my hair loose..." She groaned, "I need my old afro back."

"Why can't you? Too much to put under a helmet?" Uyama laughed as he sat down on a bench.

"Remember who you're talkin' to, while you're laughing like that." She smiled and sat down next to him.

"Seriously, though. Why not just take the helmet off? You'll be comfortable, right?" Uyama clasped his hands and looked up at the sky.

Spade put her hands in her sweatpants' pockets, "It's not that simple, bro. I won't be able to go out without people runnin' at me. Then there's the fact I'm Magdalian. They'd boo the hell out of me."

"Who cares what they think?" He threw his hands up, "The whole world is yours!"

"I care, 'Yama. I don't know why, but I do."

Uyama thought for a moment, with his arms wrapped behind the bench.

"Well, if you don't know why you do something, it's the same thing as not living for yourself. You're living for an image that isn't you, you know?"

Spade looked up at him for a moment, noticing the stars reflecting in his eyes, looking like he was off the earth.

"Thanks," She smiled and looked back down to her tennis shoes, "I might consider that."

Some time passed before Spade spoke again.

"So what about Chika? Have you seen her lately?" She asked softly, hoping not to hit a nerve.

"Yeah, I did," Uyama dug into his shirt pocket, "I felt like things were looking up for us, so..."

He put on a pair of glasses with lipstick stained into the right lens, "I picked this up from her grave."

Spade giggled with her hands to her mouth, "Oh my gosh, I forgot about those! Can't believe the lipstick's still there."

"I won't be able to see through my right eye much, but it's a morale boost."

Spade settled down and sighed, "Chika was such an interesting girl. I still miss her."

Uyama smiled and leaned back, "I miss her too, but I've always felt like she's watching me—us. It's not even like that corny stuff people talk about. I really feel her. But I also miss her smile, how she was so shy to show her teeth, but did it anyway—for me. I loved how her clumsy her hands would get in mine..."

He sighed as he thought back to the last time he saw her, "I wish I never let go. Even if it means I wouldn't be here."

Uyama looked up at the night sky as the park grew silent. Spade relaxed her head on the bench and smiled.

It's so quiet...so quiet, Uyama thought as his eyes watered.

The silence continued to grow until crickets began chirping around them. Noticing the time, Uyama sat up from the bench.

"Ah—I rambled, sorry about that. I gotta get back." Uyama looked over to Spade Mask. Her snores disturbed the silence of the forest.

Uyama rubbed the back of his neck, "Maybe a little more rest won't be so bad."