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Professor Maha was walking down the streets of the city where it was crowded tonight, holding the clear glass marble on his fingers. The lecturer was staring off the view at the street, narrowing his eyes at the image of the person before him and lowering the marble. That was the last time he saw her in his past life, it was unfortunate that she sacrificed herself to save them. "Why do you have to risk your life to save the world that time?" his eyes slitted a little at the thought of her until he clenched onto the marble into his palm, he let out a deep sigh when he lowered his fist.
Maha gazed at the moon in the night sky where no stars are around the space, there's only bits of the stars are appearing from there. The gentle and melancholic gaze changed into stern and cold gaze in calculating, before he sensed them coming and he smiled without remorse. "You have arrived at the bad time today, Kumbhakarna," Maha said as he turn around to see someone approaching him, he saw a man drank one of the man's blood with no remorse when he saw Maha for the first time--before reverting back into its form; a large Emperor-class Phantom Beast that took form of large man-eating ogre.
Maha watched the Emperor-class Phantom Beast dashing towards him without hesitation, he let out a laugh when he evaded his attack and his eyes shimmered in red--and the next thing that's in his fingertips, was a silver scythe. As it swung him over, slicing the ogre's wound on its chest--showing the part where the heart have been ripped. The scythe slowly reverted into a polearm when it was pressed on the ground, and he glared at him with immense hatred, hatred and hate towards him, loathing him.
The force was powerful enough to put pressure on his back into the ground, the Rakshasa hissed in pain when he was trying to get up and he was about to bite his calf--Maha simply swung his foot and kick up his chin and sent him to the ground on his back. "Too bad, that won't bring any cure to your evil desires. You're in this as much as I am," he told the giant ogre, while he began to cough up dark red blood, glaring back.
Kumbhakarna flinched when he tried to get up on the ground and he tilted his head innocently at him, finding his actions quite cruel and uncaring of humankind that made him interested. "Who… are you?" he asked while coughing up a blood, until Maha questioning him back--silencing him from struggling to attack him again.
"Who do you think, I am?"
Maha's eyes and expression were darkened, before he approached the Emperor-class Phantom Beast and gripped his throat tight as possible. This man will use his life for power, though, the results were terrible. "How could I found the truth so fast?" he questioned the question the fiend has no reason to be angry, instead it grinned evilly as he slowly calmed down from having some wounds from the sharp weapon. "Nobody could defeat me... nobody could escape from my plan once again, old man. You don't have to know who am I, yet..." Maha stated, he motioned his fingers as the beast twisted its limbs and crushed by the hands the man controlled.
He pulled his hand off, watching the beast screamed painfully in his death; the others watched the entire battle and couldn't do a thing due to the traumatizing experience to have it witnessed the latter slaughter the Emperor-class Phantom beast in a horrific way... "P-Professor Ma-"
One of them saw the same gaze at the young man, making them backed away from him until their limbs were broken as he snapped his fingers. He stood on his place, looking around his work and finding the ogre couldn't last long when it struggled to keep itself alive in the middle. It stopped moving as Maha sensed it died in its last breath and was swallowed by the orange flames, burning it to death.
Maha turn around and walk away from there, not bothering what he have done. "Human world, is so wonderful... when you kill one, you are then satisfied," he murmured, looking on the marble of his fingertip and clasped it against his palm as he continued to return home--where he lived with his daughter Izana; who still in the Bootcamp in her campus of Garuda University with her friends. However, his office desk is not neat from last time, the whole office was actually a mess and he suspected someone who did this when he was away. "Hmm… someone must have done something behind my back, well, at least it won't affect my entire plan yet."
Snatching the bloody note from the desk, a smirk crept up on his lips that his plan was almost ruined by them--someone found his notes for clone experiment where everything will be erased and this universe will take a massive impact if it's getting out of his hand.
Maha also noticed the blood on the wall, reading the threatening messages that were written in blood on the wall; 'Look back and look ahead on your future, look at the mirror for one last time--'
"You fucking have to end up getting in my way, huh?" he cursed, crumpling the whole paper to get rid of the message on the paper as he pressed it into a palm flame. "Time to restart this and bring you straight back to the lab."
Seriously, this professor named Siska Anindya keep bothering him--she keeps monitoring his secret operation no matter what would it cost. "She's always like that for the past decade..." he thought. He is not a mortal, no longer his initial form. He didn't intend to have anyone knowing the truth by the one who visited him just now, considering he can't stand any longer being weak like them when a month or two will give them incredible benefits. Even it will destroy the things he's fighting for--hell, he kept continuing his experimentation and will make the Kartawinata paid the price, the real price.
This is the moment he has started the plot, he knew the time will come. Those people who came to kill him for some reasons in the past, they are weak and pathetic. That's why he'll make sure that he's stronger than them. Stronger than those weaklings who tried to assassinate him, stronger than them who tried to kill his family, stronger than those who killed the world. Those people are nothing compared to him now. He would make sure that he won't lose to anyone ever again.
This is the moment he has started the plotting, he knew the time will come.
Those people who came to kill him for some reasons in the past, they are weak and pathetic.
That's why he'll make sure that he's stronger than them.
Stronger than those weaklings who tried to assassinate him, stronger than them who tried to kill his family, stronger than those who killed the world.
Those people are nothing compared to him now.
He would make sure that he won't lose to anyone ever again.
Seven months later…
—BREAKING NEWS: THE ARMY OF PHANTOM BEASTS ATTACKING THE CITY OF YOGYAKARTA WITH INCOMING ATTACKS—
Sanju was shocked to see the city, where everything was nothing but a disaster. "What the hell…?" he mumbled when he's entering the danger zone, the whole scenery has all explosion sand people are panicking around him. Knitting his eyebrows together at the horrifying sight of flames, he felt as if someone pulled the trigger to cause this Phantom Eruption--this is the first time he experienced seeing the tragedy like this. Raiden got arrived as well as he seems to be shocked by this mess, he didn't expect someone might have done this in their city and they knew who did this. "Sanjaya!"
They heard Izana shouted at them, arriving on the road with him with Juhaku, Masaki, Kanae and Kirana are here too. Wait, where's Akito? Oh right, he was busy with the Nirvana Organization stuff--which means he had to partake in the forces to deal with the Phantom Beasts.
"So, all of you made it."
Sanju's eyes widened when he heard that voice and he slowly look up above, seeing none other than Maha in front of him. "P-Professor Maha?" he questioned with his shocked and bewildered face, his eyes shows that he didn't expect this coming from him. "You, what are you…?" he was unable to say any words that he saw the professor standing at the rooftop of the high building before them, folding his arms that he was smiling coldly that his tone of his voice changed. "What's wrong? Did I came at the bad time? I suppose this was according to the plan I have made."
Maha chuckled softly when he introduced himself at this bad timing, Sanju's face was stained with blood and dirts like the rest-his hair was messy as well. "Plan? What plan?" Raiden asked.
How could this be?
What have he done to them?
What did he do after all this time?
"Father… what's the meaning of this? What have you… done?" Izana asked, she couldn't believe what her father Maha did to her all this time. Maha let out a sigh when he heard her questioned him. "Ah, I apologize if you didn't know what I was doing… behind your back, daughter dearest."
"Professor--no, Maha! I knew it, you're behind of the whole mess you did! Is that right?!" Juha snapped.
Maha smiled calmly, unfolding his arms. "Guilty as charged," he replied, his tone of voice became calm and cold. The sight of the city being turned into ashes filled everyone in disbelief, it was silent for a few seconds but Maha broke it. "I said, what's wrong? Why are you all reacting like that? Do you think I'm really that terrible?" Maha questioned again, his eyes narrowing at Juha and Raiden. "I've warned you about this before you know, but you still insist to follow through your plans against me… From now on, I'll spare some of you--the mess should be like this by my predictions--and I must take my leave. Also…"
Maha stared at his one and only daughter, she was scowling at him until she went flinched by his cold expression he never show before. "You must protect yourself and your friends, now's the time for us to part ways. I will not let you get in my way."
Izana doesn't know anymore whether she should call him a parent to her, this is too much that she has a lot of things to be processed.
"I… I can't believe you… have done this…"
Siska stood in front of Maha as she was angered by the outcome of this incident, holding her weapon on her hand as she was facing against him with the troupe of Singgahsana Forces. "Mahatma Kartawinata, you're under arrest for the treason, Phantom Beasts invasion and the genocide of the innocents!" she snapped, Sanju was shocked to see his mentor is here--he was about to speak until Maha suddenly pinned his hand on Haruna's chest--seeing him pinning him to the wall. "Ah ah, if one of you try to attack me--I suppose it's useless. You will die anyways, you won't be able to protect your students... Siska. Besides, I know that you were attending Garuda University just to spy on me... right, Akito?"
Akito shows himself as he has been spying on him the whole time, ordered by the Superintendent of the Nirvana Organization due to his suspicion against him. "Yes... I don't have a choice to do this," he replied, and Maha smirked when he have him trapped. "If any one of you keep pestering me in the day, I must excuse myself from protecting people. If one of you interfere..."
"Enough."
Sanju threatened, making him stopped talking and everyone was staring at him--confused and surprised by his sudden outburst. "I know... you told me, I have to become a good human being. You have taught me everything. But, I can't forgive you for what you've done to me... and my body had these scars, this..." Sanju gritted his teeth angrily, his hand clenched into a fist that he won't accept his behavior anymore. Haruna was shocked, he didn't expect him to snap on him at that time. Siska and the others were being shock as well, while Maha smiled and removed his hand from Haruna--leaving him fell to the ground. "Professor, no... Maha... after that time, I noticed you... never again, not in this lifetime."
He spat his hatred to him, it's rare of Sanju being too enraged like this and it horrified them to the point he's unleashing his dark personality and he doesn't care what would happen. "Oh dear, I remember that I did put 'something' within you after tending your little injuries when you're so young, Sanjaya Adinata--thank you for reminding me," Maha stated, making them shocked and Sanju was starting to get angry and confused.
"No! Don't hurt him!"
Siska pleaded, her eyes widened to see Sanju's collars being clenched and he was pinned on the concrete wall while he tried to let. go from him. "Why did you...?" she asked the mad man, but her response was receiving no answer from the lecturer but a dark glare from him. His friends, except Akito however--received a gravitational force that pinning them down to the ground, Raiden couldn't hold any longer when he was trying to stand up, even Masaki tried hard but his ability was the same. "This guy really have the power to crush us, what the hell is he doing?!" Damian yelled.
To their surprise, Akito seems... immune to his powers because of something--but they couldn't pinpoint what the reason was. Maha activate his ability to 'insert' his fingers into Sanju's chest, making him yelled in pain and gripped onto his hand, the people watching Maha are in dismay and shock--Haruna refused to let him put his fingers inside. "Maha, stop! You shouldn't be hurting him, no matter what you are now, to us!" the professor cried out in anguish and despair, and Maha doesn't give a single fuck to his reaction and he was silent.
Haruna continued to feel himself drowning in sorrow as his body felt weak against the massive power, seeing Maha took out an orb that was glowing in luminous purple light from Sanju--the sensation that Sanju felt is painful; as if a knife piercing his body and made him cried out for agony to the death.
"Sanjaya's been suffering in this harsh reality, he don't wanna hurt anymore. That's why..."
Maha grinned at him, his eyes that once gazed at him with kindness had a shade of color: red hue of his orbs, gazing at the terrified eye before him. "I'm just taking out my personal belonging, I didn't intend to let him die though..." he said, before holding the orb on his hand and Sanju's consciousness went half-awake--he let out a groan of agony and slouched at the wall. "Don't worry, I will not kill them. I have some 'business' to be taken care of. All of you, you can still come and meet me at my new lair after the aftermath is finished..."
His eyes widened when Siska launched her weapon at him, but Maha was unfazed--he was already prepared to kill everyone in there and he did this to everyone after causing this city's genocide. Blood drenched everyone when his pupils shrinked into a thin slit-vertical shape, making them to freeze like a prey as he closed his eyes. "It's time to say goodbye, Siska Anindya... perhaps your teachings will make him realize that in certain cases, he will be the victor in the end."
His fingertips glowed into red until one lash of his finger snapped Siska's body into half, spurting her own blood to stain the ground at once and shocking the viewers around him. Her students were terrorized and her life quickly flashes before her eyes, as she have seen the next her blood splattered all over the ground as her lifeless corpse fell down to the ground. Sanju's half-lidded eyes watched in horror, he saw her mentor died in bloody execution as her corpse laid in front of him and blood were leaking from the cut.
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The death count rose up quickly as Maha was playing with his students by slicing and chopping their bodies to pieces with his psychic, giving them so much panic by slaughtering the students all over the vicinity. He was very fast to the point he doesn't give a warning, there were crying and screaming noises around him and Izana couldn't control his emotion until one final death count.
Everything was black.
All left was nothing but the catastrophe.
***
Sanju opens his eyes before he'd immediately sitting up on the sleeping bag, he realized he was at the grassy ground near the mountain. The incident of the city of Yogyakarta was his worst nightmare, repeating the imagery that made him scarred even more. After that whole incident, Maha was there all of a sudden and he couldn't grasp anything from his words--but he remembered once he fainted and separated from his friends due to the crashing debris--his attendant died from that incident and the other freshman even the seniors of the campus were both dead and injured that month.
"Sanjaya!"
Kirana ran towards him and wrapped her arms around him, which he flinched a bit but loosen up when he find out Kirana was here. As she grabbed her shoulders with her hands, noticing him in his shocked state. Sanju saw Kirana in front of him as he went relieved tiredly, before he realized what happened when they were separated and he look up at her from his sleeping bag. "Kirana… what… did… what happened? Where are the others and…?"
Sanju was tired that he hasn't realized he was still affected by the nightmare, watching her with a nod that she still wearing her main attire. "All of us survived, alright? No one is harmed from the attack," Kirana assured him when she got up from her bedding, he wanted to tell her about his dream and the confusion of the situation--he felt a hand place on his forehead after seeing a worried look on Kirana's face. "Now we're with Althair, do you remember? He's the archaeologist that you met before, he saved us from that debris."
Kirana watched his expression slowly reverting into a blissful relief, but that made him get back to his senses about his friends. As he prayed that they'll be alright on their own, he felt like he was useless for unable to protect his friends. His head was hurt and dizzy from everything that happens recently in this time, he sighed deeply when he pulled his knees up and wrapping his arms around them. Laying his head on between his knees, he was too tired to comprehend anything due to thoughts and imagery that made him like this.
"I see…"
He sighed before he stood up and stretched his body, getting rid of the aches and pains that he found in his muscles. "I... already know that…" Sanju said as he slowly facing up at her, her eyes widened to see him tearing up--he lost his mentor, some half of his employees in his resort and now some of his friends got seriously injured by Maha. Was she still here because there were hardly members except Juha, Akito, Raiden and the rest? He was unaware that Kirana placed her hand on his shoulder, her face was too etched in concern and nervousness.
Rayhanda approached them as he saw his daughter Kirana and her friend Sanju, he was one of the people who saved them along Althair who he assisted. "Is everyone fine, Dad?" Kirana asked her father, seeing him nodded. "Just in time," Rayhanda muttered. When he closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh when he noticed Sanju's reaction to his dream, or to be more precise his past. "You're not who you seem to be, aren't you?" Rayhanda asked, making Sanju nodded slightly. "I guess... my dream to become a Phantom Raider is ruined... by him," he said, showing the slight self-control he had.
"Could you bring me to him?"
Kirana nodded with a smile before she helped him standing up, it made him hissed in pain by the sore sensation from all over his body due to post-eruption and his arm was around her shoulders. "I'll help you," he was relieved when she help him to walk, mostly because of the debris that fall upon him. As they reached the tent where all of the expedition team coming, there he saw his professor Haruse was about to enter.
"Urgh… damn it!"
Althair was obviously stressed that everything went messed up because of that man, knowing that he had bad hunch after eyeing on Maha and it was far horrifying from what he did to everyone in Indonesia. As he tried to came up with some plans to back up, he was afraid that Maha might come back because he dared to attack them in the first place.
It wasn't a good idea for him to remain in his home country if Maha is going to make his way back to him. As he goes to stand up from the chair and behind his desk, resting his hand on his hip as he tried to calm his mind off--until he was opening the curtain of her room next to his office to show his friend who was resting--the Asura; a Demigod of Phantom Samsara who rebelled against the Will of Samsara along other Asuras with her-she was the Flame Asura that was well-known to be the youngest but strongest Asura; Agnida, or known as Miho as human name.
Miho has a light orange hair that went longer to below her waist that goes slightly wavy at the end, with the long bangs on her eyes and between her face, crimson eyes and alabaster complexion. Wearing an ankle-length empress black dress almost showing her cleavage and collarbones with black top added with long sleeves, black choker with diamond-shaped drops fastening it. Her red flower ornament with gold dangles placed on the side of her head, and has red makeup on her eyes almost similar to dragon scales-she wears a black tights with garter belt and black heeled and laced knee-length boots.
"Miho, are you okay?" Althair asked the Flame Asura, watching her stretching her arms with a yawn. "Yes, I'm fine..." Miho spoke to him, still exhausted from the fight against the Phantom Beasts in the city. "Why haven't you slept?"
Althair gave her a questioning look, he didn't want to sleep for now-because Maha is still out there somewhere in the city. However, the news he received that Maha went missing after what he have done to the city of Yogyakarta--allowing himself to escape from the city, it made him worried that Maha might be after him. "Well, I've been thinking about what to do next… but you should rest, okay?" he told her, and she just nodded and lay down on her bed.
He sighed heavily as he sat on the chair behind his desk, trying to calm himself off before he goes back to work. Then, he saw Haruse came inside with Sanju here--alongside Kirana. "Thank you, both of you can leave."
Sanju sat down on the couch hesitantly when he watched the two left the tent, before he look back at Althair sitting on the edge of his desk with arms folded. "Althair... is it true that I...?" he tried to explain what's going on, he immediately silenced as he started to feel the trauma kicking in that he shivered a little.
Althair shake his head, his emotion filled with heart-wrenching pain after what happened that day, he can't bear seeing him suffer and know how it feels to lose someone; especially when it was someone close to them. "It's not your fault, Sanjaya," he reassured, after learning that Sanju is the victim of Maha's unethical experiments in cloning. He can see how awful Sanju has become, his scruffy short messy black hair with long bangs becoming slightly longer--his dark brown eyes that looks red due to trauma and his fair complexion becoming slightly pale. Oh my God, he looks so much like before he came... this is all real.
Sanju couldn't say any word, too much scarred and too exhausted by the whole incident in the city and he was sure to live through it like some kind of a heavy burden was forced to be upon him.
In the first place, it wasn't Sanju's fault for the destruction; it was Maha's fault. It was his fault that he killed people who looked up to him with betrayal, it was his fault that he unleashed such vicious and cruel force--and it was his fault that the country is suffering in their own government. It was his fault, but why was it that he was suffering the punishment more than anyone else?
Sanju didn't know why but that moment when that kicked in, it shows his true self that he was truly fragile and weak; like the victims from that incident that the news broadcasted on their screens on how devastating the incident of the city. He can't do anything to save his friends, or the people; in fact, he was a Phantom Raider, as long as he don't have to remember the truth. But, now he becoming a 'target' by the government--his dream to become one has been crushed into pieces... the symbol of Singgahsana Organization on his jacket behind him--has been slashed by himself and choose to resign from his duty, believing that he does not deserve to be a member of that organization anymore.
Akito doesn't know about this yet, but it's for the best. Besides, he might potentially resign from Nirvana Organization because he was already betrayed by the other organization members. That means, he will be starting anew and start over from the beginning in the new path he have.
There was a fear and a remorseful soul deep within his heart, and now, he could understand. The trauma was making his mind all crumby into a mess.
The tears beginning to form that he was emotionally drained, he was mentally struck that he couldn't bear with another tragedy happen on him again--he didn't know this happened. The whole existential crisis Sanju has endured, only to be suppressed and gone berserk due to the Phantom Beasts unleashed by Maha; and that image; showed him the greatest thing he saw was a monster who tried to take out that person alive and destroy them completely--he never tried to be like this.
"I-I'm sorry," Sanju stuttered, feeling the pain throbbing inside his head and chest. "Th-that… I didn't think it would be this hard..." he added, hugging his sides before staring at the ground. As the memories of that time swarmed his mind so easily, so swiftly-it made him unable to contain his emotions any longer that he didn't try to stop himself to cry, the tears flowing freely as a storm of emotions was present here. Althair approached him when he was consoling the poor college student, wiping away his tears on his face with tissue paper while Sanju trembling as his mind couldn't understand everything going on in the world.
"Sanjaya Adinata, I don't blame you for your emotions..." he smiled calmly when he wiped away his tears and threw it away. This doesn't seem right that Sanju has to suffer in fear and hurt about being in the Phantom Raiders, who treated him and considered as the family. "You are allowed to cry, no one will judge you even me… there's no need to hide it. Your friends are okay, they're still with us," he stated softly, after Haruse informed that Raiden, Akito, Demian, Haruna, Masaki, Juhaku, Kirana, Kanae and Izana are safe and sound in the camping base. While Sanju not wanting anyone to hear him crying, hearing him sob loudly and sniffling as his tears were still streaming down on his cheeks.
Althair watched him shaking his head no, not believing in his words. He welcomed him in his arms, hugging Sanju without caring his tears might soak his coat, reassuring him and comforting him from hurting further. The distressing feelings inside him bubbling over until Sanju completely cried out loud with guilt and sorrow, clutching his hands on his coat as he felt someone's gentle hands stroking his hair soothingly. "Take it easy, don't force yourself."
With a pain on his chest, he clenched his fists but finding himself a crying mess without any release, the more he thought about it--the more painful he feel. That fact was in front of his eyes while he didn't realize that the trauma was overwhelming him to the point it nearly broke him into a shattered glass. Seeing that everything falls to the worst like that in front of him and still suffering from the aftermath, from death to life--from denial to accepting this whole situation of the life he lived on. Ignoring the tears that soaked on his coat, he could see how beautiful his tears are seen but it was heartbreaking. Sanju was eighteen years old like his friends, he shouldn't have experienced this kind of thing at this age.
Sanju finally at ease when he used his napkin to clean off his tears, before his hand brushing his black bangs a bit so his bangs won't block his sight. The post-eruption event was extremely stressful that made him having an acute trauma, that's why this kicked into him plus losing beloved ones.
"Are you okay now?" he asked, Sanju nodded while clearing his throat before he sniffed a little. "Yes… I'm okay, for now. I don't think I ever be normal again, given my breakdown from yesterday," he replied, remembering the trigger for his PTSD has finally overload and kicked in. Althair sighed and wiped off his tears by the napkin. "Your other friends are alright, they're under Yura and Karuna's care."
"Karuna…? Yura...?"
"Oh, looks like I haven't mention things about him to you."
Althair said with a smile, before he folded his arms as he explained to him briefly. "Karuna is an archaeologist from Indonesia, he mostly focused on the case study about the origin of Phantom Beasts and paramilitary forces--he's twenty-five years old just like me," he gave him a brief details about him, before he look around and look back at him-he wasn't sure whether he should be telling him this. "Yura... it's actually a human name of Varuna, he's a Water Asura, Supreme Commander of the Aditya Asura's Armada. He's the strongest and the first of the Asuras, mostly known as the Fleet Admiral because he commands all of the elemental aspects of waters and maritime."
Althair elaborated, while Sanju is listening to him when he continued. "Yura is my Asura friend's superior and comrade, her name is Miho--her real identity is Agnida, the Flame Asura," Althair explained when he look back at Miho who came out from her room, as she folded her arms.
"Hmm… I see," Sanju nodded, looking at Miho's profile as he curiously stare at her. "Is Yura really powerful?" he asked Miho, he didn't want to make an immortal Demigod angry because they lived longer than human like him and his friends-even Althair and the others who are humans too. Miho nodded, retaining her composure. "Yes, we Asura referred him other than his human name Yura, is very powerful--one of the three most powerful Asuras in the world."
Sanju looked at Miho's expression, the smile on her lips and the proud look in her eyes--she's probably happy about the compliment, and he noticed that she has a cheerful look on her face compared to her somber ones. "I see..." Althair nodded, before he look back at Sanju. "Karuna and Yura will be arriving here on the next day… but be careful during next week."
Sanju had no idea what was that mean, until he saw his expression went stern to the point of warning him. "As much I truly hate to tell you this... I'm afraid that you won't be able to become a Phantom Raider, the government and Nirvana Organization was searching for you, and your friends," he warned, making him widened his eyes.
"Even if you left the organization, they won't stop coming after you... to this place."
Sanju was afraid about the news, the aftermath of that incident led some survivors are victims that also targeted by Maha as well for some reasons. This made him have an idea when the voice played in his memory, the first one that he ever listened: 'Even if I left the Phantom Raider and they won't have to deal with someone like him--someone like him wouldn't let us out of his sight…' it was the voice of Maha in his memory and he was remembering his last conversation.
Sanju was listening to his whole plans and steps with the instructions of what he must do, always focused and less flinched by what he told him before he finished and he nodded at him. "Well then, let me get changed first," Althair nodded before he handed the coat of the organization, which surprised him a little when he smiled at him. "Why don't you wear this too? That should keep you away from the cold," he began to think for a bit, before he let out a deep sigh. "… fine then."
Sanju saw Akito standing there after he walked out from the tent--he looked... tired, his eyes were tired like him--but with a shocked emotion in him when he spotted him with Althair. "Akito, I--"
"No, it's... fine. No use of defending," he said bluntly. Sanju couldn't protest about what happen but his mind couldn't still process everything. Akito sighed when he placed his hand on his shoulder as he thought that he should've take over the leading from the beginning to sort the disaster, they got into a big mess right now because Akito let Sanju take the lead, thinking he can handle everything. Which was wrong of him, not that he doesn't trust him with the entire team or because he's the leader. "I'm sorry for not telling you the entire truth that... I'm spying on Professor Maha after he joined the organization..."
Akito blurted out the truth after he was too tired of hiding it, Sanju was too tired and already been mentally damaged that it was too late to think about the conflict. "And, I know that you guys will hate me because I'm a spy and might use our friendship for beneficial purpose and my organization--"
"Akito, you're our friend."
He paused when he heard Sanju said that, because it was odd of him to say that to him. "Are you mad at me for being a spy from Nirvana?" he asked seriously, when he stared at him as if he's asking something from an assassin. "Look, can you like--listen to this story?" Sanju suggested when he didn't know where to start or explain about the problem since he had so many questions in his mind, things might get a little tricky since they are friends and Nirvana Organization spy. "First of all, I didn't mean for people getting injured. Secondly, I don't care what it was for. Third, I don't blame you at all. Fourth, I swear you're so not guilty but you have the obligation to talk about what you're doing. And fifth but last but not least... you didn't leave us in the first place."
Akito was silenced by that, realizing Sanju still holds him as a friend. This time, Sanju have to try his best to have a mental recovery, a lot has happened to him. "I never said I hate you or anything like that, Akito. Instead... I want to thank you," Sanju said to him with a genuine smile. Akito was surprised when he heard him thanks him, why did Sanju thank him at this point?
Sanju noticed the confusion on his face, the face that reads 'why are you so kind even if I leave the group?' type of reaction. Akito must've thought him about the future consequences of his secret as a double agent. If it wasn't because of him that he hasn't discovered anything about Althair yet, Sanju never knew how involved is Althair in his past--even himself. "I want to thank you, for all the fun that we had before this incident. Even if you left the group, you're still my friend," Sanju explained to him about the moments when he spent with him and Haruna--without knowing his painful struggles. "Besides, I might leave you guys one day... because of my status of being the government's fugitive."
Akito was wide-eyed, he didn't want Sanju to leave him again after his mentality has cracked. What were his plans to leave the Nirvana Organization? Besides, he was suffering enough when it was the aftermath of Maha's attack on the city of Yogyakarta. "If you're going to leave us... at least, let some of us come with you. I know you don't want anyone to be sad, your feelings are all over your expression like an open book."
Sanju was half-surprised when he saw Akito is suggesting to him that he wants to go with him. "My, someone is rather kind..." he replied with a smile, before Akito scowled a bit and huffed in annoyance as he looked away. "Tch, so what?"
"... I'll reconsider," Sanju responded after he looked up at the sky, wondering what it may hold this time. "Also, I'm sorry about... what happened to your class mentor, Miss Siska... did tried her best to protect you guys."
Akito added, trying to sympathize with him. Sanju glanced back at him, before he remained silent--he prayed that the others are okay.
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