Sector 1- STAM’s Roof [19:13]
Kyou was leaning on the rail looking over the sector. Street lights were flickering on as the sun set off in the distance. Kyou took a sip of his coffee. He always thought about Arisa when he looked across the horizon. There was something about the calm scene that reminded him of her. He thought about the time he had first met her. It was their first day at Tenno Academy a year ago. He had skipped the entrance ceremony and was sleeping on the roof. He opened his eyes to the sound of someone reading his name tag.
Her face had been above his, her eyes locked on his name tag. She had jumped back in surprise, her eyes wide, “K-kawaymiya-” she had mumbled the rest of his name behind the folder she was holding.
There was something so absolutely stunning about her. The colors around her seemed brighter, “That’s me-” his voice had felt deeper than usual.
She seemed genuinely nervous. Kyou sighed, “I’m just a regular guy,” he called out as he rested his head on his arm, “You don’t have to be scared of me.”
She coughed to clear her throat, “I just have these documents for you..”
The nice sweet memory was interrupted by a horrible flash of what could be. Arisa in a STAM holding cell.
Kyou shook his head trying to forget the image. He shook his head to force the thoughts away.
From his pocket, he pulled the one feather he had kept from seeing Arisa that day. It was a pure white feather with a single gray stripe. The other feathers he had thrown out, but one had been stuck inside his pocket. She’s a mazoku…I can’t protect her… He thought of the shapeshifter, he had protected her today hadn’t he? Her deep, icy blue eyes; her dark thick hair...why had he saved her? Was he growing soft because of Arisa? He turned away from the now fully lit city and took a drink from his canned coffee, “Don’t get ahead of yourself Kyoushirou….let’s not think about it for now...”
Sector 27- Training Facility [19:45]
There were two Akumako’s on either side of the facility. The first one threw a punch to the other who quickly blocked the attack. The first Aku continued to attack with punch after punch, but the other Aku blocked them all. Getting tired, the first Aku suddenly ducked to the floor and went to leg sweep the other Aku. The other Aku jumped up and flipped backwards. She looked back over to the first Aku and cried out, “Hey!!” she reached down into her shadow and tripped the first Aku to stop her, “My eyes aren’t blue! Stay focused!”
The first Aku, Arisa, threw up her arms in frustration, “I can’t hit you at all!!” she shifted her eyes to the correct color.
Aku chuckled, “It is strange to fight against myself though. Maybe you should shift into 013-”
Arisa shook her head quickly, “I- I couldn’t...”
Aku sat beside Arisa and pulled out some bread, “Let’s take a break.”
Arisa happily agreed and shifted herself back to the normal 00 look before looking through the announcements from the omni-book, “Oh no!” Arisa took some bread from Aku before continuing, “That guy from the bridge party died- NewsNet is saying it was a suicide!” Arisa was scanning the article.
Yong Guk Brown. Aku took a bite from the bread.
“Yong Guk Brown! Oh man he was doing really well I thought...”
Aku handed Arisa the bottle of water without saying anything.
“Thanks,” Arisa took a sip of the water and her eyes went wide, “Did Kei’s element change?”
Aku thought about it for a moment, “I think you’re right, she did move the water at the bath house today…”
“Right? She must be thrilled, she was stuck with air for a long time…” Arisa’s face fell, remembering how upset Keiko had been after the mission. She pressed her lips and nodded as she thought about the advice she had given Masahiko, she would change things, “I’m ready to keep training,” she grinned at Aku.
Aku nodded, “Alright, but this time there’s a punishment for letting your shifting slip.”
Sector 1-Tenno Academy- the North Gymnasium [8 September 2121 8:00]
“Today is gonna be a little different!” their teacher shouted to get the attention of the entire class, “We are going to run the obstacle course from your final exams last semester-”
Keiko grinned, she had the top time on the course. Perhaps she should have kept her physical abilities more muted while trying to blend in with the humans, but their physical training at Tenno was the one place she could let out her frustrations of this stifling second identity. She tended to let loose when they had P.T.
“But!” he shouted over the moans of the students, “This time you will be doing it in teams of two!!” he cleared his throat, “This is a rescue mission people! Partner A will be somewhere in the course injured in some way. Partner B has to find their partner and return them safely to the start or finish of the course!!” the students groaned again, “I don’t want any funny business!! Anyone who doesn’t bring their partner back will be staying after school to clean the gym’s floor with a toothbrush; do you understand??” the students mumbled their understanding and he continued, “First name is partner A, second name is partner B! Mumei Ryuichi, Ichirou Seiji-”
The two friends bumped fists coolly.
Their teacher continued to list off names, “Reikokuna Kenji, Kawamiya Kyoushirou.”
“Hey partner, nice!” Kenji grinned, but Kyou rolled his eyes.
“Kuma Keiko, Egao Shoutarou.”
Keiko too rolled her eyes, I have to be the injured one??
“Moru Hiroto, Kuma Arisa-”
Arisa’s eyes widened in shock. She had desperately hoped not to be partnered with a STAM agent. Keiko looked at her with concern.
As their teacher finished out reading the list, Aku sighed in relief at not having been partnered with a STAM agent.
“Yo Keiko, you ready to be rescued by a STAM agent?” Shou dropped his hand on her shoulder and grinned.
“All A partners come grab a role to play. This will be your injury and the reason you need retrieval!”
Keiko grabbed a small slip of paper and groaned at the injury: Paralyzed. It was all too fitting and she hated it.
“Places people!!!!”
The A partners left the gym for the obstacle course just outside. Arisa was nervous. She wished she could be the one being saved instead. She was horrible at this kind of thing. Aku patted Arisa’s shoulder, “You’ll be fine.”
Arisa nodded, “I don’t even know if I can carry Hiroto...”
Aku chuckled, “I hope I get to see it.”
From the other side of the gym Kyou’s eyes naturally fell on Arisa. Part of him wanted to pull out his handcuffs and take her away. Another part of him wanted to protect her from the other agents. His heart was beating loudly as he thought about how close she would get to Hiroto. Hiro was vicious. If he found out Arisa was a mazoku- he wouldn’t hesitate for a second. He would kill her.
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“Kuma Arisa! Kawamiya Kyoushirou!” their teacher called from the exit door, “You two are first. You have 10 minutes to find your partner and bring them to safety!”
Arisa jumped at her name but quickly went to the exit. Kyoushirou walked a few paces beside her. The two stood at the start line outside. Arisa felt her breaths feel shaky and tried to relax.
Kyou smiled at her twitching hands, “Good luck,” he flashed her a smile and thumbs up.
Arisa’s face flushed red immediately, “Y-y-you too!”
Kyou’s face flushed at her embarrassment and he looked away quickly what am I doing?!
Their teacher blew the whistle to go and Arisa ran ahead of Kyou, trying to focus. She climbed over walls, under wire, through sand- but she couldn’t find Hiroto. Before her was a large wall with a rope. She hated this part the most. After taking a big breath she jumped up and started to pull herself up the wall.
From the other side of the wall Hiroto was sitting in waiting. His injury was a broken leg so he sat peacefully. He saw the rope wiggle and figured that Kyou would pop his head over.
Arisa was almost at the top. Her hands were sweating and her arms shaking, I got this no problem! She peeked her head over the wall, “Hiroto!” but slipped down the rope, her hands rubbing raw. She cried out and slid down the rope further.
Hiroto jumped to his feet immediately and ran to the other side of the rope wall. He saw Arisa falling and quickly jumped beneath her to catch her.
Kyou was pulling Kenji from a sand trap just several yards away from them. His head jerked around at Arisa’s scream. He dropped Kenji into the sand trap and turned to run for her, but hesitated. She’s a mazoku. That one thought froze him in place. He watched as Hiro caught Arisa. Hiro. Hiro saved her. Hiro saved Arisa….Arisa is a mazoku….Hiro is holding a mazoku! Arisa!! Kyou ran at them, his mind buzzing faster than he could follow. He couldn’t allow Hiro to be so close to her. He knew without a doubt that Hiro would kill Arisa without hesitating if he were to learn the truth.
Without warning, Kyou slammed his fist into Hiro’s face. With his other arm he pulled Arisa from his grasp and quickly adjusted to hold her in both his arms.
Hiro fell against the wall. His eyes were wide in shock as he looked up at Kyou. His face throbbed.
Her eyes were squeezed shut when Kyou turned away from Hiro, holding her still in his grasp, “You ok?”
She opened her eyes and her hands went ice cold, “K-K-kyou-”
He looked at her burned hands, “You’re hurt!”
“Oh this! No it’s-”
He whisked her off the obstacle course and started running for the main building.
“Ah!” Arisa held onto him tightly as he ran Kyoushirou… she was afraid, she was definitely afraid, and yet her chest felt warm.
“KYOUSHIROU!!!” their teacher called after him. He sighed, “Failed number 1!”
Hiroto held the side of his face as he watched Kyou run off with Arisa. He clenched his other fist, It’s always Kyoushirou….
“Egao Shoutarou!! Ichirou Seiji!!!” after a few moments he called the next group.
Keiko was playing paralyzed, something she had become quite skilled in, atop the bars over a rock pit. She sighed looking down at the rocks. To have to wait to be saved by Shoutarou...he’s probably the one who would put me in this position in the first place.
She looked over at Ryu. He had pulled “drowning” as his injury. At the course just beside her he was laying in the muddy pond, for now floating but once he heard Seiji come he would begin to fake-drown.
From the start of the course she heard their teachers whistle to start. How humiliating
When Shou made his way to Keiko he couldn’t help but laugh. She was sprawled over the top of the bars with her legs dangling beneath her.
“Don’t laugh at me!!” she yelled at him without moving.
“What are you doing??” he managed to get out a sentence through his laughter.
“Are you kidding me?!” she clenched her jaw trying hard to stay still.
“Ok Ok. Just wait I’m coming over now,” Shou reached up and grabbed the bars to swing over the rocks to Keiko who was perched in the middle, “Can you move at all?”
Shou was just under Keiko. His face just beneath hers looking up at her.
“Paralyzed,”
He smiled, “Oh the irony ”
You have no idea…
He reached up through the bars and put a hand on her back, “You trust me?”
She blinked at him, “Just climb on top and- Ah!!!”
Shou pushed her body off the side of the bars. As she fell he grabbed onto her wrist and caught her, “Caught you!”
Keiko’s heart was beating as the adrenaline rushed over her, “What the hell was that?!?”
She swayed to hit him but he pulled her up to him, “Ah ah you’re paralyzed remember?”
She furrowed her brow but let her body hang limp once again.
Holding Keiko close with one arm, he began to swing forward and back from the bar slowly before jumped forward to land on the ground, “Perfect,” he swung Keiko around to carry her princess style in his arms and laughed, “You play paralyzed pretty good you know,”
She grunted.
“Ryu!!!!!!” Seiji was just behind them calling out for his partner.
Shou had seen Ryu in the pond just ahead and called back to Seiji, “You didn’t see him at the hurdle jumps?!?!”
Seiji panicked, “He was there?!?!” he quickly turned around and ran back to the front of the course.
Shou started to laugh and Keiko couldn’t help but chuckle with him.
After a few minutes the teacher whistled and Seiji dropped to his knees and panicked, “RYUUUUU!!!”
“Ichirou Seiji fail. I’ll see you after school with Kyoushirou...” their teacher shook his head in disappointment.
Ryu came out from the water and inhaled, “You let me drown!!!”
Seiji snapped around to Shou, “YOU SAID HE WAS AT THE HURDLES!!!”
Shou laughed, still holding Keiko in his arms, “My bad!”
Keiko squirmed, “It’s over, you can put me down now...”
“What you don’t want me to carry you back to the gym like this?”
At the end of the lesson Keiko walked into the gym looking for Arisa.
Aku came up to her first, “I heard you were treated like a princess by Shou. You must have been thrilled.”
“Where’s Arisa?”
Aku shrugged, “I haven’t seen her since she went first. Doesn’t look like Kyou’s around either.”
The Nurses Office
The school nurse was nowhere to be found when Kyou had rushed in with Arisa. He was able, thanks to his STAM training, to find the supplies he would need to treat the rope burns on Arisa’s hands.
Kyou was sitting in front of Arisa, wrapping her hands tenderly in bandages.
Arisa’s gaze was fixed on her hands. The warmth of his own hands on hers was sending her into a spiral. She knew that her ears and face were red. It took all her focus to keep her eyes on the bandages, “Thank you...”
Kyou’s face was complicated. He seemed distracted as he wrapped her hands. She’s a mazoku. I’m treating a mazoku. I should be arresting her. Why am I tending to her wounds?
His grip tightened suddenly on her hands and she gasped at the sudden pain.
He let go immediately. The gasp sending the image of the shapeshifter in his mind, it’s not possible. No.
She rubbed her hands softly and avoided his eyes.
Could Arisa be...the shapeshifter? No. No there’s no way. It’s not possible. It can’t be.
“Arisa!” They both turned to see Keiko at the door, “Come on.” Keiko grabbed Arisa’s wrist and pulled her from the room forcefully.
Arisa looked back at Kyou. She didn’t understand the look on his face.
Sector 1- STAM [16:32]
The agents had been called in for their meeting, their usual meeting. Ryuichi stood there with his hands in his pockets, it was really quiet without Kyoushirou and Seiji.
Shizune entered the room and stared silently at the gaps in their formation. She scribbled down a note and played the recording from Lanse of their orders, “We have an emergency today, agents. There is a mazoku that has lost its mind in Sector 14. It’s running around and terrorizing the sector- not sparing the lives of any human it sees,”
Ryuichi tried to hold back his gasp, it wasn’t as common as people believed it was for a mazoku to rampage a sector.
“Since this is a high level threat I want 1st Rank on it-”
“Ah, Shizune...” Ryu interrupted, “Kyoushirou is still at the academy-”
Shizune sighed, pulled out her phone, and held it to her ear, “Kyoushirou is gone.” she said flatly.
After a moment of silence she addressed them again, “Rank 2 will-”
“Actually...” Ryuichi spoke nervously, “Seiji is also still at school...”
Shizune twitched in annoyance and put the phone on loudspeaker. Lanse’s voice boomed at them immediately , “Ryuichi, Hiroto- take care of this!” the line cut off and Shizune sat behind her desk.
Ryuichi sighed in relief and tried to calm the beating in his chest.
Kenji chuckled, “I can’t believe you told him twice...”
Ryu laughed nervously, “Me either...”
Shou grinned, “What do you think those two are doing right now?”
“Probably nothing good,” Ryuichi picked up his school bag before leaving the meeting room, Hiroto closely behind him. Hiroto had never been a good match with Ryu- personality wise. Ryu was known to be very serious and deep when he wanted...but often he enjoyed being silly. Of course, Ryu knew exactly why he had been paired with Hiro...it was because Kyou couldn’t take it anymore: Kyoushirou- the top agent of STAM- couldn’t handle Hiroto anymore.