A thin ripple came from her body expanding through the foliage of the forest. Nothing changed physically, but it was enough. Her mind still felt light from all the stress she put on herself in her fight. Nerine swallowed slowly. “Why am I here?” She glanced over at Seiji.

Seiji almost jumped with excitement. The glow in his eyes was clear to everyone. “Nerine! We can chat again! But seriously, what the hell with screaming in my ear!” He leaned in as he spoke with no mind for boundaries or the scene.

She felt a little odd for being scolded for screaming, but it did make her feel a little embarrassed. “I’m sorry,” she replied meekly, with a little red coming across her nose. Her eyes suddenly focused on the sight of Seiji’s bandaged arm. The scene from the fight returned to her. She wanted to stretch her hand out, but nothing was there to move. “Does it hurt?”

“Huh?” Seiji’s face changed a little in confusion, but he looked down at where her eyes fixed on him. He lifted his arm to show her. A quick flex of his muscles proved it still functioned. “Not all! It’s a little weird, but it works. So I’m not complaining.” Seiji gave a carefree smile back at her.

Seiji’s smile infected Nerine. She found herself returning it. It no longer felt so bad. “I’m glad.”

Fumiko cleared her throat to get their attention. She smiled at the two of them, but not in the same way. “As enjoyable as it is watching two lovers chat, there’re some more important matters we need to discuss.”

Both of them turned a deep shade of red. They spoke together in protest. “We are not!”

Their denial ended up causing Yumi and Fumiko to giggle a little between them. However, Fumiko returned to a serious expression quickly. She leaned forward on one foot. “Teasing aside, we have some questions for you before we can proceed.”

Nerine drew up a little, as the mood changed back to serious. She wasn’t certain what they wanted from her. It hardly felt like an interrogation, but she barely knew Seiji and none of his comrades. How they would act toward her remained unknown. The only point she felt a little hopeful over was they did nothing to restrain her, arms notwithstanding. “What sort of questions?” she began, with some unease. Her eyes jumped around to the group.

Fumiko admittedly had too many questions to ask than time would allow. ‘I’ll need to keep things brief. We are short on time.’ She tilted her head back at Chiharu and Yumi to see their reactions. “First, I think we should introduce ourselves. I’m Fumiko Terauchi.”

“Nerine.” She kept things brief, trying to read Fumiko’s face. It definitely wasn’t going to be an interrogation.

“You already know me,” inserted Seiji, pointed with his hand at his chest. “Seiji Tsuji.”

‘He’s still the same as before. I feel like he can be trusted, the girl…she’s looking at me closely.’ The examining stare came out clearly to Nerine. She figured Fumiko wanted to understand her as much as she did.

Motioning from the back, Yumi waved her free arm. “I’m Yumi Mizuno and this is my brother, Yori.” She pointed loosely at Yori’s unconscious body nearby her. A safe distance remained between them and as long as she didn’t look at him her heart held steady. It allowed her to keep her problems to herself.

‘The one we captured…’ Nerine thought, glancing at Yori. However, it was Yumi’s appearance to her contrary behavior that made Nerine lift her eyes and pause longer than planned. ‘A sword? How is she alive? What exactly is she?’

Silence held all around. Fumiko saw Nerine’s lingering eyes on Yumi and shifted the direction. “That’s Chiharu Chinen, she tends to be a little quiet, but I wouldn’t take it personally.” It was enough to grab Nerine’s focus back. “Now to the heart of the matter. What did you want to do?”

Chapter 209 – Seeking Answers

It surprised Nerine to hear Fumiko ask such a question. It completely defied any sort of expectations that she had for their questions. ‘What?! Why is she asking me?’ She gave no consideration to herself. Her situation assumed her a captive of them, even if it was on oddly friendly terms. ‘Aren’t we enemies?’

Fumiko’s question dragged Chiharu out of the scenery into the group almost surprisingly fast. She appeared next to Fumiko in a flash, struggling with the various emotions running through her face. “What are you thinking? We have one of them, we should be getting intel from her.”

Shaking the ground a little, Seiji stood up heavily, taking up the opposite flanking position of Fumiko. He glared at Chiharu. “The hell’s the matter with you! I didn’t bring her with me as some prisoner! They wanted her dead! She’s not with them anymore!”

Not backing down from Seiji’s aggression, Chiharu met him head on. “Despite what you naively seem to believe, she is the enemy. Just because we’ve brought her with us doesn’t change that fact. She has valuable information we can use against any more attacks. I’m not having your stupid notion of chivalry or friendship ruin our advantage.”

Seiji reached out for Chiharu, grabbing her by her garb. “Damn you, brat! You’re not getting one step near her!”

“I don’t need your permission.” She grabbed Seiji's wrist and pulled him away from her. There was a brief struggle between their strengths before she freed herself. Chiharu turned away to look down at Nerine. “This is a war of information or did you forget they captured someone. The only way we’ll win is knowing more about them than they do about us. We’re already disadvantaged by them figuring out how to neutralize our powers.”

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The yelling between the two kept Fumiko from being heard. She tried to interrupt, but neither would allow anyone. Yet, Yumi stepped forward placing a hand on Fumiko’s shoulder. Exhaling softly, she took in a deep breath. “Enough,” she ordered, with a clear voice not raised, yet piercing. It surprisingly gained both of their attention. “Arguing between each other is also not the way to solve this.”

Yumi took her place out in front of both of them, forcing them back. There was something about her presence that commanded them. She knelt down on one knee, balancing carefully the awkwardness of her sword. “While Fumiko is right, Chiharu also has a point as well. Miss Nerine, we don’t intend to keep you against your will, but we do need to understand each other.”

Watching the fight between them, Nerine kept to herself. It gave her more time to judge them. ‘They aren’t as unified as I would have guessed. Seems more like a random group rather than something organized.’ Their disorganized nature made her wonder if it was a bad thing.

‘She’s still reluctant, understandable,’ commented Yumi, as she stared at Nerine. She tried to smile a little to open things up. “From what we heard from Seiji, you were attacked.” No reply came from Nerine, but she got a slight nod. “Did you break a law by letting Seiji pass?”

Several moments passed while Nerine considered her words. She questioned if she should respond. Yumi seemed calm and easy to approach, but there was still uncertainty. They were supposed to be the enemy. Yet she didn’t feel threatened. It was a strange sense she got from them. “Not explicitly. We are bound to protect Atlantis from all threats, failure to uphold that would be punishable.”

“Something punishable by death.”

“Bastard didn’t have the right!” snapped Seiji, pounding his fists together. The thought of Cosmas made his blood boil. Yumi glanced over her shoulder at Seiji to put him back in check.

Silent once more, Nerine could speak. “Possibly.” She tried to think back to the event with Cosmas. ‘I don’t know him. I’ve never seen him in the South Gate. I don’t know everyone, but I feel like I would have seen him in passing. Who is he?’ The battle Seiji had with Cosmas remained hazy in her mind. Words and images popped through her only to disappear.

“Omega bastard,” Seiji muttered, still annoyed.

Nerine eyes lit up, hearing the word. “The Omega Division! He was from the Omega Division. He declared me a…traitor.” More came back to her. The feelings rushed through her body. She felt the pain over again.

The word got Fumiko and Chiharu’s attention as well as Yumi. They already guessed at its importance. “What is this Omega Division,” Yumi inquired. “Are they a sort of internal affairs?”

“They mostly deal in matters involving MPs.” She saw she got a bit of a strange look from them for her term. “People like me with this power. They answer to a different person than the rest of us and work independently.”

Seiji stepped forward to slide in between everyone. He stared down at Nerine, a serious expression carved into his face. “So was that bastard just following orders or did he decide it on his own?”

An annoyed click came from Chiharu. “What does it matter?”

In an instant, his head flipped around to tower over Chiharu. “It’s important! I can’t forgive him if he decided it on his own!” His fist tightened up, memories of the night flooded back to him. The emotions he felt then boiled almost to the point he couldn’t control himself.

“And if he was ordered?” Chiharu seemed to find his reaction a little curious. It wasn’t unusual to see him worked up over one thing or another. She knew she fueled it on a few occasions, but something was different about him.

The sound of a question alone was enough to tense up the muscles in Seiji’s arm. His talisman wrapped arm suddenly started to glow softly, as though responding to his emotions. Wrinkles dug through his forehead and around his eyes. “Then I’ll find the bastard that ordered it!” he yelled, with no care to the volume of his voice.

“But…” It was Nerine once more, her voice despite being softer at the moment drew Seiji’s attention. “…I’m not certain…I did agree to let you pass…so it would be considered a traitorous act by some.”

“I don’t give a damn! You did nothing wrong!”

Yumi stepped up, placing a hand on Seiji’s glowing arm. The shaking in his body made her a little uneasy, but she steeled herself. “Seiji, we’re straying from the subject.” Her voice was clear and carried the invisible commanding presence again.

Something in her words managed to calm Seiji’s rage. His body relaxed. “Fine.” He knew she was right. Deeper inside it bothered him, the rage, but he pushed it back for Yumi. “You’ll want to ask her about Yuki and his father. She seemed to know something about that.” Seiji turned around and walked away. The information he tossed out so casual left the group a little speechless. He sat down against a tree, lowering his head with something else bothering him.

Stepping up closer to Nerine, Yumi kneeled down again. She tried to keep a distance so her sword didn’t get in the way. “You know about Yuki and his father? Do you know what Seiji’s talking about?”

“I’m not sure,” Nerine answered, honestly. She remembered a little about what Seiji might be talking about, but it still didn’t make any sense to her. A starting point was necessary. “He said that someone you know is the son of the King.”

“According to the information we’re working from,” piped in Chiharu.

Yumi nodded in agreement. “Ayumi told us, as well as Yuki, that he was the heir.”

“Who’s this Ayumi?”

“Her Atlantean name is Eudokia Ismene,” Chiharu replied.

The mention of Eudokia’s name made her eyes grow wide. ‘The Captain of the Royal Guard, Eudokia! Can’t be, how would they know her?’ She wondered for a moment if they lied to her. It could all just be a scheme by them, but to what end? ‘They seem fairly ignorant on Atlantis, but they know her name. Could it be possible? But she’d know better than anyone that the King never had an heir!’

If she corrected their misunderstanding, would all the battles be over? Could she bring peace with just a few words? It seemed unlikely, but she had to try. “As I told him, the Queen died before giving birth to an heir. The King ruled alone for nearly all of the 35 years of his reign. This is all public knowledge, everyone in the capital attended the Queen’s funeral.”

Chiharu narrowed her eyes a little, coming across something. “Public knowledge. He probably had a mistress, it’s hardly uncommon for there to be bastard children in royalty. He would have done something to ensure his lineage continued.”

“If he did, he would have announced it.” She knew Chiharu had a point, but she didn’t seem to understand everything about Atlantis. None of them understood. “If he had an heir they would have inherited his power and would have been the next King. The council would not have ordered the Rite of Succession.”

“However, the reality the weakling faces is that someone is after his life. He’s come here to settle the matter.”

She was hearing the same things. It made no sense. “If he really is the heir, then no one would want him dead! Everyone understands the importance of the King that they would not risk the Rite, if there was someone that might have been as powerful as the King. They would be asking him to become King and spare Atlantis the turmoil and fear of not having a King!”

There was something in Nerine’s words that got to the three girls. They sense something deeper in her meaning beyond the surface. Pieces of the puzzles were near the surface. The things kept shrouded in darkness by Ayumi came free. They had more they wanted to ask. However, things came to a sudden halt.

The forest they took refuge in disappeared suddenly. An ill omen for them all. Worse was the sight they saw in the distance. The entire mobilized force of the South Gate marched on them. Their escape routes cut, Simonides was set on a final showdown. He held nothing back for them.