Evening fell again and an exhausted Nerine needed a break. It gave everyone a chance to sleep, despite many not being able to do so. There was a lot of restlessness among everyone. It seemed that only Simonides and Nerine slept with comfort. The Japanese teenagers had more than one trouble on their minds. Until recently, the Atlanteans were all trying to capture them, possibly kill, yet they were allies. Not being uneasy about the situation seemed like stupidity.

Saki looked around at their camp, she volunteered for the watch. It seemed a pointless effort since most of them weren’t even at camp. As much as she wished she could have stopped them, Seiji, Chiharu, Yori and Fumiko all had determined looks of wanting to be alone. Only Yumi remained and she looked embroiled in problems of her own.

Their allies seemed asleep, giving the two some sense of privacy. “…Yumi?” whispered Saki, trying to stay quiet. “You asleep?” She already knew the answer, but didn’t know how else to start the conversation.

There appeared to be no reaction from Yumi initially, but after a few seconds her eyes opened. She didn’t say anything to her. Silence wasn’t something that Saki expected from her. Yumi felt like a different person, even earlier when she saw her giving orders. “Is everything okay?”

A difficult question to answer, but an easy one as well. Yumi knew she didn’t hide her turmoil well, such was the weight of it. She remained silent; her mind triggered to the last exchange she had with Fumiko.

Both battles ended. Her friends were safe. Yumi should have felt happy, but it only made her feel worse. The sight of Fumiko against the wall of flames crushed her chest. She didn’t need any words to know that Fumiko woke fully from her depression. She understood everything.

Fumiko returned to the group. She stared down at Yumi, her height seemed to be even greater than normal. No words exchanged, only stares, but it was all they needed. A few seconds later, Fumiko broke their lock and sat back down. A wall built between them.

“I’m fine,” Yumi replied with certainty. She dropped a wall clear enough for even someone like Seiji to see. Yumi tilted her head over to Saki. She remained on her back appearing as if she wanted rest. “You’ve got questions.” It was a redirect, but Yumi also saw it in Saki’s eyes. There was more than just one question in her.

Nodding, Saki shifted a little closer to Yumi to let her voice grow even quieter. “What happened while I was away?” She held back on the questions earlier, not feeling comfortable with asking in front of the Atlanteans. There seemed to be an agreement with Yumi and Saki didn’t want to spoil it with her suspicions.

Yumi knew the question was coming. It was the first question anyone would have seen that Simonides and Nerine accompanied them. She couldn’t get into the full details. “After rescuing Yori, we fought them one last time. The battle ended with them following us. The bigger concern is the group known as the Omega Division becoming active.”

“I heard about them from Ayumi. They’re supposed to be really powerful.”

The mention of Ayumi made Yumi’s face narrow a little. The mystery of which, she knew nothing about her objectives. It was only her word that she had. The truth could be something completely different. “Our other concern is Ayumi.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Things don’t match up. The more we learn about the real one from them the more suspicious she becomes.”

“She’s always been a little mysterious, but I think that’s just the sort of person she is. She’s been through a lot and opening up to people isn’t easy.”

Convincing Saki was going to be difficult. She spent the most time with Ayumi next to Yuki. They trusted her more than the rest. ‘It might be part of her plan. Only Haruo is with them now.’ Yumi didn’t like the setup. “Why did you leave Yuki behind? Weren’t you going to protect him?”

“I did protect him! I stayed behind!”

“But you can’t protect him anymore, you don’t know where he is.”

“Ayumi and Haruo are still with him. He’ll be fine. It was something I chose to do.”

“Did you?” Yumi agreed that it was something that seemed likely for Saki to do. However, it didn’t feel right to her. It was very convenient for Ayumi, whose target was always Yuki.

“Of course! Why would you think otherwise?”

“Because I don’t know who she is anymore. We don’t know how many lies she told us and where the truth begins. All we know is that Yuki is important to her plans and now Haruo is the only one left until she’s alone with him!”

Saki wanted to slap Yumi for suggesting such a notion, but stopped herself. “Ayumi’s not the enemy!”

“I don’t know who the enemy is anymore. Things aren’t that simple anymore.”

Chapter 226 – Confronting Hades

Away from camp, Seiji slumped against a lonely tree in the dark plains. He couldn’t look at the sky. His head hung down. Sweat dripped slowly down his jaw line. His breathing ran shallow, but not from fatigue. The reason lied in a different place.

His hand started to shake again. The bandages glowed briefly until his free hand grasped tightly to his forearm. It stopped the shaking, but sweat built up on his back. He tried to get it all under control. The voices kept echoing in his mind.

‘Stay down! You’ve already lost.’

‘You’ll have to kill me. Not until one of us is dead is my mission complete.’

Seiji shook his head trying to get their voice out of his head. He just needed to push it away. The further away it was the better he would be. ‘I thought I had this under control. Damn him, why’d I have to get so unlucky with my opponent.’ He didn’t think it was so powerful. The feeling wouldn’t go away. He needed to suppress it. Seiji knew he lost the fight because of it.

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‘I’m going to kill you! You bastard!’ his words echoed in his mind from his fight with Cosmas. It sent a shiver down his spine. His arm lost control once more. He fought over shaking. It threatened to dig deeper into his core.

“Still afraid?” a voice asked like a whisper. It took Seiji a minute to actually hear them, too distracted by his own problems. They might have called out to him earlier, but he could never be certain.

He turned sharply the instant he realized there was someone else with him. It was Chiharu, the one he wanted to see the least. The cold and condescending look in her eyes hardened all of his features to mask out his problems. The shakes disappeared. “What do you want?” he barked roughly, casually wiping off the sweat from his face.

“Get your head on straight.”

Seiji tried to stand up, but his legs suddenly lost their strength. All he managed was a piercing glare at her. “What was that again, brat?”

She started to turn away from him, as though finished with her berating. “I won’t fight with a coward.” Chiharu began to walk away.

‘Damn legs, move!’ Slamming his fist against his leg did nothing to get them moving. He wasn’t about to allow her to leave with insulting him. The last resort for him was lunging for her. He managed to drag himself over to her surprisingly quickly in the moments between seconds. Seiji latched onto her ankle, stopping her. “I’m not letting you leave after saying that! Who the hell do you think you are?!”

Her eyes narrowed and looked down at him. “Don’t touch me.” She kicked his hand to break free, but he stubbornly held tight. “Tch,” she muttered as her lips thinned a little. Another stronger kick didn’t break her free. All she achieved was dirtying his hand. Chiharu was stuck. “You’re pathetic.”

“Get off your damn high horse, brat! You’re always looking down at everyone.” His hand held firm. “You think you’re better than everyone here. That’s why you call Yuki a weakling. Never once have I even heard you say any of our names!”

Chiharu jolted away from him a little in surprise. ‘He’s right…’ The tight hold on her leg snapped her out quickly. Her features sharpened back up. “Prove yourself worthy to stand next me before you start complaining about such trifles.”

Seiji’s hand tightened up more on Chiharu’s leg as his anger started to take control. “Damn you! I thought after everything you actually saw us as friends. But you’re just the same brat from when I met you!”

He continued to hit nerves in Chiharu. She tried to kick him again to release her leg. It did nothing. “I don’t need friends! It’s a pointless luxury.”

“It’s not pointless!” shouted Seiji before he threw Chiharu to the ground. The surprise forced retaliation out of her. She kicked him wherever she could. He blocked what he could, but she got some good hits on his face and arms. “Would you stop treating the entire damn world like your enemy for one second?!” He crawled up through the grass to face her directly. They struggled over position and freedom. Neither gave up any ground.

Chiharu ground her teeth together. Her emotions ran hotter than she realized. She couldn’t remember feeling so strongly. It was always him that brought it out of her. Her voice shouted with him keeping his volume and intensity. “What would you know about me?! You who live in a comfortable home with no fear of attack in the dark hours of the night.”

“What does a little kid like you know?!”

“Do you know what it’s like to wake up to find both your parents murdered? Do you know how it feels to live in the uncertainty that they won’t come back to kill you? Or how it feels to lose the only person that means anything to you?!”

Seiji found himself suddenly getting more than he bargained for with Chiharu. He couldn’t say anything.

“When you’ve lost every family member and know they’re out there plotting your death, try and tell me the world is not your enemy!”

“Chiharu…I…”

“As long as you still have a family don’t even start to talk like you know! You know nothing! Nothing!” Chiharu panted a little from being worked up so hard by him. Her emotions unfortunately remained hot. Just staring at him made her angrier. She couldn’t stop herself. “You in comfort have no place next to me! So go and nurse those fears of yours. Be weak and live such peace. Pretend the world is filled with kindness and good people all you want. Naivety is luxury. The real world is filled with death. Either kill or be killed! If you can’t kill then get the hell out of here!”

Her words jumped straight through him. His eyes widened for a moment. All of the fear returned in his body. The strength in his legs returned with a spark. He stood up clutching Chiharu. “You’re wrong!” Seiji threw Chiharu up against the tree with enough force to make the wood groan.

Using all of her strength and flexibility, Chiharu reversed the hold on her and countered with a grapple using her whole body. “You don’t want to admit you're afraid!” It had Seiji moving through the air. She sent him flying. When she finished she landed on her feet staring across at him.

Seiji stood up, wiping the dirt from his face. “You don’t understand what you’re talking about either!” He charged Chiharu with both hands out to grab her. She dug in her feet and grabbed his hands. It turned into a battle of strength.

“You think because I’m a child still that I can’t know! I’ve more experience than you could have in two lifetimes!” Chiharu groaned a little with his strength starting to overpower her.

His teeth ground together and bore through his lips. “No, you don’t understand! It’s not what you think, but how could you know?! You’re so comfortable with death that you wouldn’t see it!” Seiji pushed harder to try to topple Chiharu, but she seemed to find reserves to hold out against him. “It’s not a fear of killing! I’m afraid of how comfortable I am to kill!”

“What?!” Chiharu’s eyes widened in surprise. Her body froze for a second, losing any ground she had against him. He beat her in the contest. Recovery was impossible. She did the only thing she could and converted her collapse into a throw. He went flying only stopped by the tree.

Chiharu walked slowly over to him, slumped over. He said what he didn’t want to say. Now out, he lost his will to fight. She panted heavily from the struggle. “I was right, you still have such freedom. You’re not afraid of killing…like me…”

He looked up at Chiharu, trying to see if he heard her correctly. The shock in his face covered up any self-pity he had. “What did you say?”

She dropped herself down against the tree, opposite of Seiji. Chiharu didn’t want to look at him and she doubted he wanted to do the same. It was a private affair. “Was it the last fight?”

“Huh?” He tried to look around the tree at Chiharu, but realized she didn’t want to be seen. It felt better. They seemed closer even with a tree between them it felt like nothing was dividing them.

“That you realized your fear?”

“No,” he answered, shaking his head. “It was the first time it prevented me from fighting, but not the source. It was back at their camp rescuing Yumi’s brother.” Seiji lifted his head to look at the stars. It was a surprisingly clear night. “When Nerine was threatened I wanted to kill him so badly. All I could think about then was killing him, not even about saving her. I just wanted to see him dead with my hand crushing his heart.” The thought made his hands shake again.

“I didn’t know I was capable of such darkness. In the past, I fought to get stronger and challenge myself, but out here it’s different. Many of them here are fighting, willing to kill or die for the country. I don’t know if I can fight them knowing if they push me far enough I will actually kill them.” Seiji tightened his hand up against his legs to keep it under control. “You’re right I’m not used to this sort of world. But I’d rather not have such a luxury as being willing to kill.”

A stifled laugh seemed to escape Chiharu’s lips. “You continue to defy my expectations. The willingness to kill is important to have when something you care about is on the line. Your fear is something you’ll have to overcome yourself, but if you’ve held yourself back all this time you’re probably fine.”

“Maybe, but I’m just a high school student. It’s not the sort of thing I should have to think about.” Seiji remembered the slip Chiharu made. He paused in thought. The subject could be sensitive, but he felt in such an atmosphere no other time would seem right. He took the chance. “What about you? You’re afraid?”

“That’s something you don’t need to know,” she answered quickly. Chiharu went silent for several moments. Her back pressed a little more into the tree. “…is what I would normally say. I guess it’s fair to ask. The truth…I’ve never killed anyone before.”

“What?! But you keep saying you’re an assassin and you were trained to kill people!”

“I know. What people say is not always the same as reality.” She went silent again, her memories catching up to her. “There was a chance I had to kill someone, a few actually. But the one that mattered I failed to go through with it. When they killed my grandfather, I couldn’t kill his murderer when I faced them. I couldn’t avenge his death, because I was too afraid.” She laughed a bit. “I was trained since I could stand in the ways of my clan in the art of killing, yet I couldn’t do it. Who ever heard of an assassin too afraid to kill their target?”

Chiharu fell into a bit of self-pity in her silence. Memories and images flew through her mind. It made her think of things she preferred to ignore. “I call him a weakling, but I’m just as weak.”

Seiji stretched his hand out behind him, finding Chiharu’s hand in the grass. He placed his hand on top of hers. “Hey, you’re still a kid. You’ve got plenty of time ahead of you to get over it!”

“You know you just encouraged a child to murder.”

His face went red. “Hey, I just said what I thought you wanted to hear. I’m not like Yuki who’d say you shouldn’t kill and you should find a different path. The path you’re following is important to you. I might not agree with you killing people, but it was what you wanted to follow and I think knowing what you want to do is the most important for yourself. The rest will come when you need it.”

“I guess you’re right.” Chiharu smiled to herself. “We just have to overcome our fears.”