The sight of Yumi’s friends in the company of the others that surrounded her sent a cold paralyzing pulse down her body. She immediately understood the implications. She didn’t want to believe it anymore than Saki with Takako, but seeing it was enough.

Barely even hidden, she could see the void within Kaede’s eyes. There was a twisted malice that she never had seen in her friend before. It seemed to consume her being completely. While she physically was the same person she knew, it twisted her whole soul into something unrecognizable. ‘What is Takako doing to them? How is she able to do this to others? To corrupt them so deeply…’

“Yumi…” Yori reached back to hold her hand for support. While he might not have known her friends, he clearly saw what the scene was before him. He knew the importance they had for her.

A different chill ran up her body. She fought through it all to keep herself in control. “…I know…” Yori’s sister forced herself to focus. Caught up completely by Kaede, she barely even noticed Katsumi standing next to her. Unlike all of the others, Katsumi seemed out of place with the rest. She looked more dead inside than anything with no side of life, but most of all none of the bloodlust or corruption. She somehow seemed completely separated from the rest. Yet she was still with them and most importantly, Kaede.

Giggling a little at the façade, Kaede pushed away from Katsumi and stepped forward. She started to brush her hair in a casual manner while staring at Yori’s sister. “Are you planning on fighting us, Yumi? Aren’t we friends?”

Chapter 296 – The Fragility of Friendship

Miyako watched from a building away with her team of five. She saw the difference in numbers and ground her teeth together. ‘Damn, they don’t even get five minutes before finding trouble. They might have been hunting for us after the last skirmish earlier.’ There was no question a fight was going to break out.

Pounding her fist against the wall sent cracks up the old building. She pulled back from the broken window. “Looks like we’ve got another fight on our hands, boys!”

“Yes, boss!” they all echoed together.

“Jiro, setup on the rooftop. You’re the spotter, only take a shot when you absolutely must. The rest of you are with me. We’re going to dig those kids out of a little trouble!” They all gave a deep guttural cry in enthusiasm.

Kaede approached Yori’s sister, finishing with her hair and returning her hairbrush. Her hair suddenly straightened out away from the curls up to her neck. It shortened a little and took on a slight auburn appearance. “Yumi…” She grinned across at her.

It was almost too late before she knew what happened. It was faster than she expected. Only her barrier saved her, but she still felt the force ringing throughout. ‘Kaede…so fast…’ She built up her barrier more to push back Kaede.

Yori took a glimpse at her sister. ‘She’s not used to fighting people similarly enhanced on top of being her friends… She’s not going to be able to do this…’ Tightening his hands around the black blades, he swung wide to keep back the sudden onslaught.

Retrieving matching blue gloves from her pocket, Katsumi drew them up the entire length of her arm covering up all of her skin. “Seems I must make a move as well.” She stepped through the crowd coming straight up to Yori. Her right hand reached out to grab a hold of his blade before it struck one of the students.

The surprising ease at which she blocked his attack took him back a step. He took another swing directly for her and she blocked it once more with her hand. Phasing the material out for a moment, he retrieved them and swung down together at her. She stopped both with her arms crossed in front. ‘She put on the gloves before fighting…are they resistant to damage? Is that how she’s doing it?’ Letting them dematerialize again, he forced them past her defense and struck directly on her chest. He slashed downward trying to get the most coverage from his attack.

Katsumi slid back a little from the force, but nothing more seemed to happen. “Playing pretty rough, thought being the President you’d be a little softer.” Straightening out her uniform from the rough treatment, she looked completely unfazed by the attack. Not even her clothes seemed to have a stray thread.

Failing to achieve anything meaningful from the attack, Yori ground his teeth together trying to come up with another plan. ‘So it’s not just the gloves then. I can’t make a scratch on her period…I’m going to need something more powerful, but if I do I might end up dealing a severe injury.’ Uncertainty begat hesitation within him. He tried to fight seriously with the girl, but he knew she was his sister’s friend. He couldn’t do anything too severe. And worse, he saw that she could only be defensive against the other one.

‘What am I going to do? We can’t just let them kill us!’ All of the powers that he practiced ran through his mind. He needed something that he could use. The problem he faced was knowing which would be effective without being deadly. His swords gave him the most control, but they were useless. ‘I need to do something!’

“Why the hell are ya hesitating?!” shouted Miyako arriving on the scene. She fell from the sky, it seemed, dropping in the middle of the whole group with her fist. A crater quickly grew out from her strike tossing debris in all directions. It spread smoke out in all directions.

Coughing and blinded, Yori stumbled around in the cloud. “What the hell’s going on?!” He tried to find his way out, but someone grabbed him. Resisting with a swing of his blade, they caught his forearm before it sank into anything. “What are—“

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“I don’t have time babysitting you! Pull back now!”

It took him a moment, but the voice was faintly familiar. “You’re the woman from Hiroshi’s group!”

“Yeah, we don’t have time to sip tea and eat cookies over this! Get moving!”

“Where’s Yumi?”

Jiro came in through her earpiece with a report. “The screen is dissipating quickly. Ten seconds before they recover.”

“Understood.” Miyako grabbed Yori and threw him in the direction he needed to leave. “Get moving! I’ll get your sister!”

Yumi held firm in her position even though the attacks from Kaede stopped. ‘The best thing to do is not move. I completely lost my sense of direction between the ringing in my ears and the loss of sight. But I can’t fight my friend… What am I supposed to do?!’ Her barrier bounced and reflected the dust stirring about her. It was too thick to do anything, especially not knowing where anyone was.

She understood how Yuki felt before when he was told about Takako. They all understood in that moment, but Takako wasn’t a friend to her. It was just an empty sense of empathy for him. They understood, but not really. Part of her felt Yuki being too idealistic and a little childish. They already saw what happened with the fight in the morning.

However, she understood it now. The feelings he had then were inside her now. ‘I was a fool. I thought I could do this because while they were all classmates I barely knew any of them. I was so isolated from most of the class and school that I thought I didn’t care. But they had to be with them. The only ones I could never fight…’ She thought Atlantis might have given her something for her resolve. The path she picked and walked, the destruction and death she wrought. ‘At the end I can only kill those that I don’t know…I’m no different than a common criminal…’

Her body suddenly felt strange. It was heavy and her mind turned to fog. Her sight blurred. “What’s happening…to me?” Yumi staggered forward as her barrier fell away. She collapsed to one knee, unable to stand. “Something’s…wrong…”

Breaking through the smoke, a longer green haired Kaede stood grinning down at Yumi. She slowly stalked forward to Yumi. Kneeling down to meet her unfocused gaze, Kaede grabbed the top of Yumi’s hair. “It’s sleepy time for you.” Quickly, she ripped her up by her hair and rammed her knee into Yumi’s stomach. A stomach fluid and saliva coughed up from Yumi as she fell over Kaede.

Draped over her shoulder, Kaede turned to Katsumi. “You got things wrapped up on your end?”

“No, there’s a little trouble.” The smoke finally cleared away and revealed Miyako along with her team of four and Yori. Katsumi held back Miyako. Each of Miyako’s punches slid Katsumi back and drew up smoke, but did nothing more. The rest of their group swarmed over Miyako’s team, keeping them out of the fight.

Miyako slid back a little to recover from the latest futile attempt against Katsumi. “Damn, you’re tough.” She shook out her hands a little, feeling them sting from the repeated blows. “It’s like I’m hitting concrete.”

“…boss…”

Flipping her head around to her team, she shouted, “Masato!” She saw the blood dripping from his mouth, a wound in his chest. ‘Dammit! I won’t lose anymore!’ Roaring her voice as deep as she could draw from her stomach, her fists suddenly shimmered and beefed up. Miyako threw out her fist at Katsumi knocking her back and tearing into her gloves a little. She then threw her fist into the earth again creating an even larger crater than before casting out large chunks of the earth outward.

She jumped through the smoke she created aiming for Yumi only to be met with a sudden drop in her strength. Miyako stretched out her hand for Yumi, but Kaede spun around whipping her hair around. Numerous cuts formed all over Miyako’s body, throwing blood into the air. “…damn…not here…” Miyako leapt backwards disappearing into the clouds.

“We’re pulling back now!” she shouted to everyone trying to maintain her stride.

Yori quickly jumped out after Miyako with fury in his eyes. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?! Yumi’s still over there! I’m not leaving without her!”

Gritting her teeth in anger, she wound up a punch and dropped Yori to the grass. “You want to die? Because that’s all that’s waiting for you on the other side! She’s already lost!”

He spat out the blood from his mouth. Nothing fazed him from the punch. Yori materialized his blades going straight for Miyako. “She’s not lost! I will die before that happens!” The rage already started to consume him.

Miyako hardened her features and grabbed the blade aimed at her throat. Blood dripped down her hand as though it was nothing but a paper cut to her. “You think it’s brave running to your death?! Grow up! You can do nothing while you’re dead, but you never run out of options when you’re alive!”

“Damn you! I’m not leaving my sister behind!”

“All you are is blind!” Miyako snapped the blade off and rammed her fist into Yori once more. He went down hard with the black energy disappearing. “Cool off before you start thinking about charging in after her!” She ram her other fist into his stomach completely blacking him out. As she stood up blood dripped from her lips. “Damn…pick him up. Jiro!”

“They’re retreating as well, boss!”

“Good, meet up at ground point.”

“Understood.”

* * *

The haze started to lift from her mind. “Urgh…where am I?” Fumiko asked, trying to remember what happened. Flashes appeared in her mind from the last moments. Flames were everywhere, but it didn’t seem to stop them. “I…lost again…”

“So you’re awake, Fumiko Terauchi,” an unfamiliar voice replied.

Fumiko tilted her head up, realizing that she laid on the floor. “Who—“ Her eyes widened immediately as she recognized the girl before her from the image that Hiroshi presented to them. “You’re that girl, the one leading them!”

“Oh so you heard about me?” She grinned a little with excitement.

Trying to stand, Fumiko found that she was tied up with her arms behind her back. She rolled around struggling to work with her still drowsy body. “What’s going on? Why am I here?”

“What don’t you know? This is a high school and you are a student, even if you are a third year you still need to attend class.”

“I’m not interested in any classes you’re having,” she bit back. As she turned herself over, she saw someone else next to her. And then she immediately recognized them. “Yumi…” There was a mix of disdain and surprise.

The tone didn’t go unnoticed by Takako. It made her lips curl a little. “Oh you know this girl. Join me and I’ll let you have your way with her.”

Fumiko stared back up at Takako a little bit in horror. She had seen plenty of faces in Atlantis while fighting, but never one like the one that she saw on Takako. There was absolutely no sense of reason or acknowledgement of them as humans as something sacred. Life meant nothing to her. Just a toy. “I’m not joining you.” It took everything Fumiko had to hold herself together.

Dark shadows cast over Takako’s eyes and in the carved lines in her face as it seemed to crack with strange pleasure. The grin on her face was worse than even a demon could produce. “I love hearing that phrase! I’m getting that so much today!” Takako leaned forward with a hungry look in her eyes.

As though summoned out of the air, another figure appeared out of the shadows standing at Takako’s right. It completely shocked Fumiko to see it. Standing next to Takako as though she just belonged there was Saki. “Not you…”

Saki stared down at Fumiko completely cold wearing a black variant of their school uniform. “You will be joining Takako.”