Meanwhile, the fainted Diavolo had managed to muster a brief moment of consciousness.

"Ugh… Eh? Where am I?"

"What are you saying, miss?! I can't do something so irresponsible!"

"I don't recognize that voice."

"Trust me, doc. Just do what I say."

"Ah, this one… I think maybe… I've heard this one before."

"Absolutely not! I am the doctor and this patient is my responsibility!"

"Ugh, I feel so tired. I can't even open my eyes…"

"It's fine. If something happens, I'll take full responsibility."

"This isn't about taking responsibility, miss! With the amount of blood he's lost, he could actually die! If you don't let me take a blood sample, I can't bring in the bags!"

"Yeah, I literally can't feel a thing. I definitely wanna see what's going on now."

"Doc, ju** ***ten. H** *****----"

"Oh, great. I'm losing it again, aren't I? Dammit, if only I could remember what I heard during the other 'resurfacings'. Then I wouldn't think they're just dreams…" and he fell back into an unconscious state.

Just like this, Diavolo experienced multiple instances of consciousness resurfacing and fading. And in neither of them, could he communicate with the outside world besides hearing.

The resurfacings were so random and brief, that the things he heard mixed in with his dreams at times. He thought it was unfortunate that he wouldn't be sure which was a dream and which was real when he actually woke up. But it couldn't be helped.

This continued on… for three days.

…

..

.

The boy finally opened his eyes. An unfamiliar roof. Connected to his arm was an IV fluid bag. White sheets, a quiet room, and a large window. Hospital. This was a hospital.

Looking down to his side, he saw Suzume, lying on his bed, sound asleep. It was not just her, Shin was dozing off whilst sitting upright on a chair to a side of the room. Hannah seemed to be checking on a few papers from the desk. And Yukio was…

"Ah! Diavolo, you're finally awake! Guys, he's back!" the first to notice his return.

Not one of his friends was missing. It made him kind of happy.

Like a torrent, they all rushed towards him on high alert.

"At last! Don't scare us like that! Do you have any idea how worried we were?!" (Hannah)

"Dude, you've been out for three days straight! Even I started to feel uneasy! How you feeling now?" (Shin)

"Diavolo, don't push yourself too much if it's hard, okay?" (Yukio)

And numerous such words of concern.

However, Suzume was the only one who stayed quiet. She looked down on the bed with a glum expression. She looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn't. Her mind was probably a mess at the moment.

"Um, Suzume. Look, I'm alright now. So… cheer up okay?" he tried consoling her, but instead, she burst out.

"Like hell, you're alright! Have you looked at yourself in a mirror?! I actually thought you were going to die, you know?!"

"No, but— "

"This is all my fault! Onee-chan was wrong, I shouldn't have listened to her! I'm so sorry! I don't know what I can do to atone for this! You all must hate me now! I really am the cause of misfortune! Please, just don't interact with me from now on! It's bad enough I got Diavolo-kun involved in this, but if this continues, it won't be long before I get all of you involved!

I'll leave the school! I'll leave the city! I'll leave the country! So just, please, don't ever come near me again! I'm sorry to have ever shown my face to you!!"

…

A brief, yet seemingly long, silence enveloped the room once she was done letting off some steam. All of this was really bothering her. For three days, she must have been only thinking about such things and her stress had built up, and she finally got to let it all out.

"You done? Is that all?" Diavolo broke the silence.

"..."

"In that case, I'll say this again. From the very beginning, till now, I have never regretted getting involved with you. It was my decision to begin with.

It's true that in barely two days after hanging out, I've been beat up worse than ever in my life. But not once have I ever blamed you for that. In fact, it's allowed me to become stronger by leaps and bounds!

Sure, I could've died. But I didn't! I'm sitting right in front of you right now, live and well. And that will remain the case in the future as well. I promise you that.

That's why, don't blame yourself anymore. Let me become your strength."

As Diavolo made his speech, tears ran down Suzume's cheeks. She felt overjoyed. She didn't know what she had done to deserve such words, and couldn't hold it in anymore.

"That's right! If Diav is fine with it, so am I! As his best friend, I'm gonna support his decisions! I don't know about you as much as he does, but if he's gonna say that after all this, then I can't go against it.

It would've been a different matter if you didn't even feel a shred of regret for making him go through all this, but you realise all of that. I would've hated you otherwise, but that's not the case. You're a nice girl, Suzume!" Shin sent words of reassurance.

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"Looks like you can say some nice stuff time to time too, huh?" Yukio teased him.

"Shut up! Leave me alone, Yu!" and then they all laughed.

"Even so," Hannah directed her words at Suzume, "You say that we'll get involved soon if it's like this, but… we've already been involved, you know?"

"Eh?"

"You two weren't the only ones attacked. Those guys were sent after us too."

"No way… I… but, so soon… it's…"

"Enough, don't try to apologize or anything. There isn't any going back for us now. Even if we tried to dissociate ourselves from the matter, this idiot is still going to go after you. And since he's related to us, we can't expect ourselves to remain untouched at all.

That's why, at the very least, I want you to tell us what's going on. So that we can understand your situation and act appropriately."

Suzume gathered her resolve and gulped, "Alright… I'll tell you everything…"

And she explained away. She revealed everything she had told Diavolo that night. About her lineage and about her current situation. It took her almost ten minutes for the explanation to end.

"I see. Now I understand. That would also explain your bruises when you came to school." (Hannah)

"Eh? You noticed?" (Diavolo)

"Of course, I did, idiot! You're terrible at lying. 'Saving a child from a burning house,' who do you think I am? Did you honestly think something like an apartment fire wouldn't be reported to the Rose family? We rule this city, you know?!"

"Ah… right…"

"But it must've been pretty rough on you, Suzume. Having experienced things like this simply because of your lineage." (Yukio)

"Rest assured, Suzume. I'll use our intelligence agencies to find out who and where this Hisao is. But still, 'HATE,' huh. Sounds like a child came up with the acronym, fufu!" (Hannah)

"It'll be fine! You saw our growth speed, didn't you?! We'll get stronger in no time! And then we'll be ready to pulverize those guys! And besides, now we have our weapons! We'll become way stronger!" (Shin)

"I know, right? If it weren't for Suzume, I might've never gotten that awesome sword." (Diavolo)

"I actually thought you had something important to take care of. To think you were secretly going to buy a weapon. I'm slightly hurt, you know," and Hannah held the sword Diavolo bought that was leaning beside the desk, "Such a sword… looks like your taste is quite fancy!"

"Oh, it didn't look like that when I chose it, though. It transformed into that during the battle."

"Then why is it still in this form?"

"Eh?"

"Eh??"

The two locked eyes at each other followed by a brief moment of silence.

"No, like, I use Raze, right? So isn't it supposed to change shape?"

"Yeah, but it's supposed to go back to normal after you deem the fight has ended."

"Eh?"

They locked eyes again.

"This… don't tell me! Eeehhh!!! Suzume, just what on earth were you thinking, giving him this weapon?!"

Suzume seemed to innocently turn her head away and whistled, pretending it didn't concern her. They both knew what the topic was about. It was only the boys who were left confused.

"Eh? Eh? What is it? What does it mean?" Shin asked rapidly glancing to and fro at the girls.

"Don't pretend like you don't know! This is… a first generation weapon, isn't it?!"

"Ehehehe!" she mischievously winked and stuck her tongue out.

Hannah sighed as she gave up, "Oh, God. Just what have you done…" and held her palm over her face.

The conversation was encrypted. None of the boys understood a thing unless one of them asked. And that's what Yukio did.

"First generation weapon was, if I remember correctly, the one that the instructor didn't want to talk about, right? Just what's so special about them?"

"Right, I was supposed to explain that to you guys anyway. Might as well do it now. Gosh!

Alright listen, till now you've been told about two kinds of weapons. The second generation, known as 'Rejected' or 'Failure Weapons'. And the third generation, known as 'Crystal Weapons'.

However, the first… the first generation is known as… 'Cursed Weapons'."

"Cursed? Why cursed?"

"There's a legend that centuries to millennia ago, powerful beasts used to live alongside us. Just like humans, they were able to control Natura and Raze as well. And if they agreed upon it, the beasts could turn into weapons for their human partners.

However, after some incident, they all just vanished. But many of them who were weapons were still here. Unlike either of the two later generations, they have a mind of their own and are incredibly picky about their wielders. They don't even have such a thing called 'synch rate'. If they like the human, they grant them power, just that simple.

Although, if they are borne by users they did not accept, they'd not only disobey them, but also bring them great misfortune. That was why they came to be known as 'cursed'."

"Whoa, to think even weapons had a past like that." (Shin)

"That's right. But even if people are advised to not use them, they can actually turn out to be far more powerful than any of the other generations. These beasts were strong, really strong! Being able to successfully wield one means that two possible Raze users are acting as one single being. Giving each other their energies and unleashing them together, can you imagine just how incredible such a phenomenon is?!"

"That means that Diavolo was really lucky to be able to use one, right? That's amazing!" (Yukio)

"Rather than luck, he was actually meant to wield that sword, though…" Suzume thought, but she didn't say anything about it.

"Lucky? Sure. But I don't know if he was actually lucky or unlucky. The latter two generations can be used by anybody regardless of who its previous owner was. That's why they return to normal after their energy source, the user, is cut off.

But first generations are bound to their users by something like a contract, so they stay in their new shape until their owner dies or the contract is somehow broken. Since his sword is like this now, it definitely has accepted him. But seeing his current state, can you really say he was lucky?" she said with a giggle to lighten the mood.

"Rather than Suzume being the cause of misfortune, you're the one who seems to attract misfortune, huh Diav?"

"I guess so, hehe!" and they all laughed.

That bit of word exchange was meant to make fun of their current situation in order to lighten the mood. Their situation was indeed problematic, but they had confidence. They believed that with their usual growth rate, they could make a difference. Thus, they trained hard every day.

However, what awaited their fates in the near future, three months to be exact, would completely turn their optimism upside down.

…

..

.

----------------------------------------

A large dimly lit room. Large monitors and rows of computers.

"Blood pressure, stable."

"Pulse rate, normal."

"Brain waves, approaching beta levels."

"Sir, they are ready to be released from incubation!"

The words were directed at just one man. He stood about 1.7 m tall, garbed in a black robe with a hood that hid his face.

Standing in front of three large capsules inhabiting naked human bodies that floated in the complex fluid it was filled with, he ordered…

"Do it."

And with the push a few buttons and levers, his command was executed. The capsules were drained and the bodies steadily floated down.

Ksshhh!

"Kuwaa~! How long has it been since I last smelt fresh air?" the man from the left capsule said as they all came out, "Woo~, Tanran! Lookin' ni~ce as always, eh? KAAHAHAHA!"

"Ugh, spare me your sexual harassment. If it weren't for Master Hisao, you'd never see my body even if you became a ghost," the woman from the right capsule shot back.

"Master Hisao, it's a pleasure to see you in good health first thing after we've reawoken," the man from the center capsule greeted as he bowed. The two beside him followed suit and bowed accordingly.

"Welcome back. The integration was a success. How do you feel?"

"We feel your strength flowing through us. It is our honor to be bestowed with your powers."

"Good. Get dressed then. You'll be given your missions and necessary information soon. We'll show those Aotsuki trash what it means when they anger me!"