In the middle of the Ryota surgery room, on a metal table lays a corpse, a victim of the recent murders, he is pale and lifeless. Imamaru walks up to the body and places both hands on it, she shuts her eyes and sees only darkness. As she opens her eyes she sees a ghostly version of herself in the reflection of a broken window, she looks around to see she is on the path of a dimly lit street at night. the victim from the table is alive and walks past her ghostly form, she follows him down a back alley and sees a figure in a black hooded robe approach them, the figure moves towards the body and lightly touches the man on the arm, the man instantly falls to the floor and the hooded figure continues walking as if nothing happened. The ghost version of Imamaru touches the hooded figure and then appears in a dark, dingy room. In the corner she sees the hooded figure. She looks out the window and sees a street sign. She then opens her eyes back in her home and removes her hands from the body, she turns to the SGT. “I know where the killer is”. The SGT makes a phone call. "This is SGT Izanaki, I’m sending you the location now”. Toshia is dressed in his hero costume and is sitting in an armoured car with a number of SWAT PA officers, “understood”.
A little while later Imamaru is sitting on the floor in her living room with the picture of Shinji in front of her. She shuts her eyes and touches the photo, again she appears as a ghost version of herself. In front of her she sees Shinji, he’s talking to the boss but Check’s face is unable to be seen as he is in his seat facing the other direction, next to Check is Naomi. Imamaru overhears a brief conversation as Shinji speaks to him, “Boss, we think we found Arata, I’ve sent Kayo to go fetch him as he’s the one who can most likely keep him under control, and if he continues on this little killing spree of his it’ll only draw more attention”. Naomi looks over at Shinji then suddenly spots Imamaru’s spirit form “Wait, hold on who is that, Shinji there’s someone there”, Naomi points to his side. Shinji looks but sees no one there. “Naomi this is serious, stop joking around”.
She runs forward “no there’s someone there, someone’s projecting on you” Imamaru looks shocked, Naomi runs up to Imamarus's spirit form and places her hand towards her, she lets out a spiritual sonic wave from her hands sending the real version of Imamaru flying backwards. She takes a breath and sits up, the PA team are all looking at her. “I’m fine I’m ok, I’ve just not had someone hit my astral form before, usually people can’t see me, she must be a magic user or an esper or something, that’s the only possible way she could see me”. The SGT helps her up “I’m glad you’re ok but did you manage to get a location or something we can use” she shakes her head “no, I wasn’t there long enough, I couldn’t get a good view outside, however I saw a map on a desk nearby and they had 3 places circles, one was the location of the hooded guy I just mentioned and the others were 23rd and 25th street”. Hotaka is in the academy teachers lounge when he receives the phone call, he turns to Minita “I’ve got to go”.
Naomi, Shinji and Check are in the boss's room at the base. Shinji shouts at her “what the hell was that about Naomi” she replies angrily “you were being followed, some form of astral projection, luckily I stopped her before she could get any proper information, but that doesn’t mean she won’t be back”. Check jumps in “Again Shinji you’ve nearly cost us the game, Naomi keep an eye on him for me, if he gets any more visitors, astral or not, kill them” she nods and Naomi and Shinji look at each other. Check continues. “Just remember, you’re only there to protect him, nothing more. I’ll be watching”.
Hotaka is flying around 23rd street, he looks down to try and find the chess club hideout but finds nothing, he lands on the top of a building and presses the headpiece in his ear “Hey Sarge, I’ve scoured both 23rd and 25th street but I couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary, we’re going to need a more accurate location. Can you speak to Imamaru to see if she can project again”. The SGT responds “That’s a negative, Naomi can see and interact with Imamaru’s projection, she’s most likely guarding Shinji as we speak, also when she’s in her astral form she’s unable to perform spells so that would put her at major risk, let’s just hope our team can secure this hooded guy and at least we can see if they have any affiliation with the chess club. I’m sorry Hotaka but it’s another bust, I’ll let you know if we get anything”. Hotaka turns off his earpiece “damn it, not again”, he flies off.
Kayo is walking through a dark, abandoned building, nearby a few demons are also moving around in different directions. Kayo hears the whispers of one of his demons. “I’ve found him” Kayo heads over to another part of the building and sees Arata in the corner, he withdraws all the demons in. “Hey bud, long time no see, where have you been, we lost you there for a little bit”. Arata turns and smiles, “Father Kayo I was just a little hungry and bored, I hadn’t played with anybody in so long” Kayo walks closer. “That’s ok, it looks like you’ve had lots to eat, should we maybe head back to base and I’ll find you lots of friends to play with there”. Arata stands up “that sounds nice”.
Kayo remembers a memory from his cult days, in front of him is a young couple, the woman is holding a baby, and Kayo places his thumb in a bowl of blood, and then proceeds to run it over the baby's forehead. “We thank brother and Sister Miyasato for their offering of a child to the church, we will raise him in the unholiest of ways, he will be blessed by our dark lord with powers unlike this world has seen, powers that even death himself fears”. Years later Kayo walks into a room of their old cult base. As he enters he sees Arata covered in blood and holding a knife, he turns and see’s Arata’s parents on the floor, brutally stabbed to death. Kayo smiles with joy, “Praise the dark lord, we have found our chosen one, he who shall bring forth the new age of fear”. Again years later on Arata’s 10th birthday, a large number of cult followers are gathered around him, 2 of the cult members are talking between themselves “It’s been 8 hours of prayer and yet his ability has not yet shown, what if the chosen one is not blessed with power?”, the second member replies “of course he will, do not fear, our dark lord will bless those who deserve it, and our young Arata deserves it most sinfully”.
Suddenly a light emanates from Arata’s core, everyone starts gasping and praising the devil. Kayo stands up, “Dark pope Jiro, Arata has finally been blessed with power like we knew he would”. The dark pope, the highest member of the cult stands up and walks towards Arata. “Finally, welcome young one to your ascension, you shall lead me and my fellow members into a new dark world” he places his hand on Arata’s head and suddenly collapses to the floor dead. Kayo turns to the crowd “by the power bestowed in me I can feel Jiro’s soul has left his body” everyone turns to Arata, he smiles and speaks out loud, “hungry”. Everyone starts to cheer and applaud. The following year Kayo walks into the church to find every last member of the cult dead on the floor, at the front Arata is sitting on the unholy throne. Kayo looks at the child in horror. Moments later Kayo is guiding Arata down a long dark staircase. He walks him into a small room “Ok now Arata we’re going to keep you safe in here, I’ll make sure to bring you food often but for now be a good boy”. He smiles, “that’s ok Father Kayo, I’ll see you soon”.
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In the present out on the street at night time, Kayo and Arata emerge from the building together. A couple of heroes and PA officers are surrounding them and Toshia steps forward, “as you are probably aware my name is Bullet, right now you’re surrounded both by Protection Agency officers and heroes, please don’t try to resist arrest”. Kayo speaks to Arata “Ok, be a good boy and put your hands up, for now, let’s just do what we're told” they both raise their hands and 3 of the heroes cautiously walk towards them with energy-diffusing badges. One of them Grabs Arata to place it on him and suddenly falls to the floor dead. Kayo smiles “Good Job” he summons 2 demons who appear behind the heroes stabbing them through the chest with their sharp claws. Toshia steps back in shock then quickly runs in at super speed towards Arata.
Suddenly the hero Arata killed stands up in front of him and fires out a large sound wave towards him sending him flying backwards. He lands on the ground and then stands up. “Damn it, what’s megahurtz thinking, why did he attack me, also it looked like he died earlier when he touched that hooded guy,what the hell is going on”. He looks around to see the other 2 heroes that were killed by demons are also alive and killing PA officers, also many PA officers are being killed by demons. Another officer goes to grab Arata from behind but again drops dead. Arata licks his lips and smiles. “Tasty”. Toshia looks over at them and speaks to himself. “Damn it, how can I arrest someone I can’t touch, plus I can’t get close enough to the other guy, I'm going to need more reinforcements to stop them”, he runs away at super speed.
Later Arata and Kayo are walking into the base, Shinji is in the corner and Naomi is on Check’s lap, Check sighs “Kayo please keep a close eye on Arata in future, make sure he is trained on doing as he’s told so he doesn’t go disappearing again”. Shinji stands up, “maybe it’d help if you just use your power on him as well, that way we always know where he is” check looks over to Shinji through the corner of his eye “you know the repercussions of what could happen if I used my power on Arata, after this incident we will continue in hiding just a little longer, but soon we’ll be making our next move, and this time I want you all involved”. He turns to the chess board and moves a piece. Shinji looks over to Arata who is smiling innocently but also menacingly.
Shuichi is duelling with Kenshin, “I need to be ready for the AAs as they’re only a few weeks away” Kenshin continues to defend each attack, doing so effortlessly “you will be ready don’t worry, remember, it’s also a great chance for others to see what you all can do. Also when you finally become heroes you’ll look back and remember these tournaments as the first step in your hero journey”. They continue to spar, Kenshin easily knocks Shuichi to the floor and then holds out his hand to help him up, Shuichi grabs his hand and stands up “by the way I forgot to say earlier, that was amazing yesterday, the way you deflected Hotaka Sensei’s attack, what did you say your power was again” Kenshin grins and replies “I didn’t”. Shuichi chuckles then quickly swings his sword to catch Kenshin off guard, Kenshin blocks it and once again flips Shuichi to the floor. Whilst on the floor Shuichi speaks in a painful tone “ok, fair enough”.
Kenikai calls Toshia, “Hey, we remembered you were back in town today, Kame and I are going to the arcade later if you want to join”. Toshia replies “Hey, thanks for the invite but I’ve still got some work to do here, maybe next week, but enjoy the arcade”, Toshia puts the phone down “Sorry about that, it was my students” Hotaka nods and replies “that’s fine, anyway back to the case, explain what happened again” Toshia sighs “it’s like I said, the others and I had located the killer but he wasn’t alone, Kayo Endo was with him, which of course confirms our suspicions that the attacker wass somehow linked to the chess club” Izanaki jumps in “but the killings just don’t make sense, they seem too random” Toshia continues, “I think they might be, I didn’t get the best look but the hooded man didn’t seem very aware of his power, as soon as Megahurtz touched him he died instantly, next thing I knew Kayo was summoning demons and raising the dead heroes to fight for him, it happened so quickly, even for me, unfortunately, I was the only one who managed to make it out alive” he looks down at the floor.
Hotaka puts his hand on Toshia’s shoulder, “it's ok, it's not your fault” Toshia stands up “but I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again, next time I’ll get them” the SGT jumps in “and you’ll have your chance, as soon as we find anything we will let you know. In the meantime, they will probably be preparing for their next attack, with the Academic Arenas coming up there is a possibility they could use this as a distraction, so please keep your communication devices on throughout the games. For now, focus on training your students, make sure they are ready for the real world of being a hero”. Toshia walks home whilst in an upset mood, he continues walking down the streets, up the stairs to his apartment and finally opens his front door, he switches on the light and as he does he sees Kame and Kenikai standing there holding a banner saying ‘welcome home’, Kenikai has a big smile on his face and Kame has a straight face as normal, Toshia chuckles.
“What are you doing here and how did you both get in my apartment” Kenikai replies “we spoke to Minita Sensei about you guys growing up together in the orphanage, she mentioned you were having a hard time with work so we thought we would come and cheer you up, she also let us borrow her spare key to get in” Kame puts the poster down and picks up a box, “this is for you, from us”. Toshia takes the present and reads the card on top "thank you for being an amazing mentor, I know we don’t train much but you make our time together really fun". He looks inside and it's a new video game. “Woah you both remembered how much I want this one”. He looks at them and smiles “hey, how about we play it now”. Kenikai and Toshia run to the couch and turn the game on and start playing. Kame walks over at a normal pace and sits next to them. Toshia speeds into the kitchen and reappears instantly with several snacks.
Toshia puts down the controller, “I’m sorry to both of you, I’ve been slacking in my training because I wanted you both to have fun and not worry about the serious side of being a hero, but I promise I’m going to train you guys properly, you’ll both be the best heroes ever”. Kame replies “That’s ok, we enjoy having fun with you” Kenikai continues “but we are also excited to start training properly as well, but maybe let’s start tomorrow”. Toshia laughs and nods then they all go back to gaming.
Shinji is in the office alone with Check “So I’m guessing we’re going to attack during the Academic Arenas in a few weeks right?”. Check tuts “Come on Shinji, in a game of chess using obvious moves like that will make it game over in no time, no they’re expecting us to attack during that time, we will wait until the time is right, and attack when they least expect it, where it's going to hurt them, for now, we’re going to do what everyone else will do, enjoy watching the competition”.