Kai and Makoto hurried back to where they were to see Inori waiting for them, accompanied by a few other angels as well. Just one look at the scene and its implications were enough to make Kai feel like his own wings were fluttering like crazy inside his stomach. But there was no way around it; he did this to himself, therefore he had to face it, no matter how sick the guilt made him feel.
Inori took a deep breath, then spoke to Kai, “Between the recent attack on one of our fellow heaven’s sub-factions and what me and the others were in the meeting chamber for, we already have enough problems on our hands.” Making Kai look down at his shoes out of guilt again.
As Makoto tried to do the least he could by comforting his kouhai with a gentle pat on the back, Inori quickly added, “Which is why we came to the agreement of using one solution for both.”
At this, Makoto shifted his full attention to what Inori had to say. But not before prompting Kai to do the same with a small poke in the ribs, which brought his focus back. “We’re listening.”
“While giving refuge to the angels who survived the attack on their sub-faction, we learned from them the potential existence of at least one sub-faction of hell within the same area as our own sub-faction’s entry point.” Inori carried on once she had the proper attention of everyone present, particularly Kai’s, “They don’t know where the exact location of its entry point could be, only that most likely it’s that very sub-faction which is responsible for the attack, and that sub-faction alone.”
Makoto gasped. “All this time looking over the humans in this area and we’ve never known about a hell sub-faction among us too? What were the odds?!” While Kai thought to himself, “Guess that does explain how easily me and Mion managed to cross paths that night during the storm…”
As if she noticed what Kai was thinking about, Inori said, “This could also mean the demon Kai’s been encountering this whole time is from that same sub-faction as well. If this is true, there’s no way he possesses no knowledge of the attack his own sub-faction orchestrated on one of our own.”
The moment this sentence escaped Inori’s lips, Kai had a hunch as to where this was going. “Are you suggesting we can get the necessary information out of Mion in order to counter our attackers?”
Inori nodded. “Between the attackers somehow being able to find out the attacked sub-faction’s location and the revelation of them residing in the same area as us, we have concluded it’s only a matter of time before our own safety is also jeopardized. Likewise this would also put the safety of the humans in this area at risk, as our absence would mean nobody being there to protect the humans from the demons, thus allowing them free reign to enact whatever evil they desire on them. To prevent that by means of countering them, we also agreed that obtaining information on the enemy has to be done. For that to be possible, the capturing of this particular demon is a must. But I must also inform you of something if we wish to carry on with it...” She said before pausing herself, and Kai noticed that for some strange reason Inori looked worried, as if she was the one in trouble.
This also worried Kai just as much, for two reasons; if someone as knowledgeable and skilled as Inori of all angels showed this much visible concern for an operation then one could only expect some serious trouble to stir up in some way. The other subject of worry was his inner conflict over Mion starting up again upon hearing what Inori had in mind with him. There was no way he could so much as try to object to something issued by the highest authority of his sub-faction, even more so when he was in such a vulnerable situation. But if Inori did get to execute her plan to capture Mion for information, then what would that mean? Liberation from a long-term devilish scheme, or an indirect act of betrayal to his friend? Kai didn’t know what was right or wrong anymore.
While Kai’s internal tug-of-war was at it again at the back of his mind, Inori spoke again, “Look Kai, we agreed that since the problem with the demon in question is of your own bringing, you ought to take responsibility for it. So in relation to the other problem on our hands, the final verdict was made to have you lure this demon to where we can capture it with as little hassle as possible.”
“This demon’s been keeping up the act of being your friend for whatever evil deed he’s got in mind.” One of the angels standing beside Inori piped up. “Based on that, it’s probably safe to assume he won’t suspect a thing if you casually call him for a meet-up like you two have done before. That way, when we eventually move in for the capture, he’ll be completely unprepared for it, and therefore will save everyone a lot of trouble.”
At this, Makoto yelled, “What?!” prompting Inori to raise a hand into the air for silence so she could continue, “Because of this, I must tell you, Kai… even though we came to this conclusion as a way for you to take responsibility for your recklessness, it also could potentially put you in danger. For there’s no knowing what a demon who realized they’ve been bamboozled can be capable of, so I need to hear your say in it before we can either carry it out or come up with something else.”
So that explained what the worried look on Inori’s face had been about. This time Makoto was the one who was showing the utmost concern as he tried to get a word out to Inori, hesitated, then turned to Kai to say, “Think wisely on this one Kai, facing the consequences of your poor actions still shouldn’t be worth putting your-“
“Hold on…” Kai interrupted. Inori’s suggestion of his involvement in the plan as a way of making up for his mistake had got the gears in his head turning. His inner conflict over Mion’s true nature had made him crave the truth about the demon rather badly, and he felt like if he could find out that very truth, it could potentially lead to solutions for both problems at hand right now.
If Mion truly was being genuine with everything he said or did so far, then helping the other angels capture him for information still felt like betraying a friend to Kai, which he obviously didn’t like the sound of. However, if Kai did indeed directly play a part in the operation, and if it turned out that Mion was indeed innocent all along, then maybe there was a chance that he could convince the angels to spare Mion. Granted, Kai WOULD have a lot of explaining to do to Mion afterwards in that case, but at least it would mean their troubles would be over. And if Mion was indeed an undercover evil, then Kai would have nothing to worry about going with Inori’s proposed plan.
Maybe it was a small part of him at the back of his head telling that his inner conflict-driven messy state of mind was once again clouding his judgement. But for a moment Kai thought whatever the results would be, this tactic probably wasn’t the best way to go. That said, since it also happened to be the ONLY way to go, Kai decided he’d just have to grit his teeth and do it. No matter what, the true solution to all this didn’t seem to be within reach until he could wipe his confusion clean.
After a deep gulp, Kai responded in a partially reluctant but determined voice, “I’ll do it.”
Inori and the other angels nodded silently. Makoto stared wide-eyed at Kai for a few seconds, let out a deep sigh that almost sounded like one of defeat, and said, “So that’s that… then do promise me that you’ll be most careful when it happens.”
This time it was Kai who nodded silently, as Makoto turned to Inori next to say, “You’ll also make sure nothing will happen to him, right?”
“We’ll do all we can to ensure things go according to plan.” Inori assured Makoto with a gentle pat on the shoulder. She then turned to Kai to say, “Now that you’ve agreed to participate in the operation, I believe the first thing to do is to let the demon know you’ll be meeting him. Preferably tomorrow, and choose the location wisely, we don’t want any inadvertent trouble for humans in the process. Afterwards, we can discuss the safety precautions we’ll be taking for you when it happens.”
“Yes, Inori sama.” Kai replied, and reached for his phone with a nervously shivering hand. Once the phone was out of his pocket, he did his best to steady his shaking hand – as well as his mind - so he could properly send Mion an appropriate, non-suspicious reply to the text he’d sent earlier.
“Glad to hear you did make it. As for if we can meet up tomorrow – yes, I’m available. How does meeting at that old suspension bridge over the river at noon sound?”
“Sounds convincing enough.” Makoto mumbled over Kai’s shoulder, while Inori nodded to show the text was good to send. “And now we officially take action…”
Kai inhaled a deep breath, and tapped a sweaty finger onto the “send” button.
* * *
“Well, what do you know…” Miyu muttered in a tone of mild astonishment as Daichi and Ren showed her Mion’s phone screen. “This angel actually said yes… thanks for making our task easy, man.”
Daichi smirked in agreement, and Ren asked with uncertainty, “You sure about not telling Kurosawa san? Assuming we do catch this angel, then he’ll probably find out about it sooner or later-“
Looking annoyed, Miyu cut him off, “Trust me, I know what I’m doing! We’ll just try and get the job done the best we can, and later tell everyone including him that we caught the angel by chance. No one will have any questions to an excuse like that, and…” she took a moment to glance at the tightly locked door to Mion’s room and added, “…it’s not like anyone who knows the truth will be able to correct us anyway… not if they’re dead and buried.”
Ren nodded. “Risky, but I’ll be on board since you seem to be so confident.” He muttered with a shrug, while a rather impressed Daichi clapped a few times, saying, “Way to tie up loose ends for no more evidence… you bet I’m on board with this, I’ll be darned if I don’t.”
Smiling back in approval, Miyu muttered with her eyes still on the locked door, “I never liked that little shit anyway… hmph, brother indeed…”
All of this could faintly be heard through the door as Mion pressed his ear to it for eavesdropping. Now he knew for certain he’d never get out of this alive. His days left went as far as however long it would take for Miyu, Daichi, and Ren to follow him to wherever Kai proposed to meet with him and capture the poor unsuspecting angel. This was the inevitable end.
But… if there was indeed still time until then, there was also still hope. The time it took for Mion to arrive at the promised place and greet Kai, however brief it may be, could offer a slim but sure window of opportunity through which he could help Kai slip into. And if any bit of luck was on his side, a little more time could also be bought by him giving his all to stop his sister and her cronies from trying to chase after Kai while he – hopefully - ran for his life.
“I’ll definitely die, but I don’t give a damn… just so long as Kai can live…” Mion vowed to himself, clenching his fists in determination so hard he nearly drew blood from his palms. He couldn’t care any less about that though, as all his focus was on the following day – the most important, and most certainly also the last, day of his entire life.
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* * *
The gray sky was pouring as Kai made his way to the bridge he told Mion to meet him at, rather reminiscent of the night they had first met. Thankfully the bad weather did nothing to ruin the communication between him and Inori (as well as the many other angels who were undercover with her) via the spying spells in their ears, the very same kind he and Makoto had worn before.
By the time Kai was crossing the bridge, nervous more than ever at what was to come, he could hear through the rain the voices of some angels muttering the same concerns. His knuckles white from the grip on his umbrella tightening out of unease, Kai wished he could pull the spell out of his ear until Mion came, because those voices of worry weren’t helping with his feelings at all. In an attempt to distract himself from his own nerves, Kai decided he’d rather look down at the river below, where he could see its roaring currents intensified by the immense rainfall.
“Quiet, everyone!” Kai eventually heard Inori’s voice whisper firmly when he was almost at the middle of the bridge. “I think I can see someone directly approaching Kai in the distance.”
Immediately Kai looked away from the river and focused on the other side of the bridge, where among the few people crossing over, he could make out a familiar figure.
It was Mion alright, also holding an umbrella in a hand tight with nervousness. Not only that, his ear too had a spying spell placed in it, through which the three undercover demons were listening and watching from a safe distance with the utmost attention, waiting for the perfect timing to strike.
Upon seeing what Inori had pointed out, the angels were now all on edge as they kept watching from their hiding place as Mion walked closer and closer to Kai until both of them were standing right in the middle of the bridge. Here it was, the moment of truth, and both the angels and demons were ready for anything – or so they thought.
Before stepping past the point of no return, Kai quickly went through Inori’s plan one more time in his mind. After he met with Mion at an unsuspicious public area – which was this bridge – he was to lead him somewhere else for Inori and the other undercover angels to incapacitate Mion. Enough said, mission accomplished. Once his little review was done, he began by striking up a conversation, “Good to see you, Mion. Pity the weather couldn’t be better today though, huh?”
“Pity indeed.” Mion replied, also trying to sound casual, as planned – or rather, forced – by Miyu. “If either of us knew it was gonna rain this hard, we would’ve chosen a different place to meet.”
“We can still do that.” Said Kai. That was his cue to get Mion moving to the place for the operation’s next step. “Wanna go now and get out of the rain?”
If this really was just a casual meeting between the two of them, Mion would’ve said yes to that without hesitation. But instead he did hesitate as he tried to figure out what was the best thing he could say to get Kai out of the trouble he had no idea he was in. Miyu had threatened him by saying they’d be watching everything he did from where he couldn’t see them, so if they so much as saw him pull the spying spell out of his ear to tell Kai something incognito, they wouldn’t hesitate to kill him right then and there before he could get a word out.
“Trust me when I say we have our ways of doing just that.” Mion remembered Miyu telling him, so in his mind he formed an idea to convey the situation to Kai in a vague way so as not to set off the demons, but at the same time not too vague that Kai wouldn’t understand him.
“What’s the matter?” Kai asked when he saw Mion wasn’t responding to his question, but rather silently standing on the spot seemingly in a kind of daze. “Something wrong?”
It was this or nothing. His heart feeling like it was beating faster than that of a mouse, Mion did his best to hide his fear as he spoke, “Here, Kai…” and when this brief sentence had the angel’s attention, he stepped closer to him. This was so Kai could see Mion’s face properly when he mouthed wide, clear, and silently, “You’re in danger. Demons coming for you. You must run, go home!”
What with Mion’s back to them from where they were at, Miyu and the other two demons couldn’t tell what Mion was doing on the bridge before Kai. “What’s he playing at, just standing there doing nothing? Is he so scared did he momentarily forget the plan? And what’s with the angel’s face?”
To Mion’s relief, Kai had understood his mouthing. In both confusion and shock his own mouth had dropped open as he too stood motionless on the spot, which was what the demons had also seen.
“Go, now!” Mion mouthed again upon seeing Kai not budging. Any more time wasted right now and surely Miyu would begin to notice something was off. In the extremely short amount of time he had right there, Mion cooked up another idea. Considering the situation, even if Kai eventually understood his silent advice and ran, some kind of backup tactic would be needed to ensure his safety after he was dead from trying to stop the three demons from getting to the angel. A backup tactic to ensure Miyu or any other demons wouldn’t be able to get to anyone or anywhere at all.
Mion gulped. What he needed to tell Kai next was something that mouthing would make too vague to understand. For this one he’d have no choice but to use his voice and just hope that the demons eavesdropping on him wouldn’t realize the context right away.
He took a deep breath and mouthed one last time to Kai, “Go home and tell your folks;” before whispering rapidly but clearly the coordinates of the entry point to his sub-faction of hell.
“If he goes back to his sub-faction and tells his folks there these coordinates, my sub-faction will be busted by those angels in no time, and nobody from there will ever be able to threaten his life!” Mion thought to himself. “I just hope my lucky stars this will work…”
While Kai didn’t know at first what the hell this was all about, Inori and the other angels listening in on the so-called conversation did. “Hang on… these are coordinates! But to what?”
“Why would he want to tell something like this out of the blue?”
“Could this be a sort of trap? Or something worth investigating just in case?”
“Call me crazy, but could there be the possibility of those coordinates being… where his sub-faction of hell’s entry point is? But then…”
Unfortunately, the demons had also understood what Mion was conveying to Kai, and were fuming. “He’s telling him the coordinates to our sub-faction’s entry point?! THAT FUCKING BACKSTABBER!!!”
“That does it, he’s dead meat!” Ren angrily snarled, and pulled out a blood-red shuriken from his pocket to aim at Mion. And before Miyu could stop him from his rage-fueled rash behavior in favor of a more composed one, the weapon was sent flying.
“You hotheaded dumbass!” Miyu smacked the back of Ren’s head, watching the airborne shuriken grow smaller and smaller into a mere speck in the distance. “We’re supposed to capture the angel alive, what if that wretched thing you threw goes off course and hits our target?!”
While Ren tried to explain himself to Miyu, the shuriken continued flying through the rain, practically slicing through the water droplets. When it eventually reached the bridge, it also began to slice through the steel cables holding the structure up, making great clanging noises.
Of course, the racket didn’t go unnoticed by Kai, who frantically looked around in a panic for the source of it, and Mion, who immediately realized the demons on his tail must’ve seen through his tricks. Quickly as he could, Mion grabbed Kai with a cry of, “Look out!” and ducked down with a splash onto the rainy ground. Alongside the frightened screams of the few people trying to get off the bridge they were just crossing, the clanging noises continued overhead as the shuriken slashed its way through more cables. But ultimately, it never hit its intended mark.
Just to be sure though, Mion glanced at Kai to ask him, “Are you hurt?” to which the very confused and scared angel replied by shaking his head. After this somewhat relieving confirmation Mion was just about to get Kai and himself back on their feet, when another noise signaled a bigger threat.
The suspension bridge was a rather old structure already, so you could imagine a great disturbance such as a large amount of its cables getting cut nearly all at once wouldn’t do it any favors, if not straight up harm. And sorry to say, the sound Kai and Mion were hearing was of the latter.
A big portion of the bridge was breaking away and collapsing even as Kai and Mion were beginning to make sense of the situation. This, added with the immense panic that hit them like a runaway semi-truck, was why as soon as their minds fully comprehended that they were falling with concrete and metal debris all around them, their wings didn’t have enough time to spread out. And the next thing they knew, something else had hit them just as hard as the panic, but physically this time.
They’d fallen right into the river. Once again they had no time to react, as the impact of themselves on the violently crashing water instantly knocked them out, and from then on they knew no more.
* * *
Kai awoke with a start in pitch darkness. Right after that he felt his body cough up an unpleasant amount of water from within. Only after several more wet coughs could he finally get himself back together to make sense of his condition and surroundings.
He definitely wasn’t dead, that was for sure; a miracle considering what he remembered happening before he blacked out. Speaking of black, his eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness well enough for him to see that he was lying on a damp riverbank. There was also the river before him, flowing much more gently than when he’d last seen it. That, along with the quieter and darker surroundings told him the rain had stopped, and it was nighttime.
“The river must’ve carried me for quite a while…” Kai thought. “Meaning wherever I am right now should be bloody far away from the bridge, or what’s left of it…”
Just as the bridge came to mind, Kai also realized the spying spells were no longer in his ears, and as that began to remind him of Inori and the others, the silence around him was broken by a distant series of shouts – shouts of a familiar voice repeatedly calling his name, “Kai! Kai!...”
* * *
“…Kai! Where are you, Kai?! Kai!” Mion shouted, looking in every direction of the darkness for signs of the angel. He’d just woken up on the riverbank the same way Kai had – wet, shaken, and lost, but still very much alive. With those out of the way, he remembered the bridge collapse, what had caused it, and eventually who he was trying to protect from it.
“God damn… Kai! Where is he?!” He’d immediately gotten to his feet and looked around even as his eyes were in the middle of adjusting to the dark, but didn’t find anything. Nevertheless, he kept on looking and calling in the hopes that he’d get a response in the form of either a call or a sight.
But none came. Mion was alone in the night. That realization came to him with another one, one that hit him many times harder than his body did with the water when he fell from the bridge.
“Oh no… I’ve lost him…”
He felt all the strength vanish from his legs and he collapsed onto the ground. Then the shock of the realization came flooding out of him in tears as he began sobbing, “I couldn’t save him…”
* * *
Instantly recognizing the voice as Mion’s, Kai listened with all his might to figure out where the calling was coming from. Eventually he very faintly through the darkness could make out a human-shaped figure frantically moving this way and that on the other side of the river. When Kai realized that was the source of the voice, he immediately knew it was Mion and waded across the calm river towards him. He would’ve flown, but his wings were still too wet for flying at the moment.
When he got there, however, Kai saw that Mion had his back to the river and had stopped calling out for him. Kai was about to call back to Mion, noticing that he hadn’t seen him on the river’s other side from not paying close attention to his surroundings in his state of desperation. But then saw him mutter, “Oh no… I’ve lost him…” before falling onto the ground in a fit of sobs, barely managing to cry out, “I couldn’t save him…”
Kai stood frozen in the water. Mion thought he had died in the river and was genuinely lamenting over it… Now that he thought about it, Mion had also protected him from whatever had cut the bridge cables, and had even tried to secretly warn him of… demons coming after him?
The astonishment that these thoughts brought were then followed with shame and resentment towards Kai himself. How could he have ever doubted Mion’s sincereness, even if it was partial? He cared for him from the bottom of his heart as a friend, and he’d tried to trick him into a scheme because his faith in him had wavered out of his stupid clouded judgement. And now look what that have landed them in, a dangerous situation that could’ve claimed both their lives!
“What a fool I’ve been…” Thought Kai, but now maybe wasn’t the best time for self-reflection. He walked out of the river and put a hand on Mion’s shoulder to let him know of his presence.
At first Mion reacted like Kai had pranked him with a joy buzzer, but upon seeing Kai alive and breathing before him, he looked like he didn’t know what to do.
“K… Kai…” He stuttered for a moment, then properly found his voice as he leapt up to wrap his arms around Kai in a hug that tackled both of them to the ground. “KAI!”
Kai wanted to say something reassuring to Mion, but found himself unable to speak again when Mion began crying again – not out of grief this time, but out of relief to see his friend alive.
In that moment Kai acknowledged Mion didn’t need to hear anything from him, his existence alone was enough for now. So he just laid there and hugged Mion back to comfort him until his tears stopped. And honestly, after everything that had happened last night and today, it was all Kai also needed as well for now, nothing more.