Yassine woke up with a burst of energy. He was looking forward to working with David on his project and since David had spent some time with his daughter, he’d most likely be in a good mood.

So Yassine got up, took a quick shower, got dressed and dashed out of his room only to bump into Kiochi.

A chill ran up Yassine’s spine once he saw a menacing smile on Kiochi’s face.

“Good morning, sir!” Yassine said with an awkward salute.

“Hehe, at ease. Where are you off to in such a rush?” Kiochi asked, with a chuckle.

“Umm… err, I’m going to the garage. David and I are working on a certain project.” Yassine said as slowly walked towards the stairs that led to the lobby.

“Oh? What’s this project about?” Kiochi asked as he followed the nervous Yassine.

“Oh, not much. Juts a few robots.” Yassine said, then saw what looked like sparkling in Kiochi’s eyes.

“Oh! I’d like to see how they operate, mind if I accompany you?” Kiochi asked.

“Not at all!” Yassine said as they left the main school building.

Yassine and Kiochi arrived at the garage. They noticed that the door hung open and the interior lights were off.

Yassine and Kiochi exchanged glances before entering the eerie laboratory. Then they saw a gloomy David working on two sphere shaped devices.

“David… you ok?” Yassine asked as he approached the working scientist.

Kiochi flanked around and looked at David’s face to find that he was half asleep.

“David!” Kiochi called out, snapping the scientist out of his daze.

“You ok?” Yassine asked.

“Bright as daisy’s.” David said with a snarl.

Kiochi looked at the devices intently.

“Trying to replicate the device?” Kiochi asked.

“Yeah, but the complex machinations of the mind of a mad scientist are beyond me.” David griped.

“Mmm… Have you tried disassembling the original?” Kiochi asked.

“Yeah, but doing that might mean compromising the Calcarea devices internal components. I don’t want to take the risk.” David said as he rubbed his temples.

“Hey, how about we try pumping ethereal energy into it." Kiochi suggested.

“No need. The device passively absorbs ethereal energy. What I’m wondering is what happens if we were to drain it of it’s reserves. Would it then reveal it’s secrets?” David asked thoughtfully.

“Mmm… I might be able to help with that.” Kiochi held his hand over the golden orb that was the Calcarea device.

Yassine couldn’t tell, but it seemed as though he was absorbing the ethereal energy from the battery.

Then after a moment or so of silence, the Calcarea device snapped open, revealing a labyrinth of components and wires.

Everyone gasped as some of the components slowly started moving. Tiny gears started spinning and at the devices centre was what looked like a transparent crystal core.

“Magnificent!” David exclaimed as the devise slowly closed.

“It’s absorbing energy, even now. Kiochi, do what you just did. I’ll need it to stay open for a good long while.” David said excitedly as life returned to his face.

Kiochi’s face twisted into a frown.

“Wait, I’ll have to sit here the whole time while you work?” He whined.

“Yes, but surely you understand the importance of this. You must be patient.” David said but Kiochi really didn’t want to sit around all day.

“Ok.” Kiochi caved in and sat next to David as he photographed the interior of the Calcarea device.

“Yassine, go call Dr. Tahiri. She will want to see this.” David said.

Yassine gave him a quick nod and left the garage. He made his way across the school, towards the main building, but then he heard the sounds of people yelling in the distance. He looked to his far right and saw men gathered in the training fields.

Yassine ran to where the crowd had gathered and there he saw Rin mercilessly beating a soldier while on top of him.

The surrounding men avoided touching Rin, probably out of the fear that they’d meet the same fate.

Rin had undergone a massive change during the past couple of days. He had grown colder, angrier and far less patient than what could be considered reasonable.

That and his body had been altered by Kiochi, making him several times stronger than even the highest ranked Kynigoi.

Yassine ran to aid the soldier who was on the receiving end of Rin’s wrath. But just as he took his first steps, he felt something tug at his arm.

“Where are you going?” Yassine heard a familiar voice ask.

It was Dalila and she was fully dressed in combat gear, meaning that she was also taking part in whatever exercise Rin and his men were doing before Rin lost his temper.

“Let go! We have to stop them!” Yassine pleaded, but Dalila held onto him even tighter.

She was way stronger than she looked.

“Come on! Rin might kill him!” Yassine yelled but Dalila wouldn’t budge.

“So?” She asked coldly.

“So what if Rin kills him? He was going to die someday either way, right?”

Yassine ran out of patience and jerked his arm away from Dalila.

“Not like this.” He said.

Yassine quickly ran behind Rin and attempted to grab Rin, only to realize that Rin had wrapped his legs around his victim.

“What are you guys doing? Help me!” Yassine pleaded.

The men hesitated.

Rin was their commanding officer, not to mention he was incredibly strong.

None of them wanted to risk trading places with their comrade on the floor.

“Come on!” Yassine begged as he pitifully grabbed Rin.

“If this soldier dies, I’m going to report this to commander Suzuki!”

That must have scared their sense back into them because one soldier quickly ran to

Yassine’s aid and grabbed Rin by his arms.

Another joined and soon the entire platoon helped yank Rin off of the downed soldier.

They all valiantly held Rin down as he resisted.

“Phew. Ok, now can someone please explain what happened?” Yassine said with a heavy sigh.

A soldier dashed up to him and gave him a sharp salute.

“Brian repeatedly failed the task lieutenant Rin had given him, sir!” The soldier reported.

Yassine looked at the mangled face that belonged to the soldier.

Did failing a simple exercise warrant such punishment? Yassine wondered.

Yassine walked up to Rin, who thankfully had cooled off drastically.

“This isn’t right, Rin. What drove you to punishing this soldier so severely?” Yassine asked.

Rin got up and dusted himself off.

“Tsk. That poor excuse of a soldier kept dragging his platoon down in a group exercise. I’m sure even you realize how important teamwork is. To make this worse, he is expected to take part of the assault on Vestibule Beta. His poor performance may simply cost us time here during practice, but it may cost the lives of his comrades during actually combat.” Rin said.

Yassine understood what Rin was saying perfectly, but he wondered why Rin had to beat that point into the poor soldier.

“I see. Is it possible for you to just get another soldier from the reserves?” Yassine asked.

“Nope. Mai and Johan scrambled for the reserves, leaving me with my base number of people.” Rin explained.

“I see…” This problem was perfect for what Yassine and David as they were working on something that could help fix Rin’s problem.

“Ok, resume your training and send that soldier to the med bay. I think I have the answer to your problem, but I’ll need about a day to present it.” Yassine proposed.

Rin sighed.

“Fine. But I don’t think anything you do will be able to make up what these idiots lack.” Rin said as he walked away.

Yassine sighed deeply before returning to the path leading to the main building.

There he found Dalila standing idly.

“Why did you save that man-"

“Kiochi told me, you know? About how you questioned our mission. The men also speak about you and your meddlesome acts. If you don’t want to be here, you can just leave, you know? I’m sure your father will be happy to have you back home where it’s safe.” Yassine said.

Dalila's face turned stiff.

“What do you mean? I can’t just… leave.” Dalila said.

Yassine could sense that she was panicking. It wasn’t news that Dalila went around the base questioning Kiochi’s men about the cause and asking them about things that made them uncomfortable.

Yassine wondered why she was doing this.

“Of course you can. Plus, I heard your dad has tonnes of cash, so that should make things easier, hehe.” Yassine said with a chuckle as he walked away.

“I- uh-“ Dalila muttered.

Yassine could tell that she was conflicted about something.

“Hey, just remember that in the end, what we do here today will ultimately resolve everything. So you don’t have to worry about the small things. Don’t overthink it. According to Yamamoto, the Aethon’s will be arriving shortly. On that day, everything will be resolved when their judgement is made. So it doesn’t matter what you or I think. Just leave it to them.” Yassine said, trying to sound like the mature one when in truth the Aethon’s scared the living hells out of him, even though he had yet to meet even one of them.

Does Kiochi count? Yassine wondered.

Dalila slowly walked towards Rin and his team.

“Hey, if you ever wanna talk, I’m here.” Yassine offered.

“No, it’s fine. See you later.”

Yassine gave her words a quick nod and made his way towards the main building. He realized that he had spent a large amount of time with Rin and Dalila. So much so that it was almost noon.

Fortunately for Yassine, he had taken an early nap.

Yassine entered the building and headed for Dr. Tahiri’s room.

Upon arrival, he saw her and Yuma discussing various things.

“Ahem! Rose, David has something to show you.” Yassine said and after bidding Yuma farewell, Dr. Tahiri walked towards Yassine.

“What is it?” She asked.

“He’s made some ground breaking progress on the Calcarea device and I think it would prove very helpful with your studies.” Yassine said as they left the school building.

“I see.” Dr. Tahiri said.

“Yassine.” She then called out as she stopped walking.

“I’m leaving for Tokyo tomorrow.” She said.

Yassine still had his back facing her, so she couldn’t see his face.

“Is that so?” Yassine said, holding in whatever feelings he had.

Silence fell between the two.

Yassine knew that she wanted to help in the fight against the council as well. He didn’t want to obstruct her path in any way, but it still pained him that she’d be so far away.

“Yeah. I’m not sure when I’ll be back.” Dr. Tahiri said softly, her voice pained by some unseen force.

Yassine finally turned around look her straight in the eye’s.

“It doesn’t matter where you are nor what you’re doing, I’ll always be right here.” He said while wearing a brave smile that hid his fear, disappointment and anxiety.

Dr. Tahiri smiled as well before resuming her walk towards the garage.

Upon entering the garage, the were greeted by it’s dark interior and the only light came from a workbench where David and Kiochi worked.

Yassine and Dr. Tahiri took care not to disturb the silence that hung inside the garage as they approached the two.

Yassine then thought about many things David had taught him during the three months they’d spent on the base.

Yassine even considered staying in Japan with David once all of this was over.

Dr. Tahiri saw robot’s inside a separate area she assumed was the testing bay.

Apparently, David was able to fully power the robots, but that’s all he managed to do. He still couldn’t program the robots to do anything.

Yassine looked closer at the Calcarea device and David’s replica and found that they were strikingly similar. Well, David’s version was black.

“Sorry for disturbing, but where did you get the materials for the duplicate parts?” Yassine asked.

“Mmm? Oh, Kiochi borrowed me some of his ethereal energy hungry skin.” David said casually.

Yassine and Dr. Tahiri exchanged perplexed glances.

Kiochi then turned to the with gloomy eyes as he raised his hand.

“I can shed some of my… Aethonic skin. I made it so that it falls off in certain shapes and there you go! Exact copies of certain components.” Kiochi said in a low voice.

Yassine nodded his head vigorously in understanding.

The evening came soon after.

David and Dr. Tahiri compiled their data and eventually everyone left the lab. Kiochi left the lab fastest for some reason, David went second and Yassine and Dr. Tahiri were the last to leave.

Yassine locked up the lab, but as he walked towards Dr. Tahiri, he noticed a shadow move somewhere behind the garage. He ignored it, thinking it was his imagination.

Yassine and Dr. Tahiri slowly walked back to the school building and although they’d spent the most of the day helping David with his project, it was the last thing on Yassine’s mind. He couldn’t stop thinking about the state the world was going to be in as soon as they destroyed the council. Dr. Tahiri wanted would be in Tokyo at that point and there would most likely be chaos and panic in the city.

Dr. Tahiri must have noticed the Yassine’s pained expression, so she stopped walking.

Yassine stopped as well. His heart beat was at unreasonably high levels and mind was a mess.

“Yassine"

“Things are about to get really hectic around here, huh?” Yassine asked as he continued walking towards the main building.

“Yeah, hehe.” Dr. Tahiri said with a weak laugh.

“You know, it’s kinda funny how all of this started. Digging around in the dirt, we were looking for clues about mankind’s future, yet we ended up finding the seeds of mankind’s destruction.” Yassine said, even though his heard begged him to stop talking.

“W- what do you mean?” Dr. Tahiri asked, her voice trembling.

“Mmm… I think knowing how much time you have left is a truly terrifying thing. Which is our current problem. Unlike the billions of others, blissfully living their lives, we are cursed to know, you know?” Yassine said as they arrived at the main building’s lobby.

“Is that so…”

“Excuse me, I have some things to check.” Dr. Tahiri said as she quickly walked off in the direction of her room, her face hidden from Yassine’s view.

Yassine watched her walk away as not a single tear ran down his face. He was determined to forcefully stamp his name into the pages of history, but his goal was proving to be far more difficult than he had previously thought.

Yassine then crawled into his room, jumped into his bed and drowned in an ocean of self pitying.

.

..

Kiochi’s mind had grown numb after all the sitting and thinking he had to do with David. He needed to stimulate his mind and body in other ways, so he went to his room, slipped into a tracksuit and went to the schools sports field. He had tons of energy and even a new technique he wanted to test out.

‘Eve, activate that weird jumping thingy.’ He requested.

[You mean the Klipspringer mechanism? Ok.]

Eve said.

“What are you doing out here?”

Kiochi heard a familiar voice ask.

He turned around to find Mai in full combat gear.

“Just stretching my legs. How about you? Is training coming along well?” Kiochi asked as he did some light stretches.

“Well, everyone is either a mercenary or a Kynigoi, so their combat effectiveness is pretty easy to grasp. Coordination on the other hand… that’s much tougher. The mercenaries just don’t like us that much, which is weird considering that our commander is a freak.” Mai said jokingly.

“Ha! That makes sense, but their animosity comes from the fact that we’re products of council engineering.” Kiochi said.

“Is that so? Anyway, back to you being out here. You wanna spar a little. I wouldn’t mind working up a little sweat before hitting the showers.” Mai said as she assumed a battle stance.

Kiochi tilted his head in confusion.

“You want to fight me?” He asked.

“What? You think that just because you’re a freak, you can’t lose? Then I guess it’s time someone brought you down a peg.” Mai said confidently.

Kiochi was taken aback. He had originally planned to shake off the boredom he’d accumulated from sitting with David all day, but what Mai was offering was ten times better.

Kiochi then smiled so faintly, only the sharpest eyes could have seen it. He then readied himself for battle.

Mai’s stance was pretty high, much unlike the Kamaitachi stances, so Kiochi dashed towards her and shot out a kick aimed at her legs.

[Speed multipliers set to 0x]

Kiochi then tripped over himself and fell into one of Mai’s incoming punches sending him flying backwards.

He tumbled for a moment before coming to a stop, but Mai didn’t stop at just punching him, she jumped straight onto him and held his hands down.

Kiochi tried forcefully jerking himself free but-

[Strength multipliers set to 0x]

Kiochi was stuck and Mai looked down on him with a smug expression.

“How is this possible? The great blood steel is unable to defeat his own lieutenant? This is disgraceful. What will the men think? Will he be demoted?” Mai said jokingly before stopping and pouting.

“You were taking it easy on me weren’t you?” She asked as she brought her face closer to his.

“No. I have been betrayed.” Kiochi said with a pout.

“By who?” Mai asked, her face even closer.

“Err- a phantom from another planet.” Kiochi said hesitantly before Mai pressed her lips against his.

“Ok. Keep your secrets, but if you ever go easy on me again-"

Mai took out her combat knife and pressed it next to Kiochi’s face.

“Do it again and I'll take your pretty little eyes, ok?” She asked with a scary smile.

“O- ok.” Kiochi said.

“Who’s there?” A voice called out.

Kiochi and Mai noticed a man approaching them with a flashlight.

“Oh- oh! Commander, I’m so sorry. I had no idea…” The man turned out to be one of the guards who they’d assigned to patrol the school.

Mai and Kiochi laughed at the poor frightened guard before returning to Kiochi’s room.