Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Reclaiming the Queen

1. Knighthood

„Damnit, Shu, why won't you pick up? What's going on over there…?"

Souta found himself cursing at his cell phone as he put it away, getting irritated of the constant dialing tone it cursed him with, instead of granting him to hear his friend's voice for a change. He hadn't been contacted by him or Tsugumi ever since he had heard that Inori supposedly became Eve and it started to worry him. At first, he got the notifications that at least his messages had been received and read, but even that had stopped since the day before yesterday. What the hell did that mean?

He bit down on his lip and frowned. Inori became Eve five days ago. Contact was lost 2 days ago. Was there a connection? Did something happen to Inori? Or Shu? Or both? He wouldn't know.

All he did know, was that they were about to get in trouble, since both, Arisa and Da'ath have begun searching for them respectively. He wanted to warn them, but that was kind of hard to do when no one was picking up their damn phones!

He had barely finished that thought when his own phone started to vibrate in his pocket, causing him to take it out hastily with a desperate expression. Could it be…?

Desperation was soon to be turned into disappointment when he identified the caller ID to merely be one of Arisa's goons. He received the call anyway, although unable to hide the bitterness in his voice once he replied:

"What is it?"

"The hell are you? I want to speak with Miss Kuhouin." He heard the harsh voice of an older man coming from the other end of the line.

"I am Souta Tamedate, Miss Kuhouin's assistant." His boredom was clearly audible due to the fact that this very same sentence had lately become his most used one when answering the phone. Seriously, was it so hard to get the news around? He knew he didn't actually look the part, having been a mere salary men a couple of days ago, but he was with Da'ath now and a direct subordinate of Miss fucking Kuhouin. You would expect that kinda rumor to spread somehow, no? 'Tis serious business.

"Yeah, well then give me Miss Kuhouin." The dark haired assistant sighed. There we go again.

"She's busy. She has authorized me to receive all the incoming reports in her stead." He explained to the man like he had to the dozens others that day.

"I've not been told about this." Of course he hadn't. It would have required him to ask around, inform himself, actually care. Except he didn't. He only wanted to get paid. Well, not long ago, he supposed he himself hadn't been that different, either. Life sure as hell had been more simple then than it was now.

"You've been told now. If you don't believe me, I will gladly redirect your call to her. It won't be me who will be wasting her time and face unemployment as a direct result." As his annoyance clearly showed in his voice, the mercenary on the other end grumbled nervously.

"Fine, tell her we found him."

"Found who?"

"The guy she asked us to trace, Ouma Shu. Who else?" He received a harsh response, causing him to nearly drop his phone from shock.

"You found him? How?"

"Some homeless bastard drunkard kept mumbling on and on about how he suddenly got cured from the Apocalypse Virus overnight. He said it was due to alcohol, but we knew better. Had had to be the work of Yuzuriha Inori instead, so we decided to investigate. However, when we got to the poor bastards current 'residence', we had to make the unfortunate realization that we were too late. The envoy had already found them first. We were forced to watch from a safe distance as he and his forces captured the target and his allies and moved them to an unknown location."

Souta gulped nervously. Shu got captured? By Da'ath? He wasn't informed of this! Did it only happen recently? The mercenary awaited his response, so he tried to remain cool.

"So you lost him again? That's not the definition of 'found him'. When was that anyway?"

"A couple hours ago."

"And you only report this now?" Souta gritted his teeth at him angrily, though the man in question couldn't see, obviously.

"Why report when you have nothing to say but 'we saw him but lost him again', anyway? Are you stupid? That's how you lose your contracts. No, we chose to investigate the battleground as soon as they were gone instead, before the SDF could come and lock that place up. It so happens we found something interesting."

"What did you find…?" The black haired man asked impatiently.

"The envoy took all hostages with him, but didn't bother to clean up the mess he had caused. Probably because he didn't have a reason to anyway. It made things easier for us, though, as there was a certain robot lying among the corpses. It appears to be a modified espionage drone, though it's hard to tell with how beat up it is. The device in itself is beyond repair, but we managed to find a tracking device in it. And as luck would have it, it seems to be tracking no one else but Ouma Shu."

Arisa's assistant couldn't help but furrow his brows. He couldn't understand why something like that would be lying around there.

"How…convenient…" He eventually mumbled into his phone.

"Yeah, right? We tracked down the signal and found Ouma Shu as he was heading back to his base with some of his allies. He was missing Yuzuriha Inori, though. We followed them unnoticed and managed to determine his hideout's exact location. I am uploading the GPS coordinates now. I can assume that we will be rewarded accordingly?"

"That's for Miss Kuhouin to decide. I will merely relay the information. She will contact you."

"Alright. I will await her call then." With that, the mercenary simply hung up on him. Following that, Souta's phone informed him about some incoming data. A map opened itself automatically and zoomed in on Yokohama where a bright, yellow point flashed up at the location of Shu's hideout. He bit on his lower lip again once he confirmed that the coordinates matched the actual place. Shu really had been found out. Damnit, what now?

He had the information. Arisa hadn't seen it yet. It would be easy to delete it and pretend for it to never have come in, but that would only work short term. The mercenaries would eventually want their paycheck and would call again once they wouldn't receive it in a timely manner. He could pretend to have forgotten once, but that would already put him into a bad spot and would gain Shu only little time. A second time would be impossible and would cause him to look suspicious. Too much risk for little gain.

But he couldn't just give the information to her, either. God knew what she would do with it. The fire of vengeance burned strongly in her, making her willing to step over bodies just to get her revenge.

He sunk deep into his own thoughts as he sat down on one of the expensive sofas in Arisa's mansion, allowing himself to relax and sink into its soft cushions, his look aimed at the ceiling. Maybe it was time? Time for him to make his move? The envoy had said his chances with Arisa weren't nil, so he had subtly tried to get closer to her, but the woman in question was stubborn and dead set on revenge. She didn't notice his advances at all. He figured it might have been because he had tried to be too indirect about it. Maybe he needed to push her harder? He could do that…the problem, however, lied in the fact that it was a onetime opportunity. He only had one shot. If he missed it, he was out. For good.

He sighed long and deeply. It wouldn't be his first rejection and honestly? He could very well do without another one. That's why he had tried to test the waters carefully for a while now in the first place. And that might exactly be the reason for his lack of success. This wasn't the time to be wishy-washy about this. No, it was time to be bold like Yahiro, brave like Shu and confident like this Gai person he had read about in the files of him Arisa had. He looked forward with determination as he stood up. It was show time.

-GC-

Completely oblivious to all this, Arisa merely sat in her study, going through a pile of documents on her desk rather absentmindedly. They concerned business matters of the Kuhouin group, but despite their importance, she couldn't quite bring herself to focus properly. Ever since the sad news of Gai's death had reached her, she just couldn't bring herself to give it her all. Every last remaining bit of her power was spent finding Shu and planning to have her revenge on him for taking Gai from her. But things weren't exactly going smoothly. She heard the envoy was looking for him and Inori as well…and if he would get to them first, she would stand no chance at all to ever harm them again. The envoy would ensure maximum security at all times. It had to be avoided.

But so far, no reports had come in…she wondered if it wasn't already too late. She gnawed on her thumb's nail in frustration. Would she be denied of her chance to get revenge? Would she be forced to acknowledge the false king that was Ouma Shu? Never. She would rather die.

A knock was heard coming from the door, making her blink in surprise.

"Come in." She said, pleased to see that it was her dark haired assistant who came in. Just who she needed. Maybe he could cheer her up somehow with his silly antics? He had a certain talent for that. With a small smile, she asked him:

"Ah, Souta. What can I do for you?"

"I just came to check up on you. You look terrible." He told her with a sad frown. It was the truth, though. There were bags under her eyes from her lack of sleep and her hair…wasn't exactly a mess, but he just knew that she hadn't spent much effort into keeping it neat and beautiful like she would normally do. This wasn't the Arisa he had known for years. This one was too fragile, too vulnerable. Or perhaps it really was the Arisa he knew, just without her trying to hide it all behind a mask of confidence? Had it become too bothersome for her to do in her current state? Or was it because it wasn't worth putting on around him? You know, like you wouldn't bother getting naked in front of your dog…?

She leaned forward on her hands and smirked at him. "Haven't you become quite bold, telling that to your boss? If I felt like it, I could lower your wage, you know?"

The man shrugged at that and sent a cocky grin right back at her.

"I'll take the risk, seeing as to how money doesn't exactly hold much value in Tokyo right now anyway."

He heard her sigh. "Well, I guess that's true. The apocalypse was meant to be happening around now…but with how things turned out to be…" She clenched her fist and gritted her teeth. "Now Ouma is Adam and would become king of the world…that can't be allowed to happen. I need to stop it somehow, but time is running out. If Yuu finds him first…"

"Would it be that bad?" Souta wanted to know, causing her to look at him as if he has just said something stupid.

"Of course it would, Souta. Would you want to be ruled by a failure like him? With an Eve at his feet that would do anything he asks of her like the dimwit she is?"

Souta looked away in defiance. "Aren't your views on them far too harsh? If Shu and Inori really had such low personalities, why did you become friends with them all those years ago in the first place?"

"I didn't know better…" She told him with a gaze lowered from sadness.

"Well, so did they when we betrayed them…they never saw it coming."

"Whose side are you on, anyway?" She asked with narrowed eyes, sounding hurt about the fact that he was taking their side.

"Do I have to choose?" His voice sounded pained as he asked that with a weak smile.

"Of course you do, Souta. This isn't a game. Our future is at stake here."

He shook his head slowly. "I want to be on your side. I want to see things your way, Arisa. But I can't. Your view on all this is clouded by your hatred. You only see what you want to see. You try to put Shu and Inori in a bad light because they were rivals of the man you wanted to see in charge, but let me ask you: How would he have been better? I have read about him in the reports. A man coldblooded enough to abandon all his allies in a heartbeat, being together with the former Eve, a woman you yourself described to me as being a monster. Why would such a rule be better than Shu and Inori's?"

She suddenly got up from her seat, leaning forward on her desk with both arms, clearly enraged. "Because Gai was a man who knew what he was doing. He had a plan for everything and the ability to make people follow him. Even with that abomination of an Eve as his queen, he would have been able to ensure peace and prosperity for all of us."

"And where would you have fit into all this, Arisa? His mistress? His little fling on the side whenever Shu's sister wasn't in the mood? How could you be fine with that?" He asked provokingly, letting his hand fly through the air with vigor.

She glared at him angrily before looking away in defeat. "It wasn't supposed to be that way. Mana was a self-centered bitch who only cared about herself and Shu. I thought Gai would be more likely to win the lottery than for her to actually change her mind…except I was wrong. I guess the Ouma bloodline is just too good at ruining stuff…"

He saw her turn around and folding her arms in front of her chest. A pose to hide her sad face, maybe?

"The way I see it, she might have actually saved you. If the rumors are true and Mana really was as selfish as you claim, she would have never allowed you to even look weirdly into Tsutsugami Gai's general direction. She would have killed you. And even if we say she wouldn't have made him Adam, a future in which you reduce yourself to be nothing more but a mere concubine would be nothing near what you deserve, Arisa."

His boss whirled around to lock eyes with him again, clearly displeased about his words. Walking up to him, she grabbed him by his collar, to which he winced a bit, but continued to stare back at her more or less confidently.

"Saved me? That's what you call this mess? You know how much time and money I have put into planning all this? Only to have this moronic woman destroy everything in the end…and you seriously have the nerve to glorify her actions?"

They stared at each other, one angry, the other defiant…until Arisa eventually pushed him away and turned around again.

"I thought you would understand once I showed you the world for what it really was, told you the things you didn't know. But even with all the knowledge, you still know nothing. You understand nothing. I was wrong…" She admitted sadly.

"You are wrong, indeed." Souta said once he caught his balance again, fixing his collar. "I do understand you. I just don't agree with you. You are a smart woman, Arisa. Even an idiot like me can see that. But even through you are smart, you act so foolish. I may be a fool who doesn't get much, but I at least can see that the path you had chosen would have never made you happy. Why can't you? The future you may have envisioned sharing with Gai…it was all but a mere dream. It would have never worked."

"Shut up!" She yelled at him. "So what if it was a dream? What if it was ambitious? Is this better right now?" She asked provokingly as she spread out her arms to make clear that she meant their current situation.

This bloody fool, she thought. What did he know? He didn't have to live in absolute loneliness for the last five years now, did he? He wasn't faced with the prospect of possibly staying like this all his life. He had had friends. He could keep trying to ask women out…eventually he would find one who would like and accept him, but Arisa? Arisa would never have time for friends and with every man she would meet, she would have to carefully evaluate if he actually cared about her or rather the money she owned. It wasn't that easy.

Gai wouldn't have been like that. He wouldn't have cared for money at all. That's not the kind of man he had been. He had been passionate and loyal to his true love. A true prince. Someone who should have become king.

If only Arisa could have had succeeded in swaying his heart, make him hers…she could have at long last been allowed to feel safe in someone else's presence. Someone around whom she could put away the masks she was usually wearing around others. To be herself. That person would have been all she ever needed.

But that person was gone.

And now it was back to being her lonely, miserable self. This was supposed to be better than her unrealistic dreams of being with Gai? Don't make her laugh. The dreams themselves may have been almost unreachable, but they had still been a goal worth chasing nonetheless. Anything was better than…than…this.

"As someone who truly cares about you, I will have to say: Yes." Souta eventually replied with a serious expression. "You may think becoming that man's mistress would have made you happy, but all I can see in that outcome is your ruin. You deserve more than that, Arisa. Better. If Mana hadn't ruined it for you, I sure as hell would have tried. You would probably think it was betrayal, when it would actually be protection. To protect the otherwise wise princess from being so utterly foolish."

"And who do you think you are? My knight in shining armor?" She asked him with a mocking grin.

"Didn't you say I was? That I couldn't be a king, but that I might very well be a knight." He reminded her of an earlier conversation they had once shared. She only folded her arms in front of her cockily at that.

"I was trying to humor you, feeling you deserved it for having my back. Your actions right now show me, however, that you are unfit to be even that." Her look became cold as ice. "I am Arisa Kuhouin. I am in no need of protection. And certainly not yours."

The dark haired assistant closed his eyes with a bitter frown, unable to hide how much her words hurt him. Another rejection again, huh?

"Is that so…? I was under the impression you needed someone to rely on and guard your happiness, but it appears all you really wanted was a stupid dog to entertain you. Well, I am done with being a mere pet, so if you have no need for me, I suppose I might just leave…"

"Leave?" She laughed at him. "Where would you go? You are with Da'ath now, Souta. They will never let you walk away from them just like that."

"Perhaps not…" He told her with a lowered gaze from sadness. "But Da'ath is a big organization. I am sure there will be a place for me somewhere in it."

"You would bite the hand that fed you? It was I who brought you in here, and now you simply betray me? Do you have no honor?" She asked him, outraged about his declaration. She had risked her life getting him to see reason, only to have him see nothing in the end and spit into her face like that. Unforgivable.

"Of course not, Arisa. I am your friend and have been for many years. You might not have seen me as one, but I did and still do. If you need my help, I will help you, but if you don't, then there is nothing left for me to do." He took out his phone which still held the coordinates of Shu's hideout. "Here, take it."

"What am I supposed to do with your phone? I have my own." She wondered, slightly confused at his actions. As soon as she had taken it from him, however, its holo-screen came to life and revealed the last thing he had been looking at. Which happened to be Shu's exact whereabouts. Astonished, she took a step back.

"T-this is…?"

Souta nodded at her. "Shu's hideout. They found it. Inori isn't there with him, meaning…"

She smirked eagerly and in high spirits once she caught on to his train of thoughts. "…if I told the SDF of this, they would swarm him before he could react and there would be no one to protect him. Da'ath would never know unless you told them." She raised a brow at him as if to silently ask if he would, to which he merely shook his head.

"I won't rat you out if you do, but I will have to remind you that it's not only Shu who is in there. Yahiro, Hare, Ayase, Tsugumi and countless other people will be there. If you sic the SDF on them, they might all die in the massacre that would surely occur."

Her grin only widened, even getting slightly sinister as she began snickering to herself.

"So? They are working with Ouma, so they aren't the slightest bit better than him. They can die together with him. A small price to pay for revenge…!" When she saw Souta's defeated look in his eyes, however, she visibly calmed down again, obviously feeling bad for the man who had given her this valuable information after she had lashed out at him so mercilessly. She averted her eyes shamefully and cleared her throat.

"Er…I have to apologize for what I just said. I haven't been able to think clearly for the last few days. You said some mean things and I thought you might turn on me in the end, but I can see that you were only worried. Thank you for giving me this, Souta. I know it wasn't easy for you. I really, really appreciate it." She told him with a small smile, but his mood didn't improve at all.

She thought about ways to cheer him up somehow since giving him money like always wouldn't work anymore now that money wouldn't do him any good. As she was thinking about ways to make him smile again, a certain idea crossed his mind and she spontaneously decided to give him a hug, effectively catching him by surprise. She held back a small chuckle from seeing how simple a man Souta was. A small hug was all it took to lift his spirits.

"You are a real friend, after all. I nearly forgot. Forgive me. I wasn't wrong to bring you here at all." She said to him with a gentle voice.

It took Souta all of his willpower to not eagerly return the hug and remain standing there as he was. He hadn't given her his phone for this, he thought. There was still more to do. And so he dryly said:

"You are welcome. Your next actions will determine if this gift of mine was a parting gift or not, though."

She broke the hug and looked at him confusedly. "What do you mean?"

"You have a choice, Arisa. You can use the information on this phone to get your revenge right now, but it would kill everyone and show that you will forever live in the past. A foolish princess. Or you could ignore it and show me that you still are the wise one I know. Which one will it be, I wonder?"

"What the hell are you even talking about?" She asked again with a crooked smile. "Why shouldn't I use this? Ouma's friends are nothing to me. I would lose nothing at all."

"You would lose me." He told her with seriousness in his voice, as well as a bit of sadness. "Those guys are my friends as well. If you choose to kill them, you will effectively show me that you only care about yourself and no one else. There would be nothing left worth protecting if that's the case. A woman who lives only for herself and her own revenge will forever live in the past. I can't protect you from the past. My presence would serve no purpose. But if you choose to ignore the data you currently hold in your hands,…" He left the end to his sentence open to imply it would have the opposite effect. She narrowed her eyes on him once she had heard him say all that.

"So you are trying to make me choose between our friendship and my revenge because you selfishly decided that I can't have both?"

"I am a loyal friend to you, Arisa. I always followed you anywhere, always did what you told me to do. I even shot Shu for you. I always chose your side. This time I am asking you to choose mine. Is that really so much to ask for?"

"It is. When the other option is the perfect opportunity to make Ouma pay for his crimes…" She told him bitterly as she turned around, showing him her back. "I am sorry, but you are overestimating your own worth to me. I am grateful for your help, but it's not more important to me than this…" Her eyes fell on the small device in her hand and heard her assistant utter a disappointed sigh behind her.

"I see. So this is your answer. Then I suppose this is goodbye, Arisa. I hope you will find what you are looking for." This was followed by him turning around as well to leave.

She gritted her teeth all of a sudden, having somehow hoped that he had only been bluffing all this time. It was Souta, after all. Her lapdog that would always try so hard to not make her angry or displeased with him. She couldn't really imagine him walking away on her like that. But apparently, he did. What had gotten into him? It wasn't like him at all. A frown appeared on her face.

She had brought Souta in for a reason. He was trustworthy and usually quite reliable as well. One of the few people she could really count on to help her out not because of her money, but because he cared about her. He had proved that fact to her already. Not only that, but he also cheered her up with his presence, having that adorable dorky side of his. She hated to admit it, but if he were to go now, she would undoubtedly lose something big. She would return to her lonely self…for good this time. She would miss him…

Her eyes opened wide all of a sudden. Wait, what? She would miss him? Souta? She would have never thought. He had always been around, so the mere possibility of him ever leaving again had never even crossed her mind. So it was true…you never see the true value in something until it's about to get taken from you…

But how important was Souta to her? Enough to give up on her revenge for? Ridiculous. She had hated Shu long before she even came to appreciate Souta. It shouldn't be less important than him, but…

She folded her arms in front of her with a troubled expression as she continued to ponder this. All while Souta continued to leave. What she didn't know was that the man himself had lost the last shred of his confidence long ago and was holding back his tears as he left, feeling grateful to god that she couldn't see his struggling face.

He was such a loser. He had bet it all on this card and it had turned out to be an utter failure. Of course it would have been, he thought. 'Be brave like Shu, bold like Yahiro…', pah. Screw that! He would always be nothing but Souta…he should have known better. The envoy had been wrong all along. Turned out even he could make mistakes from time to time, eh?

Now he had to go and work for some stupid other branch of Da'ath because of his damn big mouth, and Arisa would attack Shu either way. He was such a damn moron. With his luck, he wouldn't even be around anymore to feel Shu's wrath, since he had heard Da'ath also had a human experimentation facility. What if he ended up getting shoved in there? A pitiful F-rank would definitely end up at a place like this, no? His face became white as salt from fear. He was so dead…

"Wait…" Arisa's voice suddenly made him jump up, which she, fortunately, didn't see since she had to turn around to him first. He stopped walking, but didn't turn around, not wanting to let her see his hopeful expression right now.

"You are so unfair, Souta…" She told him with clenched fists and gritted teeth. "Blackmailing me like this. I would have never thought you would have the nerve or spine to do that to me."

He raised a brow. Blackmail her? With what? Their friendship? Was it that important to her to be used against her like this? He would have never guessed. It was just meant to be a simple choice. Like: 'What do you like more? Pizza or ice cream?', only with their friendship and her revenge instead of the food. Not even in his wildest dreams would he have thought she valued him enough to be seriously conflicted about this.

She was right. He never would have had the spine to blackmail her. He just kind of ended up doing it without even realizing. Now that was a fine mess he had gotten himself into. What was he to say now? Explain himself? Keep the show running? What would be more advantageous for him? How would he know?

"Think fast, Souta. She is expecting a reply!" Is what he thought, and so he came up with:

"Desperate times require desperate measures." Nailed it.

"You think I would make it that easy for you?" The blonde business woman grumbled at him. "You want me to stop going after Ouma, but that isn't going to happen, you hear me?"

"Then why did you stop me?" He finally turned around, somehow managing to forget his insecurities for a second to ask her honestly. He was surprised to see her lose her angry look and show him one of shame instead. She felt so uncomfortable, in fact, that she had to look away and hold her right arm with her left hand awkwardly.

"I lied earlier. Not only to you but to myself as well. I didn't want to admit that I couldn't do this on my own. A Kuhouin is supposed to be strong and confident, but I never was a good Kuhouin. My grandfather tried to teach me how to be one all my life…until I up and killed him. Now there is no one to guide and protect me anymore. I am all by myself. I can't go on like this. It's too much. I need someone to trust, Souta. You are my only friend. Don't leave. Stay with me, please." She begged of him quietly. He almost let his mouth hang open from astonishment. She couldn't have just said that right now, right? He must have been dreaming. Maybe he had fallen unconscious earlier and was now hallucinating. That would be more likely than this actually happening.

"Arisa, there is nothing I would rather do than that, but what about…"

"This…?" She finished his sentence while holding up his mobile with a frown. "There are some things I can't compromise on. Ouma has to pay, but let's say I were to find another way, one that doesn't let everyone else get to harm. Would you accept that?"

Souta looked at her with a shocked expression. "You want me to…"

She narrowed her eyes on him, making sure he understood that she was being serious. "Yes, Souta. Give up on Ouma. Promise me you will stay loyal to me only, and I will swear I will not seek my revenge unless I can find a way to do it without hurting your other friends. That's not too much to ask for, is it?"

He couldn't help but look down as he was forced to ponder this option. Instead of both extremes of Arisa killing everyone or her giving up on revenge, a middle way was presented by her. If he swore to side with Arisa completely, she would spare everyone else and only go after Shu. Naturally, that would mean he would be betraying the latter, but in return, he would be able to stay with Arisa and no one else would die. A troublesome choice. It was better for both of them rather than have nothing, but still…was it the right way?

He saw himself compelled to recall what Shu had told him once, right after he had agreed to become his spy.

"Staying neutral will eventually stop being an option for you. Sooner or later, you will either have to choose a side or run. When the time comes, I hope you will think carefully and consider all the possible consequences."

He looked up and saw Arisa's eyes looking back at him. There was hope in them, and a bit of worry. Maybe because she thought he might refuse. She obviously didn't want him to.

Was this what Shu had warned him of? Was this the crucial moment in which he was forced to pick a side or run? He could either accept Arisa's offer and betray Shu, or he could simply turn around and leave, betraying Arisa in the process. Running away wasn't even an option anymore. There was nowhere left to run, nowhere to hide. Tokyo was locked down and Da'ath would find him no matter where he went. Traitors were all killed without exception. So now that neutrality wasn't an option anymore, it all boiled down to whom he wanted to be allied with and whom he wanted to betray…

On one side, you have Shu. His longtime friend who hadn't always been easy to deal with, but had been a good man nonetheless. He had saved his life more than once and together they had experienced some really crazy shit. Stuff that molded men together. Formed an unbreakable bond of comradeship. That same man was now fighting a war against Da'ath and had asked him to help him out as a friend. Souta did not have a reason to deny him that request and so he had agreed.

On the other side, you have Arisa. A friend he had known almost equally as long. She was a woman who had been burdened by her birthright. Born an heir to the rich and powerful Kuhouin group, she had been living all her live under enormous pressure. There had been many things she had had to give up on for the sake of the family name, except for one thing she just couldn't possible have thrown away. That had been her crush on Tsutsugami Gai. And Souta couldn't really blame her for that. Abandoning love when you already had to abandoned pretty much everything else….it must have been too much to ask for from a mere girl at the time. And so, once she had made the choice to follow the man she had loved, she had pretty much been ready to lose everything but him. Friends, family, her wealth…ironically enough, she ended up only keeping the latter in the end. And thus she had become nothing but a lonely rich girl.

When Souta had applied for a job in her company not long after the fourth apocalypse, he had almost expected her to turn him down and send him away. And yet, despite all the odds, even though he was lacking the superb training all the other applicants surely must have had, she had chosen to employ him and keep him around. She had been a strict, but also kind boss. There were many times in which Souta had found some convenient bonus added to his paycheck when , for example, his washing machine had decided to die on him and create a huge water damage in his apartment that would have required him to take an enormous loan from a bank to pay off. All without her even saying a single word about it. When he had planned to thank her the next day at work, she merely continued business as if nothing had happened.

This woman was a member of the same organization Shu was fighting. A woman who had a particular interest to see him dead for supposedly murdering the man she had idolized and adored. She had asked Souta to betray Shu and stand with her. Had admitted that she needed him, that she couldn't do this alone. A conflicting situation.

That was when a crucial detail happened to catch his attention. Shu was his friend, but unlike Arisa, he already had a lot of friends helping him out as it was. Inori, Yahiro, Hare, Ayase, Tsugumi, that Argo fella he barely really knew, Yahiro's brother whose name he didn't even know and potentially even more people he had no idea of. Arisa had…no one. Her money had bought her some mercs but they would all betray her once their greed for money would get overpowered by something else. There was the envoy, of course, but Arisa had also said that he followed his own agenda which might not always align itself with her own goals.

So, wouldn't it be unfair for him to run to Shu who already had plenty of support? If you care about both your friends but only could help one, shouldn't you help the one who needed help most? It's not like either of them were particularly wrong in their beliefs. He could see why Shu would want to fight Da'ath, yet could also understand why Arisa would want Shu to die…assuming he really did kill Gai. He was sort of still on the fence about that detail…

He sighed in defeat after a short while of silence as he made up his mind.

"Sorry, Shu. I can't keep Arisa hanging. I hope you will understand." He thought regretfully, followed by answering her with determination:

"Okay, Arisa. I will side with you."

He thought he noticed a small hopeful gleam in her eyes before she said: "I want you to swear an oath to me. You said you wanted to be a knight, right? They swear oaths."

Souta winced at that. She really wanted to make sure, huh? Well, he already had made up his mind, so…

"Alright. What oath do you want me to abide to?"

"To always be loyal to me only. To stand on my side and protect me and my honor. Will you swear that to me?"

He went down on one knee, looked down and said. "I, Souta Tamadate, swear on my life to always be loyal to you, stand on your side and protect you and your honor."

She offered him a small smile. "You didn't have to kneel, though."

"Oh…" He looked away in embarrassment. "I just thought we would do this the right way and all…"

"Hmmm…" His boss, and supposedly now also his lady, was seen putting a finger on her lips as she thought about something. "You know, you are absolutely right." He watched her leaving the room through a side door in wonder, only to see her return shortly after with a small box in her hands. He made big eyes once she came to a halt in front of him and opened the box with a proud smile.

"If you want to be my knight, you will need a weapon worthy of a knight. Now, we don't really live in the era of swords anymore, even though my grandfather was quite fond of them, so I will give you this." What was then presented to him was a beautifully manufactured and very expensive looking desert eagle. Its hull was highly polished and on the handle, the characters for the Kuhouin family name were engraved rather stylistically. It looked like a family treasure more than anything.

Souta gulped and hesitated to take it.

"What are you waiting for? Take it. It's yours." Arisa urged him kindly.

"I don't really think that's a good idea, Arisa. This looks like it's important to your family and all."

"It probably was my grandfather's. He never used it, though, so I wouldn't know. Well, either way, it's mine now and I can decide who gets to use it. You will. Or do you intend to protect me with your hands only? Don't be ridiculous. A knight needs a weapon."

"But what if I break it? Look, a simple gun would totally be fine for me, so…"

She eyed him with frustration. "Geez, can you just accept this present already? It's yours. If you break it, you break it. A weapon is more use being actually used than just sitting in a room somewhere, collecting dust, anyway."

"A-alright. I will treasure it. Thank you." He eventually gave in and took the gun from her, looking at it from all sides in astonishment, then checking the magazine to see if it was loaded, which it was. He tried to recall the bit of training he had received back in Tennozu during the lockdown incident. Man, that had been ages ago. He hoped he still knew how to properly use one. Well, it would come back in time. If he remembered correctly, his friends had said he wasn't that bad a shot. Ayase had even said he did way better than Shu had. Too bad his skills hadn't been good enough to get him out of the F-rank, huh…

With a bitter expression he put the gun away behind him, deciding to not go any further down on memory lane. Instead, he allowed a more pleasant idea to cross his mind. Excitedly and with a huge grin he asked:

"Hey, does this mean I am Sir Souta Tamadate now?" When he saw Arisa almost burst out into laughter, barely able to contain it by putting her hand over her mouth, he couldn't help but narrow his eyes on her in displeasure. "And what the hell's so funny?"

"So sorry, I did not expect that, but no…we aren't doing that." His boss replied in between small giggles, still struggling with holding back her laughter.

"I thought we were doing this the right way."

"Souta, there is no way I am calling you 'Sir Souta'. Nuh-uh." She told him with folded arms, still grinning.

"Why not?"

"It's embarrassing. Would you like to call me 'Lady Arisa' all the time?"

"I would if you called me Sir."

"No, Souta. That isn't going to happen." She told him off with a tired sigh, followed by taking out his phone from her pocket and looked at it with a pained expression. The GPS coordinates flashed up again with the yellow point in the map blinking at her hypnotically. It would be so easy to anonymously send this data to the SDF…it would require just some mere pressing of a few buttons. A simple action that would bring justice to Ouma Shu and his followers at last. She suddenly felt a hand being put on her shoulder. Looking up, she saw Souta's black eyes looking back at her, offering her nothing but sympathy. His other hand was held openly before her, awaiting the return of the device.

Her gaze went back to the holo screen where she pressed a few buttons on it. A window asking her if she really wanted to delete the data awaited her confirmation and while she was biting on her lower lip in discomfort, she eventually pressed "Yes" and handed the mobile back to its rightful owner.

"Thank you, Arisa. I know it wasn't easy doing that." He told her gently as he put the phone into his pants' pocket.

"It wouldn't have been worth it…another opportunity will surely arise." She told him, sounding tired.

He could only nod understandingly. This was what he had signed up for, so there was no use regretting it now. "Do you have any plans in mind?"

She shook her head slowly. "Not yet. We'll have to see what we can do from now on. Well, at least I will not have to do it on my own, right?"

"No…" He offered her a weak smile. "No, you won't."

Before their conversation could continue in any way, a voice coming out of the terminal at Arisa's desk caught their attention. The screen on the holo-display only stated the identity of the woman speaking as well it being a mere "voice only" transmission.

"Uh, Miss Kuhouin, sorry to disturb you this late, but it appears you have visitors." They heard her say, probably the guard on duty that was supposed to be watching the gate. Arisa could only lift a brow at that and head back to her desk, pressing a button so that her voice could be heard on the other end.

"Visitors? Who?" She wanted to know.

"It's the envoy of Da'ath, Miss. Should we let him in?"

The blonde woman threw a confused look at Souta, making it obvious that she had no idea what this was all about. It was as if she was silently asking him if he had heard of this, but he could only answer her with a clueless shrug.

"Let him in." She eventually told the guard, to which she got a positive response in return, followed by the line being terminated.

"Huh, I wonder what he wants." Souta said as he walked up to Arisa's side.

"I guess we are about to find out." She mumbled, slightly worried, and took a seat at her desk. Souta remained standing next to her, hands held behind his back. Not long after, there was a knock at the double doors in front of them and the head of the house responded to it by allowing them to enter.

When the doors opened, in came the envoy. And not only him, but everyone who was with him. Inori and Harune were behind him with Nanba and his gang surrounding them together with their remaining underlings. The twins were carried by the wind controller and the football guy. In the end, a whole group of twelve people stood in front of them, ten if you didn't count the still sleeping twins.

Sudou was heard whistling in an impressed fashion as he entered the room, looking all around him in awe. "Woa, this place is loaded. I wouldn't mind living here, eh Nanba?"

Said man only grinned at that. "Well, we would have to evict the current owner first…"

"Hardly a problem, right?" Ritsu said in a rather bored voice, letting her head lean against her arms she had put behind her head while looking around.

"Are these guys always this rude, Yuu?" Harune whispered with narrowed eyes, clearly being bothered by their behavior. The envoy shrugged at that.

"I'll admit that etiquette isn't their strong point, but that's not what I brought them for anyway. That being said,…" The blond man in white rolled his eyes and turned to Nanba. "Will you please shut up when we are in company of other people? Is that so much to ask for?"

Nanba was then seen eying everyone else sternly and, getting the message, they all became quiet afterwards. Yuu nodded at that and cleared his throat, directing his next words at Arisa while spreading his arms and smiling broadly as he walked forward.

"Thank you very much for receiving us, Miss Kuhouin. I am terribly sorry about intruding on you so late, as well as these guys' rude behavior, but you know how these former Mananites are, right? I suppose they will need some time to remember how to act like civilized people." He sent a meaningful glare Nanba's way who chose to ignore it.

"They didn't know in the first place, so what is there to remember…?" Inori was heard mumbling to herself disapprovingly, earning some displeased growling from the people in question in return.

Arisa and Souta for their part couldn't help but eye the unexpected visitors with shocked expressions, followed by gritting their teeth and clenching their fists as their looks turned angry. Arisa's fingernails dug into the desk's wood from how furious she became.

"These bastards…I see…so they must have survived the process of evolution…? They of all people…" Souta grumbled in slight disbelief. Nanba couldn't help but grin at him.

"I see you recovered well from the last time we met. Thanks for the clothes, by the way. The girls like them very much." When he made a gesture to direct Souta's attention to Ritsu and MIyabi, the girls in question who still wore the stolen scarf and coat weren't too shy to present the goods to him proudly.

"Those are Arisa's…how did you…?" He asked them in utter bafflement to which Sudou broke out into a laughing fit.

"Oi, oi. Did that idiot really forget? We might have hit him a bit too hard last time."

"Last time…? You never hit me as far as I know…" Was Souta's confused response to that.

"No way, he really forgot. Maybe we should break a few rips again to make him remember?" Miyabi suggested while readjusting her glasses.

"Good idea!" Sudou eagerly said and was about to unleash his void with his right hand when he felt crystal vines wrapping themselves around his limps, immobilizing him. Throwing an angry glare Inori's way, he was not surprised to see her glare at him threateningly.

"If you want your ribs intact, you will be advised to keep your hands off that man." Was all she said to him, causing him to gulp nervously.

"Y-you are bluffing. You can't harm us. The envoy-" He wanted to throw something back at her, only to have Yuu cut in on his sentence.

"Fully supports Eve's statement. We are guests here, you fool. Would it kill you to show some respect just once in your life?" He went over to his side and smacked the back of his head angrily, followed by shaking his own one in disappointment.

This was the moment Arisa finally had enough. Getting up and leaning forward on her desk, she furiously asked:

"What is the meaning of this, Yuu? Why did you bring this vermin into my house!" Souta could only nod in agreement at that while the envoy sighed.

"Great, you guys apparently share a not-so-bright past with each other. Sure would have helped to have heard of this beforehand." He said with a forced smile and eyed Nanba sharply at the end of his second sentence.

"To be fair, you never asked and you usually seem to be very well informed, so I assumed you already knew." Nanba merely said to his defense to which the envoy could only frown in annoyance.

"I am the envoy of Da'ath, not the all-seeing eye of the freemasons, you dimwit. I prefer to be showered in information I already have than being forced to walk around as ignorantly as you do!" He told him with a deep and heavy sigh while putting his hand on his face and shaking his head once more in disbelief. These guys, seriously.

"I am still waiting for an explanation, Yuu…" Arisa reminded him impatiently.

"Right, sorry. It's been a long day for all of us. Anyway, these fools behind me and I went out today to find Adam and Eve and bring them to Da'ath so that we can finally prepare things for the fifth apocalypse. As you might see, we partially succeeded as well as partially failed." The blond man explained and gestured with his hand into Inori's direction, who only glared back at him angrily. He chose to ignore her and continue his explanation.

"It turned out that they both, while not entirely unwilling to bring the apocalypse, shared no intention to work together with Da'ath, which bode to be quite the problem. I was forced to merely take Eve with me while leaving Adam behind."

Souta couldn't help but look rather dumbfounded once he heard him say that. So that's why there was no response from Shu. He had had too much trouble with Da'ath…Souta's warning must have come too late. Poor guy…but it wasn't exactly like he could still help him at this point. Not anymore…

He threw a troubled look into Arisa's direction, who in the meantime had asked: "I see…, I assume you used the meteorite to keep Eve in check, but why leave Adam alone? Shouldn't you have captured him as well?"

The envoy only shrugged in response. "That would have hardly made a difference. Adam would not bend to our will that easily, even if we made him our prisoner. Men like him with strong willpower first need to be broken apart and then put together anew to do our bidding. I have a different plan for that."

"I won't let you hurt Shu!" Inori said with nothing but hatred, but only got waved off tiredly by the envoy.

"Yes, yes, Eve. Unfortunately, you won't get a say in this. But don't worry. It all sounds far worse than it will be. Of course I won't be killing him off or anything. That would only cause me more work than it would help."

Arisa would beg to disagree, but of course she wouldn't say anything out aloud. She knew that the envoy wouldn't share her opinion, so instead she chose to ask:

"And why did you bring her here? And more importantly, them?" She pointed at Nanba and his thuggish followers.

"Happy to see you, too, love." Nanba merely replied with folded arms and an evil grin, causing Arisa to nearly gag from disgust.

The envoy continued to speak. "A slight miscalculation on my part, I am afraid. We were supposed to use the twins for transportation, but it turned out that I was asking for too much of them. They are still young and so they ended up getting completely exhausted halfway through the operation. Quite a lot of people had to be teleported, after all." He threw a short glance over at them and smiled somewhat apologetically, even though they couldn't see that due to their sleeping state. He then eyed Arisa again to finish the explanation.

"That being said, we couldn't return to Tennozu like this and were forced to find a place to stay the night. Since your place was in the area, I had hoped you could allow us to stay here over night. It would be highly appreciated."

"Is this supposed to be a joke?" The head of the house asked him with eyebrows trembling from anger. "If it was only you and those twins, I would have had no objections. I am even fine with Inori and whoever that random girl next to her is, but you bring in this filth of a man and his retarded companions and expect me to welcome you? Are you out of your mind, Yuu?"

While the envoy looked troubled at her reaction, Nanba only put up his smug face and said: "Come on, hon. We both know you want it. Why don't you and me get to your room and I show you some of the moves I have learned since the last time we have shared each other's warmth?" He chuckled evilly, causing her hair to stand on end and her instinctively taking a step back out of alarm. Luckily, Souta stepped in front of her, took out the gun he had received earlier, pulled back the slide on it to load up the first bullet in the magazine and aimed its harmful end at the man in front of him threateningly. Yep, he still knew how it's done. What a relief.

"What was that, scum? Care to repeat that for me?" Arisa wasn't the only one who obviously couldn't stand to see Nanba's ugly face any longer. She allowed herself to calm down slightly now that she wasn't facing the brunette man directly anymore.

"Hoh, what's this? Does the doggy want to play? You better put that thing down before you get hurt, boy." He said, totally unimpressed, as he grinned at him mischievously.

"Oh, I can put it down, alright." Souta said angrily and aimed the gun slightly lower so that it was now aiming at the spot right between the brunette's legs. "That work for you?"

Nanba visibly frowned for a sec, but then merely laughed confidently as he raised both arms to his sides provokingly. "What's that supposed to do? Think I would be scared of a mere F rank? I could snap your neck like as if it was a twig."

"Last time I checked, Genesis, while being superior to everything compared to a normal human being, were still unable to outrun a bullet. Let's see how you are gonna show anyone 'those moves' of yours after you got a load of this." Souta said confidently while cocking back the hammer of the gun. He may have been troubled with shooting Shu who had been his friend. But this asshole? Heh, he would be all game. He really hated his guts.

Losing his cool act, Nanba was now seeing growling at him in return, narrowing his eyes in hatred.

"You pull that trigger and you are a dead man, you hear me?"

An evil smirk formed itself on Souta's lips right then and there. "Well, at least one of us would still be a man, then."

He could hear Arisa trying very hard to hold back a mischievous laugh by pressing her mouth shut with her left hand and turning away. Harune couldn't help but snicker at that one as well, feeling like the rude man in front of her had well deserved that one. Even Yuu gave himself mildly impressed at that remark, given how both corners of his mouth traveled slightly down in an extensive frown, clearly thinking: "Not bad."

"Oh, you guys think that's funny?" Nanba asked the crowd as he turned around angrily. He was undoubtedly about to say something snarky next, but Yuu didn't let him get to that. The blond man merely walked up to him and grabbed him by the collar with a slightly annoyed expression present on his face.

"Yeah, I do, in fact…because Mr. Tamadate and I seem to share the same thoughts on this. I have grown so tired of your attitude right now that I am afraid that if he won't shoot off your primary sexual characteristics, I certainly will. How many times do I have to tell you to be quiet? Is your brain incapable of understanding that simple command?"

"But…" Nanba tried to object only to get silenced by the envoy who slapped him with the back of his hand.

"No, I have had enough of you. Take your friends and get out of this mansion this instant before you cause more trouble for me and everyone else. Leave the twins here and return to Tennozu yourselves. I don't care how. Get that brain of yours to work for once. When I return, I will give you one or two lessons about obedience and general rules of behavior. Understood?"

Nanba was seen growling at the envoy and seeing how badly he was treated, his friends naturally decided to stand up for him. They broke the formation and took a stand at his side, glaring down at the envoy angrily.

"What do you think you are doing to Nanba, huh?" Ritsu spat at him and pointed her right index finger at the envoy in a disrespectful manner.

"Yeah, man. That's seriously going too far. We won't accept this." Sudou agreed after having taken a defensive position in front of his friend.

Miyabi was merely seen shaking her head, followed by glaring daggers at the envoy. "Unforgivable."

Their underlings assumed their positions behind their leaders.

A sinister grin appeared on Yuu's face right then and there, giving himself not impressed at all.

"Well, would you look at that. The band of clowns has come together to entertain the king. What will you fools do, huh? Juggle some balls? Breathe some fire? Oh, sorry, I forgot that the fire-eater recently departed your pitiful circus. Sorry for your loss." He said while eying Ritsu with ridicule. Something that made her bare her teeth at him. But before she could strike out, Nanba's hand found its way on her shoulder, pulling her back gently.

"Don't." He merely said, without looking away from the envoy. His expression was a mixture of anger and worry. He didn't like getting told off like that, but he knew that the envoy was powerful. Lashing out like that would kill his friends and only weaken their position. It served no tactical advantage whatsoever. If he wasn't careful, he would end up just like Tsutsugami Gai had predicted. He wouldn't let that happen. He was better than Gai and he would show it to everyone.

The envoy nodded approvingly. "It seems you do understand your position, Nanba. Good. Perhaps I wasn't wrong about you, after all. Now go, and teach those underlings of yours some discipline. Remember that just how Da'ath rewards obedience generously, it also punishes disobedience just as much."

"I will see to it, sir." Nanba agreed reluctantly and bowed slightly with a bitter expression. His friends eyed him with surprise as they saw him do that. He didn't react to their looks and merely said: "Come on, let's go."

"Wait, Nanba! We are just leaving like this? You can't be serious!" Sudou yelled disapprovingly and attempted to grab his friend by the shoulder, only to hesitate when he saw the glasses-wearing man throw back a dark glare at him over his shoulder.

"I said: Let's go. We will talk about this later."

"But, Nanba…"

Yuu rolled his eyes at them and happened to see Arisa's and Souta's impatient expressions as they eyed their hated ex-classmates. Deciding to hurry things up a bit to make things easier for all of them, he casually turned towards Inori and said:

"Eve, if these fools are still inside this room after ten seconds have passed, I will allow you to do whatever you want to them." With a shrug he added: "Comrade Harune, you will serve as the timer. Start to count, now."

While said girl nodded obediently, Inori was seen looking at the envoy, followed by narrowing her eyes as she turned her attention towards Nanba and his gang. Finally and order she could get behind on.

"One." Harune began to count, causing everyone under Nanba's command to look at each other with panic, unsure what to do.

"Two." She continued to count. Nanba pushed his followers towards the door and yelled: "Move!"

"Three." Everyone was then seen running forward in quite a haste. Inori, who was still standing near the door, had a playful gleam appear in her eyes. Without moving a muscle, she let a couple of man-high crystal pillars appear in the room, serving as obstacles. Each one of them had smaller branches growing sideways out of them at various heights. As the group of former Mananites rushed forward, some got pushed against the pillars, crashing into them headfirst. Others tried to pass them by, but got hit by the branches when the boulders started rotating randomly with a mere mental command of the queen, who just had to look at them and think about it.

Ritsu as the most agile of the group, managed to avoid most of the traps and was the first to reach the door, but Inori, feeling slightly mischievous, decided to move her foot slightly towards her. The brunette tomboy was so focused on reaching the door that she totally oversaw the queen's childish prank, causing her to trip and stumble forward, crashing into the wall of the hallway right outside the room. She was seen sliding down the wall, followed by sitting down and holding her bleeding nose. When she glared hatefully at Inori, said pinkette merely feigned innocence by looking in the opposite direction and folding her hands behind her back.

Several of their underlings followed suit, most of them having received quite a beating by the pillars, so Inori merely let them pass. They weren't her center of attention anyway. Sudou was next in line, rushing through the obstacle course with sheer muscle strength and willpower alone. He crashed through some pillars by tackling them head on, making them crumble apart. It looked like it hurt to do that, especially since Inori had made the boulders quite durable, but she supposed it was a better alternative for him than getting hit by them all the time. As he was about to reach the goal proudly, Inori let a crystal vine grow behind the opened door and, as soon as Sudou was about to leave the room, let the vine push the door close with quite some force.

The piercings-wearing man only had the chance to open his eyes wide in surprise when he saw the sudden obstacle in his path, but had no means to react in time to avoid it.

"Oh shi-!" With full speed, he just crashed into it. "Guh!"

His momentum forced him to bounce back from it, and so he fell to the ground like a felled tree where he remained to lie, looking quite dazed. The queen squatted next to him and let her head rest on both her hands innocently as she looked down on him.

"She's still counting, you know?" She reminded him and threw a short glance over at Harune.

"Y-you damn bitch…" He groaned at her as he tried to get up.

"Five." Everyone heard Harune say. Half-time.

Miyabi came running up to him, having followed the path he had created for her before Inori had mentally reshaped the pillars. Smart girl, Inori realized. She came to a halt next to Sudou and took both of his Legs in order to pull him out of the room with her. To annoy her, Inori let crystalline roots wrap themselves around the fallen man's wrists, preventing her from advancing.

"Damnit, let go!" The queen heard the dark haired woman growl at her as she put her back into it, trying to pull Sudou out with her Genesis' strength. The man in question cried in pain, since he felt as if he was effectively pulled apart into two opposite directions.

"Okay." Eve agreed to her demand and let the roots shatter apart with a mere wave of the hand. With the sudden resistance gone, Miyabi saw herself suddenly pulling too hard. She fell back, still holding on to Sudou, who crashed right into her as soon as she had fallen on her behind. Luckily for them, though, they managed to roll out of the room in time, though not without having received some serious pain.

The last of the group was Nanba, who had lacked behind, because Inori had made it especially difficult for him. Right at the start, she had one of the branches of the first pillar he had passed hit him right between the legs, making him bend over in immense pain. There, another tree-like obstacle had hit him at the back of his head, causing him to curse as he fell over. Once he lied on the ground, he decided to crawl forward to avoid the fast spinning branches, but was soon to realize that the pillars started to fall on him once he had managed to pass them. He had to roll sideways to avoid getting pinned down under one of them and saw himself forced to get up and run if he still wanted to make it in time. With some serious determination and a loud battle cry, he stormed forward, trying to shield himself from the painful attacks by putting up his hands like a boxer. By the time Harune had reached the number five, he had been barely behind Miyabi as he charged forward.

He eventually passed Inori, who didn't even look at him, but when he was about to reach for the goal, he was forced to see that he couldn't reach it. Coming right to a halt right in front of it, he looked down on his right leg where he noticed some kind of resistance, only to witness a crystal shackle having wrapped itself around his ankle, preventing him from going further no matter how strong he pulled.

"Where do you think you are going?" Nanba's blood froze solid in his veins when he heard Inori's sudden change in tone. Gone was all the playfulness and what had been fun and games so far, suddenly became the merciless reality again. Such was obvious once he saw the threatening look in her eyes as she turned towards him.

"What's the meaning of this, Inori?" He growled at her angrily, still trying to get free.

"Six." They heard Harune count.

The queen narrowed her eye son him coldly. "Did you think I have forgotten what you did to Shu earlier?" She lifted her hand and with a snip of her fingers, all pillars shattered apart into many sharp, dagger-like shards that began floating in the air, directing the pointy end at the trapped man. "You are going nowhere."

Yuu and the rest had watched the show with amusement so far, only to get surprised by the sudden turn of events. The envoy watched with interest, while Harune began eying the scene worriedly. Souta's grin formed into a shocked expression while Arisa, who had found her way back into the seat of her chair, formed a bridge with her hands on the desk in front of her to lean her head against it. With contempt for the man at the queen's mercy, she narrowed her eyes and smirked in anticipation. She may not have known what this was all about but she sure as hell wouldn't intervene in what she thought was justice. If someone deserved to be mutilated by Eve, Nanba surely fit the description.

The cruel former A-rank couldn't help but worriedly eye the dangerous projectiles aimed at him. "For someone who had boasted about being a kind queen, you sure as hell are sending out some Mana-esque waves right now." He argued with a growl.

Inori looked down, letting her hair obstruct her eyes. "During the last two days I've been treated like dirt, betrayed, almost executed, hunted down, beaten up, separated from Shu and eventually enslaved. Do you seriously believe that at this point, I would still show kindness to my enemies?" Her eyes began glowing red, making them visible again under the strands of hair once she slowly looked up again.

"No…not with you. The only language you speak is violence, and so violence I will use to get my point across." She looked over to Yuu and Arisa to make sure they understood what she meant. This man would merely serve as an example to what horrors she would unleash on them if anyone dared to hurt Shu again. This was nothing she would compromise on. And even those meteorite rings would not stop her from exacting revenge for her king, should he come to harm.

Souta gulped and even Arisa had to admit that her heart skipped a beat from fear. The envoy still wore his poker face, so it was impossible to tell how he thought about this.

"Eight…" Harune continued to count, now visibly nervous and hesitant to continue. She threw a worried look over to the envoy in hope he would do something, but he didn't. All they could see him do was put a hand under his chin and smirk, murmuring something that sounded like: "Interesting…"

Meanwhile, Nanba was still busy trying to get loose. He summoned his void and started beating on the crystal, but every time cracks appeared on it, it began reconstructing itself again. Inori wasn't letting him go. Desperately, he looked over to Yuu.

"Yuu, for fuck's sake, do something!" He yelled at him, but the envoy continued to merely stand there, smirking.

"Nine…?" Harune still counted, gulping audibly.

"YUU!" Nanba yelled panickedly after seeing the merciless look in Inori's eyes as she lifted her hands, preparing to send the deadly shards at him. The brunette man's friends stood at the edge of the room, careful to have their feet still beyond the line that separated the study from the hallway. They all grabbed his hands and attempted to pull him out of the room with all their might. To no avail.

Finally, the envoy sighed with closed eyes and a shrug, giving up. "Let him go, Eve. It's no fun if you don't even give him a chance, you know?"

Inori eyed him disapprovingly from the corner of her eyes but saw herself forced to obey. Her hand moved on its own as it set him free. The crystal shackles at his foot began crumbling away.

"Nine-and-a-half…?" Haruna apparently chickened out on them, much to Inori and Arisa's annoyance. The blond haired business woman stood up in anticipation and yelled:

"Ten!"

Inori moved without hesitation, bringing her raised hands down and thus getting the shards into motion. Everything after that happened too fast to clearly see it. Ritsu, Sudou and Miyabi pulled Nanba as strongly as they could while the deadly shards came rushing towards them like bullets of a mini gun, flying so fast that you merely heard a quiet sound and felt a small breeze once they passed you. If you were lucky enough to have them merely pass you, that was.

But Nanba was lucky, just as he was about to get turned into a pincushion for Inori's crystals, he managed to get dragged out of the room just in time to see the deadly objects cross the line between study and hallway and burst apart into nothing but small crumbles of what they used to be. Harmless debris of the size of not even hailstones. And not even those were allowed to leave the study. They remained lying neatly at the line between rooms as if held there by an invisible force field.

Nanba and the gang wheezed heavily as they tried to catch their breath, hearts racing after all this excitement. Nanba himself couldn't exactly believe that he was still alive. He felt up his body and let a heavy, relieved sigh escape his lips as he shook his head and looked down exhaustedly. He was unharmed.

"Nanba…your leg…" Ritsu said with a worried voice, causing him to pay closer attention to his legs. His eyes widened wide when he saw a huge shard being stuck in there so deep that it actually pierced his leg completely. The shard's pointy end looked out at the opposite side of the entry wound. His jaw started to tremble as his face turned into a grimace of disbelief and horror. Some sounds were uttered by him as if he was trying to form words, but only stuttered noises were to be heard before the pain eventually kicked in at last and made him scream in agony with his hands unsure what to do with the bleeding mess stuck in his leg.

"Remember this pain, Nanba." They all suddenly heard Inori's voice. She kept standing on the other side of the line where she blew away the remainder of what used to be her daggers with a mere wave of her hand, causing it to turn into dust and fly away like snow in the wind. Her eyes lost the red glow, yet not the coldness in them.

"I know you well. More than you might have thought I did. I know how you think, how you operate. It's not that hard to understand." She told him calmly with the air of superiority around her. The aura of Eve. "You like working for people who have power. It's the only thing you respect and desire. Your whole existence revolves around it. Your hunger for it causes you to do many abominable things. It's not difficult to imagine that one day, you will seek to hold the power of kings for yourself, and that you would likely go after Shu to get it. My absence might be but one of the reasons to fuel your motivation. When that desire manifests inside your heart, I want you to remember me. Remember the fear you just felt and the pain you are in now. Then I want you to realize that it was but a fraction of what you will feel if you harm him again. You were afraid of Mana, so better be afraid of the one who succeeded her as well."

With that she closed her eyes and turned around without another word. The doors to the study closed, leaving the former Mananites to themselves in the hallway. Every one of them was speechless, robbed of every possible syllable they could have wanted to utter. Inori had spoken and she had chosen the language they understood best. And it had worked well. Even Nanba, the leader of the pack, the alpha male, saw how much his hands shook from fear. Yes, he had to admit it. He was afraid. Afraid of Inori of all things. Such power…it was supposed to be like Mana's but unlike Mana, Inori was not afraid to actually use it…dirty her hands with blood.

A sinister grin appeared on his lips right then and there, followed by him chuckling evilly. By the time his friends had turned towards him in wonder, he had already begun laughing in a way that made him seem crazy. What was there to laugh about, they asked themselves. Had Nanba finally lost it?

But they didn't know what was going through his head right now, what dark thoughts the synapses of his brain were currently forming. Da'ath's power had been superb, but what if he could make Eve's power his? He would be a god! Untouchable!

But then he stopped these thoughts from continuing down that path, realizing that acquiring said power was not easy at all. He needed a plan. And he needed a good one. To outwit both, Eve as well as Yuu…it would not be easy. He couldn't allow himself to get hasty. All good things needed time. And besides, he couldn't exactly think straight with the pain in his leg. First things first: He needed a doc. Preferably someone else but the wraith of time, or else he might forget his idea again. That wouldn't do.

"Uh, bro, are you alright?" Sudou asked worriedly as he tried to help his friend up by lending him his shoulder. Ritsu held him by the other one. Their leader grunted slightly as he got up, but grinned again soon afterwards.

"Not quite, but I will be soon. Let's go find a medic or something, then I will tell you what we are going to do from now on."

The other shared surprised looks with each other before they, too, began grinning. Miyabi was the first to ask, excitedly: "You have a plan?"

"I do, though it still needs work. We will have to be patient for now, wait for our chance. But let's not discuss this here. Let's return to Loop Seven."

"Leave it to me. I know the best way back." The black haired woman of the group said with pride, earning her a pleased nod from her boss.

"Good girl. I knew I could count on you. Lead the way."

And with that, Team Nanba moved out, forming plans as dark as the night they vanished into.

-GC-

Yuu applauded strongly for Inori after she had closed the door behind her.

"Marvelous display of authority, Eve. You performed truly well, if I dare say so myself." He commended her.

"Yeah, Inori! You were so cool!" Souta agreed with a raised fist. "These scumbags totally deserved that!"

"Hmph, not too bad, indeed." Even Arisa gave herself impressed. She would have to lie if she were to say she didn't enjoy the lesson the queen had taught them.

"What's wrong with you people…?" Harune couldn't help but shake her head at them, utterly in disbelief. "She was about to kill him. I know he is an ass, but really…"

Souta folded his arms in front of him and looked away. "He would have deserved it…"

Arisa frowned and nodded in agreement. "He would have deserved even worse."

"No one would have missed him." Was all Inori had to say to that.

Yuu didn't say anything. All he did was shrug, as if saying: "Meh."

"You guys are unbelievable…" Harune couldn't help but sigh. "Seriously, even Yuu…"

"You just don't know the man, that's all. The things he had done to me…" Arisa said with a dark expression.

"And everyone else in Tennozu…" Souta added angrily.

"Or to my people in the void realm…not to mention Shu." The queen threw in with clenched fists.

"Well, he has a certain propensity for cruelty and torture, I will have to admit." Yuu said as he began leaning back in midair, levitating. Not that men like that didn't have their uses from time to time, though.

"Wow, that bad, huh." The former shop clerk was rather taken aback because of the feedback. That was the moment they heard him laugh loudly on the other side of the door, making them all turn towards the direction of the sound with mixed feelings. Some, like Arisa and Inori, were simply disgusted while Yuu gave himself intrigued. Souta and Harune, for their part, got the chills.

Just what kind of man was this Hirohide Nanba? It started to look like Harune wasn't going look forward running into him at night. Or ever, really.

Arisa pressed the button for her com link again and said: "Whoever is closest to my study, there are a bunch of idiots loitering in front of it. I want you to take these morons and kick them out. Tell them that they will get shot on sight if they ever return here. Then remember their faces and actually do so if you ever see them again."

"Yes, Ma'am. On our way."

"Thank you very much." Arisa said and ended the conversation right afterwards with a tired sigh. "Well, with that out of the way, I suppose you want some rooms to spend the night in…?" She asked, mainly the envoy, with hands folded together on her desk.

"Yes, it would be best if we could get two rooms. One for me and one for the ladies." The envoy said, suddenly stopping to levitate and assuming a proper posture, as expected of someone who asked of a favor.

"Not sleeping with any of you…" Inori objected calmly, making Yuu look at her in disdain. A silent conversation followed them, held by only the look on their faces.

Yuu's face: "That's not up to debate."

Inori's face: "Oh, yes, it is."

"Sleeping with other females in one room is hardly asking for too much…"

"We could do this the easy way, or the hard way."

The envoy frowned at her, followed by turning around to Arisa with a deep sigh. "Three rooms, if you please."

The head of the house was seen narrowing her eyes on this kind of display. "What's this, Yuu? Are you giving in on her? Why not simply force her to take the room?"

This caused the pink haired queen to smirk knowingly. "It's not that easy, is it, Yuu?"

"Of course not…it never is with you Eves…" The envoy groaned in frustration and focused his attention back to the blonde in front of him. "Look, can we please just go to sleep for now? I will gladly explain tomorrow if you want to know."

She lifted a brow on him, but eventually decided to give into him for now. After she had seen Souta yawn from the corner of her eyes, she herself had had the urge to yawn as well. It was getting really hard to resist, probably not least because of the fact that it was getting late and she did feel tired as well. Maybe it really was time to call it a day.

"Very well. I was planning to go to sleep anyway. Souta, if you would kindly find our guests some rooms…and get the princess her extra room, like she insisted…" That last bit was added with quite some scorn, which Arisa didn't even try to hide. Inori did not reply, only threw a meaningful glare her way.

As if to defuse the situation before it could further escalate, Souta tensed up and eagerly said: "Will do." He then opened the door for them and asked everyone to follow him as he led the way.

"Thank you very much for your hospitality, Miss Kuhouin." The envoy politely said to Arisa and was the first to go right afterwards, pointing his finger at the twins and making a small gesture as if to signal someone to lift something up. The sleeping girls immediately began floating in the air and followed him as he left the room, not even getting the slightest bit bothered by it in their sleep. Inori reluctantly trailed off behind him without saying a further word with Harune right at her tail, offering Arisa a short bow in gratitude before she left and closed the door behind her.

The way to their room was quiet for a short while before the envoy decided to speak up.

"It appears you have grown somewhat closer to Miss Kuhouin, Mr. Tamedate." He said with an approving nod.

"You can tell?" Souta asked him excitedly.

"Yes. The way you protected her just now and how relieved she was that you did, were clear indicators that something must have happened. She depends on you now, doesn't she?"

"I guess she does, huh. It's a nice feeling, to be honest, though I still think I have a long way to go." The dark haired man admitted awkwardly while scratching the back of his head.

"Do you love her?" They heard Inori suddenly butt in on their conversation, causing Souta to slightly blush.

"I do, actually." He admitted with a sheepish laugh. "You must think I am weird."

But the queen merely shook her head with a small smile. "It's not weird. It's nice. I hope she will notice soon. She might become a better person once she actually experiences actual love instead of constantly chasing after false one."

"I agree." Yuu nodded at her words with closed eyes and a smile. "Her pointless obsession over Tsutsugami Gai was painful to watch and contra-productive for everyone involved with her, including herself. Only the best would come out of you being successful, so work hard, Mr. Tamedate."

"Wow, guys. Thanks for believing in me. Leave it to me!" The man in slightly wrinkled office-attire turned halfway around towards them and gave them a thumbs-up that was accompanied by his brightest smile.

"Anyway, you guys are really lucky to be able to sleep in one of the beds in this house. Man, you would not believe how comfy they are." He told them in high spirits as they reached the first room. "This one's a rather small one, but the windows face the west, meaning the sun won't bother you in the morning."

"It's the smallest room?" The envoy inquired to which he got a confirming nod from Souta. "Then I guess that's mine. Could you…?" He gestured for the black haired man to take one of the twins from him, since he obviously won't be able to carry them to their room anymore if his journey ended here. The young man only nodded understandingly and gently took one of them into his care. Yuu then took the other one and placed her into Harune's already expecting hands.

While handing the young girl over, he leaned over to whisper in her ear:

"What's the status on Mr. Tamadate? Can he be trusted?"

"He isn't necessarily loyal to Da'ath, but more so to Miss Kuhouin." She explained to him in a quiet voice, causing the envoy to grin.

"That's fine for now. As long as he doesn't plan to align himself with Adam."

"No, sir. His latest thoughts suggest no such notions." She reassured him with a kind smile.

"Thank you, comrade Harune. You saved me a lot of work I would have had otherwise looking into him. You can put your void away now. You must be tired from using it all day." He told her understandingly, to which she offered him a thankful nod and put her right hand up to her eyes, removing something that looked like contact lenses. Instead of putting them away, however, she merely dropped them, causing them to dissolve into silver threads midair which vanished into a glowing hole on her chest soon afterwards.

"Whoa. You were using a void this whole time?" Souta didn't even try to hide his astonishment, asking her that with mouth slightly agape. He hadn't noticed at all.

"Yep. Pretty awesome, right?" She told him with a proud grin.

"Contacts, huh…" Inori couldn't help but frown at her in suspicion. "What do they do?"

"Se-cret." She winked at her playfully which made the queen frown even more in distrust. She didn't press the issue, however, knowing that she wouldn't get the information anyway. She was well aware of her position as a captive. They wouldn't tell her everything, so she had to remain vigilant about her surroundings and find out herself.

The envoy chose to use the opportunity to excuse himself for the night

with a polite bow.

"I will take my leave now, ladies, Mr. Tamedate. Have a good night and see you all tomorrow."

"Good night." Souta and Harune said as they returned the envoy's gesture. Inori treated the man with indifference and decided to move on

"Wow, she must really hate you, huh." Souta couldn't help but say with pity as he looked after her. "She wasn't like this five years ago."

Yuu only shook his head and chuckled amusedly. "Of course she hates me. I put that ring on her, after all. She doesn't realize that it was actually Adam's doing that made me do it, though. It's easier to hate the envoy of an organization trying to support her than it is hating your chosen Adam, naturally. She and her foolish Adam were both too stubborn to even hear me out. And now we are forced to do things this way." He sighed tiredly and folded his arms in front of him.

"They know so little and understand nothing, yet if you try to educate them, all you get in return is scorn. Sometimes it makes me worry about the future, with them being the future king and queen of the world, but then again, doesn't it make things interesting? Doesn't it make you want to see what kind of world they would bring?" He threw his questions into the room while they were all looking into the direction Inori vanished. Harune and Souta couldn't help but nod silently.

"Yeah. Arisa thinks it would be a catastrophe, but I can't help but think they would do a good job. Shu and Inori are good people, I am sure they would make a good king and queen." The dark haired man admitted with a small smile.

"I don't know about Inori, having only officially met her today, but Shu would be a good leader for sure. And if Inori is whom he wants to have at his side, I will trust his judgment. Now if only he would agree to actually join us…" Yuu could hear Harune mumble the last bit in a rather depressing manner.

"Don't worry. I will see to it that it works out in the end. Now, if you would excuse me. I will head straight to bed. You two should probably catch up with Eve and see that she gets a room. I have forbidden her to leave the mansion or use crystals for the time being, so there should be no risk of her running away, but knowing her, she will probably seek every chance she gets to cause me trouble. The less reason she has to be discontent, the better."

"No worries, Yuu. I would have given her the best room anyway. She's a friend, after all." Souta merely replied with a grin.

"Good to hear. See you guys tomorrow." And with that, the envoy finally took his leave, waving them good-bye and closing the door behind him.

Following that, Souta and Harune, now both carrying one of the twins, began walking after Inori, who had gone ahead quite a bit. Eventually they spotted her looking at a painted picture on a wall. Finding their places next to her, both of them allowed themselves to follow her gaze only to realize that she was looking at a picture of Adam and Eve, the biblical ones, getting tempted by a snake to eat an apple.

Inori herself wasn't all that versed in the Christian religion. The queen's crown did not cover that knowledge, making her question the story's actual relevance, but she at least knew that the apple was supposed to be the fruit of wisdom. The snake? She had no idea. The devil, maybe? Someone bad for sure. Regardless of relevance, she could easily see her and Shu in the position of the two persons whose names formed their titles, as well as the envoy in place of the snake, tempting them to bring the apocalypse, something that should take the human race beyond its reach.

She couldn't exactly recall for sure what was supposed to happen after the scene depicted in this picture, but she knew it was bad. Adam and Eve got punished by god, if she had heard correctly. She shook her head slightly in sadness as she looked down. If she and Shu did the same, a similar future would undoubtedly occur. There was no god, Inori was sure of it, but in his place, someone else would punish them. Da'ath. And wasn't its presence any less dangerous? They, too, seemed to be omnipresent, all-seeing and all-powerful. Mana couldn't oppose them…maybe she couldn't either?

She took a step towards the painting, letting her fingers travel gently over the figure that was supposed to depict Adam. Right, if Shu was here, he would be able to tell her how foolish she was for thinking that. He would give her the strength she needed to push forward, take her hand and lead the way himself if needed to. He wouldn't give up. She was sure he was working hard even now. She had to push forward, too. For his sake…their sake.

"Do you like the picture, my queen?" Harune kindly asked to start a conversation, unknowingly pulling the troubled queen from her heavy thoughts. She couldn't help but eye her coldly.

"I am not your queen."

"But you are Eve, are you not?"

Seeing herself unable to deny that fact, the queen agreed with a sigh. "Yes, I am."

"Then you are also my queen." The brunette woman patiently explained to her with a smile. Inori frowned at her. What kind of logic was that supposed to be?

"Is this how you treat your queens then, Da'ath girl?" The pink haired woman asked and pointed at the ring on her finger that shone in its slight purplish glow. "By robbing them of their freedom of will?"

"You left us no choice. You wouldn't even listen…"

"So you made the choice for me instead. I get it." The queen looked away in protest.

Harune offered her a look of sympathy. "Look, I know how you must feel right now, but…"

Inori could only look down in sadness, still offering Harune nothing but her back. "You know nothing about how I feel right now. I had to spend half an eternity fighting Mana over the right to be free. To be my own person. Only to get enslaved again, become a prisoner in my own body. Every second, I scream at my muscles to move, run away from here, yet all they do is stand still, obeying the command of someone else." She turned around again to face the woman pleadingly, holding out her hand that wore that cursed ring. "You want me to be your queen? Then remove this for me."

The former shop clerk looked into those sad crimson eyes of hers, which asked her for an act of mercy. Looking at her pained expression tore away at her heart since she knew that Inori was merely a victim in all of this, just like everyone was. A queen she may have been, but in the end she, too, was only meant to do nature's bidding. The world had decided that there must be an apocalypse, and while humanity was destined to die, Inori was destined to do the killing, whether she wanted to or not. There might have been illusions of choices, but in the end, that's all they were. Illusions. Inori couldn't escape her fate any less than Harune could. The apocalypse would happen, Harune would die and Inori would rule. Those things could not be changed.

Releasing her now would help no one. Neither Da'ath nor Inori herself. She may get back to Shu, but with their unwillingness to bring the apocalypse while Da'ath remained to be around, their forces would continue their meaningless struggle for power. The endless cycle of death even worse than the apocalypse itself would continue to take its course. Harune wanted an end to this. And to bring an end was Da'ath's purpose. She wasn't unable to understand the queen's pain, but in the end, she still averted her eyes regretfully, silently denying her plea. She couldn't do it. Not without betraying the envoy and thus Da'ath as a whole.

Inori retracted her hand and looked away in disappointment as well. "Then I am not your queen. All I am is your captive. Bring me to my cell, then."

"Inori…" Souta didn't know what to say. He felt horribly bad for the poor girl in front of him. Her depiction of the situation sounded downright terrifying. He wouldn't even be able to begin to imagine how it must be like to be controlled by someone else entirely. It sounded wrong, so terribly wrong. He wished he could do something, at least cheer her up somehow, but there was nothing he could say, no words he could muster. How do you brighten up a situation that seemed as hopeless as Inori's was? He didn't know.

And so they had resumed their walk in silence, every one of them continuing to go on with heavy hearts. They eventually reached the next room, in which Harune vanished together with the twins. She didn't say a word, couldn't even look Inori in the eye. When the door closed behind her, Souta and Inori were on their own. The man led the way again until he came to a halt in front of the room he had wanted to give to Inori.

"We are here. For all it's worth, I chose the best room in the whole mansion for you. Well, after Arisa's of course." He told her with a weak smile.

"Thanks, Souta. But a cell is a cell nonetheless."

"I suppose so…"

The queen silently opened the door, but hesitated as she was about to enter. Without turning around, she asked.

"Souta, is your stance on this the same as that girl's? Won't you free me, either?" She asked him calmly, forcing him to look down on his clenched fist in front of his chest in pain.

"I had to make a decision at last, Inori. That decision was to side with Arisa, after all. I am sorry."

She looked down, realizing what he meant. "Arisa hates Shu. To bring him down, having me out of the way is most beneficial to her."

"Yeah…" He gritted his teeth in agony, feeling horrible due to the guilt which gnawed on his heart. "You must hate me, Inori. In the end, I am not different from that scum, Nanba. Nothing but a backstabbing son-of-a-bitch."

That's when he saw her turn around to him, not with anger present on her face, but a kind smile instead, albeit accompanied by tears of disappointment which sparkled in her eyes, trying to break free. She gently shook her head.

"I don't hate you, Souta. I would have, if you had said that you didn't love Arisa earlier. But you didn't, so I understand. Sometimes, you can't have everything. In those times, you will have to try to protect that what is most important to you. We are the same."

Souta was now heard sniffing as he tried to hold back his tears as well, feeling so awfully relieved for Inori's kindness. "You haven't changed after all. When you threatened Nanba earlier, I thought I saw someone I didn't know. But you are still the same kind girl I knew five years ago. I am glad."

"Is that what you think?" The queen asked him with pity in her voice, more for herself than for him. She still smiled, but it looked fake, forced.

"It was an act, right? You wanted to scare them so that they would stay away from Shu." He told her, suddenly sounding not all that convinced anymore, now that he saw that weird smile of hers. His statement sounded more like hope than it did like his true beliefs.

"You are not wrong. I can't protect Shu directly anymore, so I have to do so from afar. I acted like Mana did in order to earn their respect, but that was only after Nanba had slipped out of my reach." She narrowed her eyes, which suddenly turned cold, dark enough to get lost in them forever if you stared at them for too long. "Everything before that was my true self. I wanted to kill Nanba, and I would have if the envoy hadn't intervened. There was no kindness in me then, only murderous intend. The way I am right now, after all the things the world has put me through and still does, I have no desire to be kind. Not to my enemies at least. Do you understand?"

The dark haired man gulped and took a step back, visibly scared by her sinister expression. This…this girl was Inori? The sweet, innocent girl he had known?

"No, I don't. What are you saying?" He asked her nervously.

Inori closed her eyes and sighed. When she opened them again, she looked normal again. Calm, collected. At least not dangerous anymore. Now it almost looked as if she was pitying him.

"The world has taught me about many of its darker emotions. I may not be Mana, but I am no longer as kind as you may have thought. Remember how I said we were the same? How I understood why you are willing to betray us for Arisa? Keep that in mind, Souta. Because one day, this ring on my hand will be gone, and when Arisa comes for Shu, I will be the one to strike her down to protect him. If you are going to be her shield, even though I do not hate you, the closest thing to kindness I would be able to offer you, would be to kill you first so that you would not have to watch her die. There might be regret, but there won't be any hesitation." She averted her gaze in silent disdain. "This is what the world has come down to, and that's why I hate it."

She looked down on her hands with disappointment. Back when she had become Eve, she had made the false assumption that these hands of hers could be used to create beautiful things, to improve the world and thus shape a better one. But in the end, she had turned out to be wrong. Those hands were the hands of Eve. The being that destroyed and killed. If killing was all these hands were good for, then kill she would. She couldn't change Eve's nature and neither could she afford to fight it, because that's what she ultimately was. Eve. There was no use denying it or pretending that she was different, that she could change her fate. All she could do was embrace it. She was done with running from what she was supposed to be.

"Just what happened to you, Inori? How could you change so much…? You used to be so kind and innocent…" She could hear Souta mutter more to himself than to anyone. He took another step back and put a hand on his face, shaking his head in disbelief. She could only offer him a defeated looking smile.

"I became a queen. Wear a crown for too long and it will change you forever. All the good intentions you may once have had will soon crumble away and leave nothing behind but the demon you never wanted to become. I tried so hard to not be like Mana, never to notice that Mana herself may have never wanted to be who she eventually turned out to be, either. Now it's too late to go back to how things used to be. We have already become who we are. I am Eve of the apocalypse. Who are you, Souta?"

Leaving that question for him to find an answer to, the pink haired woman entered her room and closed the door with the words: "Good night." There was nothing to be heard in them. No hostility or friendliness. Just neutrality. Calmness.

The black haired knight merely kept standing in the hallway, mouth slightly agape with his face being stuck in an expression of bewilderment. What the flying fuck had just happened? Had she threatened him? Or warned him? Maybe there was a different meaning to her words which he couldn't understand at first because he wasn't exactly smart enough? No, he realized as he closed his eyes and shook his head to clear his mind. He had understood well enough.

"If you have decided to stand on this side, the next time we meet will be on the battlefield, is it…" He spoke out aloud what he subconsciously had realized long ago, yet had not accepted as a fact until it had been shoved right into his face by the queen herself.

Their friendship was over. Tears started to form in his eyes again, but he forced them back with an angry glare.

"Tch…the world really has changed for the worst. Five years ago, all we cared about were our stupid studies. Now all we do is fighting each other. For what? Heck, if I knew…" He punched the nearest wall and let his gaze sink towards the ground, ignoring the pulsing pain in his fist.

"Were these the consequences you were talking about, Shu? Did you know it would come to this? That I would either have to fight you and Inori or Arisa? If you did, why didn't you help me stop it? I felt like I was the only one trying. Was it really futile from the start? Was I a fool for having hope?"

The phone in his pocket vibrated and he took it out with a sigh, curious about who it could be that wanted something form him right now. A pained smile found it way to his lips when he saw from whom the message he had received was from.

Ouma Shu wrote:

"We are in trouble. Some shit went down and Inori got captured by Da'ath. I need all the information on them you can gather ASAP. Call me once you read this and are safe to talk."

"What do I do…?" He chuckled helplessly at his own question as he looked down on the glowing screen, its artificial light reflecting itself in his sad eyes. Inori's last words then came back to him in his mind.

"Now it's too late to go back to how things used to be. We have become who we are. I am Eve of the apocalypse. Who are you, Souta?"

He frowned at his phone's display as he closed the message and opened up the options menu, selecting the "Block all communications" option and pressing it. A new window appeared, asking him to confirm his choice.

"Who I am….?" He asked now, with seriousness in his voice as he pressed "Yes", causing all messages from Shu to vanish from his device before he put it back into his pants' pocket, only to take out the firearm Arisa had given him.

"I am a knight who protects Arisa health and honor. A man sworn to be loyal to no one but her. That's who I am." He said determinedly as he looked down on the weapon, letting his fingers slide over the characters engraved on the handle.

"This is what I have decided." He put the gun away again and looked forward. "This is who I am gonna be."

And with these words he took his first step into the future.

He never looked back again.