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The sun isn’t even up yet, but Eijun is already wide awake in the SEIDO HQ. Has been for hours. Today he will go on his first real mission. Not a simulated practice, a real mission. Ever since his power awoke on his 12th birthday Eijun worked hard to never feel that helpless again. To never accidentally burn down houses and parts of the fields. That is an image he will never truly forget. Sometimes it haunts him in his dreams, in his nightmares.
His family never held it against him that Eijun literally set his surroundings aflame, yet there is that nagging feeling of guilt that he can’t quite get rid off—except for when he practices with the other Cursed at the headquarter. That is when Eijun feels the most alive and not like a failure for not having a good grip on his power from the start. That, again, is normal. Every Cursed needs to learn how to control their powers. For some it takes only a short amount of time, for others it is decadelong challenge. Eijun is glad that he quickly got a grip strong enough for him to be allowed at the dorms.
He rooms with Kuramochi Youichi, a Crused who can move as quicky as lighting. Eijun isn’t sure if Kuramochi controls himself, or controls time—speeds it up and slows it down as need be. They don’t talk about the nature of their powers often, and Eijun didn’t dare ask. He is the new kid after all. Still feels like the new kind even with his first real mission right ahead of him.
When he was brought to SEIDO base he was 12 years old. When he was allowed to move to the dorms he was almost 13, and now, at age 14, he is finally allowed on a mission. In his last letter home (Eijun likes writing letters more than writing emails, and he doesn’t care that some of the other trainess make fun of him for it), he wrote about his excitement, but also about his worry concerning the whole thing. It could happen that his teammates get injured, that they aren’t able to fulfill the mission. So many things could go wrong. That is his life, though—at least if he doesn’t ruin this—, to go in where normal people need help, and to risk his own life in the process.
Takashima makes it a point that he can always, at any point, change his mind. Even with all the time and resources they invested in him, he is free to leave. “We don’t own you, Sawamura-kun. We can only help you discover who you are, and who you want to be going forward.”
And Eijun wants to be a hero. He wants to be a known name. He wants to do big things and make a difference.
His train of thought gets distracted by Kuramochi’s alarm. Eijun’s heart joins the rhythm of the upbeat song that blares through shitty speakers of an analog alarm clock. It looks old enough that it could be from Kuramochi’s grandpa, or from Eijun’s if Eitoku were one to need alarm clocks. His grandpa is always up around five in the morning, no matter the season. His inner clock is infallible. Or so it seems, anyways.
In the bunk bed beneath Eijun’s Kuramochi stretches with a groan after shutting the alarm off. “Ready for the big day?” he asks. On the other side of the room Masuko sits up and rubs his eyes.
“Did you rest well, Sawamura-chan?” Masuko asks.
Eijun grimaces at that, happy that neither of his senpai look at him right now. He is a bad liar, the truth always written all over his face. “Uh-huh,” he says. “I’m very excited! Do you know anything about the mission?”
“Hyaha! Already full of energy, huh? Takashima and Kataoka fill us in with the details after brekfast. We never know much about missions beforehrand, just that we’re supposed to be ready.”
Eijun had seen that before. That some of the trainess were told to be ready for a mission. A part of him thought the older Cursed would have more information than him, but apparantley that is not the case. “I see!” With that Eijun climbs off his bed to get ready for the big day.
***
The cafeteria isn’t crowded at that hour. Eijun only sees the people that are supposed to go on that mission with him. He shudders when he sees the Kominatos at one of the tables. Together they can weave deadly illusions to distract not only the enemies. Last Halloween Eijun almost peed his pants from the show the brothers let losse on the dorms; illusions of zombies and witches and werewolves so real, Eijun remembers he could even smell them. It is highly uncommon that siblings are born with powers that similar to each other. There are only ten known cases in Japan. That is from the registered Cursed in the data base anyways. There could always be more. Still, it is rare, and it is creepy.
Someone nudges Eijun forward, his empty tray tilting downwards. “Oi”, he shreaks. “Careful!”
“Are you sleeping while standing?” Miyuki Kazuya grins at him. The Cursed is in the same class as Kuramochi, but Eijun likes him way less personality wise. Working with him is usually a pleasant experience, though, as surprising as it may be. With Miyuki being able to control gravity, he is part of many missions. “You’re blocking the path for people that want to actually eat.”
Eijun looks around. “Only you seem to be bothered by me standing here.”
“Are you nervous before your first real mission?” Miyuki wiggles his brows.
“You damn tanuki! Of course I am nervous! It is my first time!” Eijun exclaims. He can feel eyes on him, more than before, anyways, but refuses to check. Instead he stares at Miyuki who moves his hand to ruffle Eijun’s tuft of hair.
“Your senpai will look out for you. Just don’t do anything stupid.” Miyuki pushes past Eijiun to get to the rice pot and bowls to get his breakfast.
Eijun shakes himself as if shaking off rain, and then follows suit.
A few more people file into the cafeteria, get bowls of rice and miso soup and egg rolls. The quiet chatter makes it seem like an ordinary day, yet it is not. It is the day of the first mission. That fact repeats in Eijun’s head in an endless loop, makes his bones tingle with the need of something to happen.
And then something does happen that throws the idea of a quiet low profile mission overboard.
They are still in the middle of breakfast when Kataoka enters the cafetria. At first Eijun thinks the head of SEIDO wants to get breakfast himself, but his grim expression doesn’t quite match that. Kataoka claps his hands and immediately the chatter dies down.
“Good morning everyone!”, Kataoka says. “I’m here to inform you that our mission got an upgrade to an urgent rescue mission. We need to leave within the hour. So everyone scheduled for today’s mission, please find yourself in the hangar before five. We have no time to loose here. More information will be given when we leave.”
Eijun feels his jaw drap, sees a similar expression of worry or shock on the other Cursed. Seems that his first mission won’t be that low profile, after all. Kataoka leaves without waiting for any questions, the chatter from before doesn’t resume. Instead some already get up, rice bowls empty or not, and Eijun looks down at his own breakfast. He doesn’t think he can swallow one more bite.
***
A rescue mission always is off utmost priority. It means that one or more of their teammates are stuck after a mission. Either because of injury or technical failures or—the worst case scenario—becasue they are dead. Everyone is tense as they get ready in the hangar. They get into the dark blue bodysuits with the yellow S stitched right above the heart. When Eijun first wore the suit he was expecting to feel exposed because it looks to be so tight. It turns out that the material is very sturdy, stretchy, and for him it is also fire proof. They have a Cursed who can morph their form and their suit is desigend to give way and morph with him—however that is even possible. Eijun doesn’t know who has that kind of power, but he is certain one day or another he will meet them.
They get on the aircraft that will bring them to their destined area. On the flight Kataoka will give them more information about what to expect. Eijun isn’t sure he will even hear any of it with how loud his heart beats. It is all he can hear until they lift off and the aircraft overtones the crescendo in his mind.
Across from him Kuramochi, Miyuki and Masuko look at him with various expressions. They all wear headphones to be able to communocate over the noise. Kataoka clears his throat, and all gazes snap in his direction.
“Our flight will take roughly 20 minutes. We want to get two of our people back,” Kataoka starts. “They have been out to infiltrate a small enemy base, to question them, but things went south unexpectedly.”
“We sent only two?” Tetsu asks. He frowns, arms crossed in front of his chest. “That seems like a very small party.”
“We sent more,” Kataoka clarifies. “But only two are still reported alive.”
A gasp goes through the lines, Eijun thinks he might lose his ability to breathe for good. Does that mean—
“Are we getting the bodies back, too?” Jun asks. “Bring them home?”
Kataoka shakes his head. “Not at this point. If we can safely recover any of them, we will. But it is not our priority.”
“Do we know who is still alive?” asks Ryousuke. Eijun hadn’t seen the older Kominato before, and now he wonders how he hadn’t when he sits next to Kuramochi across from him. He needs to get a grip before they hit the ground. This is not a practice mission, this is the real deal.
“At this point reportedly alive are Tanba and Chris,” Kataoka says. “We know they are not in good shape, but last time we had contact, they were both talking.”
“But that can change quickly,” Miyuki says, and Eijun has never heard him sound like that. Overall the mood became even more tense with an added sense of urgency that wasn’t there before. Chris and Tanba are well-known, trusted members of SEIDO and to imagine these two are in danger is rough for all of them. The team is also family away from their families.
“Yes,” Kataoka says gruffly, and then he continues the breafing with data about the buildings they are going to find, the area, and whatever else could be important. “I want you to stay together in small groups. Every group has at least one of our new recruits. Needless to say I expect all of you to fulfill this mission sussessfully.”
“Understood!” all of them say in unison, like a battle cry.
Eijun shivers. He will be in the group with Kuramochi, Miyuki, and Masuko. That is not bad. If he had to go in with the Kominatos he might have been too scared to move at all. In the meantime he did spot Haruichi, too, who sits in one of the corners as if collecting himself, meditating. Maybe that is not the worst idea.
For the last minutes of the flight, Eijun, too, does close his eyes and tries to just breathe.
****
The cold hits him in the face despite the additional layers of uniform that they got to have a stand against the weather. Eijun freezes quicker than other people due to his power being connected to fire. Goosebumps cover his skin when he hurries to follow Masuko, Miyuki and Kuramochi. The other groups disappear in other directions from where they touched down. They have an hour before they are supposed to return. Kataoka made it clear that they can only think about recovering any dead bodies if they first found Chris and Tanba and secured their return. Eijun hopes they won’t find any of their dead comrades. He can’t even fathom how he would react then. Sooner or later that will happen with the path he chose, but hopefully not during his first mission.
The snow is falling, sharp wind blowing over the vast snowscape. To the left is the buiilding their group is supposed to search. Another building is to the right which is where the other troup went. The healers stayed back for now and wil be called as soon as they found their comrades. It is hard ot move forward with the heavy snowfall and the wind biting in their faces. Eijun ducks behind Masuko to block some of the intensity, and then they step into the building. He almost topples over when the resistance is gone.
Next to him Miyuki snickers, nose red and edges of his visor covered in ice crystals. Kuramochi is already ahead of them, moving within the blink of an eye. Instead of turning his attention towards Miyuki to call him out for being a tanuki, Eijun stares at Kuramochi—or stares at the spot where he was a millisecond before.
“Wow,” he says.
“He is something else, huh?” Miuyki says, and there is no teasing in his voice. “He checks if we can move safely.”
Masuko gets his weapon ready—a big kind of gun that is intimidating just by the looks of it. “Let’s get going.” He moves and Eijun follows. His eyes dart this way and that and he is distracted by seeing glimpses of Kuramochi’s form here and then gone and then elsewhere.
They move forward efficiently. Kuramochi clears the paths; there are no encounters with enemies and much to Eijun’s relief not with dead bodies, either. They come across something else instead—a part of the ceiling came down and blocks the path.
Kuramochi waits there for them. “You took your sweet time!” he teases.
“Should we blow it up?” asks Masuko, unfazed.
Miyuki clicke his tongue. “So violent. Let me see if if can help some.” He steps closer to the fallen rubble, crouches down to inspect it.
Eijun frowns. “What is he doing?”
“He checks if he can move it,” Kuramochi says. “Preferably without bringing down the building what an explosion might do.”
Masuko huffs. “Only a small explosion?”
Kuramochi cackles. “Hyaha! You really like dynamite, huh?”
In the meantime Miyuki seems to be done with his inspection. There is a low orange glimmer and then parts of the fallen ceiling start to move, rubble shifts, dust clouds appear in the cold air. After only a few minutes there is a path they can take.
“Voilà!” Miyuki grins and gestures for Kuramochi to move ahead once more. Within the blink of an eye Kuramochi is gone again.
No matter how often Eijun sees it, he doubts he will ever get used to it.
They hear from the other group over their in-ears that everything is clear but that they couldn’t find Chris or Tanba yet. What they did find, though, are a few dead bodies, not all of them from SEIDO. Eijun shudders, sends a silent thank you to all the deities that he is in this troup and not the other one.
And then they find Chris and Tanba behind a blocked door—once again Miyuki uses his power to free the path.
Eijun doesn’t know what he expected—probably a lot of blood—, but what they find is both men sitting on the ground, and grinning at them when they enter the chamber. There are bruises on both their faces, they look tired and haggard in a way that shows they have been in a high stress situation way too long.
“Finally!” Tanba says, and his voice cracks. Probabyly with relief.
“Senpai,” Miyuki grins. “What’s the damage?”
“Since when are you a healer?” Tanba snaps.
“Mostly bruises and scracthes,” Chris says. “Dehydration. We are also starving.”
Masuko reaches for his shoulder as if wanting to grab his backpack, just that he doesn’t carry one. “Oh …”
“Hyaha!” Kuramochi cackles. “No puddings on you? What a shame!”
Despite the light tone, Eijun feels uneasy. His eyes dart this way and that without seeing anything. “Should we contact the boss?” he asks.
“Already ahead of you,” Miyuki says. He, too, seems tense in the way he holds himself. Something feels off. “They say to wait here and not move them until we know for sure there is no internal bleeding.”
“What a prospect to sit around here for even longer,” Tanba says, and starts moving. “You can do that, but I want to get out of here before more rubble comes down.” He wobbles a bit when he ascends, otherwise he seems fine.
Chris, on the other hand, doesn’t make a move to get up just yet. “I’m perfectly fine waiting. I’m not too keen on moving.”
Tanba heads through the door, Kuramochi, Masuko and Miyuki exchange a look while Eijun stares at something that caught his eye. A rusty red spot at the wall rigtht where Chris leans. It was partly covered by Tanba before. Now, though, it is on full display.
“You are injured worse,” Eijun says. Before any kind of acknowledgment Eijun reaches out to touch the wall to see if it is fresh blood. Chris’ eyes widen and then screw shut when he moves away from Eijun’s hand. “So I am right …”
Chris lets out his breath on a long exhale. “Does it matter? Help is here now. A healer is on the way now. All is well.”
Eijun frowns just when Kuramochi says: “I’ll inform the others.” And with that he is gone. Like a phantom.
Miyuki moves closer, unsure in a way that Eijun never saw in his senpai. In the end it is Masuko crouching next to Chris and talking to him in a quiet voice.. Eijun doesn’t catch what is being said becasue this feeling of somethign being wrong intensifies. The hairs all over his body stand up. When he looks, he sees Miyuki rub his arms, and when their eyes meet Eijun knows he feels it too.
“Is that your electricity, Tanba?” Miyuki asks.
Tanba’s jaw looks tense. Only now does Eijun see a large bruise on the left side of it. The bone looks wrong. “No, It is not me.”
“Did you hear anyone while you were captured here?” Miyuki looks up and down the corridor.
Tanba shakes his head. Despite Eijin’s first impression of Tanba being snappy or short with them, it might be that speaking hurts him. Hurts his jaw.
“I know we said to wait for the healer to arrive, but I don’t think we should stay here,” Miyuki carefully says.
Masuko huffs gruffly. “I will help Chris move.”
Chris presses his lips into a thin line. There is fresh sweat glistening on his forehead. Then, “Grab this for me, Miyuki.” He nods towards a black messenger bag. Miyuki takes it.
***
Masuko is one of the physically strongest Cursed at SEIDO. Eijun knows that. To see his senpai and roommate now carry a man like Chris as if it were nothing, no weight at all, puts it into a different kind of perspective. The Cursed at SEIDO all are special, have powers Eijun never saw before, abilities that make him speechless. He is really lucky that Takashima found him on his 12th birhtday. Tanba is a bit wobbly on his feet, but refuses help. Instead he stays close to Chris, weapon at the ready.
The sensation of something buzzing around them grows stronger by the second, and for the longest time they are not able to tell where exactly it is coming from. When they are, it is almost too late.
The shooting starts out of nowhere, the quick ratta—ta—tat—ratta—ta—tat of machine fire. Eijun’s head whips around to spot the shooter, and then he sees it. Drones are coming towards them, firing with barely a pause. There is so much noise and gun fire that it is hard to tell how many there are.
“Hurry,” Miyuki says to Masuko who starts jogging, Tanba right behind. “Sawamura? Do you think you can burn one or two of those?”
Eijun’s eyes are wide. “Er …”
“I’ll start taking them down from the left, you go for the right.”
The first drone falls before Eijun has fully understood what he is supposed to do. It went from heading out from a rescue mission into being under fire so quickly it alsmot gives him whiplash. He takes a shaky breath and lets the fire dance over his fingertips. He learnd to control his flame, learned to bundle it into fire balls that he can throw. This technique seems to be what he needs now, and he is glad for the ruthless practices with Kataoka, with other Cursed, to the point that he could summon his power even in sleep.
The first ball misses because the drone moves too quickly to be hit. The next throw hits and has a drone crash to the ground. There is no time to celebrate right now with them still being under fire. Miyuki and he work almost shoulder to shoulder, crash one drone after the other. Bullets hit their bodysuits and they both will suffer nasty bruises from this, but nothing more. This kind of ammunation isn’t strong enough to break the protection. Luckily.
While they crash drone after drone after drone they move backwards towards the exit. Just when Eijun wonders for how much longer this will go on, the last two drones fall to the ground and nothing new comes. It is eerily silent after the cacophony of sounds before. Eijun’s breath comes in heavy huffs of air, clouding in front of him. Was he cold before, he isn’t anymore. Not after his own fire danced all around him.
Miyuki surprises him by ruffling his hair. “Well done, Noisimura! Seems you are pretty useful after all.”
“Oi! What is that supposed to mean?” Eijun all but yells.
Miyuki snickers, kicks against Eijun’s boot. “Let’s get out of here.”
Both of them are winded after using their powers, but it also leaves a bonedeep satisfaction to call upon the powers that are yours and yours alone. Eijun falls into step next to Miyuki when they jog towards the exit. The buzzing, prickling feeling calling danger is gone. It is quiet on that regard, too, and Eijun is ready to head back to the SEIDO headquarters.
***
Outside it is not that quiet. In a bit of a distance they see gunfire. Kuramochi, Masuko and Tanba try to get rid of two big robots that fire lasers at them. The ground rumbles from the force of it.
“What … what is that?” Eijun asks. His voice wavers, his heart stutters, but neither he nor Miyuki stop their jog. They need to get to the others.
Chris lies on the ground, his form blury as if hidden beneath a thin layer of something. Miyuki comes to s stop, grabs Eijun’s wrist hard enough to make him stop alongisde him.
“This isn’t real,” Miyuki pants. His eyes dart right and left, and Eijun follows his line of sight. There is more of this flimmer, like a barely visible veil. As soon as Miyuki says it, the illusion in front of them vanishes. “We need to head back to the building. This isn’t the way we ca—,” Miyuki trails off as they hear a cracking sound beneath their feet. “Fuck …”
Before Eijun can fully comprehend what is even happening, the ground vanishes and he falls, ice cold water pressing all air out of his lungs. He hears nothing when his head is underwater, but when he comes up he sees that Miyuki, too, broke into the ice. The building they came from is farther away than Eijun was aware, that illusion really led them both astray. “It’s so c-c-cold.” Eijun’s teeth clatter hard enough he is worried he might accidentally bite his tongue if he’s not careful.
“I kn-know, Eijun,” Miyuki responds. His teeth clatter just as hard. “Try t-to relax, okay? I will … will t-try something!”
Eijun. Miyuki rearely calls him by his first name. That he does now must mean they are in real trouble. It also does the trick and has Eijun listen, try to relax while moving his legs to not sink. It starts with a prickle all over his body, then something invisible lifts him out of the water, slowly, surely, and then he is on the ice again.
“D-don’t get up!” Miyuki says. “J-just stretch out and roll towards the e-edge.”
“What about you?” Eijun doesn’t dare move. The ice underneath reacts to his body heat and he can’t stay here and chat. He needs to get off of that frozen lake they didn’t pay attention to. Eijun saw it on the map when they studied the area on the way here, but none of them expected to actually end on it; in it, even, and if only for a bit.
Miyuki focusses and Eijun realizes that what he felt were the powers of him lifting him out of the water. He starts rolling away when Miyuki seems to break off a bigger piece of ice and has it submerge in the water, then he manipulates the ice to lift himself out. It takes him three attempts to make it happen, the cold probably distracting him.
While Eijun rolls towards the shore he hears a crackling in his in-ear- “—are you? A—o—ay?” The reception gets better the closer Eijun gets to the shore and when his body hits solid ground he can clearly hear their comrades.
“We’re at the lake. W-we b-broke into the i-ice,” he pants out between clattering teeth. The cold feels like needles and pins all over his body even with the protection the bodysuit provides.
Kuramochi curses, and after a blink or two he appears right in front of Eijun. He looks at him, looks out on the lake where now Miyuki rolls towards them. Eijun can tell it costs Kuramochi a lot to not run towards their teammate, his friend—probably even best friend. Miyuki arrives at the shore, grins at them with blue lips and all teeth.
“W-waiting f-for me? How f-flattering, Mochi,” he pants, and laughs when Kuramochi kicks him in the shin.
“You’re such an asshole!” Kuramochi huffs. “Can you two walk? We need to get to the aircraft.”
Eijun and Miyuki get to their feet. “Yes,” they say in unison. Miyuki adds, “Gettting somewhere warm would motivate me even if I had trouble walking. Heh.”
“If I weren’t afraif of b-burning you I would try to warm you up,” Eijun says.
Miyuki laughs. “Nah, better not. I like not being grilled.”
“Oi! Maybe it would work.”
“Yeah, maybe,” Miyuki bumps against Eijun’s shoulder. “Appreciate the offer, though.”
“Hyaha!” Kuramochi cackles. He still looks tense, worried. That might ease once they made it somewhere warm. “The offer of getting grilled is appreciated? You’re a weird guy, Miyuki!”
“You like that about me,” Miyuki says, tries to bat his lashes. Eijun realizes they are heavy with ice crystals.
“How did you even end up on the ice?” asks Kuramochi.
“Illusions,” Eijun says when Miyuki doesn’t reply, too busy shivering and trying to rub some warmth into his body. On the way back to their team Eijun tells Kuramochi what happened, and how lucky he was that Miyuki was there. “I don’t know how I would’ve gotten out of there alone.”
“That’s what a team is for. We help each other,” Kuramochi says. Eijun grins while Miyuki nods his agreement. “We must have triggered some of the self-defense mechanisms of this area. If that doesn’t mean they hide important data here, I don’t know what is.”
Only after they made it back to the others do all of them relax. The warmth of the aircraft has Eijun hurt in a different, but welcome way. As someone who controls the fire, ice might be his archenemy.
“I don’t want to see any snow for the next ten years,” Eijun says with a dry suit and a hot drink.
Somewhere to his right Miyuki snorts, “At least the next fifteen.”
“How do you feel after mastering your first ever mission, Sawamura-chan?” Masuko asks.
Eijun grins. “It was great! I mean … er … of course not great that people died and got injured and—”
“You can say it was great,” Chris’ quiet voice interrupts his rambling. “From what I heard you did a great job.” His right arm is in a sling, and he looks a little less pale than when they found him and Tanba.
Something about the praise has Eijun’s heart sing. He grins even wider. “Thank you for appreciating this Sawamura Eijun! I will do my best to proof myself useful in the future again!” He beams for the rest of the flight, the cold still lingering in his bidy not strong enough to dull his happiness.
***
Back at the SEIDO base Eijun and Miyuki get the privilige to take a hot bath before anyone else, and Eijun is grateful for it. It also gives him a moment of quiet time to reflect on what happened before they will have a post-mission meeting with Kataoka. He is not worried about that, maybe a little nervous because this, too, is a first for him.
“You did really well today, Sawamura,” Miyuki says as they sit next to each other in the hot bath. Well, for Eijun it might not feel as hot as it does for Miyuki, it is a very pleasant experience anyways. “Couldn’t have been able to tell it was your first time.”
“Still. On that lake I was really scared.”
“Me, too,” Miyuki admits. “But it turned out okay.”
“Yeah.” The water ripples when Eijun moves his legs and feet, works feeling back into his toes. “Say, Miyuki? What kind of mission was that that Chris, Tanba and the others were on? Getting ínformation?”
Miyuki hums. “We will see if the laptop from that messenger bag is still any good after the bath it took with us.” He grimaces. “I would suck if we couldn’t recover the files.”
“Nabe is at it, right?” Eijun asks. Nabe is their data specialist. It is connected to his powers that he is so good with hacking and electronics, but Eijun doesn’t know the details. Thinking about that brings up another question. “I know Tanba controls electrcity, or like … lightning. But what is Chris-senpai’s power?”
“Oh, wouldn’t you like to know?” Miyuki grins. “It is more fun when you find out on your own.”
“You’re so mean!” Eijun complains. “You could just tell me!”
“It’s more entertainng when I don’t,” Miyuki says with a shrug. “Dammit, my feet are still frozen …”
And like that the conversation stirs away from Chris’ powers, from their mission, and they only focus on getting warm again. Everything else can wait just a little longer.
***
With this having been his first mission ever Eijun will remember this even years from now. It might have been his first, but it won’t be his last. Kataoka is so satisfied with Eijun’s prerformance he promises him to be planned for missions more often, and Eijun is more than happy about it.
Was it scary? Yes. Was he happy that they were able to get Chris and Tanba out? Hell, yes! And that is what he wants more of. Eijun wants to help people, prove that Cursed suppoprt everyone, help everyone. That they aren’t a threat. And SEIDO is a damn good place to do just that. Eijun knows that, and he is ready. His journey only just begun, after all.