~~~The Room That Observes All~~~
Only two of the silhouettes were present in the dark room. The air was thick with tension and flickers of light danced across the cold floor, but neither of the two men spoke at first.
Silhouette 7: Squad Segment 663...
Silhouette 6 & 7 were the only heads present in the room.
"Their jumps in the ranks are remarkable."
Silhouette 6 muttered as he smirked.
Silhouette 7: Beating two Kolassal-class Seele on their rookie days...
Silhouette 6 sighed.
"It's going to be quite the pain to control them."
Their conversation was interrupted by a knock. A woman stepped inside, her tone calm, but firm.
"You can't control them."
Silhouette 6 turned around, still sitting on his seat as he growled.
"What did you say?!"
Silhouette 7 turned to 6, ordering him to calm down.
"Calm down."
He paused, turning to the woman.
"What are you trying to propose?"
The woman chuckled, arms crossed, her front covered by the shadow of the bright light behind her. Eyes glowing white.
"Their leader, Ryujin. He's been here since he was a child, right?"
Silhouette 7 nods.
"That's right."
She leaned her shoulder to the door frame as she replied.
"You showed him darkness before he could even understand himself."
She paused, smiling.
"What do you think will happen because of that?"
Silhouette 7 stayed silent, reflecting on the thought.
She then stood straight, shrugged and continued her point.
"He's their leader. And from what I've observed... they're loyal to him. Deeply."
Silhouette 7: Then, if you're such a "psychiatrist"... what do you suggest we do?
"Be easy on them."
Silhouette 7: Be easy?
She scoffed,
"I meant.. Spoil them."
Silhouette 6 stood from his seat, waved his hand once, against the idea.
"Fool! Other squads will notice. That would mean... chaos!"
"Oh? So you are that concerned about this squad."
She shot back.
Silhouette 6 couldn't reply.
"Tsk."
And then, Silhouette 7 calmly replied.
"The other squads will definitely react one way or another if we treated this squad differently."
He paused, as he gave it a bit of thought.
"But then again... No squad has ever shown strength the way they did.. It's strange... almost like fate itself put them together."
She giggled.
"Right? Ain't that interesting?"
Silhouette 7 continued.
"They passed Squad 376 — and that group's been on the ground for five years."
Silhouette 6: Jumped from Rank 341 to 207 in just two weeks... but the squads above them aren't weak.
Silhouette 7: True. But the thing is — they haven't even shown their full potential yet. Especially Ayro and Ryujin.
Silhouette 6: Right.
Woman: They're still kids. They'll listen to experienced adults — if those adults treat them well.
The two silhouettes exchanged a glance. No words — just thought.
And something unspoken passed between them.
~~~Cape Hedo~~~
It was another hot, sunny day in Cape Hedo. The waves crashed against the beach, the winds swayed the trees, and a certain blue-haired boy was busy complaining about the heat.
"AHHH!!! It's hot!!!!"
Kirashi's ears were practically burning, already sick of listening to Itoshi complain about the heat.
"You're so loud!"
Itoshi then turned to Kirashi, his blue hair sticking to his forehead from sweat, eyes narrowing as if blaming him for the sun itself as he tried to reach for Kirashi.
"Electric fan... Kirashi... blow me..."
Kara flinched, then gave Itoshi a weird look after hearing that.
Kirashi swatted Itoshi's hands away, his brows furrowing as he leaned back slightly
"Hell no! It's a waste of energy!"
Itoshi grunted.
"Come on!!!"
He paused as he dropped himself to the floor.
"It's only late April. Why is it so hot here?!"
With a suspicious look in his eyes, Kirashi shot back,
"Day or night, you yap about the temperature. "It's too hot!" "It's too cold!""
With coffee in his hand, Ryujin agreed with Itoshi.
"Can't blame him though."
Itoshi pointed both of his palms toward Ryujin, who sat calmly on the floor, back leaned against the wall.
"See!"
He paused.
"Although..."
Itoshi didn't need to speak aloud—his sharp gaze already said it all. His mind immediately locked onto what was off with Ryujin: sitting there in the blazing Cape Hedo heat, sipping coffee of all things, wrapped in a thick business outfit like the sun wasn't burning them alive.
"Seriously... who the hell drinks hot coffee in this weather...? And in that outfit too? He's gotta be insane."
And then, suddenly, Kara leaned toward Ryujin, her hands behind her back, a lollipop stick sticking out from her lips as she tilted her head at him.
"Ryujin-senpai? When will we leave?"
Ryujin's head tilted upward, the sunlight glinting faintly across his sharp features as his two piercing purple eyes locked with Kara's bright blue.
"Ah... Yeah. We're waiting for Kirashi's full recovery right now.. But most likely, next week."
He replied.
Kirashi then barged in as he argued.
"I'm already good though!"
Ryujin turned to Kirashi, face cold as he ordered.
"No, your ribs are still not fully healed."
Kirashi sat back down, right elbow on the table, palm supporting his chin. Beside him, Itoshi was dying with the heat, on his seat his back flopped on the backrest.
"Damn it!"
With tea in hand, Ayro joined in with the conversation.
"Excited to see the world?"
Kirashi slammed the table with his palms, Itoshi flinched, eyes tired.
"Of course!!"
There was a short silence... until something clicked in Itoshi's head.
"Oh! Ryujin! How does UWDS work?"
Ryujin hummed.
"Hmm? Be specific."
Itoshi then blinked, face filled with curiosity.
"About the ranking thing."
Ryujin then nods,
"I see. Took you long enough to ask."
Itoshi shrugged, face flat.
"Well, I only cared about ki—"
Before he could finish talking, Kara stopped him from sayin the word: "K I L L"
"Okay, okay, Koya. You don't have to say that word."
Ryujin took another sip, before he started to speak.
"It works like this: We fight seeles to gain ranking. The more we kill, the more points."
Itoshi: Ohh...
Ryujin continued.
"Of course, it depends on the type of seele we defeat. We also have individual points."
Then.. Another question.
"UWDS is massive. How do they manage all that?"
Ryujin pulled out his comms, the device beeped as it opened it, screen displayed a green hologram.
"Using these comms. They automatically count the kills. But there's a 'manual' version to count kills. Two of them, actually."
"Two?"
Ryujin nods as he point up.
"Yeah."
All of a sudden, a imaginary thought bubble appeared on the tip of his fingers.
"First, we capture the seele evaporating. That has its own risks and factors if it'll get validated."
He paused.
"The second is the support team—they come in after battle to verify everything."
And then, Kara asked as the quickly picked up.
"Oh! They're the ones who can count for us?"
"That's right."
Itoshi then rubbed his temple as he asked.
"But what about us? We don't even have comms yet. How are we getting counted?"
"Support team handled it. They've listed all your kills."
Ryujin took a breath.
"Don't worry. You'll be getting comms soon. We'll need them for the License Examination."
Itoshi blinked.
"License Examination? What's that for?"
Ryujin points up once again, as he sipped his coffee.
"Newly formed squads go through it. Builds trust, both among the squad and with UWDS."
"So it's like proving ourselves?"
Ryujin: Exactly. There's more to it, but I didn't pay much attention to the details.
And then, It was Kirashi's turn to ask.
"What about the leaders of UWDS?"
Ryujin looked at Kirashi and smiled.
"Well... There are seven leaders. One for each continent. They're called the "Seven Skulls." That's why U.W.D.S. is also known as "The Seven-Headed Demon.""
Itoshi: What the hell. That's so cool.
Kara: Umm... What exactly is the goal of the UWDS?
Ryujin: To protect and promote the rights of every person—whether you live in the Blue, Green, Brown, or Red Zone.
Itoshi: Wha—Zones?
Kara turned to Itoshi, face neutral as she answered.
"Yes. Each element has their own region."
"Exactly. North-West is the Blue Zone, South-West is the Green Zone, North-East is the Brown Zone, and the South-East is the Red Zone."
Ryujin explained a little deeper.
Then, Itoshi pondered.
"Right now we're in North-East, right?"
Ayro: Yes. That's why Earth seeles are more common here.
Itoshi: After the Skulls, what's next?
Ryujin tried to take another sip of his coffee before he replied, but his cup was already empty. He stood up eyes closed as he replied.
"Below them are the Grand Masters, also known as the "Neck." They're veterans, with at least ten years of experience."
He stirred and made another coffee for himself as he continued.
"They're the strongest in the system, behind the Skulls. One of them got caught in the Korean war's crossfire and defeated three battalions by himself."
Itoshi's eyes widened.
"Three battalions?! That's like... three thousand people?!"
Ryujin nods as he sat back onto the floor.
"Yeah. And he was a Flame user."
He took another sip, and then he blew air from his mouth from the hot coffee.
"Next down are the Masters—also known as the "Trochanter." They're the ones who assign and guide squads. Then you have us—squads—also called "Fibulas." Ninety-four percent of UWDS are Fibula-ranked."
Kara: So if we step up into the... um... Trochanter rank, we'll start guiding others?
Ryujin shook his head.
"Not necessarily. You can stay as a squad even if you qualify higher. Until you become a Neck, there's flexibility."
Kara then rubbed her chin, still not out of question.
"I see... What about the support units?"
Ryujin's eye slightly widened, then he smiled.
"Ahh.. That's a question I rarely hear."
"Well.. They deserve to be recognized too."
Kara argued.
He took another sip from his coffee, Ayro looked at his cup, suspicious.
"They're called the "Spine." The backbone of UWDS. Without them, nothing would work right."
Ayro then asked Ryujin.
"How many times have you drank coffee this morning?"
Ryujin turned to Ayro.
"Just A Little"
Ayro deadpan he shot.
" "A little" is an understatement."
"Any other questions?"
There was a bit of silence before Itoshi asked the last question.
"What's our next mission?"
Ryujin took his final sip to his god knows how many cups of coffee before he replied.
"Okay. Listen up. A few days ago, Hachi-san finally called."
In unison, Kara, Kirashi, And Itoshi all hummed.
"Ohhh!"
Ryujin continued as he stood up.
"He said we've finally cleansed all the seeles in Okinawa."
Itoshi rubbed the back of his head.
"Meaning... no one will ever strike fear in Okinawa again?"
Ryujin crossed his arms as he nods.
"Yes."
Itoshi's expression shifted. He remembered Hishiki's parents.
"Thank god..."
And then, Itoshi spoke to his mind.
"Atleast they'll be safe.."
"That said, with our success here, we're moving into the Mainland. Time to cleanse it next."
"Only us?"
Ryujin shook his head, still standing firm, arms crossed.
"No. Mainland's too large. Other squads will be joining us."
"Oh!! Interesting!"
Then suddenly, The mood changed.
"Though... Itoshi."
"Y-Yeah?"
Ryujin's eyes turned sharped, looking at Itoshi.
"I can't let you use too much of your power."
Itoshi: Because the seeles are attracted, right?
In low, solid cold tone, Ryujin replied.
"No."
Itoshi: Wha—?
"Something else. Just use Flame when it's necessary."
Itoshi did not argue, He just followed the leaders oder.
"O-Okay..."
He gave Itoshi a final nod before his eyes scanned the room, gazing at everyone.
"Any other questions?"
In Unison, The three rookies replied.
"No more!"
"Good."
There was a pause, before a thought crossed Kirashi's mind.
"Oh! Kara-chan?"
Kara flinched, slightly startled.
"Y-Yeah?"
With Curiosity, Kirashi asked.
"What is your elemental power?"
Kara froze at the question, startled.
~~~To be Continued~~~