Broken People

“Fight against the UN?” she questioned aloud and internally. It shouldn’t have really surprised her that much. Given what she knew about the situation, there would undoubtedly be people that would be trying to resist what the UN was doing. ‘Were these the people that we saw fighting the UN when we arrived?’

“You were arrested by them as well.”

Which was true. But explaining things to them was going to be difficult. She couldn’t tell them everything that happened. She didn’t know how they would react to all of it. Especially with what she set up before she left. “It’s a little more complicated than that.”

None of that seemed to deter the woman. She remained as confident and high energy as the moment she stepped into the room. Watching the woman reminded her a lot of Seiji’s unfounded confidence. Though she had a different breed that Seiji lacked. She actually seemed to have some experience and thought behind what made up her presence, unlike him. ‘What have I gotten myself into now? This isn’t the way things were supposed to play out.’

She still didn’t understand the situation very well. The people were unknowns to her and she had no clue where she might be anymore. All she knew was that she was in the city still. But that didn’t really give her a lot to go on. She was going to have to adapt and deal with the hand played to her. “There’s still a lot that I don't understand or who you are. You can’t be expecting me to make a blind decision.”

The woman stepped out from her spot to approach Saki. “Of course! You’ll need to see who you’re joining.”

‘She’s really confident.’

“We still know nothing about her,” one of the other leaders of the alliance objected.

Saki glanced over at the man. Much like the two that she had already spoken with, he didn’t look much older than the rest. The whole group gathered had the roughly same age range, as best as she could tell. They were college age or marginally older. All a bunch of gang leaders by the way she could figure, but she was just making a guess.

“She’s fine.”

“How can you be so sure?!”

“I knew the moment I saw her eyes. She’s no enemy.”

She couldn’t help but feel that the woman acted the cliché. If Yuki was present he would be so excited to see someone that fit a little too well into his dreams. Being such a person made it easier for Saki, since she knew that she didn’t have to deal with as many trust issues. Though the rest of the group clearly had their reservations about her loyalties.

Fixing her presence to heighten her already overwhelming aura across all of the leaders, the woman made her decision final. “She will be my guest. That will be the end of it. You’ve got more important matters to deal with now since you decided to rescue me in that fool’s errand.” Turning away and walking towards the door, she took Saki along with her.

The room immediately went cold from her words. ‘There’s a lot more going on than I realized. What happened in the rescue?’

Any questions she had to gain from how things played out between the other leaders vanished with being dragged out into the hall. She would have to seek the answers from the strange woman instead. But answers didn’t start immediately. Saki followed her into another room down the hall of the apartment complex.

Once the door closed behind Saki, the aura in the room flipped on its head. The woman stood before her with her arms crossed. “So who are you?” The almost blindly trusting woman Saki saw before disappeared. She bore a strong presence of menace and determination, but not one that was evil. Something very familiar came off of her.

Saki suddenly realized what sort of person that she was dealing with. Such a person made things more difficult for her. Things would only get complicated now.

Chapter 370 – Broken People

“That’s a rather open ended question.”

“Don’t bullshit me, girl! What I told them was for their sake, but I want some answers out of you.” The woman became very serious, losing all of her high spirits that she showed off in the other room. This seemed to be the real person. And the reason that they all followed and obeyed her. This was the person that they feared.

‘I’m going to have to correct my assumptions about her. She’s not like Seiji at all. She’s doing what is needed to keep the moral up while dealing with threats personally. She’s keeping them all safe from the dangers.’ Saki didn’t know how she was going to deal with such a woman. On top of playing her and effortlessly wielding the others, trying to lie and talk her way out of the situation looked to be more challenging by the moment. She even wondered if the request they made was real. “This isn’t about me joining your group.”

“The topic is on you right now. You’re not getting out of this until I get some answers from you.”

Cornered, Saki didn’t know what she was going to do anymore. She had no clue what the woman wanted from her. If it was going to be about whether or not she was an enemy that wasn’t an easily answered question. Because how could she prove to this woman that she wasn’t an enemy. She had no proof. The suspicion that the other leaders showed and that she did now were all warranted fears. She didn’t even know why they rescued her anyway. “If you think I’m a threat why’d you even bother getting me out of there?”

“It wasn’t my call. But I’m making sure that doing so won’t be a mistake.”

“I was arrested like you by the UN. Why do you even think I’m a threat?”

“You were found in the same room as me. That room is the one where they only put people that they view as the greatest threats. You weren’t in there for no reason. So who are you?”

“Saying that I’m no threat to you isn’t going to be enough is it?” The woman didn’t have to say anything to Saki. She had dragged things out far enough for her liking. There was no more room left for Saki to jump and dodge around the subject. “And what do you think I am?”

“I find it unlikely, but you could be a spy for the UN given our circumstances. It’s however more likely you’ve done something to be considered a threat by the UN. And what sort of threat that is I want to know. We all have powers, but it’s not the powers that make someone good or evil. It is the person and the powers just give them more ability to execute their intent. What are you?”

“I’m not evil, if that’s what you’re asking. Not that is going to be very convincing.” She was a much more complicated individual the longer that she listened to the woman. Such a person Saki found to be better for her now. She needed to understand more about the woman to get a gauge on what she could say. But she felt now that the woman would be able to understand Saki’s feeling.

Nodding to Saki, she agreed that she needed more from her. “That’s right. Words are meaningless without something to back them up.”

“Right. Well I don’t know how much the UN considers me a threat, but they planned on executing me. I gave them good enough reasons to make the excuse to use me in their political maneuverings to be able to show that they are actually being successful in their operations here.”

“They’ve never executed anyone since they came. They’ve just been arresting people and putting them to sleep. What exactly did you do to give them a reason?”

“I said I killed someone.” It was the moment of truth for Saki. However, she didn’t really have that much hesitation in saying it. Everything that she saw from the woman told her that things would be fine. She wasn’t certain of the reaction that she would get, but there was no doubt that this wasn’t going to be the end.

The woman stepped forward as though there was a need to whisper. “Who are you covering for?”

Saki grinned, seeing that her read was correct. She understood like she expected. “A friend. There was more that he could do with his life to help the city than I could with just my fists.”

Throwing an arm around Saki, the woman dragged her over to the balcony. “I was right about you then.” Stretched out before them was the city that they both wanted to protect. At such a height, it had a different look than normal. The signs of it being a post-apocalypse scene made it even easier to see. Up close the city still looked new and maintained despite all of the green that filled out. Yet from the sky, the green was almost all that could be seen. The lack of normal city life helped to make it seem like the city had long been abandoned by humanity and nature returned. Even with nature overrunning their home, it was still something that they wanted to protect.

“Were you testing me?” It seemed a little strange that she just accepted that story without anything else. She was questioning her and doubting her with valid distrust before. Now it was back to the way she was before.

“Not so much that. I could tell there was something special about you, but being captured by the UN and in their special room for people like us I had to know what the story was. There can be no trust without understanding.”

“You’re a very unusual person.”

“I get that a lot.” She turned to face Saki with the interrogation over. “I’m Ayano Hirasi, leader of the North Byakko Alliance.”

“Saki Furukawa, high school girl.”

Ayano stretched a hand to officially greet Saki into her home. “Good to be working with you, Saki.”

“I think you’re getting ahead of yourself. I haven’t agreed to join your group. I don’t even know what’s going on.”

Looking over at the door, she already seemed to have plans in mind for Saki. “Then I guess we’ll have to fix that.”

“There’s that confidence again. You’ve got no doubt that I’ll join your group.”

“Of course not! You’re not the sort that would give up or turn your back on people. We aren’t the aggressive and war-like people you might think we are.”

She had some doubts about that, especially given how they invited her. An arched brow opened her suspicions before she spoke, “You said you’re fighting the UN.”

“Fighting is not a singular sort of method. There are a lot of ways to fight. Come I’ll show you what I mean.”

Across the city at the center, the UN headquarters started to return to normal operations. The power had long been restored, but the damage done was still being repaired. And meetings knew no end when the eyes of the world watched with careful and judging stares.

The end of another meeting left General Evans alone with Shigemitsu. The General glared at the Japanese businessman trying to impress upon him the seriousness of the situation, which the man failed to understand. “Mr. Shigemitsu, we’re going to need your company to increase their focus on developing stronger containment cells.”

“Is that right?”

“Don’t play dumb with me. The reports for criminal Furukawa clearly stated that they weren’t completely effective against her and she wasn’t the first either. All of the criminals there were all resistant. We’re discovering more powerful Empowered and your technology needs to keep up.”

Bowing to the General, he showed some hint of apologies. “I promise you that we’re working around the clock on improving the technology. But it’s not an easy process. We’re going to need more out of our arrangement.”

“I’ve already received approval from the committee. You’ll have the full support to make sure you have everything you need.”

“I’m very pleased to hear that. This will greatly enhance our work to finally find a permanent solution.” He started to walk away having gotten what he needed from the General. However, he came to a stop and looked back. “And what of the escaped criminals?”

“They’re being hunted down now. All of them have been put on the Most Wanted List.”

“Putting bounties on their heads.”

“Mr. Shigemitsu, we’re civilized people. We don’t resort to such barbarian methods.”

“Of course, General. I meant no offense. Good day.”