Rebuilding the Broken

After Yuki finished his goodbyes to Kazuhiro, he returned home. Panic and relief passed in equal measures. All he could do was paint a good smile on his face for his family. A hovering sensation stayed like a rain cloud over him the entire time. The unasked questions were held at a distance.

However, once Ken and Jun left, he saw that Momo wanted the truth. She had some trouble believing everything that he told her at first, but with what had happened recently she didn't have much choice in accepting it. Yuki wanted to keep his brothers out of the problems and Momoko agreed with him.

After he finished explaining everything and Momoko accepted what she had been told, she remained silent for a while deep in thought. When she was ready she looked back at Yuki. “So what’s going to happen to Japan?”

“Huh?”

“Can you fix it? Undo whatever you did?”

Yuki held his reply not wanting to answer it. It was an issue that he had questioned himself in the three days that he had been alone. There had even been points he had tried to use his Field to turn things back. He could make it like things had been before, but only within his field and even then it was only so long as his Field was active. The power that he had used seemed out of his reach. Once he had come to that answer he tried to bury everything. “…I don’t know…”

“Yuki?” Momoko began to step towards him away from the kitchen counter she had been leaning against. She stretched out her hand wanting to place it comfortingly on his shoulder.

There was a sharp flip of Yuki’s head up towards her when he saw Momoko getting closer to him. “I can’t! I can’t…”

The incomplete words had been more than enough for Momoko. Momoko finished closing in the rest of the distance putting her arms around Yuki. She knew all she could do was be at his side. “…Yuki…”

Chapter 72 – Rebuilding the Broken

“What am I doing here?” Yuki looked over to his two escorts, Ayumi and Saki. Neither allowed him to leave his house without their company.

Ayumi smiled back at Yuki with an innocent look on her face. “We’re here to help! I told you that before we came, Yuki!”

“Yes, but that was all you told me…” The new tweaked version Ayumi took him a little bit of adjusting. “And why are you wearing a hard hat?”

Reacting a little self-consciously, Ayumi grabbed the bright yellow hat, catching it before it slipped off. She activated her power without the field suddenly appearing in blue jean overalls and a white tank top with her hair tied up. “How’s this better image? Do I look cute now?” Ayumi spun around for him quickly to give a full view of her newly made costume.

Yuki nodded stiffly, not sure what to make of it. “…uh…yeah…”

“Ah Yuki Hayashi. You made it,” called out a smooth voice from behind.

“Did she say cute?” There was a slow stunned reaction in Yuki that blocked him for a moment. Responding to the voice Yuki turned sharply, finding a high student aged boy in street clothes. “Yes…I did, umm…” Yuki was still unclear about why he had been called out from his home so early to stare at his ruined school.

“I’m Student Council President Yori Mizuno. You probably saw me at the entrance ceremony.”

“Mizuno?”

“Yes, you know my sister, Yumi.”

“Sister!?” Yuki took a step back when he saw her walking out of Yori’s wake and standing next to him.

She politely bowed to Yuki in apology before even speaking to him. “I’m sorry I never told you, Yuki! I didn’t mean to hide it from you! Honest!”

Yuki quickly tried to catch her overly apologetic manner. “N-n-no! It’s alright! Nothing to be sorry about! I was just surprised!” When she finally stood upright again Yuki suddenly took note of many of the student body behind them gathered in a loose group. Confusion began to set in painfully for him as he looked around. “So…what’s going on?”

“We’re all very grateful for your volunteering to help restore our high school, Yuki!” Yori declared politely. It was difficult to tell whether he had ignored what Yuki had said or not, but he had left Yuki in little position other than to accept.

There was a quick moment where Yuki turned to look over at Ayumi next to him. She simply smiled back at him looking like there was nothing wrong. Yuki sighed trying to adjust himself to the situation. “Right! Volunteering! But isn’t it dangerous for us to be going near the school? We’re just teenagers and none of us know anything about construction.”

A light pat on his shoulders came from Ayumi as she joined the conversation. “That’s why we’re here!”

“Huh?”

“The student body won’t be approaching the building. I can’t risk their safety no matter how much they want to fix the school. I’ll be directing the efforts to clean up the school grounds and clearing away what debris is safe for us.” Yori maintained a very polite and even tone throughout his words. Speaking was something that suited him. “We’ll do whatever we can to make it easier for you.”

None of the words helped Yuki understand what he was supposed to be doing. He started to tire of listening to Yori speaking without getting to the point related to him. “But what am I supposed to do? I don’t know how to fix the school. Do you Ayumi?”

“Nope! But that doesn’t matter!”

“You lost me.”

Ayumi gave a disappointed sigh to Yuki. She had hoped that he would have picked up on what she was intending for him. “It’s quite simple. We use our Illusion Field and Law“

“I’m still not getting it…”

Trying to ignore Yuki, she continued on. “…to create what we need to fix the building.”

“If you’re going to do that, why not just make it all better with the Field immediately.”

“Because our power doesn’t work that way and you know it. We can’t cause direct change to the environment, but we can cause indirect change.”

“Even if I made a crane and construction equipment I still can’t use it.” He didn't understand what Ayumi was thinking that they could accomplish without any expert knowledge of construction. It was an impossible project.

Ayumi narrowed her eyes at Yuki becoming annoyed by his simpleminded thinking. “I thought you had a creative mind. You should be able to figure it out. You’re thinking too narrowly. You need to broaden your scope.”

Yuki crossed his arms, staring down at Ayumi. “Too narrowly? I can’t do construction! What aren’t you understanding? The only way it’d work was if you used some highly advanced artificial intelligence controlling all of the machines so that they did the work for us instead!” A slow pause came out of his mouth as he retraced his words. All of it was starting to fall into place and Ayumi’s smug smile didn't help him.

“See! Even someone like you can figure it out with a little help! Think of it as training!” Ayumi slapped him on the back and skipped off towards the school. It felt like he dealt with an unholy combination of the soldier version of Ayumi with the public version. His head hurt.

After a moment he turned about to find the entire group of volunteers staring at him eagerly and wide eyed. It was like he was some animal in a zoo that was about to do a trick for them. The excitement in their faces became too much for him and he ran off for Ayumi. “Wait for me!”

Following the lead that Ayumi set for him, Yuki tried to mimic what she had created. The creation of Yuki’s had a very advanced science fiction touch while Ayumi seemed a little larger and more practical, but still both were equally functional. Due to the Field range that Yuki had over Ayumi he could work over a larger area. She focused on clearing and support while Yuki managed the large scale physical work of actual construction.

While the two of them focused on the school the rest of the student volunteers fanned out under directions from Yori. Yori already surveyed the entire block prior to the work and came up with a schedule for their work. Everyone was in good spirits, remaining enthusiastic about the work and saving their school. They all followed Yori’s directions without question and were starting to make some progress by the time that lunchtime was rolling around for them.

The group gathered together in Yuki’s grass field that provided a little more tamed and ideal setting while they ate. He started to feel like he was being used as a tool of convenience whenever something needed to be done. However, Yuki didn’t complain too much seeing how much everyone was getting along together and enjoying themselves.

Ayumi sat next to him, catching a pensive look in his eyes. “Something on your mind?” She took a bite out of the sandwich that had been prepared for everyone working.

“I was just thinking that I had been only focusing on the negatives of what I did. Seeing everyone here today made me think that maybe what happened hasn’t all been terrible.”

“There are many sides to any problem. The more you see the better you’ll understand it.”

“I guess so! Thanks Ayumi for bringing me out here today!” Yuki started taking a bite into his sandwich eagerly. The dread and unease that he had been feeling all left him. When he caught sight of Yori moving his way, making his rounds to check on everyone, Yuki quickly swallowed his food so that he could speak to him. “Hey Yori! I was wondering something!”

There was a split second of subtle emotions in Yori that stirred deep suspicion towards Yuki, but he covered it up quickly. The pleasant public face of Yori was shown to him as he approached. “Yes?”

“I was thinking for a while, but are we allowed to do this? Won’t the city get mad or something?”

“I’ve already settled the matter with the mayor.”

Yuki’s eyes widened and mouth opened in shock to hear that he actually could speak with the mayor of the city. ‘He’s just the Student Council President! How much influence does he have?’ It took a moment of him blinking before he could speak again. “You know the mayor?!”

“Actually the mayor’s son is a third year at our school. So I was able to get a meeting very easily.” Yumi suddenly arrived behind Yori pulling away his attention to his sister. They began whispering to each other.

The surprise in Yuki’s face began to recover. ‘That’s a little scary…’ Yuki tried to continue with his lunch, but Yori and her whispering were starting to become more physical as he grabbed her arm. She tried to plead with him to let her go, making Yuki stand up. “What’s the matter?” Yuki reached out between them looking to stop Yori from hurting heri.

She quickly turned to Yuki pleading to him with her eyes nearly in tears. “I need to go into the school!”

“What?! You can't, it's too dangerous in there!”

“That’s what I told her, but she won’t listen to me. Yumi please it’s not worth getting hurt or worse.” Yori tightened his hand on her wrist, feeling her struggling against him. The strength of his hand began to make her wince and shake. “Yumi, please!”

Yuki could see that he was starting to hurt her and stepped between them. “Yori! You’re hurting her!” He reached out his hand taking hold of Yori, breaking his hold on her. Unfortunately with her freed she turned away and ran off towards the school. “Yumi!”

“You idiot!” snapped Yori quickly losing his composure with Yuki. “I knew this would happen if you got involved!” He pushed Yuki out of his way and ran off Yumi hoping to catch her before she got into trouble.

Ayumi caught everything that happened and saw her running for the school. She jerked up trying to create a Field to stop her, but nothing happened. It was then that she realized that Yuki’s Field was almost completely drowning her out. “Yuki! Your Field!”

“Huh?” Still confused by what just happened Yuki was too slow to act, putting her out of reach for Ayumi. He took a slap to the back of his head as Ayumi put him back into gear with his thoughts and sprinted off towards the school. ‘She’s too far away… I can’t… Wait!’ Yuki dropped his Field and focused his mind as he kept running.

A wave of light darted out from his feet spreading grass out over everything and wiping away the school along with a very large portion of the neighborhood. “Yumi!” With the school gone it gave them the time to catch up with her collapsed in the grass. Yuki panted a little as he came to a stop next to the siblings, relieved that he was able to prevent her from getting hurt. “…Yumi…”

She had been alone with Yori, unable to console her. When she noticed that Yuki had arrived her eyes turned and flared up with anger. “Yuki!” yelled she in rage so foreign to her that it took everyone back. She leapt up to Yuki grabbing him by his shirt. “Why would you take it away from me!? Give it back to me! Now!”

“…but Yumi…” Yuki didn't know what to say to her, stuttering in his own words surprised by the ravaging look that she was giving him. He felt as though he could see the deep sorrowed pain behind her eyes that fueled her very strength. It made him want to give in, but knew that it would be too risky. “I’m sorry…”

“I don’t care about myself! I have to get it! Nothing else is important!”

Ayumi raised a hand and placed it on Yuki’s arm. “Yuki, let her go…”

“What?! Ayumi, why?”

“That look in her eyes. Nothing we say is going to change her and unless we tie her up permanently she’s going to do this on her own. The very least we can go with her and make sure she’s safe.”

“Ayumi!” Her demeanor slowly began to change back with the emotions falling out of her veins. She let go of Yuki quickly as her shy nature suddenly surfaced and checked her back into place.

Yuki reluctantly agreed to Ayumi and restored the school. Yori demanded to go with them not wanting to leave his sister alone with Yuki. Ayumi and Yuki followed behind them keeping their powers at the ready for the moment that anything happened since activating their Fields.

She rushed off into their broken classroom with Yori while Ayumi and Yuki remained near the entrance. Yuki looked over to Ayumi still feeling uneasy about what they were tempting. “You know if this was one of my manga this would be about the time the floor collapses underneath us burying us in rubble.”

Ayumi only turned her eyes to look at Yuki not wanting to give his comment too much attention. “Then be glad this is the real world and not your story.”

“I found it!” She shouted, raising her hand. A loud crack echoed around her snaking towards the door. Her eyes widened for a moment as she took in the last moment to realize what was happening.

The others didn't have much of a chance to react as the ceiling crumbled like dominos falling. Weakening the structure even further the walls and floor broke up around them a second later beginning their three story fall. “I told you SO!” Yuki yelled before being swallowed up by rubble and disappearing out of sight of the others.