Chapter 33: And so, it begins
"What is there to explain?", says Irene with a questioning gaze.
"Father is Father. Our creator.", she continues.
The thing is... I don't remember "creating" you. I won't even bother asking her. She will most likely mess with me again.
"Intriguing.", Joijiro says while fixing his glasses.
I had forgotten how punchable this guy is...
"Regarding her, I have no idea who she is either. She claims that I'm her father, but I have no memory of that.", I say.
"Amnesia?", Joijiro asks.
"Most likely.", I reply.
"Dinner is ready. Enough with the chit chat, and eat up.", Juno says as she sets everything up.
She's giving off the vibe of a housewife for some reason...
While we are eating, Joijiro suddenly asks,
"Wait, did you cause the 'Flash of Judgement' incident?"
What? Ahhh. That's what the media had come up with for the time I used Divine Retribution. Leave it to the media to come up with a corny name for anything...
"Yes. It punishes sinners.", I reply casually.
I'm given strange looks. Can't blame them for it though. I have an abnormal power.
We continue to eat uneventfully. After we're done eating, Nao, Joijiro and Misa bid us farewell and leave.
Nao seemed a bit apprehensive about something but didn't say anything in the end.
------
Ugh. Why do I feel like there is something heavy on me? It feels like my chest is about to get crushed.
Opening my eyes, I observe that Irene is resting on top of me. I want to move my hand to push her away, but it's being held down by something.
I look sideways and see that Juno is holding onto it firmly. By the look and feel of it, my right leg is in between both of her legs.
I move my hand and attempt to push Irene away. I can't. She wouldn't even budge. What the hell?
I use more force, but it's the same result once again. Annoyed, I use all the force I can muster and release it in one go, but even that doesn't seem to affect her in the least.
I give up...
Looking to my other side, I see Ayumi a little away from me. I gently pull her to myself and go back to sleep.
------
"Scum."
Is the first thing I hear when I wake up in the morning. I open my eyes and see Nao standing in front of me.
I'm confused for a short while before I remember. Irene is on top of me and Juno is beside me. They're both sound asleep, but Ayumi seems to have woken up earlier.
"Irene, wake up.", I say as I attempt to shake her awake.
As expected, this has little to no effect on her.
It takes them a while, but both of them wake up, and I can finally get up. I'm being glared at out of dissatisfaction. Hey, it's not my fault!
I get changed and once I'm ready, we head out. Juno and Irene have both decided to tag along.
Outside of the apartment condo, I see a black car with tinted windows parked and inside of it are two men. A male with black hair that seems to be in his twenties is the driver, while the other seems to be a high schooler; most likely a third-year.
I follow along as Nao gets in the car without any hesitation. Frowning at her actions a little, I use my senses to make sure that there isn't anything suspicious about the car and the people inside out of it.
Safe.
I get inside of it as well and so do the rest. It's a bit cramped, so Irene decides to sit on my lap.
Thus, we hit the road.
I have a feeling that this will take a while...
------
I was right. This took way longer than I expected it to.
The car stops somewhere that seems to be clear of humans and distant from society. All of us get down and go through a forest.
Finally stopping, I notice that we are standing in front of a boulder. The high schooler does something with hands, and the next thing I know, the boulder moves, revealing an entrance that leads downstairs.
We all head downstairs.
This place looks creepy. The corridors are dark and the structure itself seems to serve a very specific kind of purpose- Lockdown.
Not letting my guard down a single moment, we get to a large room.
It's him. I see a grey-haired guy. I know it. It's the same guy in those recurring dreams of mine. He turns around and moves toward us, in his hand is a staff. He seems to be... blind?
"The time has finally come.", he says in a low voice.
"We finally meet again.", he continues.
Is he speaking to me? No. It must be Nao. She is the one that knows him.
Looking at her, I see her moving towards him and coming to a stop in front of him. She greets him and seems to be really familiar with the guy. Who is he anyway?
"What about you? Won't you greet your big brother?"
Before I can even react, Ayumi whom Nao had decided should come with us runs forward yelling,
"Big Brother!"
Hey! Am I the only one who isn't able to make sense of what's happening?!
The guy hugs her a little then says,
"What about you, Yu?"
I'm not hugging anyone until I'm told what the actual hell is going on. I don't remember this guy. The most I can remember is him in my dreams. Even that is suspicious as heck. Although I feel like he's familiar, I just can't blindly trust my guts.
"It seems like you're not planning to catch up with me.", he says with a sad smile.
"Yeah. Bluntly, I don't trust you.", I reply.
"Yu!", shouts Nao.
However, the guy just raises his hand to stop her from saying anything else and "looks" my way before saying,
"Well, that's to be expected. After what I did."
See, even the guy is not sure of his own actions. I do wonder what he meant by that though.
"I guess I'll have to sta-"
Before he can finish what he wanted to say, the whole structure shakes as the sound of an explosion resounds within it.
Immediately utilizing Clairvoyance, I use my sight to take a look outside. Holy shit.
Dozens upon dozens of vehicles are there. Some choppers hovering nearby. Fully armed men in black outfits with a weird red logo on its' torso are moving in groups toward where we came inside.
This is not good. I can probably get out of here and make it easily, but I can't just leave the rest behind.
"What's going on!?" the self-proclaimed brother exclaims.
"This place is being sieged. There are loaded men heading toward the entrance as of this moment.", I report the situation.
In response to my words, his eyes widen as he mutters,
"They arrived faster than we foresaw."
He knew this would happen? I'm sure he knows more... I approach him as I take a look at the others. Nao has a look of worry over her face. Ayumi seems to be frightened a lot. The high schooler which led us here has a look of resolution on his face. Juno and Irene are unfazed as if whatever's happening is completely normal.
I pull my "brother" by the collar as I menacingly say,
"Explain what is going on, right now!"