The Hidden World

“I thought I said monthly, Cadet.”

“I know, Captain, but this is very important,” Yuna said as she cringed mentally. She didn’t want to report this often as well.

“Go on,” the captain sighed. “But make sure the next one is one month from now. I repeat, one month. Thirty days. That’s a three followed by a zero.”

“I understand, I apologize,” Yuna said. Then she took a deep breathe. “Last night, I began my investigation into the golem incident and how it may have been a possible attack on the Academy.”

“Already? Do you mean to tell me that you already finished your investigation?” the captain interrupted.

“No, sir. This is something related to an event that happened during my investigation,” she explained. “While I was conducting it, I was attacked. It occurred when I was searching an instructor’s office for anything that may prove relevant to the case.”

“Attacked,” the captain repeated.

“Yes, that is correct. I was attacked,” Yuna confirmed. “During the ensuing fight, an unidentifiable person came and defeated the attacker in approximately one to two minutes using a metal staff.”

The captain responded to this with a long sigh.

“The unidentifiable person then searched the man and then threw a pendant to me that seemed to belong to the attacker,” Yuna continued as she pulled out a golden chain from her pocket. “This is that pendant.”

She held it up so that the captain could see. The captain seemed to recognize it and started a little.

“What else happened?” the captain asked, interested for the first time.

“The person wrote something down that I do not understand and am wondering if you would, sir,” she said. “Do you know what “Shikaku” is?”

The captain didn’t respond immediately. He leaned back and his hand seemed to go up to his chin. Yuna waited for his response.

“I do,” he said at last in a tight voice. “They aren’t well known. Information on them is classified to those that have the authority to know such things. People like me. I’m going to give you a quick overview of who they are but do not ask for specifics.”

Yuna nodded and waited for him to continue. He sighed again.

“The Shikaku are, to put it simple, an illegal guild that specializes in assassinating,” the captain explained. “They can be hired to kill certain targets, but they mainly kill for their own benefit.”

“Why did that person write their name?” Yuna wondered.

“I do not know and that worries me,” he replied. “The first reason why it worries me is that this means that the Shikaku are involved in this. The other reason is that a person knows about the Shikaku which should be classified information. I don’t know how this person knows or how much they know.”

“Do you want me to investigate?” Yuna asked hesitantly.

Just as she was about to resign herself to her inevitable fate, the captain shook his shadowy head.

“No, I will do this one myself,” he said grimly. “You’ve already been attacked once. I don’t want to risk you being attacked again.”

‘But this person saved me?’ Yuna thought to herself but knew better than to question her captain directly.

“I can see why you reported, Cadet,” the captain continued. “Just go back doing what you have been doing and let me handle this.”

“Do I still investigate the golem incident, sir?” Yuna asked.

“No, now that we know the Shikaku are involved it is too dangerous for a Cadet,” the captain said. “Just stick with the human for now and learn what you can from the Academy.”

“Understood, sir,” she replied.

The captain nodded and the video chat disappeared. Yuna picked back up her watch and checked the time. It was still early in the morning.

‘Well, at least I don’t have to investigate it anymore,’ Yuna thought, a bit happy. ‘Now I can focus on school and improving my relationship with Yuki.’

She paused a little, reflecting on what she just thought.

‘That came out weird,’ she realized. ‘I can focus improving my friendship with Yuki.’

Yuna had no time for anything more than a friendly relationship with anyone. And she wouldn’t know where to start in one. Throughout her life, she never fell in love with anyone. She never was even attracted to any guy, finding them rough looking and crude. Well, at least the ones at the Libra Intelligence Agency.

‘I wonder what Yuki is doing,’ she thought as she went out to the city to eat some breakfast. It was the weekend and she was tired of eating cold cereal.

---

 

Yuki was currently waiting for Akira to get out of his room. She had shooed him away, saying that she needed to change. That was about twenty minutes ago and now Yuki was getting slightly confused.

‘Is she doing a makeover in there?’ Yuki thought.

He went to the door and knocked on it.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I’m almost ready!” she replied.

Yuki decided to take her word for it and decided to go out to the living room and chat with Uriel for a bit. She seemed to be busy puzzling over something as she was swirling quite quickly in her place in the television.

“Hey, boss~,” she called out cheerfully. “Just doing my slave labor over here. Nothing to see.”

“How’re things going?” Yuki asked.

“Fantastically slow!” she answered just as cheerfully. “I finished the analysis of my data and am now researching on Nataru and his family.”

“And?”

“They are too freaking big,” she announced. “They are a family with connections across the whole country and with about fifty or so proven relatives with somewhere upwards to one hundred unproven.”

“You’re investigating all of them,” Yuki stated in a flat voice.

“Yup!”

“When I come back, we’re going to narrow down that list to five to look into,” he sighed. “Don’t do anything. Just, I don’t know. Research what you like or hack a government computer or something before I come back.”

“Alright, boss,” she replied. “Going to hack a computer then.”

Yuki nodded in reply and went back to his room. There was no more noise coming out from it and it seemed that Akira had finished changing.

“Are you finished?” he asked, rapping on the door again.

“Yes,” Akira said.

Then the door opened and she came out dressed in a familiar outfit. It was a long, pure white dress that resembled the one that she wore when Yuki first met her. To Yuki’s eyes, it was as if the dress was magical and sparkled with beauty.

“How do I look?” she asked in a small voice, covering her face a little with her long hair.

“Beautiful,” Yuki said with complete honesty. “You are absolutely beautiful.”

Akira’s cheeks became a rosy red at Yuki’s words and she turned her head away as she seemed to stare back at the door.

“Aww, she wants to hide,’ Yuki thought.

He reached out and grabbed her hand. She turned to look back at him. Then he started to gently tug her and pull her with him towards the entrance to his dorm.

“I promised to spend the day with you,” he said as he did this. “I can’t have you running away now.”

Akira followed obediently, letting Yuki hold her hand as he led her to the city. After a short walk they reached the border between the Academy and Junction. Yuki turned to Akira who was now walking beside him, still holding his hand.

“You ready?” he asked.

“I’m always ready,” she replied with a smile.

Yuki nodded then sucked in a deep breathe. Then, together, they plunged into the bustling city, hand in hand. Like their first day, they wandered around the city but today they had the whole day to themselves.

Yuki was in his elven form and together with Akira, they garnered much attention. He saw the lustful eyes of many men on Akira to which he responded with a freezing glare that made even the boldest man turn their head.

They explored the city without a care in the world. They ate at various restaurants, got sweets at a multitude of stores, and shopped around at other places. They visited beautiful fountains made of gold, silver, and jewels that entranced the watchers as they spewed out complex patterns in the air that came down in a fine rainbow mist.

The two mingled in the natural beauty of the city as well. They explored the various parks and sites of Junctions. There were groves of oak trees that were spaced apart to let the warm sun filter through the branches. Sparkling ponds with waterfowl that floated lazily up and down them. Squirrel like creatures that chased each other in games only known by them.

There were quite a number of couples as well throughout the parks. Yuki was glad for this because unlike the city, no one paid them much attention. He and Akira were able to wander in peace as they absorbed the nature around them. But like everything nice, the flow of time brought this to an end. Night enveloped them and they ate one last meal before heading back to the Academy.

As they did so, Yuki surprised himself with the feeling of disappointment that lingered in his chest. He wished that the day had never ended. That he could just wander aimlessly with Akira by his side forever and not have to worry about traitors or assassins. Just live a peaceful life.

‘But the world isn’t so kind,’ Yuki thought. ‘It’ll always throw curve balls at you, try to punch you down. Bury you. Push you back down when you try to climb out.’

Yuki sighed a little and looked at the radiant girl in the white dress next to him. His partner in life.

‘Then I’ll just make myself that peaceful life,’ Yuki declared.

He decided at that moment. His goal was no longer the Shikaku. Now it was to create the best possible life for himself and for the people around him. People like the girl that was walking beside him.