"The moment you think I only have one plan, I've already outsmarted you." -Shizuka Aizawa Angelus

I snapped back into the present. Those memories felt like I was re-living them again, and this is not the first time I have such a flashback. I looked back at my friends and notice they were all on guard ready to kill her, I stood in front of Sachi and said,

“Don’t kill her!” While opening my arms to stop them.

“Isn’t she the cause of the apocalypse?!” Asked Sora.

“I’m still not sure… I only gained a few of my memories.”

“You gained some memories?” Asked Jinn.

“Yeah…” I looked at Sachi on the ground crying and said, “She was the first person I ever loved.”

“Rukito, you can’t let emotions get in your way, this is humanity at risk!” Said Sora.

“Sorafhto, I understand… but she is not the same person you saw not too long ago.”

“Huh?”

“She is controlled by a deity named Ochiru; from what I understood, Ochiru needs time to charge her powers in another planet, and until then, Sachi will not be possessed.”

“What if we kill her right here? Wouldn’t that stop that from happening?!”

“Yes, but… there has to be a way to stop Ochiru from possessing her.”

“Rukito, you can’t play on luck that we find a way! What if we don’t? Who’s going to stop her then?”

“Luck has never failed me… plus, it’s not luck, we just need to find the right person… or maybe we already did.”

“Shizuka Aizawa?” Asked Jinn.

“Yes, she can probably help us.”

“Aren’t we relying on her a bit too much?” Asked Sora.

“Yeah… but I have a feeling that we can trust her.”

“Then why don’t you tell her you’re Rukito?” Asked Jinn.

“Because I’m 90% sure she wants to kill Rukito. She is the strongest being alive in Greenterra at the moment.” I suddenly got softly punched on the back of the head, and heard,

“Hey, don’t fricking underestimate me that much.” It was Sachi. She was smiling while having tears running down her cheeks. She hugged me from the back and said, “Jeez… thanks for sparing me, Ruki.”

“Again, with that nickname? I told you to stop calling me that back at the orphanage! Jinn, do you have any baked beans?”

“Hmm? Baked beans? What for?” Sachi quickly let go of me, dropped on the floor and started bowing over and over.

“No! NO! Please, Rukito! Don’t be so cruel!” Jinn started laughing, while I was grinning. Sora still had a worried look on his face and said,

“Rukito! Get away from her she might be-” Jinn rested his hand on Sora’s shoulder and said,

“Sora, give it up.”

“Jinn? What are you talking about? She-”

“Do you really see her as a threat at this point?” Sora looked at Sachi while she was crying her eyes out and still bowing in front of me.

“PLEASE, RUKITO!”

“I…” Said Sora while loosing up his grip on his swords.

“Big brother?” I heard. Nightshade was the end of the alley looking for me. “I felt Jinn’s singularity activate somewhere around here.” That’s right, pixies can feel people’s auras.

“Nightshade? What are you doing here?! I said it’s too dangerous for-”

“AHHH! Who is this cute pixie?!” Said Sachi while running towards Nightshade and pinching her cheeks.

“Hey!~ Who are you? S-stop it! It hurts!” Said Nightshade.

“What a little fricking cute girl you are!” Sora deactivated his singularity, smiled and said,

“Yeah… maybe you’re right, Jinn.” I walked forward to where Nightshade was, laid my hand on her head and said,

“She is my little sister.”

“R-really?! You never told me you had one!”

“Because I didn’t.”

“Huh?”

“It’s a long story. But anyways, let’s go in a café or somewhere where we could talk freely, I actually had to talk to you too, Nightshade.”

“Me? About what?”

“Your past; I remember my dream now.” We walked into an almost empty café, named ‘Ispy’s tea’ we got a table to start discussing our situation.

“Rukito! Why can’t I sit beside you?”

“I don’t want to get murdered.”

“But Ochiru is gone!”

“I’m not scared of Ochiru, I’m scared of you! Ugly hag!”

“U-ugly hag?! You’re older than me! Tomato head!”

“Woah! Guys, calm down!” Said Jinn.

“Don’t worry Jinn, this is how we catch up on old times,” I said while smiling.

“Just… don’t fight! We’re here to talk about important things.”

“Jinn is right.” Said Nightshade already beside me at my left with her cheeks still red from the pinching.

“Sit down next to Sora, he’s a nice guy.”

“He looks so full of himself though!” Said Sachi.

“HEY! What was that for?!” Yelled Sora.

“I mean… she is not wrong.” I said.

“I agree.” Said Jinn.

“I’m not too fond of this new ‘friend’ in our group.” Said Sora. Sachi looked at Sora, smiled, and said,

“I’m just joking around,” She looked at everyone and said, “I hope no one here takes my jokes personally.” Sora smiled and said,

“It’s alright, I guess.” After we all settled, the waitress came up to our table and asked,

“What would you all be getting?”

“Uh, nothing really, maybe just some tea.”

“Ok, which one?”

“I’d like some black tea.” Said Sachi.

“How about the rest of you?”

“Green tea is fine,” I said. Everyone agreed and we got our tea.

“First, let me explain what the plan is,” I said. I asked Jinn for a map, he pulled it out of his bag and gave it to me. I opened it on the table and said, “Tomorrow afternoon, Jinn, Aizawa and I will be going back to Tokiri Islands to heal his brother.”

“Can I come too?” Asked Nightshade.

“Hmm… alright, you have to pass by Fuji’s place anyways.” I said.

“How about me?” Asked Sora.

“Don’t you have to take care of your little sister?” I asked.

“Right…”

“Me?” Asked Sachi. I took a deep breath and said,

“It might be a problem.”

“W-why?”

“Considering that we are going with Shizuka, there might be a slight chance that she could find out who you really are, but if you are sure that Ochiru is gone, then we shouldn’t have a problem.”

“I… I don’t feel her presence anywhere, so I’m pretty sure he’s gone for the meantime.”

“And then?” Asked Jinn. “After we heal my brother, what’s next? I will be forever grateful so; I’ll try my best to help!”

“Well, gathering the divine gemstones of course. If we want to stop Ochiru, I believe that gathering the gems is our only option.”

“And if you guys can’t… I’ll just have to kill mys-” I cut her off and said,

“Sachi, we’re going to find a way to help you, there is no if.”

“That’s right, you’re innocent, it’s not your fault that you got possessed.” Said Jinn.

“What kind of team would we be if we don’t help ourselves?” Said Sora.

“Stop being negative, I promise we’ll help you,” said Nightshade.

“T-thank you...” She said while lowering her head with an emotional tone. This might be one of the first times she ever had the chance to have friends, so I understand her feelings.

“So, this is official? Are we a team?!” Asked Sora with an excited face.

“Hmm… what good would this do to us though? Besides bringing attention.” I asked.

“Well, we would be more organized for future battles. We can’t expect to get all gemstones without considering the fact that many of them might already have been taken, and maybe those people who currently have them, are not nice people.” Said Jinn.

“I didn’t even think of that possibility.”

“Plus, we could also help the people that are in need.” Said Jinn.

“Jinn, we don’t have time to play hero, we have a literal goddess that is a threat to humanity to deal with.”

“Well… for now, we should probably gather information on where the gems are believed to be kept at,” said Jinn.

“What if they are in other planets? How the hell are we supposed to get there? Only angels have that advanced type of technology.” Said Sora.

“Shizuka Aizawa,” I said.

“We can’t keep relying on her for everything!” Said Sora.

“Well, we will have to find a way for her to join our team,” I said.

“Isn’t she trying to kill you?” Asked Nightshade.

“Yes, but we could come to an agreement I believe.”

“Ask her to join what? We don’t even have a name for our team.” Said Sora.

“A name? Hmm…”

“How about the gem thieves?!” Said Nightshade.

“Nah, too literal,” I said.

“The phantom thieves!” Said Jinn.

“Where the hell did you get that from?” I asked him.

“Oh, just a random thought.”

“I mean come on; we aren’t going to be stealing every single gem,” I said, “we aren’t thieves.”

“The power rangers!” Said Sora.

“Nah, sounds too cheesy,” I said.

“Then… well, you all have different hair color of the spectrum which is a big coincidence, and we are hunting for the gemstones, so… how about… The Spectrum Hunters?” Asked Sachi.

“Hmmm, I like it, but… black is not technically a color.” I said.

“S-shut up! I know that!”

“Well, it’s set! Then the Spectrum Hunters it is!” No wonder Sachi’s C.Q was high. That makes me wonder… is she smarter than Shizuka? Anyways, I need to inform Nightshade about her past. “That’s all for today, we’ll meet again at the same place tomorrow afternoon before I leave to Jinn’s hometown.”

“Okay.” Said, everyone. Sora left with his limousine; Jinn, Nightshade, and I started walking back to the inn, soon Sachi caught up to me and said,

“Rukito! Wait!” I turned back and asked,

“What is it?”

“I don’t have a place to stay.”

“What? Then where were you all this time?”

“I-I don’t know… I was controlled by Ochiru.” I sighed. Looked at Jinn and said,

“Can she be with you?” Jinn quickly got a shaky voice and said,

“W-with me? I already have Vincenzo at my place.” That’s right, he has that stupid lynx. But her being with me would make even more drama… hmm… I guess Nightshade and Sachi get along pretty well, so I’ll let them both sleep on the bed while I sleep on the couch… but then Nightshade wouldn’t be able to fall asleep.

“Nightshade, there has to be a way for you to sleep without me, what if one day I’m gone somewhere for a long time?”

“I-I don’t know, sorry.”

“No, it’s my fault… I never wanted to be a tree.”

“A tree?” Asked Sachi.

“Don’t worry about it.” The couch fits both Nightshade and me, but that would make her really nervous… I guess Sachi has to sleep on the couch. “Sachi, you don’t mind sleeping on the couch, do you?”

“What? Of course not! But… I kinda wished to…”

“Then the couch it is!” If I plan on dating Shizuka, I can’t be sleeping with two girls at the same time. Plus, one of them could kill me in my sleep, while the other one could literally make my body move with her music. We ended up with Sachi sleeping on the couch while Nightshade slept on the bed. The next day it was the day that I set up a date with Shizuka, I told Sachi to look more into the divine gemstones to see if we can find the location of them and asked Nightshade to help me dye my hair back to brown. I decided I would tell her what her backstory was after I came back.

“Why brown? Red looks so good on you!”

“Just do it please.”

Later that morning, I went to coincidentally the same café where I formed our team. Shizuka and I both arrived at the same time, we saw each other and said,

“Oh hey, I honestly thought you would have arrived late,” said Shizuka. She was wearing a long, white and blue, beautiful dress that contrasted well with her pink hair. She definitely took the time to pick a good outfit, she even smells really sweet.

“And I thought you weren’t going to come at all.” I opened the door for her and said, “Come in.” She looked at me, crossed her arms and smiled.

“Why would I miss an investigation about Rukito?” She walked in and we sat down on chairs facing each other.

“You’re still on this Rukito thing? We both know this is a date.”

“This is no date; don’t think I’d be such an easy woman.”

“Whatever you say.”

“Now please, tell me what you know about princess Zue Fastarhan.” She is not one to beat around the bush, huh? If I say that I met her before she would suspect me being Rukito more, but if I say I don’t, it would make me be still a suspect since Rukito wouldn’t admit that he is Rukito.

“Zue? I’ve met her before, she a kind girl.”

“Really?” She said while smirking. The waitress arrived and asked for our orders.

“The usual.” Said Shizuka. Hmm, she goes to this place quite often huh? I ordered some green tea and then resumed our talk.

“You come here often?” I asked.

“Please, Kaiser, let’s not side-track from our initial conversation.” She said while gently sipping on her tea. This woman really has a charm, her red glossy lips and green emerald eyes are drawing me in more and more, in addition to that smug expression of hers. She crossed her legs, looked at me and asked,

“I heard from the announcement of princess Fastarhan that she doesn’t think that Rukito is a bad person, and coincidentally, it happens to be the same time as you met her.”

“Hmm? How do you know when I met her?” I asked.

“I asked for the logs for the hospital visits on March 7th, which is when the contest ended, and you went to check on Sora’s little sister.”

“You really care about finding this Rukito that much?” I asked. Is she that determined to kill me? I better watch what I say, she is a very smart woman, I can’t let anything slip. She looked down, sighed and said,

“Yes, I do.”

“How come?”

“It’s… private matters.” Did I kill her family or something? Is she after me for revenge?

“I understand,” I said before sipping on my tea.

“I tried talking to Zue about how she contacted Rukito, but she stayed quiet. It does really seem like you, Kaiser Chisei, are very likely to be the devil I’m looking for. In fact, you are a devil too.” I smiled, looked at her, and said,

“Have you ever thought of the possibility that I might be someone related to Rukito? Maybe like a cousin, or even a brother.”

“W-what?...” She froze for a second and said, “You’re right, that could be a possibility. I guess if you were Rukito, you wouldn’t have a problem trusting me.” Problem trusting her? I guess I do have that problem, but is it possibly because she is an angel and I am a devil? Do we naturally feel this way to each other? No way, I’m actually attracted by her, this couldn’t be natural, angels and devils are opposites.

“Hmm? What do you mean?”

“Nothing…”

“Anyways, let’s change the topic for a bit. This afternoon we’re leaving to Tokiri Islands, right?”

“Indeed. You and Jinn won the contest, and I did say that today was going to be the day.”

“Alright, I just want to make sure. This is a big thing for Jinn, and I wouldn’t want it to go bad at the last second.”

“You’re so thoughtful for your friends aren’t you?”

“Uh…I guess so.”

“You remind me of someone.”

“Really? Well, I can understand how he feels, I too have a little sister.”

“Right, about your little sister, mind if I know who it is?”

“I think you’re asking too many questions, Ms. Aizawa.”

“Please don’t call me that out of school grounds…” I chuckled and said,

“Alright.” We looked into each other’s eyes for a split second, then looked away. “By the way, I completely forgot to tell you that you look astonishing today, but I’m sure you’re sick of hearing that.”

“N-no, I appreciate it, thank you.” She said while lightly blushing and brushing her hair behind her ear.

“Well, clothes aside, I really like your eyes you know… well your eye, since you’re always covering the other one.” She blushed, giggled and said,

“I had someone in my naive kid days telling me that he thought I looked prettier like that, so I listened to him and kept this style since then.”

“Oh, a childhood crush?”

“Yeah, I guess you can say that.” As she started talking about this person, her eyes quickly lit up with energy and her tone changed to a cheerful one.

“What happened to him?”

“He… he chose someone else.” That's a quick shift in tone!

“He did? I find it hard to believe that there could be someone out there better than you.” I said casually.

“Yeah… I used to think like that too. But that’s not a good mindset. Additionally… I’m not all sunshine and rainbows, Kaiser.”

“None of us are, I completely understand.” She started looking sad. She looked down at her hands and said,

“I have done so many mistakes in the past, Kaiser… I wish I could turn back time and fix them all, but I can’t… if she didn’t die defending me… then none of all those people would have died in the apocalypse.”

“What are you talking about?...” I asked with a perplexed expression. Her eyes were building up tears as I tilted my head from confusion. She gasped, looked up and said,

“N-nothing! Forget I said that!”

“Want me to walk you back home? You should get ready for this afternoon.” I asked her.

“Alright…”

“I’ll pay the check.”

“It’s alright, they allow me to drink here for free with guests.”

“Really? How lucky.” We started heading back to her place. Throughout the walk there was a negative and sad mood, I was struggling with myself since I wanted to hold her hand, but every time I tried going for it, my heart skipped a beat and then I stopped.

“So… mind if I ask why you always turn down every guy?” Her eyes weren’t teary anymore, but I could still tell she was sad.

“Well, I promised myself that I would find Rukito first, and then after that, I would start caring about relationships.”

“Ah, and that’s how you became the heartbreaker.”

“But don’t think I’m still not suspicious of you, no matter how friendly you act.” She started looking at her watch more often. Is she planning something? What could she be planning? I… don’t know, I feel so intimidated by her intellect that there could be so many possibilities of what she is planning. As we kept walking and walking, we suddenly stopped.

“Hmm? Did we arrive?” I asked her.

“No…”

“Then why did we stop?” I started getting cautious.

“Hey, Ms. Aizawa.” I heard a voice behind me. I turned back and it was Zue. If she asks Zue if I am Rukito, Zue won’t be able to answer, indicating that I am Rukito.

“Hey, Zue! How are you?”

“I’m good, why did you call me here for?” She called her huh? That’s why she was looking at her watch, she was waiting to see if Zue was here already.

“You know him, right?” She asked Zue.

“Yeah, he is my brother’s classmate, he went to the hospital to visit me.”

“What’s his name?” Asked Shizuka.

“His name? I think it’s Kaiser something.”

“His real name.”

“Huh?”

“Let me ask this in a more direct way… is he the person you’ve been in contact with? Rukito Nokuwa.”

“He…”

“Are you not going to answer?” Said Shizuka with a smug.

“He is not Rukito Nokuwa. He’s my brother’s classmate, that’s all.” After Zue said that, Shizuka looked up with a slightly shocked expression.

“See, Shizuka? I’m not Rukito Nokuwa.” In fact, Zue and I had all of this planned already. Once Shizuka made this appointment with her, she called me telling me the details. Of course, if she would have declined, it would have been obvious that I was Rukito, so I told her to send a duplicate of her at her place. Many popular people, especially actors always have a doppelganger that is sometimes used to replace them for emergencies. Luckily she had one, so we used her as a way to lie to Shizuka.

“Please, don’t think Kaiser is Rukito, he is just a NAOS student.” Shizuka quickly glanced at her phone, smiled and said,

“Alright, well, thank you for your confirmation.”

“Ok, goodbye!” As we were walking back to Shizuka’s place she scoffed and said,

“A doppelganger huh?” What?! How could she have known?

“What?” She pulled out her phone and showed me a text. It was a chat between her and Sora. She was asking him if Zue was ok, and where she currently was, which Sora responded… ‘right next to me having a quick nap.’ “She probably came here after the nap she was having,” I said, thinking that she texted Sora before our date since I didn’t see her at all reaching for her phone to text him. She smiled once again with that smug expression.

“I specifically made this appointment with Zue at 11:35 AM, I told her to be here on the dot, which she was.”

“Ok… and?”

“I set up a bot to send a message for me before coming here to go out from my phone at 11:36 which was directed to Sora, asking him where Zue was, casually. He always answers to me in an instant, so he did, telling me that the real Zue, is actually with him.” What? There’s no way! She played on luck! If Sora wasn’t with Zue, then my plan would have worked!

“You’re probably thinking that I gambled this a bit, but you’re wrong,” she said. What?! “I specifically asked Zue to come at 11:35 AM because the royal family has breakfast at 11:00 AM, and by 11:35 AM, they should all be done, if not close to finishing. And of course, Zue and Sora would be in the same room. If I pulled out my phone in the middle of our little investigation, it would have seemed too suspicious and you might have tried to text Zue herself to be cautious, and I couldn’t afford that.”

This woman… she got me.

“She might have been busy or tired and sent a doppelganger on her place.”

“That is possible, in fact, I knew you would use that as an excuse… but how about we go right now to the royal mansion and ask herself if you’re Rukito?” No… that would be futile. She got me… I have no other option than to confess who I am.

“Alright Shizuka, you got me… I can’t fool you.”

“W-what?” She said with a shocked expression.

“Can we go somewhere private?” I asked.

“Y-yeah.” We went to her place. She actually didn’t live in a mansion; she lives in a normal apartment. It was nicely decorated with fine and classical adornments. It almost looked like the inside of a castle, I guess she is a woman that likes the finer things in life.

“I thought you lived in a mansion.”

“They… bring bad memories to mind.” She sat down on her sofa, I sat on the opposite sofa parallel to her it was cozy and warm. The whole apartment smelled of cherry blossom for some reason, and this smell is actually very familiar.

“Anyways… I actually think you’re a nice person, so please don’t kill me.”

“Huh?”

“I… I am Rukito Nokuwa.”

“W-what? N-no way!” She said with an incredibly astonished look on her face.

“Hm? You don’t believe me now?”

“I-I just… didn’t really think that it was true. I thought I was being desperate to find Rukito… so much that I was making the evidence fall on you.” She said as she started building up tears again and clenching her dress. “How can you prove that you’re Rukito?”

“Not much, most of my memory was wiped out, but I remember Nightshade and Sachi.”

“Nightshade… Sachi… yeah, I believe you now.” Tears started running down her cheeks as her voice became shaky.

“Shizuka… why were you looking for me?” She started crying, a lot then started sobbing.

“I… I’ve been looking for you, f-for so long…” She jumped on me and hugged me tightly. “I was so scared, Rukito… but so, so, so scared.” I didn’t know why, but tears also started running down my cheeks. Why am I crying?

“S-scared?” I started caressing the back of her head to make her feel more at ease.

“Y-yeah, there were some days that I thought you died, that I was left alone on this planet looking for a d-dead person. But I never gave up, I knew that you weren’t dead!” What did this girl mean to me before?

“Shizuka… I… I’m sorry.”

“W-why are you apologizing?”

“I… don’t know.”

“It doesn’t matter, nothing is your fault. I-It’s all my fault!” I raised her chin gazed into her eyes and asked,

“Hey, nothing is your fault, so please don’t blame yourself… I’m sure the apocalypse was caused by me and no one else.” I could feel her breath on my neck, we were really close to each other, it was probably not the best moment, but I thought a kiss would have made her feel better, I really have fallen in deep love with her, and I feel she is also in love with me. I went in slowly for the kiss, she also did, but she stopped herself for a second and looked away.

“N-no… I can’t… this is not right.”

“Hmm? What do you mean?”

“Kasai died protecting me… I don’t think this is what she would want.”

“Kasai? Who’s that?” I asked.

“…”