“Here.”

Posche snatched the USB device out of the air as Yami threw it.

“I heard things didn’t go as smooth as we had hoped.”

“Some police came out of nowhere. It happened just before the power went out.”

“I see. I’m glad that the power outage aided your escape.”

“So I can assume it was your doing?”

Posche plugged the USB into his home desktop.

“I had a part to play, yes. But the mayor’s “tight” budget is what did the trick. With a little bit of tampering, it’s quite easy to send a much larger buildup of energy from the surge protector to the entire power grid.”

Loading the application that Yami had used to extract the files from the mayor’s computer, Posche began to unload everything that it had picked up onto his computer.

“How long do you think it’ll take you to go through all of these files, Mr. P?”

“Well, seeing as how I had the program copy everything except for the system files, and using a dictionary attack for words that may indicate something, I’d say a week.”

“A week?! Mr. P, we’re still talking about an imminent threat, right?”

“Yami, you must be patient. We’re working with nearly a terabyte of files, most of which are going to be extensions of other programs. This isn’t a simple task.”

“How can we be prepared then? We’re going to be sitting ducks if we do nothing!”

“Happy you brought that up. You need to start training more vigorously than ever before. I, for one, am going to be working non-stop at finding out what he is hiding.”

“What am I supposed to be training, exactly?”

“I can’t hold your hand through everything, Yami.”

Yami slid his hand down the door to his closet and it opened to his bedroom

“Goodbye, Yami.”

Yami left Posche’s room without a word.

Wiggling her toes while laying on her bed, Shinkai picked up her phone. Tapping icons furiously, she placed the phone against her ear and listened to the phone ring.

Feeling his phone vibrate, Yami reached in his pocket and retrieved it. Noticing that the caller was “Shinki”, Yami tapped the green cellphone icon and placed it against his ear.

“Hello?”

“Heya, Yami! It’s Shinki!”

“Hey! How are you?”

“I’m doing very well! Yesterday was so much fun!”

“Yeah! I had a lot of fun, too. We should definitely hang out more!”

“How about we go to the park for a walk tomorrow?”

“Just us two?”

“Yeah! I could invite Rikai, if you want…”

“I didn’t mean it like that! Besides, I think she’s still mad at me. Have you seen her recently?”

Shinkai smiled.

“Nope. She must be sick or grounded, because she hasn’t texted me either.”

“Hmm. Whatever the case, I’m down for tomorrow. I’ll see you there at 10?”

“Sure. Bye bye, Yami!”

“Bye!”

“That message was probably a fluke. I don’t ACTUALLY need to train.”

Buzzzz

“What the hell?”

Yami rubbed his groggy eyes to see that Posche had sent him an e-mail.

Yami, get to my house IMMEDIATELY. It is news on the threat.

Zipping up his shirt, Yami jogged down his staircase and grabbed a piece of toast with peanut butter lathered on it. Returning to his room, Yami slid his hand down his closet door and opened it into Posche’s basement. Closing the door behind him, Yami ran up the staircase and was greeted by Posche, Shitto, and Shippai.

“Sorry, I had to grab a bite to eat beforehand.”

Posche shook his head.

“Now that you’re here, I’ll get started.” Posche opened multiple tabs on his computer. “After looking through the files that we gathered from the mayor’s computer, I’ve finally pieced together some info on the threat.”

Arranging the windows that Posche had opened in a specific order, he continued speaking.

“The mayor does not know what the threat is, but knows that it is coming. Here are some messages he left on his machine.”

All of the files finally loaded, a message appeared on Posche’s screen.

December 7

“December 7th,” Shitto mumbled. “Does it have something to do with the Pacific Theatre?”

“I’m not sure. But one can only assume this is when the attack will come. We must all be prepared. That being said…” Posche turned to look at Yami. “How is your training going along?”

Not having trained in the week and a half that Posche had given him, Yami rubbed his neck to help coax a lie out of him.

“It’s been alright. I think I’m onto something with my Sirushi Inochi, but time will tell.”

“Ah, I suppose that Ms. Acuta assisted you?”

Yami lowered his hand down from his neck and clenched it tightly.

“What are you implying, Mr. P?”

“Oh, I’m not implying anything, Yami. I’m just clarifying how going on a lover’s week is aiding you in your training, because I’ve never heard of that training technique.”

“How the hell am I supposed to train?! I haven’t gotten any help from you at all other than ‘I can’t hold your hand!’”

“Don’t make me repeat myself! It’s safe to assume that you haven’t finished that book I told you to read before school started either?”

Shippai’s eyebrow raised in intrigue.

“No, I haven’t. I’m about to be halfway through. You got a problem with that?!”

“I do! For Christ’s sake, Yami! There’s hardly any words on a page!”

“You wouldn’t understand, Mr. P! There’s stuff that you can’t see!”

“Obviously. I couldn’t see that you were lying to me all this time too.”

“How about you tell me what to do!”

Posche slammed his hand down on his desk.

“WE HAVE A DATE THAT WE ARE GOING TO BE ATTACKED ON, AND YOU’D RATHER ARGUE WITH ME? LEAVE. NOW.”

“Fuck this.”

Yami began to walk down Posche’s basement stairs. Sliding his hand down the door, he walked into the meadow and slammed the door shut behind him. Posche turned his chair back to face his monitor.

“Shitto. Please teach Yami Phys Mods. He already has a basic understanding on them, as well as a Sirushi Inochi that enhances them on his right heel.”

“Right.”

Walking down the stairs, Shitto opened the door to the meadow and exited Posche’s house, shutting the door behind him.

“Shippai.”

Shippai looked at the back of Posche’s head.

“Can you teach Yami your Sirushi Inochi as well?”

“Do you take me for a fool, Posche? I told you I’m not here to help Yami or yourself. This is only a favor.”

“Then leave.”

Shippai turned around and exited Posche’s house.

Manipulating the sphere in the palm of his hand, Yami was experimenting with his Sirushi Inochi. The life essence in his hand was forming odd shapes, including a rod and a box.

“Hey! Yami!”

Yami stood up from the grass he was sitting on to turn and face Shitto.

“What’s up?”

“I’m here to teach you a new skill that it appears you have already learned, to some extent.”

Shitto bent his knees, then propelled himself in the air about eight feet. Yami watched in awe. Shitto landed, then brushed the dirt off of his pants with his hands.

“They’re called “Physical Modifications”, or “Phys Mods” for short. Essentially, your life essence in your body enhances your muscles to push your body to feats that are unimaginable otherwise.”

“I’ve heard Mr. P use the term “Phys Mod” a few times before.”

“Yes, and from what I hear, you’ve already used them unintentionally. If I remember correctly, you used it in coordination with a Sirushi Inochi you took from a woman you fought during the terrorist attack on the school?”

“Oh yeah.”

Yami took off his shoe and sock, revealing his bare right foot. On the heel, an odd looking oval that looked like it had three prongs coming out of it remained.

“Ah. So it appears as though you have a Supporting Sirushi Inochi. Those three prongs likely appeared as a flame on her heel?”

“You guessed it.”

“Unlike Offensive Sirushi Inochi, Supporting Sirushi Inochi that have circles as a base indicate that it may be used on others, as you likely noticed in your fight against her henchmen. The triangles are still enhancers, though.”

“So what do you think they “enhance”?”

“I’m not quite sure.”

Rubbing his chin, Shitto began to inspect Yami’s heel.

“Out of curiosity, what Phys Mod do you use the most?”

“I’d have to say ones that enhance my legs, then my arms, but that’s very seldom.”

“I guess you have your answer then.”

“What do you mean?”

Pointing at one of the prongs on Yami’s mark, Shitto began to explain.

“It looks like at least two of these prongs are enhancers of your own abilities, one being for your legs, the smoother one, and one for your arms, the second smoothest. As for the third prong, if I had to guess, I’d say it’s something to do with enhancing other people. Why don’t you try enhancing me?”

“The problem is that I can’t.”

“You can use everything else just fine! I thought that the Jinsei no Hogo could replicate any Sirushi Inochi?”

“There’s actually some regulations as to what I can use. I must be affected by the Sirushi Inochi, which she kicked me while it was active, and must also see the mark, which I also saw when she kicked me. After that, using them is like any other Sirushi Inochi.”

“Most of us only have one, you know. Anyways, let’s get to training. Show me what you got.”

Yami bent his knees and propelled himself into the air. Shitto stared in awe as Yami went 25 feet in the air, then fell back to the earth.

“That was incredible, Yami! But I have to ask, was that with your Sirushi Inochi?”

“Yes, though it drains my life essence a lot quicker than without it. It’s not as efficient, you could say.”

“I guess I don’t have much to teach you, then. I suppose you could try to fine tune your Sirushi Inochi to be more cost effective, otherwise it wouldn’t be much use in a battle of attrition.”

“Right. Thanks, Shitto.”

“No problem, Yami. Take it easy.”

Shitto paused after opening the door.

“But in all seriousness, you need to train more. We don’t know what is coming on December 7th, but we can assume it won’t be anything good if the mayor is involved.”

Yami looked away from Shitto.

“So you’re going to nag me too?”

Shitto sighed.

“You know, Yami, I’m really not one for lectures. So don’t make me. See ya.”

Upon Shitto leaving the meadow, shutting the door behind him, a deafening silence could be heard. Yami sat back in the grass and pulled out his phone. He stared at a conversation between him and Shinkai.

The last text sent by Shinkai read:

I love you.