“Humans are the reason why one harms another. The wars, the cruelty, the pain—they are all produced by the beings that mostly inhabit the surface of the Earth.”

▪ ▪ ▪

“But the question that lies most importantly is what is an ‘Exile?’ I have never heard of such a term.”

“That is to be answered by a historian that will be on our line later tonight. It seems that it was a very old term for historians to know; but it is still a mystery.”

“Alright, Steve who is in the site is now reporting.”

“Good afternoon, Mike. Right now, we are in Sector 337 in Cotona and just a few minutes ago, the family of the victim came and they stated on the interview that it was about 9 years since they last saw the victim in the name of Glen Copperplate.

And the family of the victim added that they thought that he was dead already after the incident of a building that collapsed 9 years ago in this town. They lost contact and assumed of the said case and it became a big surprise for them to see the lost member of the family.”

“Anyways, Steve. Did you and your team get a lead about what an Exile is?”

“Unfortunately, we did not, Mike.”

As if a blaze of fire scorched the entirety of Gin, his mind has disoriented. The house was then filled with a sudden extreme tension. He failed to decided what he should do next as he just stood there, watching a corpse of a fellow Exile in the screen.

But fortunately, Kaizo did not seem to have felt the weight in the air.

…

“Kaizo.”

“Yes?”

“Can I ask you to leave now? I lost track of time and I forgot that I have to go to the laundry house to pick up my clothes. I think it has been lying there for a few minutes now.”

“Is that so…? I’m sorry about that. I will take my leave now.”

“Y-Yeah… Thanks for coming.”

Right after Kaizo left, I gave Tenth a call. Rin is sat on the couch with her eyes peeled on the news. It seems that she was also taken by surprise.

“Gin?”

“H-Hey, Tenth… Where are you right now?”

“I’m just in the house right now. Why do you ask?”

“You know Glen Copperplate, right? The one who helped me when I was at the Room and when you have to clean up the school."

“Glen? Yeah, you're right."

“I can hear that your TV is turned on. Quickly switch the channel to 11.

Right. Now.”

“O-Okay…? Here it’s on 11 now-“

*beep beep beep*

After a few minutes, a car stopped in front of my house and we heard a shout from there. It was Tenth calling me to come in the car.

“Gin! Get in now!”

“I-I-I’ll come with you, Gin!”

There was no reason to make an argument, and so he just gave a nod.

~ ~ ~

“Thank goodness, there’s no traffic. Hahh…”

“Are we going to the base, Tenth?”

“I need to tell all of them. We need to be on high alert.

…

I… I was the one who found Glen nine years ago. The building collapsed, and his left leg got trapped on the rubble. That was the time when I introduced him to the underground base and he eventually became an Exile.

It seems that a few hours before that, his parents made a scene in the building and casted him away. His parents got out before the building went down.

That’s the reason why I accepted him. He had no place to call home that time.”

“Principal… Gin… Who could have known his identity? Exiles are well hid people. How can someone identify him…?”

“I don't see the possibility of us being sold out, Rin. My guess is he was cornered before he was killed and interrogated him. We do not know what information could have been leaked.”

“I think it’s okay. The greenhouse does not have an address. Let’s just hope that the culprits are stupid enough to only ask if he’s an Exile.

But he’s probably a long term target for the killer to know of him even with Glen’s vanished state to the society. The culprit may know of the Exiles' existence.”

“Tenth, let’s go down now. Rin, keep watch of your surroundings.”

“Yes.”

~ ~ ~

The Exiles have gathered around the first floor. It seems that the news have already reached their ears, leaving a great deal of tension even at such a big place.

“Tenth, you’re finally here…”

“Have you heard already?”

“Yes, Tenth. It has been confirmed that it was Glen.”

“I guess there’s no point of announcing it now and it seems that everybody is now on alert.”

“Don’t worry, everyone! Stay on alert but do not lose your composure. We’re here to investigate about it.

Anyone who have suggestions or wanting to help, please step forward!”

“Please here me out first, Tenth. I may have the lead of the one behind of this fuss.”

“Please proceed, Makoto.”

Makoto Koyanagi is a 27 year-old Exile. Apparently he has been in the base since his teens.

“My explanation will be unclear if you don’t hear my past. I think this will serve as a helpful evidence if my assumptions are correct.”

“We’re counting on you.”

“Let’s start from the time when I was 14. We were involved in a car scramble and I was flown out of the car. My family was safe, but I got separated and it seems that I was considered a missing person.

I have hit my head severely and I had to stay in the hospital for quite some time. When I woke up, I can’t remember anything and the doctor said that I suffered from amnesia.

When I fully recovered, I was helped by a man to get discharged from the hospital. That man was wealthy—paying all of the expenses from the hospital which was rather expensive. In the time of my stay under him, he taught me and his folks the way of ‘survival.’

Which in that man’s perspective, his way of survival is through assassination.

I still don’t have my memories, so I was led astray from the right path which I was not aware anymore. And when I turned 15, I became a freelance hitman.

With almost a year, I strengthened my body and learned combat. I was given a lot of monikers, and took a lot of jobs. But I have one principle: eliminate only the targets, not the innocents.

In total, I have killed 197 people in six months. As a freelancer, I took jobs ranging from catching a shark or a school of fish. Every single job I get is always a success and I was rewarded big.

But everything went to shambles because of my last job. I was hired by a person in the codename of 'HRCH' and ordered me to eliminate a company. It was a call center company that was said to be a in disguise. From his explanation, they were top people of the underworld and giants of the black market.

HRCH has a group of some sort and I was a bit intimidated so I had no way of declining the offer. It's a situation where I'll be killed if I refused, but it's nothing rare in the dark.

The company has its own small building in the Capital. At that time, I don’t have anyone with me. It was just a one man ambush, plain and simple.

Aside from firepower, I had a lot of tricks on my sleeve. But I mostly relied on my physical prowess, because I became an expert of hand to hand combat in just a short time.

I eliminated 43 people in total, which were all the people inside the building.

But when I was packing things up, I got ambushed by people armed with heavy firepower. But with their heavy load, I got a hold of them and immobilized them. And with that is the entrance of HRCH and introduced that the people I immobilized were his men.

Unexpectedly, HRCH shot every one of his men—which left only me and him. I heard the sirens of the police afterwards and then he went down to his knees and removed all of his gear.

With the entrance of police, he acted like he was the victim and a seemingly young police charged on me.

Little did I know that it was my childhood friend when I still had my memories. He was skilled in hand to hand combat too, and he almost took me down. If only I had my memories with me, I would’ve known who he actually was.

I had a childhood friend that I always fought with. It’s like we’re rivals of some sort. He was the same age as me. While we were still exchanging blows he destroyed my mask and my face got exposed. He was left in surprise and paused. It was my chance of escape but one officer found a bomb that was planted by HRCH. It was about to blow up and the police went out of the building and I was left inside as the bomb blew up.

I was severely wounded but I survived. I was found out by Tenth and took me in. As we were getting away of the scene I heard someone shouting or he was probably crying.

Now I’m spending my twelfth year in this base. I discovered that the people of the company were all innocent people and it got clear to me that I was framed by HRCH. I also regained my memories and that is the point where I grieved to the death of every people I killed.

I was left in agony and then I remembered who the young police was. The name of that police which was also my childhood friend was Juno Artecus.”

“What the… D-D-D-

Detective Juno Artecus?!”

“Detective Juno Artecus?!”

“Woah there… Wait… Detective?”

As just explained, Makoto is indeed Juno Artecus's childhood friend, whom they both dreamed to become police one day. But with how things went, he was not aware that Juno achieved his dream. It was a common problem in the community of Exiles—where they are not aware of what is happening outside.

“Yes, Makoto. He’s the flagship detective of Cotona as of right now. He was called a prodigy when he entered the station at the age of 15 and he now serves as a detective.

He’s also the one that helped us with the case of the murder of my student in Blue Ink.

…

Uhh… Gin…?”

The rapid tapping of his foot caught the attention of the few as he looked like he is in deep thought.

“Wait what in the world is this plot twist Juno Artecus is a detective yeah but to think that he’s a friend of an assassin and wait what the heck he’s just 27 years old oh my goodness actually he looks young he just looked like old in the dark night…

*mutter* *mutter* *mutter* *mutter*”

“Sorry about this… Gin has a habit of speaking really fast after he got out of the Room. Hehehe…” said Rin insignificantly.

“I haven’t heard him talk like that in ages, Ringo.”

“Ehem…

Continuing my story… A few years later, from the news in the television here, I watched an interview of someone in the name of Joseph Horach. He stated how he survived an assassination in a building in capital that was blown up. And he blabbed about how he stopped the killer from his rampage.

That was the time where I discovered that Joseph Horach is HRCH and it made sense because of the consonants of his surname.

Mind you, that guy is a cold blooded killer and it was like he can’t live a day without eliminating someone.”

“Apples… so a politician and a businessman is a maniac that kills people on his sight? I bet the president never knew of this…”

“Wait… Gin! Awhile back I heard him in an address of his’ about bringing back the topic of Exiles from being kept in the dark."

It suddenly clicked in her mind, and so Rin tried her best to be of help.

“I didn’t know that, Ringo. Thanks for that.

But the history of Exiles was erased after the World War 2. It was the time where the origin of Exiles started but it cooled down and it was never talked about after that.”

“The exposure of the Exiles was pretty much vanished from history and was considered a legend by veterans of the war. But even those veterans don’t really know about them. At least that’s what I heard.”

“That’s right, Gin. It has been several generations since the foundation of our neutral organization. I was the fourteenth leader of the Exiles in the duration of over seventy years and it is a tradition to change the leader once every several years.

But this generation has changed a lot seeing that I disappeared for 15 years and they held out well without a leader. I’m very proud to see that our people maintained the current state.”

“Going back to the topic, it seems that this Joseph Horach have some interests in our existence. If it was proven that he was the culprit, he will be considered a threat by any means.

As a fellow Exile, I will do my best to lessen the danger of our lives underground.”

“Gin…”

An unusual tension build up in him, but it was immediately swept away by a subtle grasp of Rin's hand to his.

"Thanks…"

…

“Setting that aside, can you come over to the training room?”

I was suddenly invited by Makoto to come in the training room. I wonder what he is up to.

~ ~ ~

“I guess I find it convenient that you’re in your house clothes right now. In a rush to get here, I guess? And mind those flip flops…”

Somehow, Makoto was amazed in seeing them.

“Are you implying that you want to spar with me, Makoto?”

“Sharp as ever. I watched you when you did tests here when you just got out of the acceleration room.

If Horach is really the antagonist, you need to prepare yourself for the worst. He’s an individual of the underworld too. Who knows what he will do.”

“Oi… you’re a former assassin. Can I assure that you won’t kill me in the process? I can't have my girlfriend crying over my cold body.”

“No, no… even I don't want my wife experiencing that.

But as you have said, I am a former assassin. I don’t think I have the ability to end one’s life anymore. I have already paid for my sins. But of course, that wound left a long lasting scar.”

“Hmm… I guess we’re similar in a way. Yes, I have a long lasting scar literally… and I said we’re similar because I have made the same sin when I was five.”

Perhaps unclear, but Makoto understood what those words meant.

“What…? Are you serious?” For a moment, he hesitated and tried to reconsider stopping the sparring before it even started.

“Gin?! That’s the first time I’m hearing that!” to his surprised, Tenth exclaimed.

“Sorry for not telling you, Tenth. I didn’t really have the time to tell you, that’s all.”

“Well… How about you charge in first, Gin?” he realized that it was too late to step back.

“Makoto is just standing there… literally. Our distance is approximately eight meters. I will close that distance with normal speed as a warm up.

He’s seriously standing there, though. Provocation? Absolutely not. Even when we were still talking, I can feel that he’s always on guard. It seems that at any second, he can move at probably the level of inhuman speed. There are only few people in the world that has an extraordinary speed. I should not think of him as ordinary.

Well, here goes.”

With my average running speed without the effects of Void’s gravity, I ran towards him on bare foot for efficient agility and control.

Now that I am right in front of him, I docked with a stance, but without the intention of harming him.

“With that combative intuition, he probably knew what I’m going to do.”

(!)

“This is unreal… The possibility of his counter is his left fist colliding to my ribs, an uppercut from below, a right kick on the head, and a left knee on my stomach.

…

Fast…! A right foot on the head!”

I successfully blocked it in the nick of time with my left arm, but I took a big hit. I vigorously stepped back after that heavy kick. My left arm instantly started swelling big and turned red.

“Gin…!”

“Don’t worry, Rin. It didn’t break… But I took a lot there, Makoto. As expected of an expert.”

“No, Gin. I’m the one that is surprised. I intended to do feints and one strike that time… By any chance, did you read all of my movements while you were docked for at least… two seconds?!”

“Your right arm and left knee was a feint. I predicted that I may just be put into sleep with that kick, or I am lying down on the floor with a rib strike. But man, you're even doing feints without moving much…

This sparring is in your mercy since you didn’t intend to use Krav Maga, am I right?”

“Woah… Is it safe to assume that you enhanced your thinking speed when you were inside that room?”

“It was unintentional. It all happened naturally since I didn’t adapt quickly to the outside world. That’s also the reason why I talked really fast-“

“Huh? Where is Gin?” he suddenly vanished from Makoto's sight that got his guard down.

“…earlier.”

I used that opportunity to sneak up on his back while I was talking. I came back to my original position when I stepped back earlier and closed the distance of eight meters in just a second.

It seems that I have increased my speed once again…

No chuunibyou there. It’s real.

“Umm… he’s behind you, Makoto.”

“What the- When did you…”

“Warm up’s done, I guess?”

“I didn’t see that coming. That was just fast… goodness. Anyways, let’s get your arm treated.

But I’m telling you, I can break your arm if I didn’t hold back.”

“Ehh…

This isn’t a shounen series, okay? But I hope my regeneration will work if that happened.”

“I know you can’t stay here most of the time. I’ll keep my eyes peeled with Horach’s activities while you’re out.

You’re a graduating student now, right? I wish you for the best.”

“Thanks, Makoto. I wish our people for the best too. We’ll overcome this dispute soon.”

“We’ll leave after his arm is treated. I’ll leave the base to every one of you.”

“Yes, Tenth!”

~ ~ ~

A few days have passed since then and we continue to live our daily lives. Right now, we are rehearsing for our graduation which will happen at the 19th of March.

Even with the information provided by the historian, it’s still unclear about the existence of the Exiles in the surface. It does make sense as to why the surface doesn’t have a clear knowledge of the suddenly upraised topic. Exiles are heavily shadowed at the time when it was the second war.

“Doesn’t it affect you that this is becoming a dumb fuss now, Gin? You’re an Exile now.”

“Of course it made a huge impact, Shiro. But there’s nothing we could do about it since we don’t know who did that. And we still don’t have a plan as to how we will tackle this issue.”

“On the contrary, Shiro… he’s as calm as ever. Yes, he’s worried and all, but he’s keeping up his composure. Don’t worry. He’s not pushing himself. He just needs someone to be with.”

“That is where I need your help, guys. At times like this is where I need to reach out to someone. Yes, I have been through a lot, but Rin taught me not to bear it alone.

That’s why I have you guys, right?"

"…

Friends… huh." Having those words said, tears fell from eyes even without her emotions changing.

“I wonder why this girlfriend of mine cries a lot more.”

“There are several possible reasons. One, Shiro was moved. Two, it’s seasonal. Three, he hates you now, Nagi.”

“Jean, that’s really harsh for you to say!”

“Three.”

“I’ll go with three.”

“Number three.”

“You guys…! There’s no way that could happen, you know! It’s not even related to-“

"You can tell them…" said Shiro with the same expression, but Nagi felt the extreme shivering from Shiro hand as it tightly clung to his.

“I’m sorry for not telling you, guys.

The truth is… Shiro’s past is a bit unpleasant when it comes to his social environment. The reason why she transferred here is because of peers. She’s actually really happy when the six of us became friends since she never made a real friend.

Her past experiences were always being left out and she always became an outcast. And so, lost trust to people, just like how you feel, Gin. Ever since she told me that, I always tried to cheer her up as much as possible.”

“Hahh… Thankfully we’re here at the rooftop.

Well, I can at least say that I'm not the same to those fakes.

But look, we are here. You finally have friends you can rely on, and you especially have Nagi with you that is more special than us.”

“Gin is to~tally right, Shiro." in a cheerful tone, Akira started. "I will be away after we graduated because I will leave the surface and help the people underground. But that does not mean that I will be gone for good. I will always be there and nowhere else.”

Shiro finally calmed down, but she’s still lying on Nagi’s shoulder. It seems that she’s fine now with that smile on her face. I looked up and once again, I was mesmerized how beautiful the formations of clouds are.

The last time I concentrated my vision to the clouds was when the tragedy of my life happened to me.

“The vast sky will always clear and the sun will pierce through the dark rain clouds…

Hope.”

I was followed by Rin as I stood up and had a careful look at the sky. The flow of the wind followed the rhythm of Rin’s footsteps as she lean on the railings.

“That is what you taught me Gin… The gray rain cloud is despair and the sun is the hope. Once the clouds cover the sky, light will still pass through, and the rays of the sun will eventually pierce through them.

Despair falls into us like the rain, and sometimes it floods. But even in this reality, I learned that despair is ephemeral. The sun will once again illuminate this dark world.”

“Akira, I think I will give you a gift in advance even before you became one of us. We'll make sure that you will move on fine with winning this fight."

“W-What could you be talking about, Gin…?” confused, Jean asked.

“Sit tight, Jean. We will put an end to this horrible nonsense that humans made for us.

I know that the others were already sick and tired of the unfair treatment which was dealt to them for more than seventy years. It was the humans that started this, and we, the Exiles will be the one cleaning up their mess.”

“Gin… I will keep that in mind. You have made a promise, and I am expecting that I can still breathe normally without the shackles that are binding the forgottens right now.”

“Akira, you have my word. I promise you.

But how ironic. Non-humans cleaning up after what supposed to be the most intelligent beings of Earth. Hahh…"

*Ping*

“Message from the principal, huh.”

“Come to the office now.”

“So this is it…

Rin, Nagi, Shiro, Jean, and Akira. Watch… The prologue may just be over.”

~ ~ ~

I arrived at the principal’s office and Hiro and Sean are also present in an unusual meeting with Tenth.

The soundproofing of the office has been greatly enhanced so the sound and our conversation in general, are confined to only this room.

“Good day, Gin. Ever wonder why I called you of all days?”

“Not really… But I can get a hint.”

“Alright… Let’s have the planning started.

As of right now, we are still short on our lead if Senator Joseph Horach is the man behind all of this. But with our resurfaced allies, we have confirmed that HRCH is really him. We got a hold of his ID from twelve years ago and Makoto confirmed that he was him.

At the very least, he’s now our prime suspect.”

“It seems that Makoto is really working hard for this…

Hmm?”

“What’s the matter, Gin?”

I suddenly took my eyes off of Tenth and looked at the window behind his desk randomly.

“I’ve been wondering about this since August… how did you get a hold of such reinforced glass?”

“Are you talking about the window behind me and the other windows all throughout the school?”

“Yes, that.”

“Since the incident, the school had renovations for a short duration, right? The truth is that our people are the ones that made all the renovations here and they discovered a material from underground.”

“A material?”

“You may not have heard of this but when the third floor is under construction, they found a deep cave while chipping off the space needed for the floor.

They explored the cave in the process and found patches of lava pools with a strange material surrounding it along with a huge amount of the same mineral on the cave walls. We later discovered that it was an unknown element or substance but it resembled the characteristics of a glass.

By conducting various testings, they discovered that it is pretty much the same as glass, at least in appearance, but the secret of it is the durability.”

“Well, it was just my assumption that the glass is so strong and thick that a bullet may not penetrate through that.”

“You’re kind of right about that. But it is even more surprising because even if a glass with that unknown material is just as thin as a paper’s width, a regular bullet, in theory, will just bounce of it without leaving a dent.”

“That’s amazing…”

“But of course, that material is not disclosed to the public and we never intend to do so. Humans will just abuse using such a strong substance.

By the way, why did you ask about it, Gin?”

“I’m just wondering, really…”

“Well, going back to the topic, we need to prepare for the worst. We do not know what the outside world could do if they found out of our existence. That is why we need to protect the life we had for several decades.

But in our case right now, we’re only going to be using defense. If we really had to face them head on, it’s best to not harm anyone even if they initiate an offense. Of course, we still can’t take action until we unmask the person or group behind the death of Glen.”

“That’s why Gin… Starting today, the resto will only be accepting reservations and the open hours will be cut off.

I ask you not to worry about work for now since the two of us won’t be going to Giotto’s too. Hiro’s apprentice is the one in charge of the restaurant for the time being.”

“And the building will be having renovations in a couple of weeks, anyways. It will happen in April, I believe.”

“Hmm…

I guess I’ll go sell prints while we are in this big hiatus.”

“Gin. Always remember that we haven’t gotten any good treatment from the surface since the 40’s. I hope you will be safe with your actions.”

“Yes, Tenth.”

“The reality is indeed wrong. Humans harm humans, animals predate to their own kind.”

“But sometimes I wonder, if only there are humans that has the will to lend us a hand, that could be better.”

“You’re right. But I really can’t see humans and us coexisting, aside from being a resurfaced. In any way you look at it, we are considered aliens of this world with the appearance of a human.”

“You have a point there, Sean. We also need to consider the children in the base that has never experienced the reality. They were born underground, and they barely even see the sky…

I guess their dreams will depend on our actions.”

The sound coming from this room is indeed unheard outside, but us inside can still hear what is happening behind that door. The whole administrative office is so quiet that we can easily hear footsteps from outside.

At that point we heard voices vaguely saying that there’s someone that want to enter Tenth’s office. Finally, we heard a knock on the door that was immediately followed by the opening of it.

“Are you sure we can enter, Uncle?”

“That voice… Was that Rin? And was she talking to someone?”

“It’s good, it’s good. You also need to hear the things I want to talk about since we’re the same in a sense.”

“I… can’t really understand what you’re saying, Uncle…”

“Coming in!

Hey, there. It’s been a while since I last saw you, Take.”

“’Take?’ Is he talking about Tenth?

Wait a damn second-“

Gin lost the opportunity to talk.

“Can I know who you are… and how do you know that name?!”

“It seems that you really have forgotten me… or rather, you have the least memories of me. I admit that.”

“W-Wha…”

“No, I seriously can’t remember… Why are you with Ms. Akanami, by the way?”

“Well, I think it’s best if Gin’s girlfriend is here too since she’s also out of the ordinary just like me.”

“W-W-W-Wait a second! Let me speak!”

The room suddenly got noisy because of the unexpected arrival of an unexpected person who is with Rin. This is probably the time where I am greatly surprised the most.

“W-Why… Why are you here…

Dad?!”

Four steps remaining.

Extras:

“Wait… Gin…

You and Ringo are in a relationship?!”

Tenth just realized that and is now in great confusion.