Chapter 30: Fame

The Next Morning- Sector 1: Tenno Academy

The morning was unusually noisy as Keiko, Arisa, and Aku entered the floor where their classes were. Keiko sighed, “Another one of Seiji’s crowds?” she started to walk toward her classroom.

The others chuckled and Arisa followed Keiko, but Aku turned to her own classroom and froze, “Ryu…?”

Arisa turned to Aku and crossed the hallway to peek into her room- a curious Keiko close behind her, “Oooooh,”

Class 2-B was full with many girls, some 2 year students, some first years and some thirds- all surrounding Ryuichi. His shoulder was fully bandaged and his arm was in a splint, he had other bandages here and there as well- but his shoulder was clearly the main injury he had. With his other hand he rubbed the back of his neck and thanked those around him with an air of embarrassment.

“If it weren’t for you Ryuichi, my mother and sister would have-” a young student clutched tightly onto her skirt as she squeezed her eyes shut, “I’m truly thankful!”

“Ryu! You are so amazing to take out that monster! Why are you only rank 3?!”

“Kyaaaa his injuries are soooo attractive!”

“He’s basically the hero of Sector 9!”

“Ryuichi! I like you!”

“Rank 3, fighting!”

Ryu nodded his head and tried to accept all of the thanks even though they were all happening at once. Although, he didn’t feel like a hero. In truth he felt like the monster. He had let a little girl die...he couldn’t even save one little girl.

From the doorway, the three girls watched the scenario with interest, “Hmmmm, Ryuichi saved Sector 9 last night?” Arisa asked to the others, “What from?”

Keiko shrugged her shoulders, “Ahhh it must of been Ryu and Hiro who had to clean up that mutant who rampaged Sector 9 last night. There have been more and more of those things lately.” unlike normal mutants, who MRPA strived to protect, rampant mutants were beyond protecting. They were mindless beasts that just attacked without thought. If it had been Keiko fighting that rampant, she too would have disposed of it.

“Oooh...” Arisa’s voice trickled away in her concern, “He looks hurt,”

Keiko’s voice dropped to a whisper, “That what happens when you send a human to do a mutant’s job.”

With that Arisa and Keiko left Aku in the doorway.

Aku’s mind was both blank and full at the same time. Her eyes were glued to the thick bandages on his shoulder; her ears only picking up every other word that the crowd murmured. What was this feeling creeping over her? Worry? No- she was a child of Mr.Black, she wasn’t allowed to worry about anyone. She wasn’t even supposed to care about anyone. She was alone.

And yet-

Ryu’s eyes suddenly found her, his dark brown eyes making contact with her own- his eyes that seemed to be hiding a great deal of pain. She was pushed back into a memory. A memory she had thought she had forgotten.

She has been a toddler at the time- it was one of the few days that she would be at her Uncle’s- at Mr.Black’s care. She was crying. Her eyes were swollen with tears as she looked down at the bloody scraped palm. She sniffed and sniffed and turned at the sound of her name. The young her smiled up at the older boy- his dark skin and warm smile made her almost forget the pain of her hands-

Aku shook the memory from her mind- she told herself she would never think of those times again- and quickly sat down at her desk and tried to tune out the cluttered noise of the morning.

That Night- Sector 27: MRPA Orientation Facility

Keiko stood on a large stage, the MRPA crest projected behind her. She was in her full MRPA uniform which included several ribbons and pins for her service- of course the most impressive part of her attire was the large cloak that was draped over her left shoulder. The oversized cloak barely touched the ground as she paced across the large stage slowly with light, purposeful steps, “Those of you who stand before me today,” her voice was more refined than usual. She crossed her wrists behind her back as she turned to face the large crowd, “have made it here through pain and suffering,” she began to pace again, “You all have passed several tests in order to become agents of MRPA- but this is not a congratulatory speech,” there was a sudden tension in the air as the prospective agents held their breath, “Half of you will not pass this next test, this will be the final test,” Keiko grinned wickedly, this was her favorite part of getting new recruits, “You,” she pointed to a nervous girl in the front.

The girls pointed to herself nervously, “Me?”

“Get up here,” Keiko crossed her arms over her chest and spoke to the rest of the group, “Each and everyone of you will use your full strength to hit me,” she paused to enjoy the gasp from the crowd, “I will remind you that if I decide you fail then you will not become an agent so I suggest when I say use your full strength, you use your full strength. Those of you that manage to pass will be given a level of combat proficiency by me and begin your new training tomorrow. Those of you that fail will begin the training process all over again,” she turned to face the nervous girl who had just joined her on stage, “Are you ready to begin?”

The girl let out a nervous breath, “Can I ask a question?”

Keiko grinned, “What?”

“What element are you using right now?” the girl looked down shyly. Agent 013 was very well known in the mutant world. She was the only known elementalist of the time and was unrivaled in hand-to-hand combat. People saw her as the strongest agent of MRPA, a force not to cross paths with. Yet now, these fresh, new agents were faced with her.

Keiko’s grin widened,“Alright I’ll give you guys a handicap,” she straightened out her left arm dramatically and whipped her cloak around as she lunged toward the prospective agent, “It’s water!”

From above in the balcony, Arisa had been watching with a small smile on her face. She had always enjoyed to get a good look at the new agents- but it was also fun to see Keiko in her element. She was a natural fighter that moved in ways Arisa couldn’t imagine.

Arisa sighed and pouted slightly, she had been training with Aku for a while now- and while she felt like she was getting better and stronger, she wondered if she would ever be as skilled as them.

She perked her head up suddenly, “Ah! Training!” she jumped to her feet and ran out into the hallway, “Aku’s gonna kill me!!!” she ran through the halls, weaving through lab coats and other agents walking around.

“Ah! Zero-chii wait!!!”

Arisa turned her head and called back without stopping, “Sorry Ms.Mary! I’m late!! I’ll have to talk with you later!!!” she turned forward again and sprinted to meet with an Aku that was no doubt irritated by her tardiness.

Ms. Mary grinned darkly, Poor little Zero-chii….you just couldn’t stay away…..

Sector 1: STAM HQ- Cafeteria

Ryu’s mood had been down all day. Because of his arm he wasn’t allowed on any mission’s until he gained mobility in his right shoulder again. He had spent the last 3 hours in the hospital section getting his arm rewrapped and his blood filtered for any poison. He was exhausted. His eyes were baggy, his body slumped over, and every part of him hurt. Maybe there was still poison from the rampant circulating through his body, but Ryu knew the pain he felt was guilt. He hated himself for allowing the little girl to die. Every time he closed his eyes he saw her. The little girl with the white hair and bright pink dress.

“You gotta eat if you want to recover!” Seiji dropped a tray of food in front of Ryu and sat across the table from him.

Ryu hardly stirred from the loud noise. His heavy eyes looked up at Seiji. He didn’t even try to smile, “I don’t have an appetite...”

Seiji groaned loudly and waved his hands around wildly, “It’s not about your appetite! You need food to heal your wound idiot!” Ryu winced at the word wound. Seiji took a different approach, “How are you ever going to get a girlfriend if you lose all that amazing muscle?!” he saw the smallest glint of amusement in Ryu’s eyes and kept going, “We both know no one would date you for your personality. But now that you’re famous-” he grabbed Ryu’s spoon, “-you’ve got to capitalize on this popularity-” he scooped up a pile of rice from Ryu’s tray, “-so we have to keep your muscles in tip-top shape for your future girlfriend!”

Ryu couldn’t help but smile and rolled his eyes, “What makes you thin-”

Seiji shoved the spoon in Ryu’s mouth and left it there, clapping his hands together in approval, “There’s a good boy, who’s a good agent?”

Ryu coughed in surprise and pulled the spoon from his mouth and swallowed the rice, “You bastard.” he grinned and took another spoonful of food.

Seiji hummed for a moment as he watched, “You should have hurt your left shoulder.”

“I’m left handed though.”

Seiji nodded, “But if you were struggling with your non-dominant hand you could ask a pretty lady, like Ume Akumako, to help you with everything.”

Ryu chuckled, “You’re such an idiot.”

Seiji leaned over the table, “What is that? Is that a little blush in Ryu’s face?”

He scoffed and turned his head down, he was blushing, “Shut up Seiji.”