Satou did hear a rumor saying if you find a great tree in the forbidden forest, then you'll be bestowed magic.
At night, there were two children inside a tent in the forbidden forest.
"Let's find the tree together!"
Said the twin-tail-haired girl to Satou.
"I've tried to, but I couldn't find it."
"It's because you were just looking for it just for a single day, right?! In the end, you end up slacking off."
"How could you know it?!"
She showed him a logbook about the quest of the magic tree.
"It just says a day."
"It=it's because I didn't have time to write it down! Really! I just forgot!"
"Don't try to lie to me!"
"Damn! I just can't lie to her! As I thought, you are an alien!"
"Just quit the nonsense, please."
In the end, Satou and the girl were exploring the forbidden forest to find the great tree. But, after walking so long exploring the forest, Satou started to pant, and then he sighed.
"Shouldn't we just give up? It's been hours we look for it without even finding it."
"I won't give up! That's my adventure way. Hihihi."
"Aww, wait a minute. That's the line of my protagonist of the comic I always read, isn't it?!"
The girl nodded and answered in joy. She smiled at him.
"I read it in secret. It's fun."
"You!!! I told you not to read it. It will affect you badly. Do you want to be like me? What you have to do is to read cooking recipes or magazines-"
As Satou was talking, he hit a trunk out of the blue.
"Ouch! What is this trunk doing here?! ..Eh?"
Satou was startled to see the great tree standing before him.
"We found it! We did it!"
The twin-tail-haired girl was overjoyed, but he seemed to be disappointed. He put an expression telling that he can't believe it and he just sighed when he saw it.
"What makes this the magic tree? It's just an ordinary giant tree. Fine, I'll write this down that it's a mere fucking tree!"
"It's not! Look it well!"
Hearing that, Satou saw the giant tree once more and he found a good view. The tree was standing under shining stars and even moon that they could see crystal clear.
Satou smiled in joy for realizing it.
"You are right… It is beautiful…"
He didn't realize it that soon. After enjoying the good view. Suddenly a tragedy that sent a chill to his spine occurred out of the blue.
"Hey, both of you! What are you doing? Stay away from the tree!"
Someone approached them all of a sudden. Realizing that, they were shivering in fear of getting earful by that guy. He was a ranger on duty to guard the forest. He became hostile as he had seen Satou and his friend enter the forest and approach the giant tree.
But, the trio heard something like a beast roaring. The ranger was startled and sighed in irritation. He puts a stand-by stance and averted his guys to the children.
Satou and his friend were panicked by hearing the roar. And they became more panicked when they saw a monster biting the ranger out of the blue. The duo was shocked by seeing that happen in a short time.
"Ukkkkkhhh!!!"
Satou was shocked to see the ranger die before him. This is the first time he saw people die.
"Satou! Satou!"
He couldn't move his whole body at all as if he had been petrified. The curly-haired boy was in fear.
"Satou! What are you doing?! We have to get outta here!!"
"Satou! Satou!!"
Hearing that, he wakes up from his sleep followed by his scream. Because of him screaming, someone comes to his room, and it's Sanada who puts a worrying face.
"What is it, Satou!?"
"I'm sorry, Tanaka... just a bad dream."
"What did you dream about?"
"The nightmare felt like reality."
He is questioning whether the dream is real or not. Or even it's just a shard of his forgotten memories.
Why the twin-tailed-haired girl always comes into his dream? Why did he get the picture of the magic tree?
Satou remembers Kayonna Charlee, the one who served him tea. He wonders if Sanada will tell him who she is.
"Tanaka. Is it really yakuza's hideout."
"Y-Yeah…"
Satou remains silent as he stares at him for Sanada looks hesitant. It's because, though it's just a few days, Sanada never looks so secretive like this. Not as serious as ever.
So, if Sanada is trying to lie to him, he will know it, but he's sure that the boss told Sanada to.
"Oi, Satou! Are you all right? You'd better have breakfast."
"That's right. I am starving already. The nightmare might have starved me. Haha…"
Satou chuckled. They then go to the canteen as Sanada also wants to have some breakfast with Satou. That curly-haired gut thinks that having breakfast can help him forget that nightmare.
"Didn't expect Yakuza has a canteen."
"Err, yeah, something like that. Just order."
Deciding what to order, Satou's eyes focus on Kayonna Charlie who is in the canteen too. Realizing that, he points at her.
"I'll have my breakfast with that woman!"
"Uwaa!? Don't tell me you are attracted by her, my best friend."
"As if! Of course, I am not!"
"My intuition serves me right! Just stop denying it!"
Ignoring the triggered and confused Sanada, finally, Satou puts his tray on her table hoping he could have breakfast with her.
"Hey sweety~"
Satou said in a coll voice trying to flirt with her as he sits like a boss. But, it doesn't work. She ignores him by just keep enjoying her breakfast.
But Satou doesn't give up, and he tries to say something with the same tone.
"It's no good for a lady to say no to gentlemen's offer of having a meal together."
Hearing that, Kayonna Charlee brings her meal and moves somewhere.
"What's gone wrong, Tanaka?! I have acted cool, but she dumped me!"
Satou said in confusion and upset as his sweet talk didn't work on Kayonna Charlee. Sanada just sighs and shakes his head.
"How about you bring a topic to talk about with her?"
"A topic?! Like I care about that! Ah, I see… If she isn't attracted to a good boy, what if I act like the bad one? Every girl loves bad boy, right? Yosh! I'll do it!"
"Sounds like a bad idea."
Satou just ignores Sanada. Satou then moves his table to her table and then he takes a seat like a thug.
"Oi, it's my table now, remember that!"
He said pointing at the table.
"Very well, I'll move then."
Without saying anything, she moves again. He puts a smirk as one of his impromptu plans can be said a success. But Sanada just does facepalm after seeing it.
"I told you, it's a bad idea. Why didn't you listen to me?!"
"See, Tanaka?! I made her talk to me! I am sure that girl loves bad boy!"
"That's what you think?! Now I understand why your ex dumped you."
"Shut the fuck up! I don't care about her anymore! I have moved on! That's right… I've become the brand new me!"
Still persistent, he approaches Kayonna Charlee for the third time.
"Oi! You! Have breakfast with me!"
Satou said in a cold tone trying to act like a bad boy to attract her so that she will have breakfast with him.
"I refused. I'd prefer eat alone."
Saying that to the twin-tail-haired woman, Kayonna Charlee leaves Satou alone.
"You are right, Tanaka! She dumped me! She is not a normal woman. All woman like bad boy!"
"I don't get it why you think so. But you'd better just give up."
"Don't tell me that she's an alien?!"
"Why do you think so?!"
"She doesn't like badboy."
"That's not the point! But it seems like she doesn't like you, Satou…"
"I can't take this! If she says no, how could I live with this kind of tainted pride of mine?!"
"Why are you so obsessed to her?!"
In the end, Satou doesn't give up on having a meal with Kayonna Charlee and then she moves for several times just because of his doings.
In the end, she has eaten her meal up and ignores him.
"Why are you following me?
"I just want to keep you company."
"I want to go to the toilet."
"Let's go."
"It's called sex harassment, Satou Hideaki."
Feeling that Satou has gone too far, Sanada finally stops Satou from doing stupider stuff.
"Why are you stopping me, Tanaka?! I told you it's about my pride as a man."
"You just worsened it instead."
Sanada smacks Satou's face.
"Ouch! Why you?! Are you picking a fight, Tanaka?!"
"Before that, just eat up your meal… You forgot it as you were busy with Kayonna Charlee."
"You are right, my best friend!"
Sanada just lets out a sigh and touches his forehead just because his best friend has done too much. Somehow he becomes tired as well.
Hearing his friend's suggestion, Satou digs in his meal fast.
"Yosh! I'll go to the toilet!"
"Satou! No!"
"Why?"
"Don't tell me you want to peep her?"
"No…"
"Eh?"
"Why should I?"
"You! Have you got manners?! Man can't be with a woman in the toilet!"
"I know that. I have no intention to peep on her. I just want a chat."
Sanada sighs and shakes his head.
"Have you talked with a girl in a toilet?"
"Just once."
"Eh!? Seriously…?"
"Yup. It was when my ex was freaked out to go to the toilet alone and she made me wait for her at the entrance of the toilet."
It goes silent out of the blue. Sanada is speechless as he pats Satou's shoulder with glaring at him.
"If the public knew that, it was considered sexual harassment, you know?"
"Really?"
"Give me a break, will ya?"
"As you scolded me like that, I get it. After she's done her business in the toilet, I'll talk to her."
"Solved."
Finally, Kayonna Charlee gets out of the toilet. Satou then tries to say hello to her.
Satou goes silent after he sees her wiping his tears with a tissue, and later on, he returns to Sanada with his hands in his pockets.
"You don't want to talk to her?"
Sanada raises his eyebrow confused by seeing how Satou acts.
"No…"
"Why?"
"What did I do anyway? She rejects me, but I keep pursuing her."
"Like we have a choice… You were so persistent."
"In the end, I just discomfort her, eh?"
Satou lets out a sigh in disappointment. She feels sorry for her and disappointed in himself for being that persistent.
Seeing the gloomy atmosphere, Sanada tries to change the topic so he can soothe Satou up that he will forget about it.
"Oh right, what dream you had last night? As I remembered, you haven't told me about that."
"Before I tell you, I'd like to ask you something, Tanaka?"
"What's that?"
"Is this really Yakuza's hideout?"
Satou asked in a serious tone without a sign of funny pace as usual at all. This surprises Sanada as the atmosphere turns back to get tense.
"Yeah… it is."
Sanada is sweating. He swallowed his own saliva as he is nervous that he tries to look away.
Seeing how his friend reacts, Satou bursts out laughing out of the blue.
"Why are you laughing, Satou?!"
"Looks like you can't keep a secret, eh."
"Eh?"
"Never mind. You must have a reason why you can't tell me the truth."
Sanada just remains silent after hearing that from his best friend. He doesn't want to lie to his friend, but he has no other choice.
"Then, I decided something. From now on, I'll leave this place."
"Eh!? Why!?"
"There is much stuff I need to verdict and know. Therefore, probably I'll fight against your boss. I don't want to give you more trouble."
"Satou…"
"That's why. Thanks for saving me. I'll return the favor someday."
Saying that, Satou starts to leave Sanada.
"Wait!"
"What?"
"If you want to investigate this organization, then I am coming with you!"
"Huh!? What are you talking about?!"
"It's not a command from him. It's because I am your best friend."
"Then, tell me. What is this organization about?"
"I can't answer it. Answering it means denying the order. But, I'll give you a hint; you have to figure it out yourself!"
"You are saying… You wanna play a game with me?!"
"Exactly! Though I still have no idea what this organization is about as I am not one of the armies."
Hearing that, Satou finally got a clue from the "armies" word. That leads him to the truth of the organization behind Yakuza's hideout.
"I have no choice left, let's do it, best friend!"
---
At noon in a library, the two men who just left from the place they thought was a Yakuza's hideout, were looking up books about the armies. Pique can be seen on Satou's face as he is scanning the book from a pile of books beside him.
"Ah… Why does it tell about history?! Like hell, I care about that!"
Satou lets out a sigh in pique as he hates history. Especially the one he doesn't give a shit to.
"You give up!?"
"As if!!"
"History contains so many interesting stuff, you know …"
"You like history, Tanaka?"
"Yup! I learned a lot from it…"
"What does it teach you? It's just mere rumors in the past, right?"
"Wrong! History is not about rumor as it also tells you about the proof. If you are talking about mythology, then it's about rumors."
"If it does have a proof or whatsoever, then what do we know about that for?"
"Of course, with can study because of history. History exists for the future as it tells the event in the past to be learned in the future."
"But, humans won't change in the future, right? Just reading history…"
"They do! Books won't exist without history. Including technology. Without history, we won't live like this."
"Didn't expect that you are crazy about history that I can't argue more. Hahaha."
Satou bursts out laughing followed by Sanada. The laughter makes the library which is supposed to be calm noisy. Therefore, the duo gets kicked by the librarian for the ruckus they made.
"They don't understand jokes. Why can't we just laugh there?!"
"It's because of the ruckus we made. The library is a place to study, so no ruckus as it will disturb them."
"Well, I don't want to figure your organization out anymore. Let's have fun, Tanaka!"
"What is it, Satou?"
"Getting drunk?"
"I won't say that. I am afraid we'll get kicked out again."
"Hmm…"
Thinking about what to do, Satou takes his attention to the karaoke box nearby. He has no idea, so he puts on a smirk and tells Sanada.
"How does Karaoke sound like to you?"
"Not bad! Well, I haven't gone to karaoke before."
"Really?"
"Yup."
In the end, Satou and Sanada decide to have fun at the karaoke.
"Ok, me first! Listen to this cool song, Tanaka!"
"Do it, Satou!"
The song sung by Satou is about love doldrums.
"I thought you had moved on, so you haven't, eh?"
"Shut the fuck up! It's your time, Tanaka!"
As Satou listens to the song Sanada picked, he gets something when he listens to it.
"Tanaka, you—"
Sanada is a nationalist, even the song he sings is a national anthem. Satou remains silent and surprised seeing how excited Sanada sings it.
A few minutes later, the song ends. Sanada is done singing.
"Japan banzai!"
"I do want to have fun, but not like this."
Satou is closing his face with his hands and turns his head down in regret. Satou then decides to not ever take Sanada to karaoke ever again. He is regretting it.
Without even realizing something as they were having fun at the karaoke box, the day is getting late. They then decide to go home.
"That was fun~"
Sanada said in joy and he puts a big smile on his face. He feels so lucky that he feels so relieved.
"Fun, my ass! How could you sing the national and traditional anthem in a karaoke box?!"
"Eh? They are good songs, though!"
"Tanaka… Is that how great you like Japan?"
"I really do!"
"What do you really want anyway?"
"I want to protect this nation as I am the citizen! I even want to be a soldier?"
"For real!?"
"Um! Yup… But, I have no gift to be one. Only the chosen ones can be soldiers."
"Have you ever tried to sign up?"
"Yup! But my application was rejected… But I am not giving up on my dream. No matter how weak I am, I'll protect this nation as I can!"
"How about you take a part in the government? Wait… The organization you enroll in has something to do with the government, right?"
"Close, but it's not."
"Close, but wrong, eh?"
"If you ask me why I don't enroll in government? I know the danger in there… In the end, here I am."
One more time, Satou gets another clue, "the organization protecting something from the danger."
"I see, you are so lucky."
"What are you talking about, Satou?"
"I've never thought about my future. I always do stupid stuff. Thanks to you for reminding me."
"I'm sure you will find it someday, Satou."
Saying that, Sanada's phone is ringing. Satou checks it and his face looks tense. As if there's gloom in his eyes as he reads the message.
"It's started, eh? The battle…"
"What is it?"
"The battle of WTM"
"WTM?"
"Actually, I can't tell you about this. I am tasked not to get you involved in this battle."
"If that's so, then why did you tell me?"
Feeling stupid as he forgot about that, he keeps his mouth silent by slapping his cheeks. Sanada just realized that he just slipped off the tongue for telling that. He didn't expect to say that in clumsy.
"Dang it! I won't tell you further!"
"Thank you, Tanaka. Thanks to you, I got more clues! But, I hoped you would tell me more."
"Really? Then, first, WTM is an acronym in any way how you look at it."
"Right!"
Reconsidering, Satou remembers what Sanada said about the organization protecting something from danger.
"World!"
"Right, Satou!"
With his guess serves right, Satou is thinking about what T and M stand for. He then recalls the dream he had last night about the magic tree. He thinks that the dream has something to do with the T and M. Then, he concludes something.
It,s Tree Miracle.
"World Tree Miracle?"
"Marvelous! You can tell the mean of the acronym fast!"
"Then, the things happened in my dream, did happen, eh?"
Satou thinking about WTM or World Tree Miracle that reminds him of the dream.
"Tanaka, do you know where the magic tree the organization protects is?"
"Hang on, how do you know about that? And again… I was just tasked to keep an eye on you as I am not one of the armies, so I have no idea where it is."
"If WTM protects the magic tree, then the only answer is the forest, the forbidden one no one can pass through."
"I told you. For my current position, I have no idea where it is."
"Tanaka, do you know the legend of Yawata no Yabushirazu forest?"
"The forest feared by everyone. Rumor has it that anyone enters the forest, they will disappear."
"What if they don't?"
"What do you mean, Satou? The forest has a legend related to a Samurai named Taira No Masakado, He occupied the area in the 10th century."
"I don't need to hear about that legend. Think about it Tanaka, isn't the location of the forest close by the WTM base?"
"Don't tell me…"
"That's right! My guess isn't wrong! There's a possibility that the location of the forest is there!"
"If that's true, what will you do?"
"What if we give it a shot?!"
"But, Satou, there's a rumor that the forest gives out poisoned gas around."
"But, we won't know without even giving it a shot, eh?"
"Sorry, I just can't let you."
Satou lets out a sigh and starts to talk. He wants to persuade his best friend so that Sanada will let him go. It'd be better if they go together.
"Think about it, Tanaka! Don't you want to protect this nation? Isn't it your job to assist WTM? Will you just stay still seeing them putting their lives on the war like this?"
"But, I have no experience in war at all."
"Then, at least you try as you can to assist WTM! If you manage to do so, you'll be a part of the history, right? Isn't that good for you? And you will get promoted, right?"
"Aaaah! In the end, I have to follow your instinct again, Satou?! Let's do it!"
"Yosh!"
With being forced by his friend, Sanada is determined to enter the forbidden forest named Yawata no Yabushirazu with Satou.
---
Using a car, the duo is heading to the forbidden forest named Yawata no Yabushirazu. They planned to go in the evening, as there is something to do before going.
"World Tree Miracle has to protect the magic tree from the evil."
"Why do they have to go that far to protect the tree? Is it because the tree can grant any wish or whatsoever?"
"I have no idea. Even the governments of Japan and USA leave this stuff to WTM."
"Oi, oi, if they leave that to WTM, isn't that tree a big deal?"
"I always wonder why the Japanese government even the USA one leave the tree to WTM. How does the tree they protect look like? At that moment, I felt more dangerous than the government always faces.
"It has something to do with the world, eh? That's a real great deal, Tanaka."
"Well, that's why I joined WTM. Probably I can protect Japan with the option I chose."
"We'll see right now, Tanaka!"
Satou encouraged his best friend with a smile. Sanada just nods in agreement as they will discover the secret hidden by his boss of WTM.