That day, Ichino Takeru had finally freed him after 2 weeks. Outside Animate Tachikawa, it was The Chairman and Yoru that greeted him. The Chairman left and Yoru and Takeru got into the car that took them to their patrol area.
Group 6 was now in charge of patrolling over the Taito, Sumida and Koto wards. They used to be the responsibility of Group 3 but since they went missing, The Chairman himself was putting in extra work to handle the alternates that awaken there until now.
Yoru and Takeru were currently walking through the Koto ward together and it was pretty awkward. Takeru was still looking depressed and tired, he wasn't saying anything at all.
"Umm... Kohai, aren't you happy you're finally outside?"
"..."
"I see.", Yoru replied in a disappointed voice.
Takeru was lost in his thoughts. "When I get back to the SOMA headquarters today, how am I gonna face Warugaki-san and Asano-san... How could I possibly show them my face? I don't deserve to, not a coward like me...
It's all my fault... What happened to Katsuragi-san... What happened to Grandma... It's all my fault..."
Yoru glanced at Takeru's depressed face and like any good senpai, he wanted to make his kohai feel better. He suddenly grabbed Takeru's shoulders and said, "Listen here, kid. Right now, you're probably thinking something like 'It's all my fault' or something."
"..."
"I was right, wasn't it? Anyways, let me tell you, it wasn't. It wasn't your fault. You're just a kid, kid. A monster took over your body and did horrible things with it, obviously that's not your fault. It's so blatantly obvious, isn't it?"
Takeru's eyes saddened. "But..."
"No buts! It wasn't your fault, simple as that. Tell me, all the victims of awakenings who turn into full on alternates and devour humans, is that their fault? Should the lives taken by that alternate be blamed on the victim, no! Of course not!", Yoru replied with the same conviction he showed to The Chairman.
Yoru was looking straight into Takeru's eyes. Seeing someone support him so passionately after he spent 2 weeks blaming himself, he began to slightly tear up.
"If Group 4 or anyone at all tries to treat you as if it was your fault, let me know and then I'll kick their ass! You got that!? I'm your senpai and your group leader now, you're my responsibility. It's my duty to protect you, kohai!"
Hearing that, Takeru burst into tears. He tried to wipe them off but more and more kept coming out. Yoru kinda just stood there as he didn't know how to handle someone crying. "Wow... I didn't expect that to move him that much..."
After wiping his tears, Takeru looked at Yoru, his depressed look slowly fading away, and said, "Thank you, Yoyo-senpai!"
After a moment of silence, Yoru smiled at him and said, "No problem, kid."
They continued walking around the neighborhood of Toyosu. They just hung out and talked about random things. As the day went on, Takeru continued to slowly lighten up.
"And that's why I never put my belt on my pants before putting on the pants firs-"
brrring! brrring!
"Get serious, Ichino-kun. An alternate has awakened.", Yoru said as he suddenly gained a serious and sort of scary face.
"Weren't you saying something about your pa-"
"COME ON, ICHINO-KUN! WE MUST EXTERMINATE THE ALTERNATE IMMEDIATELY!", Yoru shouted as he dashed off into the distance.
"Senpai's a bit of a weirdo but I guess he's nice, he's like Ikari-san in that way."
At the Toyosu Manyo Club, a relaxing hot spring facility, an alternate had awakened in one of the customers. All the other customers had been cleared out by Tobu's unique ability.
Takeru and Yoru rushed towards there, Yoru a bit faster than Takeru.
"I was told that the alternate awakened in the rooftop foot bath but it might have moved. You check down here and I'll go up.", Yoru said quietly. "Alright, Yoyo-senpai." Takeru nodded.
Takeru began sneaking around the place looking for the alternate. "Wow... this place looks nice... I wish I could've come here with Hiroki and Kaito but this place is probably too expensive. Mom wouldn't give me much allowance, I had to save up for a lot of time to buy all my manga. I was always jealous of that damn Hiroki cause of that, I wonder if he's bought a bunch of new manga that we could've read together..."
Takeru suddenly slapped himself and got rid of those thoughts. "Just focus on the mission, man!"
"Takeru! Come up here!", Yoru shouted from above. "Coming!", Takeru shouted back rushing to the rooftop.
"Wow... The view from up here is so nice, the ocean looks so beautifu- EW! WHY THE HELL IS THAT GUY NAKED!? ISN'T THE ROOFTOP FOR A FOOT BATH?"
"I don't know, Ichino-kun. Maybe this guy was a pervert or something but anyways, the alternate that took over him is acting weird. Its just standing there next to the railing..."
Takeru looked weirded out and said, "Yeah... Its almost like its admiring the ocean too..."
The alternate suddenly turned around. "Your home is not so bad, humans."
Takeru was shocked. "What!? Its talking to us perfectly! Doesn't this mean its a First Class Medium!?"
Yoru noticed Takeru shaking and whispered, "Do not panic, Ichino-kun. I'm here."
Yoru looked straight at the alternate and said, "Just come at me then, you foul creature. You wish to devour my flesh, yes?"
"That's exactly what I wish for, human. I was hoping that I would give you the pleasure of a nice conversation before I killed you but I guess not.", The alternate said and dashed towards Yoru.
"2nd form."
Yoru punched the alternate right in its face the moment it got close to him sending it flying back and hitting the railing. The alternate was on the ground bleeding all over its face and was shocked beyond belief. "What!? You humans are not supposed to be this strong!?"
"I guess we're not so bad either, alternate."
The alternate was confused. "Alternate? What do you mean?"
Takeru was in awe. "Woah! You're crazy strong, Yoyo-senpai! You dealt with a First Class Medium so easily!?"
"I appreciate the flattery, kohai. But, that was not the case. You see, sometimes, there are cases where an alternate has intelligence good enough to properly communicate with us without being a First Class Medium. This is one of those cases, a First Class Medium would not be so damaged by a punch I didn't even put my all into."
"I see...", Takeru replied.
"What the hell are these humans talking about!? Whatever, I'll kill them as they're distracted."
The alternate stretched out its arms, sharpened its nails and sent them towards Yoru. Just when the arms were about to stab into Yoru, he turned around, sharpened his own nails and cut off the alternate's hands from its arms.
"AHHHHHHHHHH! HOW THE HELL DID YOU KNOW I WAS ATTACKING!?", The alternate screamed.
Yoru raised his left hand and showed his palm. "Like this." On his palm, the sentence "It will stretch out its arms and attack you from the behind" was written in what looked like black ink.
"HUH!?", The alternate screamed.
"WOAH! THAT'S SICK! YOU'RE JUST LIKE A MANGA CHARACTER, SENPAI!", Takeru screamed in excitement. "Wow... With a senpai like this, I'll probably never have to fight!"
Yoshikawa Yoru's unique ability, Fortune, allows him to know what another person is about to do through a sentence that can appear anywhere on his body. He can choose where the sentence appears.
He can choose the type of fortune he gets. He could ask for what sort of attack his opponent is going to do next and he could also ask for where an opponent is running to. However, if he chooses the wrong type of fortune to get, there will be a consequence. If he asks for the next attack of his opponent and the opponent runs away instead, he will receive no fortune and will obtain a 10 minute cooldown to his ability instead of the regular 1 minute.
Yoru slowly walked up the alternate making it cower in fear having realized the gap in power. "What are you, human?", The alternate asked.
"I'm your mirror.", Yoru replied. He looked at the alternate's face and hands and saw that it still wasn't done regenerating. "You must actually be a weak one. That's perfect, my kohai over there needs some practice."
Yoru grabbed the alternate by the neck, picked it up and faced it towards Takeru. Takeru was confused. "Just kill it already, senpai.", He asked.
"No, Ichino-kun. This alternate right here shall be your training dummy."
"Huh!?", Takeru and the alternate both shouted.