9 - Forward Interception

In Shibuya, the district known by many as the heart of Tokyo, was the most important construction for any soulful - the headquarters of the GSC.

Within the massive glass-and-cement building was a history of many fortunate and fruitless decisions, heated debates and unquestionable compromises, and diplomatic wars between opposing sides. One of its walls was decorated with its symbol - a hexagon with a small even-sided cross in the middle. Its motto was also carved beneath it, spelling ‘Salvation of mankind, Beneath a soulful sky.’

The soulful geopolitical world was filled with conflict, hatred and desire to conquer. Many factions wished to destabilize one another for their personal goals. On this fateful day, a meeting was going to occur, visited by soulfuls, politicians, activists and even stronghold representatives. Everyone wanted an answer.

Hayk would be attacked on sight and, despite his own strength, he would eventually get overpowered had he decided to attend the meeting himself, so he needed a constant stream of information regarding the coalition in order to craft his own game plan. Something like a disciple of his who would be welcome there as a powerful and promising soulful eligible to join the elemental group. Here, in Shibuya, a single teen and his deceptive skills were the key piece in their survival.

The fate of so many depended on...

“Wait...what was my security PIN again?” Oskar asked himself in panic, preparing to enter the building. He was holding up the queue behind him.

“Oi, hurry up!” An upset voice said from behind, with another voice from further back yelling unintelligible gibberish.

“Shit...dammit...” Oskar began slowly losing his composure. He reached into his wallet. “I have it written somewhere here.”

“What’s wrong?” Another voice said from behind. Oskar turned around and almost gasped. Diego calmly put his hand on Oskar’s shoulder, leaning in. “Oh, it’s you!” He exclaimed with excitement.

“Yeah, I’m sorry, Mr. Diego...I can’t remember my passcode, I think I’m still hungover...” Oskar replied, making sure his voice was slow and wavering in tone.

“I see. Just pass with me.” Diego said, grabbing him by his arm and dragging him along. “You guys surprise me. How do you get shitfaced at 17?”

“I was pretty surprised too...” Oskar laughed.

“He saved me.”

“I was lucky enough to have planted some seeds beforehand. He already saw me say some crazy things that are in line with his ideologies during other meetings.”

While Oskar was treading on millimeter-thin ice, in the gym, or, right now, the control center, anxiety was through the roof.

“Five minutes in and this boy’s already giving me a heart attack.” Hayk said, listening to the audio.

“He’ll be fine.” Tsunehiro assured him. “Let’s just not overthink it and thank the higher powers for whatever insane luck he has.”

“You’re right. He got lucky.” Hayk said. “He’s next to the big fish himself. It’s the perfect opportunity for him to-”

“Sorry, Mr. Diego...will Mr. Hwang attend the meeting too? I’d like to have a few words with him.” Oskar said, sounding rather confident. He and Diego were walking along the crowded hallway of the building which led to the main conference room. Diego was enjoying greetings and praise from most of the people around, but Oskar’s question caught him off guard.

“Huh? No, Hwang’s busy right now getting drunk and boasting his ass off in Ikebukuro. He talked to the host of the comedy show there and made everything about himself.” Diego replied. “Why, what’s this secret conversation you plan?”

“Ah, it’s really nothing. Just wanted to get a few questions off of him regarding the school incident. Y’know, I wanna make a buck doing interviews with soulfuls. Gotta play the media game.” Oskar said, laughing a little.

“That’s genius. Getting your rep up, getting people to know you.” Diego said. “You know, being an actor for so long taught me that you also gotta be a businessman. Sometimes even more than an actor.”

“Hah, that’s true...”

“Say, when do you think you’ll be ready to join us full time?” Diego asked. “If you apply now I’ll make sure to vouch for you, and let me tell ya, my word has a lot of influence. You’ll get accepted for sure.”

“I still need to think over things. I want to do big stuff, you know?” Oskar said. “I can’t get involved instantly, I need to warm up...the people need to want me to be with you first, and once we drop the big announcement, everyone’s gonna love it.”

“You’re a damn genius.” Diego laughed at the response, patting him on the back. “Smarter than some of the dumbasses I work with at least.”

“Doing good so far.” Hayk said, staring at his laptop alongside the others. The screen projected a map of the city with multiple moving dots on it. He made a quick phone call, letting Kouta know the details of what he and his friend have to do.

“Huh? Mr. Diego?” Oskar said, sounding slightly worried now. Internally, his entire world was collapsing. “Since when did they put a metal detector gate by the conference room? Did the bomb paranoia get to them?”

”I guess so?” Diego replied, also a bit confused. “Don’t tell me you’re scared.”

“Of a gate? I’m not scared of drinking laws, let alone this stuff.” Oskar replied, awkwardly laughing.

“Fucking damn it...fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck....!!!”

“How am I gonna get the wire through?!”

Oskar stepped closer to the gate. In front of him, Diego passed through. The gate started screaming at him, with its sirens roaring loudly across the hallways, but no one seemed to care. Perhaps when someone has that much authority, security measures are ignored.

Oskar on the other hand was faced with a tough challenge. Once more, a queue was starting to form behind him. If he was late, there were no more excuses now - he’d be shoved into the gate and searched. Diego stopped by the doors, waiting for him. He slowly exhaled, and stepped forward. Over in Harajuku, Hayk was gripping his hair, waiting in pure panic. Tsunehiro was already suggesting the option of direct intervention and a potential rescue operation.

“I could try to disable the gate by running a strong enough current through it, but...he knows about my soul expression, right? And my soul presence will spike...”

“Calm down, Oskar.”

“Read the presence in the atmosphere. Match your soul expression output to the same level.”

“What you have to do right now, Oskar, is to remember physics.” Hayk said to himself, biting on his nails. “Gates like this work based on magnetic fields. Create an opposite field and it’ll cancel it out.”

“His soul presence will be a dead giveaway if he attempts something like that.” Rin commented.

“And it’ll be virtually impossible for him to pinpoint the exact field configuration.” Tsunehiro said. “You might as well pack up. There’s no-”

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“What the hell are you doing?!?!”

Oskar walked through the gate.

The detectors immediately sounded off, and a pair of guards approached him. Diego turned around, watching him in slight shock. Oskar quickly held his hand up, in which he held a small metal flask.

“Sorry, Mr. Diego,” Oskar said, smiling. “I really don’t fear the drinking laws.”

“That’s my-!” Diego yelled, before pausing and bursting into laughter. It looked as if a flame was ignited in his heart and eyes. “You little gremlin!” He said, grabbing Oskar by his uniform and dragging him along into the meeting room. The guards that were preparing the search were left dumbfounded.

“We definitely need someone like you on the team. Especially since we couldn’t get that damn girl to sign with us...” Diego finally calmed down. “Alcoholic hustler. You’d put on a show for everyone.” He reached into his pocket, grabbed a pill and tossed it into his mouth.

“I’m sorry, what did you just take?” Oskar asked.

“Mint candy.” Diego smiled. “Gotta keep myself fresh, you know?”

“Right.” Oskar hesitantly replied. “Anyways, I think my seat is-”

“Fuck your seat.” Diego interrupted him. “You’ll be sitting next to me, you gremlin. Hwang’s gone anyways, he won’t make it in time for sure. As we speak, he’s probably trying to feel good about himself by laying pipe on a rich lady.”

“It’d be an honor to sit next to you.” Oskar responded with a smile.

“Cut the formality.” Diego almost commanded, taking a seat. He had a seat in the inner semicircle, which was for more renowned and well recognized soulfuls. The other semicircles were for all the other soulfuls that were registered in the GSC, and the faraway ones were for soulless guests. They were split into two sections, with a red carpet and the path to the entrance separating the two crescents - similar to a slightly compressed version of a regular parliament room.

Facing everyone was a podium, with a large seat and a smaller seat next to it. Below it, there was a stand with a microphone. Diego came up to his seat, and invited Oskar to sit right next to him.

“Oi, Diego...who is this?” Luca asked, approaching him and sitting to his other side.

“It’s disrespectful to forget people, you know? I love this guy.” Diego replied. As time went on, more and more soulfuls gathered. It was common etiquette to not flare your soul presence in public spaces, and everyone suppressed their presence to a set level. No one had their weapons in their hands, and everything felt...civilized.

“Besides, I gotta have someone next to me besides you, Luca.” Diego said. “William is training who knows where, and Ichigo’s finally taking a day off.”

“This boy...is gonna give me a heart attack.” Hayk said, holding his head. Suddenly, a signal went off on the laptop. One of the moving dots suddenly stopped and flashed on the screen.

“What is it?” Tsunehiro asked. “Is it Ichika?”

“Yes it is. They’re fighting one of them right now...it’s one of the two remaining ones, or both. I’m heading out.”

“That is, if what Diego said is a lie.”

“If it’s the truth...”

“Is there an external threat?”

He rushed out of the gym.

“I’ll handle Oskar’s comms for now.” Tsunehiro said, sitting right in front of the laptop.

The conference room had already managed to devolve into chaos. Yells regarding the bombing, countless insults thrown at the school incident and many other soulful affairs. It was mostly the soulless people causing ruckus, and they were lucky that if Diego were allowed to incinerate them to ashes, he would do so in an instant. Eventually, a man entered the scene.

His presence wasn’t different at all from the others. He had a friendly smile on, slowly approaching his lavish seat in front of everyone. Next to him was a shorter man with glasses and black hair. The man approached his microphone, but no one in the hall seemed to care. Oskar’s eyes, however, were glued to him in fear. The chaos lasted until...

“Soulfuls...”

All of the soulfuls instantly fell silent. A single soul presence was slightly higher than everyone else’s - just high enough to be felt by the soulfuls present. The man behind it was the leader of the GSC - Kaito Kamiki. A man respected by some, hated by many, and feared by all.

He had a good build and solid posture. His hair was dark and parted in the middle, his eyes were a deep abyssal blue and enchanted with a soulful glint. His skin was clear, his face was symmetrical, he had a defined jawline and his gaze was that of superiority and control. His soul presence felt almost divine. His outfit was similar to that of the elementals and even the Heisei, but it was completely white, only decorated with small black markings here and there. It had the GSC’s logo on its back.

“It is to my pity that the core discussion of today’s meeting is a rather sorrowful set of events.” Kaito spoke in a calm and calculated manner. “Even our associates in America, as well as the many allies in the strongholds, are alert.”

“Mr. Kamiki!” Diego said, his voice filled with enthusiasm. “Have we found out who's behind the bombing? Come on man, please tell me you have!”

“Patience, Diego.” Kaito replied. “I will reveal the information in an orderly manner.”

“An altercation between soulfuls that are associated with Hayk Nakama, a soulful figure acting outside of the GSC, and the elemental group’s Matteo Rosso left the latter deceased. I extend my deepest condolences to the group, and sing a prayer in the name of the justice that is to prevail.” Kaito continued. His voice had a pacifying effect on the soulfuls, perhaps a result of his status. He looked at Diego once again.

“The act of terror is believed to be an act of violence tracing back to Hayk Nakama, a payback for the altercation and the school incident. Diego, I do believe that you know best the details of the roots of this conflict.”

“What details? They killed my brother.” Luca said, almost holding back tears. He clenched his fists. “Hayk’s dogs killed my fucking brother. There are no details, there is only war!” He suddenly flinched, feeling a sharp burning sensation on his cheek. He turned to see Diego, who had a very displeased face.

“The question was referred to me.” Diego coldly said, before turning to face Kaito again and standing up. “It’s all because of the girl that everything escalated. They made it their message to tarnish our reputation and even kill one of us. As much as I disprove this idiot’s wording, I have to agree. This is war.”

“You would have to remember who you are fighting against. Hayk’s group is strong, and, in the worst case scenario, he might have external support, which would explain these bold acts of his.” Kaito calmly replied.

“I will assign the Heisei to aid you in a definitive operation to take them down.” Kaito said, taking a deep breath.

“Damn it...” Tsunehiro said, resting his head on his elbows. “It’s over for us. Even if Hayk is strong, he’s not strong enough to fight all of them at once and protect us...”

“It’s not over yet.” Rin said, leaning closer to the speakers connected to the laptop.

“It is. The Heisei’s in-”

“Just listen.” Rin said. Hope sparked once more in her eyes. “Oskar has a chance. Right now.”

“What Heisei?” Luca said. “If they killed us, we must kill them! It’s about honor!”

“It’s not just about honor.” Oskar said, suddenly standing up. “Please, allow me to give a more c-c-concrete explanation.”

“Oh?” Kaito seemed interested in the new speaker.

“The elemental group...uhh...they have their own PR to protect. They’re the face of the GSC, not the Heisei, they may not be necessarily stronger but they are what n-n-n-non soulfuls see! I’m making sense, right?”

“Go on.” Kaito said.

“So uhh...if we let the elemental group carry out their duties and take Hayk Nakama’s group head-on, they will recover their face! The people will trust them, they’ll trust what they see and what is popular, and good balance will be maintained! It will become a story and people love stories where heroes win!”

“I see...” Kaito sighed.

“You’re trying way too hard.”

“You said something about external factions, right? Why not let the Heisei deal with them, while you regain the trust of the soulless in you by giving the elementals their revenge?” Oskar said. He was sweating, and his soul presence was slightly elevated.

“That’s a fair argument.” Kaito said. “Could you state who you are again?”

“You’re Hayk’s last hope and proof of his despair. But at least you gave me a few ideas.”

“I am Oskar Weber...I am, the...uhh...the newest applicant to the elemental group!” Oskar said, immediately looking at Diego. His heartbeat was through the roof. “I’ll be a member soon!”

“You never applied, but...” Diego said, at first confused, but later excited. “Hell, I’ll get you into the team. Besides, taking on Hayk’s lap dogs sounds like a fun time. Might need you on the team too.”

“A good opportunity to just let go.”

“And burn with no hesitation...”

“You’re prioritizing reputation over efficiency? Who do you think you are?!” A voice exclaimed from the back rows.

“Well...”

Kaito went on to pacify the alert soulless activists. It took him a while, and at some point, he was close to giving up and ending the meeting altogether, he couldn’t get his points across. There were many things that made sense but he couldn’t say. It was a miracle how he controlled himself in that environment.

But hey, at least Hayk had a reason to celebrate.