12 - The Central Element

“Somewhere...”

“It must be somewhere here...”

Kaito was back in Tokyo, in the GSC headquarters. What brought him and his family back there wasn’t the weather or the food, but the archives located at the lower basements of the complex.

They contained many types of manuscripts and books, ranging from medieval ritualistic writings to modern philosophy. They acted more as a personal playground for whatever employee or member wanted to spend their time reading some books. But those with special access could gain access to the more confidential areas, which, aside from boring documents and reports, contained special writings on the topic of soulfuls.

Research done on soulfuls, research on divine acclamations, and research of the many effects of being a soulful on the human body and psyche, all neatly organized and ready to be devoured by the likes of Kaito. And Kaito had an especially large appetite that day.

He rampaged through the archives, looking through books upon books, trying to find an answer. He remembered the strange visions and the unusual effects he experienced, and he searched even faster. His mindscape was an amalgamation, partially overloaded by just the idea of what he would unleash upon the world. And yet, at the same, his physical body looked as if it was corrupted by divinity. The white on his chest expanded even more.

“Maybe someone took them? No, not a chance.”

“They wouldn’t know about the visions.”

“And the dreams.”

“All I see is that shape. All I am forced to think about, as if someone is screaming it into my ears, is that shape. It’s the only lead I have.”

“There it is.” Kaito grabbed an old brown book from one of the shelves. It had no title and it didn’t even have a first page. It looked like a bunch of documents compiled into a book format and given away as a gift.

Kaito grabbed the item and left the basement. He went through rows of guards and security systems, the guards saluting him eagerly and the systems not even daring to make a sound in his presence. Despite the warm environment, Kaito was stressed out. He quickly went to the elevator, tightly holding onto the book.

“Seven.”

“Six and one.”

“It has to mean something.”

“The hexagon was drawn first, and then the cross in the middle.”

Kaito looked around in the elevator like he was trying to find an invisible spider. Floor after floor the small red number on the number pad increased, eventually reaching one of the higher floors where his office was. Kaito quickly rushed there, opened the door and tossed the book on his desk.

“Everything has a meaning.” Kaito said. “Every single thing. It has a deeper meaning than what others can see.”

He quickly set up a whiteboard next to his desk and started drawing that very same shape on it with a red marker.

“Is it connected to me or something else?”

“Fuck...”

“The only thing I can do is think.”

“Think.”

“Think.”

“Just think.”

“The middle is the central element. It is in my possession. But what about the sides?”

“How do I utilize the central element? Will utilizing it trigger the event?!”

“Unless-”

“Excuse me, Mr. Kamiki?” Miyuki asked, knocking on the door and entering. “There, uhh...appears to be a small inconvenience.”

“What?” Kaito asked roughly, almost yelling at the poor assistant. “Miyuki, unless someone died, you don’t come anywhere fucking close to me!”

Miyuki was shocked and even scared. Kaito acknowledged it and quickly took a deep breath.

“I apologize, Miyuki. You caught me at a rather stressful moment.” He said, now in a much calmer voice. “What is the matter?”

“It’s about your son.” Miyuki said.

“What about him?” Kaito asked. Internally, he was scared beyond saving. His fingers twitched a little and he even sweated.

“Well, he appears to be struggling a little academically.” Miyuki explained. “He needs some help with his homework. The constant moving during the war might have taken its toll on his academic prowess.”

“That’s it?” Kaito asked, relieved. “Sure. Bring him here, I’ll see what he's struggling with.”

“Will do.” Miyuki said.

Watching him leave, Kaito once again glanced at his whiteboard.

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“No, if anything, the central element needs to be utilized last, right? Is that what it meant?”

“Everything has its meaning. Everything-”

He heard the phone on his desk call. Snapping out of his thoughtful state, he picked it up.

“What is it?”

“Mr. Kamiki, preparing a search and rescue operation to locate Yumichi Hanasaki.”

“Inform me about the details, captain.” Kaito ordered, responding to Jian’s report.

“Utilizing the full Heisei division except for two agents stationed in Poznan. Searching through areas with recently reported soulful activity.”

“Status report on the Heisei’s combat readiness?”

“All participants are ready.”

“Status report on Sakuto Hitori?”

“Ready for combat. Appears to be at his best fighting form.”

“Very good.” Kaito said. He looked over at the entrance to his office, where Miyuki was standing next to Hiroshi. The kid seemed to be rather ashamed, a fourteen-year-old is kind of expected to be capable of mathematics especially if he had the chance to learn at the best schools with the best tutors. But no judgement here. He was also a little scared, as he heard his father lash out on Miyuki just then.

“Greenlighting the operation.” Kaito said, hanging up. “Over and out.”

“Dad, I’m sorry, but...I don’t understand any of this stuff.” Hiroshi said.

“Why are you sorry? It’s alright to not understand a subject.” Kaito stood up and approached him. “What’s causing you problems?”

“Here, it’s this sheet.” Hiroshi said, handing his adoptive father the paper with a lot of numerical nonsense printed on it. “It’s about functions.”

“Functions? Let me see.” Kaito observed the paper. “Hmm...finding the vertex point...determining the domain...right, this is all pretty simple. Come, I can explain it to you.”

Kaito headed over to his desk, and Hiroshi followed him.

“Did the tutors not manage to explain it to you?” Kaito asked.

“Not...exactly.” Hiroshi replied.

“What do you mean?” Kaito stopped for a bit. They were close enough to the desk for Kaito to put the notes down on the desk. “They’re...not doing their job?”

“No, it’s...it’s different. Dad, I didn’t just want to practice math with you. I also wanted to spend some time with you. You’re busy all the time and we spend most of our time separately.”

“Ah, is that so?” Kaito asked, a bit surprised. “Well, we could always spend some free time together. The issue is, things are very complicated right now.”

“I get it, but...I miss you, dad.” Hiroshi said.

“I’m sorry that’s the case.” Kaito said, looking at him. “Hey, why don’t we go out to see a movie one day? Or visit some type of sports event?”

At that moment, Horishi stood right in front of the whiteboard. Kaito watched him, and he looked like he wore the hexagon as a halo behind his head.

His arm twitched. It twitched so hard it struck the table and made a loud noise. It dragged itself across the table and up, pointing at Hiroshi, almost pulling Kaito along with itself and reaching for the kid. Parts of his hand become pure white.

“God damn it...it’s happening again?”

He held his strange right arm with his still intact left arm, trying to hold it back. But the arm stretched itself towards Hiroshi like it was a rope leading to escaping death.

“D-dad?!” Hiroshi exclaimed.

“Miyuki, get him out of here!” Kaito yelled. Miyuki, although scared, quickly approached Hiroshi and escorted him out. The arm twitched more and more, slamming itself against the table. The white on his chest spread to his right arm, like veins popping out of the body, and started shaking and twitching it uncontrollably.

And worst of all, it tried to chase after Hiroshi. Kaito restrained it, but it was difficult. The moment Miyuki and Hiroshi left, he took action himself, and delivered a swift strike on his arm with his soul-bound weapon to slice it off. A few seconds later a brand new arm regenerated, this one finally being obedient.

Kaito quickly went outside. Miyuki and Hiroshi were waiting in horror, they likely heard the sound of something splattering on the ground.

“Hey, Hiroshi...”

“First it was the bleeding...” He complained, sounding scared and lost. “Now this? Dad, what’s...what’s going on with you?”

“Miyuki.” Kaito glared at his assistant, and the latter quickly understood that he needed to leave.

“Hiroshi, things are very difficult right now.” Kaito said, getting on his knee and putting his hands on his son’s shoulders. “I want you to listen to what I’m about to say, okay?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m sick.” Kaito said. “There’s a strange type of illness that I have. It’s likely a result of me being constantly under stress, and my soul expression messing it up...not even I know what it really is. But things like these happen.”

“But, if you’re stressed, does that mean...”

“Yes, it does mean that if I stop being under such stress, my condition might get better.” Kaito said. “But unfortunately there are some things that must simply remain the way they are. The responsibility that I shoulder is far too great to abandon due to personal problems. Do you understand?”

“Am I not important enough?” Hiroshi asked, raising his voice a little.

“No, Hiroshi. You are very important to me.” Kaito said, standing up and embracing him. “You are more important to me than anything.”

“I’m...I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way.” Hiroshi quickly apologized, understanding that he picked a slightly undesirable tone to talk to his father with.

“No, I understand your frustration completely. You have every right to be upset at me.” Kaito said. “I am not the ideal father. Someone like me has great difficulty managing everything going on.”

“Mhm...”

“Hiroshi.” Kaito said, letting go of the embrace. “I want you to wait for me a little bit. I’ll clean up my office and we can practice mathematics. And after that, we can go out and spend some time outside. What do you say?”

“That...that would be nice. But what about your arm?” Hiroshi asked.

“What about it?”

“Doesn’t it hurt?”

“No, it doesn’t. I took care of it.” Kaito said. “And even if it did, I wouldn’t care much.”

“Right, thanks. I’ll...I’ll go to the apartment for a bit, and I’ll come back.” Hiroshi said.

“Sounds good to me. Grab some snacks while you’re at it.” Kaito said, waving him goodbye and watching him walk away. He went back inside his office, looking at the chopped and bloody arm on the ground.

“What a gross sight. I’ll have to get this cleaned up.”

He got a little closer to the whiteboard and noticed that a lot of the blood was splashed on it.

“I still have no idea how fathering really works. But it does the job just fine.”

“And this incident might have just solved the riddle.” Kaito’s eyes were determined.

“As long as the central element is in my possession, everything is fine.”