It's time

By the time they reached the base, it was sunset. Father immediately burst into the living room. There were loads of people, Kotori-chan, Nobuhiko, Cecilia, Takehiro, Kouta-kun, Akari-chan - wait- Lila paused when she saw the last three.

She rushed past the crowd and saw her mother healing a man with midnight blue hair in the center. "Mikami-kun!"

"Soichiro-san found him." Rinna stepped into the room. "Then told us to escape quickly."

At those words, she felt the blood from her face drain. That moron! She told him to stay put. What on earth was he thinking? This is bad; Sophia's side now has Zane and Soichiro. Soichiro will not allow people to experiment on him, but he won't be able to hold out for long.

"This is bad," Kiryu muttered. "There is a reason why Soichiro is the underworld King. His powers rival Zane."

"Sophia knows. She made an offer towards him before." Haruka entered the room. He seemed slightly calmer. Lila noticed he held a substance in his hand.

"Hey, is that-"

"I tested it, it works. This should return the infected to normal. However, singing will have the same effect. Some are too far gone. This will help with any lasting side effects too."

"A spec of light under darkness. You're a genius." Nobuhiko exclaimed.

Haruka rolled his eyes and then tossed something towards Kiryu, who caught it.

"You take that."

To her surprise, Kiryu didn't hesitate to drink it. A bright light surrounded him, and ,his bright red eyes turned to normal in the next second. His hair became slightly shorter again. He looked just like a normal person.

"This is, how did you-"

Haruka swayed, and she immediately caught him. Lila rolled up his sleeves, and her eyes widened. Did she use himself as a test subject?

"Kiryu should be okay, and so will the infected. Lila yours, I'm done more or less. But there is just one thing I need-"

"The energy from the sphere?" Kiryu finished.

"Yeah, it won't work unless we use that."

"The final battle." She hears her mother speak up. "We should get ready and make the final preparations. If we delay it, Sophia will find a way to use Soichiro-kun, and we will have more problems. We cannot afford to wait. Lila-chan, the assembly should be ready anytime, right?"

"Ah yes."

For the last two months and a half, she worked hard to make sure they would be ready anytime.

"I will head over and finalize the rest of the details. Once Mikami-kun is healed, bring him to the tower. Ray will open,"

"But mother shouldn't he-"

"I'm okay, and I have to sing." Mikami weakly got up. He extended his hand out, and she rushed over. The moment he did, he slipped an earring on her ear. "I was looking for the key, but this too. This is Kasumi's; she has the other one."

Now that she thought about it, it was around before she left New york. She caught Kasumi choosing accessories for their next show and saw she picked one earring.

"This has special properties. If you sing, she will be able to hear you. I wanted to get that because it would help prevent you from collapsing if you're connected."

So Mikami-kun wasn't being emotional? At those words, he patted her hair.

"The three of us in Ray will show you the best opening ever using the song you created for us. That's why you have to stay safe and hold out until Kasumi-chan and Kira Maaya comes."

That's right; it's not just Kasumi but Maaya-chan too. According to what Rikka-chan told her, Maaya-chan was the one who helped her escape.

'I don't know if she got captured after, but I feel that Sophia does not consider her a threat. If that is the case, the chances are higher that she let her go.'

She has to do her best; everybody is counting on her. Her thoughts broke off when Father went past her and wrapped his cloak around mother. He grabbed hold of her hands and inspected them carefully.

Sumire laughed. "I'm not hurt."

But father hugged her tightly nonetheless. For a moment, she saw it, something she had neglected to see this entire time. These two people, her parents, who everybody feared and stood at the top of the hanyou society, looked so fragile and weak as they held each other tightly.

The others in the room must have sensed the atmosphere and quickly left. Lila lingered for a moment, and so did Haruka, who was staring intently at her mother.

Father turned around and glared. "What do you want with my wife?"

"Yuhi-san, you're frightening- nothing, I don't want anything."

"That's strange even though she is so cute and lovely-"

Mother immediately covered his mouth and pouted. "Yuhi-san, stop flirting with me in front of the children. What are you teaching them?"

"I told you before; they could learn a thing or two."

"Did you need me for something, Haruka-kun?"

"Your shortened life spam. I-" Haruka took out another bottle from his coat. "I do not know for sure if this will fix it. But it should help. Normally it is impossible to recover your life spam. But Lucifer helped you. Because of that, I was able to work something out."

"Haruka-kun, you didn't have to-" Mother did not finish her sentence since Haruka kneeled on the ground.

Her eyes widened. She was about to stop him, but her father told her to just watch.

"I have to apologize for my behavior this entire time. I was just searching for a place, for a person to vent my anger too. Mother told me the truth. Father wanted to take me, no take us with him to Japan. 'I selfishly told him to choose, Sumire or me? I said I wouldn't hand you over. I was the one being stubborn. But when I saw how hard you worked to protect me and how you got angry at him for my sake, I felt guilty and then abandoned you.'"

Yes, this is the story she knows very well. This was one of the reasons why she disliked Haruka's mother. How could she deceive her child like that? She suddenly felt guilty and then abandoned him? That should have been when she protected Haruka or at least handed Haruka back over to Ren-san.

She would have met him a lot sooner if she did, and he would not have experienced those things. There were so many events that would not have happened.