Chapter 55

Thursday afternoon, at City B's main branch military headquarters.

Chi was enjoying her cup of tea, as she relaxes on her chair in her office.

*Sigh

"The job today was so much... It's all because of whatever it is out there..." Chi mumbled, "I hope Yukina and that guy can take care of it,"

Knock* knock*

Chi tilted her head towards the door, "I wonder who could it be at this hour," she thought, "come in!" She shouted.

As the door opened Chi's hand shook with shock as the people outside entered the room.

"Y... Yukina!? And you there... Umm," Chi said in a tensed tone.

"Yuji..." Yuji said in a tired voice, being carried by Yukina with his left arm hanging around her nape.

"I didn't think you'd come back this fast, or this injured!?" Chi said, "and I went through the trouble of sending you two lunch too,".

"We got your lunch on our way back," Yukina said, "we were hoping to talk with you as we eat,".

"Well don't just stand there!" Chi said setting up the chairs by her table, "come on, place your guy over here and sit over there yourself,".

"Thanks..." Yukina said, beginning to sound tired.

After they settled down on their seats, Yukina brought out the box of lunch from inside her mechanical bag.

"here, take some regen chems," Chi said, handing both of them a green bottle filled with fuzzy liquid.

"what's this?" Yuji asked.

"they're regeneration chemicals, they help ease your muscles and increase your bodies recovery rate, they usually use this mostly for the military, so I'm not surprised you don't know,"

"I see, thanks,"

They both then chugged the whole bottle empty.

"So? What happened out there? were there that many?" Chi said, "I bet this guy ended up holding you back, didn't he?" She said in a teasing tone.

Yuji scowled.

Chi let out a big laugh, "this is great! Hahaha! You don't have the energy to fight back but can't help but be irritated, huh?" She said as she kept teasing Yuji.

"Uugghh," Yuji groaned.

"Let him have a break," Yukina said, "he didn't hold me back at all, in fact, he saved me some trouble a bunch of times,"

"Hmm, I see," Chi said, locking eyes with Yuji, filled with doubt.

"I said give him a break..." Yukina said.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm just teasing," Chi said, "so tell me, what happened?" being serious.

"It was worse than we thought," Yukina said.

"Were there so many?" Chi asked.

"There was, but that didn't bother both of us," Yukina said, "the fact that those numbers suddenly started acting coordinately was the huge problem,".

"Coordinately!?" Chi said in shock, "don't tell me..."

"It was one of the unnamed upper A class that was found not too long ago," Yukina said, "we chased it hoping to eliminate it on the spot, then suddenly a horde of Akumas came from all directions, we could have handled them, but the Akumas were in sync hiding the upper A class among them, we decided to retreat after realizing the danger..."

"The archdemon candidate that can control Akumas on the area, and has intelligence on par with a tactician," Chi said, "that's quite troublesome... It almost has the same ability as King..."

"King?" Yuji thought, "if I remember correctly that name was listed on one of the archdemons,"

"Not just one of the archdemons..." Alicia said, "it's the strongest one that's there too... At least in our knowledge,".

"A... Alicia," Yuji thought, "I thought you were recovering?"

"I pretty much recovered enough, that battle took a lot from you but there's still some reserve in me, I wonder if I can actually transfer you that..." Alicia said.

"That would be pretty awesome if you could," Yuji thought.

"Hold on, let me dive into my memory and think, there may be something I studied about that can help," Alicia said.

"You seem pretty confident in your knowledge," Yuji thought.

"Yuji, you have no idea what I'm capable of," she said in a smug tone.

"I can definitely picture your smug face in my head, it's disturbing," Yuji thought.

Alicia let out a small laugh, "well, I'll be driving off for now," she said.

And so, she disappeared.

"Yuji?" Yukina said in a concerned manner, "are you ok?"

"You've been staring off into space this whole time," Chi said.

"Eh? Umm, sorry," Yuji said in a nervous tone, "crap, I let my guard down!" He thought.

"This is nothing," Yuji said, "I think I'm just pretty tired, I got a little overwhelmed testing my new ability and all,"

Yukina tensed up, as Yuji notices Yukina's reaction, realizing he made a slip of tongue.

"Hmm, I see," Chi said, "I forgot that you're still new to the ability you have now, you did use it to survive your past situation, but now that things have calmed down a bit for you, it's quite understandable for you to not know your current limit,".

"Thanks for understanding..." Yuji said.

"Still though," Chi said observing Yuji's body, "you seemed to have taken a bunch of damage, some of your clothes got ripped off too, did you try to take that thing down by yourselves?"

"Yes... We did," Yukina said sounding guilty, "it was my call, and it seems I made a mistake,"

"Well, I'm glad that the both of you made it back here safe with no bites," Chi said, "though when you get bitten your dead on the spot,".

The two of them stayed silent as they began eating their food.

"That right, get your energy back up," Chi said, smiling brightly at them.

"You're like a mother," Yukina said.

Chi pouted, "I like the term wife better," she said, "the two of us are almost the same age,"

"Yukina is seventeen, then you are?" Yuji said.

"She's in her twenties," Yukina said.

"I just turned twenty this year!" Chi said.

"I... I see," Yuji said, "she looks way younger though..." He thought.

"Anyway, what's our next move?" Yukina asked.

"Hm? You mean for the two of you?" Chi said, "you've done more than enough, I'm guessing from what you told me earlier, that you two almost died,".

Chi finishes her lunch, "you two are hereby relieved from your duty here on City B, I don't want to be responsible if I ever lose a City A soldier, much more if a friend,"

"But!" Yukina said, being tensed.

"Yukina..." Chi said in a serious tone, locking eyes with Yukina till she calmed down.

Chi let out a sigh, "don't worry, I'll do something about it as soon as I can, you can take my word for that," she said, "also, you're going to City A tomorrow afternoon right? You'll be relocated to the west side gate, where you two will be picked up, we'll be making it the temporary entrance and exit since it's on the opposite side of the issued place,"

Chi stood up and walked closer to Yukina, "it causes us so much trouble, so you can count on me to make a move on it fast,"

Yukina nodded, still looking quite hesitant

"Good… Now then, finish up your food and take a good rest!" Chi said energetically, "if you two still want to participate in the rank test in City A then you have to be fully rested,"

"I almost forgot!" Yukina said.

"Rank test?" Yuji asked.

"It usually serves as the recruit's entrance exam too!" Yukina said, "and there are four days left..."

"Then don't you have to fix him up by then?" Chi said.

"Your right... I guess three days to fix his papers there would be more than enough," Yukina said.

"Umm, what's going on?" Yuji said being confused.

"Well you see, the rank test is..."

And so, they all ate their food as Yukina and Chi explained what the rank test is all about.

"I see," Yuji said, showing signs of curiosity, "then I guess I need to hurry up and work on some things..."

"You do that, and I'll be fixing your paperwork in City A," Yukina said.

"Eh!? Is it ok for you to do that," Yuji said, sounding guilty, "is it something that I should do when we get there?"

"Some of it, yes, but I can handle all of it so it saves us some trouble," Yukina said.

"Are you sure? it's making me feel guilty here..." Yuji said.

"Don't be, I'm the one that brought you in so you my responsibility, this is pretty much normal," Yukina said, "I'm gonna need to ask you a bunch of questions though,"

Yuji nodded, "ah, our food is finished," he said.

Yukina took her one last spoon of lunch, "you're right...".

"Well then..." Chi said, standing up from her chair, "then I guess this is goodbye,"