Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

 "Well..well..well.." the man snarled. "Marino Masanori. I've heard a lot about you, you know. How you supposedly killed Takashi. He was a weakling, if you did kill him."

 Marino glared at him. "Who are you?"

 The man chuckled to himself. "You're right. I haven't properly introduced myself. My name is Hyoko Midoaka. I'm-"

 "I don't care what you've done. All I asked for was your name," Marino intoned. Noda placed a hand on his shoulder, shaking her head. "Marino, you don't understand. This man is dangerous."

 "Oh, is he now?" Marino rushed toward him, slamming his most powerful attack into his body. Smoke rose up around him, and when the smoke cleared…

 The man was still standing, holding Marino's fist in one hand. "Is that how a guest treats a host? Come now, Marino." Hyoko slapped his palm against Marino's chest. Luckily, Marino had put Uemura down, so when he smashed against the door to the building, the only things that broke were some of Marino's arm and leg bones. Hyoko chuckled again. "I'll let you leave. Just know, Marino, I will return. And I hope to see that you have grown in character." Hyoko flicked his hand, and the doors opened, allowing for Marino to be dragged out by Noda and Uyeno, Uemura following behind.

———————

 "You're a dumbass, you know that?" Noda uttered. It'd been a few hours since Marino tried to attack Hyoko and obviously failed, and Marino was still hurting. "Yeah, I get it, I get it…" Marino answered. Noda had been able to heal some of his bones with the same trick she'd used on Uyeno, but some of his bones were still broken. The expert healers at the Sanctuary had determined that some of his bones would never heal. All of these bones were in his right forearm. He was considering going through rehabilitation, but he ultimately decided against it. Uemura was constantly worried about Marino, checking on him every few minutes, but she'd given him and Noda some time alone. Surprisingly, Hyoko had also let Kasumi escape the complex, and she was on her way to the Sanctuary, where she would attempt to train her abilities.

———————

 Kasumi was sitting in front of a box, filled to the brim with mechanical parts. It was confusing to almost everyone-except her. She twisted her hand, and the parts rearranged themselves into an air purifier. It looked weird and very mechanical, but she knew exactly what it did, down to the last nail. She sighed, breathing out after holding her breath for a while. Uyeno watched from a corner. He felt weird being alive, but then, he'd lived 501 years. He had an amazing memory and could remember exactly what he was doing at her age. He ought to make a diary about himself sometime.

———————

 Matsushima pounded at the punching bag. This was the only one that could resist his blows, and it was filled with titanium. Matsushima had unnatural strength and a desire to destroy evil in the world, including Takashi if he was still alive. He'd been told about Hyoko, and even had some information built up on him:

 Hyoko Midoaka was his full name. His Awakening had something to do with a type of matter Matsushima didn't know existed — dark matter. It was what made up celestial objects, supposedly; but nobody really knew anything about it to talk much. Matsushima kept punching through the bag, ripping a hole in the titanium. He growled and crushed a piece of titanium in his giant hand.

———————

 After a few days of recovering, Marino was able to walk around a bit. The expert healers were right—Marino's right forearm would never heal, meaning his arm was kind of useless, but Marino found a way to constantly generate a shield surrounding it so he could still use it properly. It hurt like hell whenever he did, but it still worked. At the moment, however, Marino and the others, excluding Uyeno, were in a meeting to discuss Hyoko Midoaka. Matsushima had brought his files with him. After trying to determine what Dark Matter was, Kasumi spoke up, explaining that dark matter was an extremely powerful force of energy that destroyed anything in its path. Kasumi looked in Marino's direction as she said this, visually scolding him for going up (or trying and failing) against Hyoko, although she wasn't there to see him embarrass himself. Noda smirked. She liked Kasumi so far. Although, sometimes she would catch Kasumi stealing glances at Marino as if she wanted something. Noda didn't know why, but it kind of bothered her.

Right.

Back to the meeting.

 Marino described that when Hyoko had pushed him, Hyoko had left a mark that had drawn blood. Hyoko was extremely strong, power-wise and strength-wise. Now, they had to know just what kind of tricks he had up his sleeve: they listed his forces of over ten thousand soldiers, both with and without Awakenings. Some of these soldiers were stronger than others. They also listed his known powers: an ability to shift matter itself. Whether that applied to human beings or not, Kasumi didn't know, but she said not to rule it out. "We should never underestimate the enemy, even if we have not yet battled them physically," Matsushima added. Uyeno had joined the meeting after about an hour of outing. "If Hyoko can shift matter," Uyeno asked, "why would we be asking if humans are involved? They are made of matter, are they not? Obviously they are. So let us say, for now, that he can both shift and destroy human beings by thinking it. What else can he do?" Kasumi answered by saying, "I've seen him move at inhuman speeds. He's much faster than anything I've ever laid eyes upon."