Kenji
"Through here guys."
Kenji's boots made almost no sound on the pristine white pavement as he led the team through the central plaza. The architecture was beautiful, something he would expect from a Shicksal branch. It was a mix of large buildings and lush, interwoven flora. Manicured trees lined the wide walkways, their leaves rustling in the only sound he could hear.
There were no birds, no screaming, nothing. Just the hollow, lonely sound of the wind whistling between the silent, towering buildings.
Kiana moved up to walk beside him, her usual bounce completely gone. She held her pistols low, her eyes scanning every empty window.
"Creepy," she whispered, her voice too loud in the silence. "It's like a ghost ship. Where is everyone? I don't even see any signs of fighting."
"Good question," Kenji muttered, his gaze sweeping over the empty walkways. "It doesn't feel right."
Kiana glanced at him, her voice a low murmur. "So, that... Danger Sense of yours. Is it telling you if anything dangerous is up ahead? Are you getting that tingle?"
Kenji shook his head, his own gaze sweeping over the empty plaza. "No, my Danger Sense is completely quiet." He tapped his chest. "This pulling feeling is something else. If this is the Gem of Desire that I'm sensing, then my body must be absorbing its residual energy."
Before he could answer, Himeko's voice cut in. "Hold on a second, there. Kenji, mind explaining to me what 'Danger Sense' you're talking about?"
Kenji winced. He only realised now that he had told his teammates about Danger Sense, but had completely forgotten to tell Himeko or Theresa.
"Uh, yeah, about that," he stammered, rubbing the back of his neck as he started walking again. "It's... another part of my power. Basically, I have like this tingle in my brain that lets me sense anything harmful that's targeted towards me… haha."
There was a loaded silence on the comms. When Himeko's voice returned, she did not sound happy. "And you didn't mention this... precognitive ability... until now?"
"It's not fully precognitive! It just senses intent!" he defended weakly. "And uh… I forgot?"
He could practically feel Himeko pinching the bridge of her nose from her command chair on the Hyperion. "I don't think you understand the meaning of precognitive…. We'll talk about this later. Just... keep us updated. Mei, Bronya, what are your scans showing?"
Kenji glanced over his shoulder. Mei and Bronya were moving a few paces behind, a perfect rear guard. Mei had her hand resting on the hilt of her katana, her eyes scanning the empty building windows.
"Nothing, Himeko," Mei's voice came over the comms. "Everything is completely silent. I haven't seen even a hint of life."
"The Bronya concurs," Bronya added, her datapad active as she walked. "Scans detect no active Honkai signatures in the immediate vicinity. No zombies. No beasts."
Mei's voice was quiet, tense. "That's what makes it so unnerving."
Kenji couldn't agree more. The silence was almost as ominous as the screaming had been in Nagazora. He refocused on the cold point in his chest and started walking again. "This way. The pull is definitely coming from that main building."
/ — /
The team moved deeper into the silent facility, their formation tight. Kenji led the way, with Kiana at his side, while Mei and Bronya covered their rear. The vast, pristine plaza felt unnervingly exposed, flanked on all sides by towering white buildings whose empty windows felt like a thousand unseen eyes.
The only sound was the faint, rhythmic tapping of Bronya's datapad and the thumping of Kenji's own heart, which seemed to beat in time with the cold, pulling sensation in his chest.
"Alright, scans are getting a little clearer," Himeko's voice crackled in their ears, a welcome, human sound in the sterile quiet. "I'm picking up a faint energy signature consistent with the Gem's, somewhere to your east. Is this accurate with your... uh... feeling?"
Kenji glanced east, toward a massive, cylindrical building that formed the facility's core. "Yep, same direction," he confirmed, his voice low. "That's where the pull is strongest. We should be getting there soon."
They continued walking, every team member on high alert, and Kenji felt his shoulders bunching up around his ears. He forced himself to relax, rolling his neck.
"I hate this," Kiana muttered, her thumb nervously clicking the safety on her pistol. "I'd rather be fighting a Templar. At least then I'd know where to—"
"Enemies incoming!"
Kenji's warning warned with a shout. It came a fraction of a second after his Danger Sense peaked as a jolt through his skull.
"Contacts!" Bronya quickly confirms a split second later. "Multiple Honkai signatures, closing fast! Five Seraph-class, airborne!"
As if summoned by her words, shadows suddenly covered the area. Everyone dived out of the way as five Seraphs, their wings a blur, smashed into the pavement where the team had been standing.
The concrete plaza shattered, sending spiderwebs of cracks and sharp stone fragments flying through the air.
The team rolled to their feet, weapons already drawn.
"That's not all!" Kenji yelled, his eyes wide as he scanned the new arrivals emerging from the side streets, his Danger Sense painting a chaotic map of threats in his mind. "Two Chariots, ground level! And... two Scythe-wielding zombies, flanking us!"
The zombies were fast, not the shambling infected he was used to. They moved with an unnerving agility, their movements jerky and unnatural, rusted scythes held in a ready grip. The two Chariots behind them blocked the only exit, their heavy metal frames like walking tanks.
It was an ambush.
For a split second, the team locked eyes. No orders were needed. Their objective was clear.
"I'll take the fast one, you take the... other fast one!" Kiana yelled, already breaking formation. She didn't wait for a reply, launching herself directly at the zombie on the right.
Kenji was right behind her, veering left. "Mei, Bronya, you got the beasts!"
"You got it!" Mei yelled back as she and Bronya turned to face the Chariots and the circling Seraphs.
The fight was on.
Kiana, as always, was an aggressive beast. She shot a few times at the zombie, only to curse as it deflected the shots with its scythe. Her zombie charged and swiped at her with its scythe in a wide arc. She slid under the attack, her pistols already blazing.
The zombie staggered, but Kiana was faster. She dropped her guns, spun on her heel, and delivered a powerful kick that connected with a sickening crack.
The zombie was sent flying sideways, crashing into a nearby tree with enough force to snap its trunk. Before the creature could even begin to slump to the ground, Kiana had her pistols up again, firing ten shots that disintegrated its head into a fine mist of Honkai energy.
Kenji's fight was just as fast, but he decided to have some fun. 'These things are agile,' he thought, ducking under a vicious horizontal swipe from his own zombie.
The blade hissed over his head. He didn't waste the opening. He activated OFA, a low-level 25% and drove a precise jab straight into the zombie's stomach.
'No armor.'
The zombie let out a soundless scream, its body convulsing as it doubled over. It was fast, though. Even as it staggered, its scythe came swinging back up in a desperate counter-attack.
But Kenji was already moving. He dropped low, sweeping the creature's legs out from under it. As it lost its balance, he grabbed the front of its tattered uniform, using its own falling momentum to spin and hurl it high into the air.
"Kiana, heads up!"
Kiana, fresh off her own kill, looked up to see the airborne zombie tumbling at the apex of its arc. She grinned menacingly.
"Thanks for the target practice!"
She leaped onto a nearby bench for a better angle, already aiming her pistols. She didn't just shoot it, she juggled it in the air with gunfire, laughing maniacally as she did so.
Each shot was placed to keep it airborne until a final blast dissolved it into pink-black particles.
While they dealt with the zombies, Mei and Bronya handled the honkai beasts. Their style was the complete opposite of Kenji and Kiana's, less like a flashy dance and more of a brutal execution.
Mei moved first. She became a blur and her body low to the ground as she dashed toward the first Chariot. The beast raised its massive claws to slam down on her, but Mei was too fast. She ran straight up its arm, her katana drawn in a reverse grip.
The beast barely had time to register her presence before she reached its head. With a single fluid motion, she drove her blade through its core and out its back, splitting the monster's head and torso in two. She landed gracefully as the Chariot fell apart in two clean pieces behind her.
Landing, she spun, readying her blade as the five Seraphs shrieked and dove at her from above.
"Mei, don't move." Bronya's voice cut through the air.
Mei froze, trusting her teammate. Project Bunny 19C, which had been tracking the airborne targets, unleashed its payload.
A storm of blue energy blasts and micro-missiles erupted from its shoulder pods, filling the sky. The Seraphs were vaporized instantly, their shrieks cut short as they were blown into nothingness before they could even get close to Mei.
Bronya's cannons then pivoted. Project Bunny's main cannon charged for a split-second before firing a single concussive shell at the second Chariot, which was still lumbering forward. The shell struck its core, obliterating it in a massive, contained explosion.
The entire fight had taken less than thirty seconds.
The team regrouped in the center of the plaza, the silence rushing back in, now heavier than before.
Mei gave Bronya a grateful nod. "Thanks for the assist."
Bronya simply nodded back, Project Bunny dematerializing behind her. "It was the most efficient solution."
Kenji smirked, wiping a non-existent speck of dust from his shoulder as he walked over to Kiana. "Your aim's getting worse, you know. You missed a few shots on that zombie."
Kiana huffed, spinning her pistols before holstering them with a flourish. "Shut up! Unlike you, I like to give a little flair when I'm fighting. Not like you would know anything about flare." Kenji just laughed.
Himeko's voice crackled over the comms, sounding impressed. "Not bad, team. Scans are clear for now. Keep moving, Kenji. You're getting close."
/ — /
The adrenaline from the ambush faded as the team moved deeper into the facility, and the heavy, unnerving silence of the Oceania Branch returned to take its place.
Kenji refocused, tuning back into the cold, steady throb in his chest. It was stronger now, pulling him insistently toward the massive, cylindrical building that dominated the plaza.
Kiana was no longer joking, her pistols back in her hands as she scanned the silent architecture. "Creepy building," she muttered.
"Stay sharp," Mei cautioned, her hand never leaving the hilt of her katana.
Kenji led them across the rest of the plaza. The building's entrance wasn't a set of sliding glass doors like the others.
It was a pair of massive, reinforced blast doors, the kind you'd see in a military bunker.
'Why blast doors?' Kenji thought, his unease growing. 'What were they keeping in?'
He stopped just a few feet from the heavy steel. The "pull" was overwhelming now, no longer a simple throb but a deep ache.
It was as if something behind that metal wall was calling to him, a feeling that was both alien and deeply, profoundly familiar.
"Himeko," he said into his comms, his voice low. "It's here. Whatever I'm sensing, it's powerful... and it's right behind this door."
There was a pause, followed by the sound of Himeko cross-referencing her data. "Copy that, Kenji," she replied, her tone all business. "My scans confirm. The Gem's energy signature is localized directly at your position. That's the source. Be careful."
The team fanned out, forming a tactical semi-circle. Kiana aimed her pistols at the door, Mei stood in a ready stance, and Bronya's datapad was active, her gaze flicking between the door and her sensor readings. They were all expecting a boss fight.
Kenji took one last look at his team, then activated OFA and pushed the door apart. With a deep, metallic groan, the massive blast doors slowly slid apart, revealing the room within.
Kenji was braced for a lab, a reactor, or a monster. He was met with... sunlight. And the smell of fresh-cut grass.
He stepped back, his mind failing to process the sight. Kiana lowered her pistols. "That's pretty anticlimactic." She muttered.
It wasn't a lab. It wasn't a containment chamber. It was a vast, open-air courtyard, perfectly square and surrounded by the facility's towering white walls on all four sides. The ceiling was the open sky. The floor was a vast, perfectly manicured field of grass, perfectly green.
The pull in Kenji's chest hadn't stopped. It was just... calmer now. It was drawing his eyes to the very center of the field.
There, sitting in a simple wheelchair, was a single, motionless figure.
It was a young woman with dark, bluish hair that turned green at the ends, her back to them. She wore a simple white dress and just... sat there, staring at the horizon.
Kenji's Danger Sense was completely silent. He exchanged a look with Mei, who looked just as bewildered. He took the first, hesitant step onto the grass, his boots sinking slightly into the soft turf. The others followed, fanning out as they slowly advanced.
The sound of their footsteps felt like an intrusion, too loud in the peaceful quiet.
They were halfway across the field when the figure in the wheelchair flinched, as if sensing their presence.
Her head, which had been fixed on the horizon, began to turn slowly..
Her pale green eyes widened as they landed on the four intruders.
"Who are you?"