So they took her back to Ayanaki.
For the most part, since Genju and Dacchi fought her, they hadn't yet pieced together why Akira knew things she wasn't supposed to.
It was weird.
Creepy even, but they didn't want to question it. Instead, they made their way to the single, largest compound in all of Tokyo.
The heart of all 12 precincts:
The Ayanaki Order Headquarters.
Hinasuke's eyes twitched, watching the multiple Kenganamastu ranks completing single training drills under the guidance of multiple higher ranked fighters. His focus wasn't on them, but on the ranks that stared from the balcony.
Teammates. More specifically, rivals in the same rank he was.
The massive doors ahead slid open in all directions as the ever-expansive building unfolded into a enormous hexagon of technology, precision and impressive architecture.
Genju's broad frame flexed over to his side.
And as he had suspected, Akira didn't seem to be fazed.
He grumbled but said nothing. Something about this girl felt odd.
At the main entrance, where all members entered through a retinal scan hidden in the back, Genju and Dacchi went towards. Akira followed suit, which caught the eye of the receptionists.
"Has she ever been here before?" One murmured.
"I haven't seen her before. Since when did they start adding people without announcement?"
Hinasuke flexed his jawline as he pulled her back, "Stay. You're not a member yet."
Akira didn't fight. She was still hurting from his words earlier.
She slipped out his grasp, "Sure. Thanks."
"No prob."
[ "ACCESS GRANTED: WELCOME, BLACK MIST. WELCOME, TITANIC JUGGERNAUT." ]
Genju laughed as the doors from below them opened like a parting sea, "Haha, I love that name. Good choice, Dacchi."
Dacchi smirked as he jabbed the big man's shoulder, "Come on, you two. We're going down here."
...
The air smelled like sanitation and sterilized steel.
The tunnels were familiar.
She'd been here before. Just...she didn't remember what happened when she was.
Genju laughed as he watched two students battling a holographic image of himself out the window, "Dacchi, look! Cersi and Douma are trying to beat a fake version of myself!"
"Hologram, big guy. They know the real deal's too much to handle."
Akira smirked as she watched the students, their movements stirring up a hint of anticipation within her, "Seems like they're improving since the last time I sparred them."
Only the faint hum of the essence in the air laughed softly.
Dacchi looked over his shoulder, "Kid, where exactly did you say you came from?"
"I'm from here—"
"No, not that. You're not answering my question." He said stopping, "Where are you from?"
Her brows dug soft trenches, "I...I don't understand."
"Fine. Luckily I know just the person who might."
The hallway faded into a soft yellow mist, walls dissolving into a dying embers as they suddenly emerged in a brightly lit room.
Her eyes dilated in adjustment before everything came into full view.
The Training Hall.
Adjourned with a wave of weapons, as broad as the limitless imagination of mankind had led them, every side of the walls embedded with jewels of energy that sparkled a dim gold.
Her breath stuttered.
Her teacher's training hall.
Otherwise known as—
"Oh? Rinta wasn't expecting any guests..."
Her eyes cast upward.
A floating lady in bright yellow robes, long blonde hair and dazzling hazel eyes that locked onto hers.
She was suspended in the air whilst patterns of symbols and constellations— that seemed more important than her dilema— orbited her like planets.
Dacchi bowed.
Genju bowed.
Hinasuke bowed.
...Akira...was in awe.
Her eyes shone a little as the childish woman's feet rested on the massive platform ahead, partially obscuring her body from the neck down.
"S-Sensei..." Akira blurred out in a whisper softer than a heartbeat.
Rinta's head tilted for a moment before those bright eyes widened in recognition, "Ah?! Hybrid girl!?"
Akira laughed through tears she didn't know were falling.
It felt so good— painfully good— to see a familiar face that didn't see her like she was a rampaging lunatic.
Rinta's lips curved, as she jumped off the platform, it's presence erasing itself from where she was, as she landed onto the ground, weapons immediately sinking into the ground as they too, burned up in yellow flames.
"Sensei, it's so good to see you," she whispered her grasp desperate against Rinta's back.
The others didn't react, save for Dacchi who sighed through small laughs.
Rinta grinned, "Why is Akira here? And...why is she crying?"
Dacchi and the others rose to their feet, Akira walked up to embrace Rinta, who didn't ward her off— just let her be.
"We actually came here in hopes of getting you to answer that for us," Dacchi said, voice low and measured.
"Oh? Okay then, one moment."
Akira whispered through her tears, nuzzling into her neck:
"Sensei, I've missed you—"
She struck Akira's side once.
Her body slumped against her and then onto the floor.
Hinasuke's eyes widened, but the immediate twitch he saw on Genju's finger told him "Don't."
Rinta eyed his reaction, ignored it and gave her full attention to Dacchi, "You were saying?"
He hesitated, eyes grazing Akira's unconscious body on the ground, "Yeah...she...says she knows you. Knows us. Apparently when you sent the signal for that attack earlier on, she survived..." he paused.
Hinasuke's furrowed scrunched in anger.
The memory ripped off his mind like a band aid.
Her screams.
Her cries.
It was like listening to the wails of the damned—
"—now odd as that may have been," Dacchi continued, walking up to Akira's lifeless body, "it's not impossible for Hybrids to regenerate at a exponential rate, but what is odd, is if they could somehow manifest mind reading mid fight."
"Mind reading? Sounds super fun..."
Dacchi laughed breathly, "Not for us, though. She...said she knew we'd attack her in the format that we usually do. Now, sure, it isn't impossible for her to study our patterns if there's footage online, but...what is odd, though, was the fact that she said that we trained her... For the past year and a half..."
At that, the unimpressed blondie's ears perched up like a cat that had just found a new toy, "Oh? So hybrid girl says we trained her and that's why she's acting so strangely, huh?"
"Da. That is whole story, Rinta-kun— I-I mean...Ms. Rinta."
Rinta giggled at the bowing giant, awkward as it always was with a person his size, "Oh, Genju! You're so funny! You don't need to bow down to me. It's like...like watching an elephant trying to do yoga!"
Hinasuke squinted. [ "Elephant doing yoga—What the hell is wrong with this woman?! Why's she so childish?!" ]
"It's not childish, Hashibira-san..."
Hinasuke stiffend up.
The air coiled around his airways like a boa constrictor, tight and suffocating.
It was like her gaze was choking him. Literally.
Her eyes were glowing again, though dimmly, "It's just...I prefer not to be serious all the time. Unlike you."
She blinked—glow gone with it, "So try not to be a buzzkill, okay?!" She grinned, air flooding his lungs like they'd been starved all his life.
"Uhm, so...Rinta-san...," Dacchi cut in gently, "what's the plan?"
"Plan? Oh! Plan's simple. Just leave this to me!"
And just like that, when their gaze unfocused for only a second—
—and there they were, back at the reception.
Dacchi sighed walking in through the doors, "I'll never get used to talking to that thing."
"Da. She scare even me too."
They turned over, "Hashibira, you comin'? Your friends should be already getting the new briefing on they Ayanaki ways..."
Hina's eyes softened as he snapped back to the present, "Huh? Oh...Y-Yeah... I'm coming..."
He walked forward with the two of them with a lot in mind.
One of which was: Where was Akira?
And wherever she was...
...was she safe?
...
"Sooo, you came back, huh?"
"Gotta be honest, Rinta didn't really think you'd find your way here so quickly, but..."
She placed her stagnant body on the massive platform suspended in the air, "doesn't matter, me and you will still have a greeeaat time together~"
"Akira."