Sasaki stood beside the intensive care bed, staring down at Shisui's pale face. He let out a slow, heavy breath. "I hope you pull through this soon," he murmured under his breath.
The door clicked open, and Mei stepped into the room.
Sasaki immediately made to stand from his chair, gesturing toward the seat. "Please, go ahead."
"No! Commander, please sit," Mei said quickly, waving her hands. "You've been on your feet all day."
Sasaki shook his head. "You're his sister. It'll be a relief for him to see family the second he opens his eyes."
"I'll stand," Mei insisted firmly. "Please, keep your seat."
Recognizing her stubbornness, Sasaki offered a faint smile and sat back down.
"I just hope he recovers," Mei said softly, her dark eyes lingering on her brother's bandaged form. "I haven't seen him in months... and now, finding him like this in critical condition..."
"He'll make it through," Sasaki reassured her, his voice grounded and steady. "His vitals have already stabilized, but his body needs time. Shisui is one of the toughest, most dedicated men I know."
Mei offered a quiet nod.
"When I heard about the rebellion against the Yamamoto Family, I wanted to fly out right away, but work kept piling up," she admitted. "When I got the call about this... I dropped everything and caught the first flight out."
"There was no need to panic," Sasaki said softly. "Like I said, he's a fighter."
Mei smiled, though the worry in her eyes remained. "What actually happened out there, Commander?"
"I don't have all the details yet," Sasaki said, pausing for a moment. "But from what little Hayato shared... it was an utter nightmare."
Mei nodded slowly. "Hayato... he seems different, too."
"He does," Sasaki agreed. "Though... beneath all that heavy fatigue, he looked almost at peace."
Mei gave a faint nod of agreement.
"Our transport flight will be here shortly," Sasaki noted, glancing at his watch. "Though I'm questioning whether moving Shisui in his current state is wise."
"It might be a rough journey," Mei acknowledged, "but having him back under the care of our own medical team in Tokyo would be far better. Still... you're wiser. I trust your judgment."
Sasaki thought it over for a second. "We'll wait here until he wakes up. Once he's conscious and stable, we move."
"Thank you, Commander."
"And if you need to head back to your family, don't let us hold you up," Sasaki added. "Hayato and I can keep watch."
Mei shook her head instantly. "I'm not going anywhere. Family always comes first."
"Do the little ones know what happened?" Sasaki asked, a hint of warmth in his tone.
"I told the kids I was taking a short weekend trip with some friends," Mei said with a faint chuckle. "I only filled my husband in on the details."
Sasaki nodded approvingly. "Smart move. The kids adore their Uncle Shisui, don't they?"
"They're obsessed with him," Mei smiled, her posture relaxing slightly. "Whenever we visit Japan, leaving is a complete disaster. They cry and scream, begging us to pack Shisui in our luggage so he can come home with us."
Sasaki chuckled, the quiet warmth easing the heavy tension in the room.
Twenty-Four Hours Later
Ethan's eyelids fluttered open.
He was lying on a crisp hospital bed in a darkened private ward, the heavy blackout curtains drawn shut against the afternoon sun.
Where am I...? What happened...?
He turned his head slightly, wincing as a dull ache throbbed behind his temples. On the nearby couch, Madison was fast asleep, curled under a light throw blanket.
Over the next few seconds, the fragmented memories rushed back—the collapsing tunnels, and his sudden collapse outside the estate.
Ethan let out a long, quiet sigh, staring at the ceiling. Why the hell does my entire body feel like it got run over by a train? Everything felt fine before I passed out... Wait.
He narrowed his eyes as a specific memory surfaced through the fog.
When I was fighting Harold and those mutants down in the lab... my head felt like it was splitting in two. Why was that?...
He took a few slow, deep breaths to settle his pulse.
"The Second Branch... feels like a fever dream. Or a nightmare..." Ethan whispered to himself.
Then his eyes snapped wide open.
Wait a minute... I was strapped to that medical chair in the 2nd Branch. Did that scientist... did Eliza experiment on me before Hayato broke in?
Ethan gritted his teeth, forcing his mind to calm down. No use spiraling right now. I just need to focus on recovering.
He closed his eyes, letting exhaustion pull him back under.
A few hours later, Ethan opened his eyes again.
This time, the room was dimly lit by a nightstand lamp. Madison was sitting quietly on the edge of the couch, scrolling through her phone. As if sensing his movement, her head snapped up, her eyes locking onto his.
"Ethan! You're awake!" Madison blurted out, before turning toward the door and shouting, "DOCTOR!"
Within seconds, a team of royal specialists poured into the ward, followed closely by Jake. After a thorough neurological and physical evaluation, the head doctor cleared him for release, confirming his vitals had normalized.
An hour later, Ethan was discharged. They settled into the plush leather seats of Jake's Rolls-Royce as the vehicle smoothly navigated away from the medical complex, heading back toward their hometown in the sunlight.
That same night, in another hospital, Shisui's eyes slowly fluttered open.
The moment she saw his eyes unseal, Mei broke down in quiet tears of relief. Despite the doctors' reassurances and Sasaki's calm words, a dark fear had gripped her heart that her brother might never wake up.
Wiping her eyes, Mei stepped out to notify the medical staff.
The door slid open a moment later, and Hayato poked his head into the room, a wide grin spreading across his bruised face. "Look who decided to rejoin the living!"
Shisui offered a weak, raspy smile. "Hey... you..."
"Yeah yeah, I know, and your welcome," Hayato chuckled, stepping inside.
By the next morning, their private transport had touched down on the tarmac. Shisui was carefully transferred aboard under the supervision of medical staff, with Mei and Sasaki following closely behind.
As the aircraft ascended into the sky, Hayato stood near the oval window, looking down at the receding snow-covered mountain range below.
His hand slowly closed into a tight fist at his side.
He stared down at the white peak where the Second Branch once stood, the memory of Eliza's final smile flashing across his mind. After a long moment, Hayato let out a quiet breath, unclenching his fingers.
He looked up toward the clear blue sky, a genuine, peaceful smile spreading across his face. Turning away from the window, he threw his arms behind his head and immediately started cracking jokes with the crew, back to his usual self.
Three Days Later
In the snowy mid-night. The freezing mountain wind howled across a desolate wasteland.
A squad of heavily armed operatives stepped through the blackened snow, their polished black tactical uniforms completely unbranded. Automatic rifles were held at the ready as their boots crunched against the ash.
"The Second Branch really got wiped off the face of the earth," one of the operatives remarked, surveying the massive crater.
"Utterly destroyed," another added, kicking a piece of melted steel. "Never seen structural destruction like this."
The squad leader stepped up to the edge of the central fissure, his eyes scanning the burnt terrain. "Given the yield of the blast... it's highly unlikely anyone down there survived."
"So, do we pack it up and report back to headquarters, Boss?"
"No," the leader replied coldly. "Search every quadrant within a two-mile radius. There's still a chance a hardened data drive or a viable research sample managed to endure the blast."
"Understood, Boss."
The leader stood alone at the edge of the crater, pulling down his neck gaiter as he stared into the dark abyss below.
"Boss," one of the men called out over the comms. "What the hell actually happened here?"
"Who knows," the leader murmured, his tone devoid of emotion. "Surviving a detonation of this magnitude is impossible."
"You sound pretty certain."
"This isn't standard military ash," the leader said, kneeling to sift a handful of grey powder through his gloved fingers. "I've seen chemical-catalyst detonations before. The compound vaporizes everything at a cellular level."
The men nodded, fanning out across the snowfield to begin their sweep.
The leader stood back up, his eyes narrowing as he stared into the black fog rising from the ruins.
We need to recover that data at all costs... Professor Philip's classified research cannot be allowed to vanish.