Prologue:

The world is peaceful, a world without wars and strife, everything is going well in the year, 2024. The Age of Peace began after the Civil Rights Movement 1970 to Present Day. From 1985-1990’s, the world’s best scientists from all across the globe came together to work on a project called "The Svalinn Project". As the hole in the ozone layer continued to expand, scientists grew concerned about the end of the planet. As if the Ozone layer were to disappear, the UV rays of the Sun would destroy all of life’s DNA and bring on the worst outcome. This project was a solution to the harsh UV Rays, creating an artificial Ozone layer, called Svalinn after the legendary Norse Shield, that which stands before the Sun. A meteor had landed in the waters of IJmeer in Amsterdam, Netherlands and after scientists investigated, they noticed how the center of the meteor had stored the corpse of an unidentifiable life form, seeing as it was dead, they reluctantly used it as the power source for Svalinn.

Work began in 1990

In 1992,

The protagonist's parents were at the ages of 5. His dad was born into an affluent family known as the Kazami’s. His parents were from small beginnings until the power couple had figured out how to get rid of multiple deadly diseases. On the other hand, his mother was a regular test subject for her mad scientist of a father, to conduct several medical experiments on.

After launching Svalinn into orbit, the scientists had rejoiced on their first accomplishment, after some time, they were ready to power on Svalinn. Through powering on Svalinn, they would finally have secure protection from debris from space and their artificial Ozone layer. Saito’s mother, being her dad’s lab rat, advised her to come with him as they went to power on Svalinn at the NEMO Science Museum.

Act One:

Two days after his breakdown, Saito is regaining consciousness in a hospital room, this isn’t a regular hospital however, it is the branch’s special medical ward for kinetic operatives. His eyes are still fuzzy but he darts his eyes to get a better visual on where he is. The vast room is painted eggshell and the blue tiles of the ground, the beeping of the heart rate monitor, the dripping of IV, the soft breathing of another person. Saito feels a weight on his chest and looks down to see it’s a sleeping Tsubaki. He smiles and slowly brushes her bangs with his hands, and gives a small giggle.

“If only she was this cute, normally. Well actually... She is this cute, but this is a nice change of pace.” Saito says with a grin.

Tsubaki’s face scrunches up a bit as she slowly wakes up. She rubs her eyes and glances at Saito.

Saito looks into her eyes and says with a grin.

“Morning sunshine. Had a nice rest?”

Tsubaki rubs her eyes again, blinks, and tries to readjust. Immediately after getting a good look, her face is engulfed with red as she blushes. She then says.

“AGH, THIS IS EMBARRASSING! WHY THE HELL DID I FALL ASLEEP HERE OF ALL PLACES. I shouldn’t have visited this morning… I missed classes too, it’s well after 12 pm. How long ago did you get up, did you do something while I was sleeping?”

“Just got up, I’m a bit confused on why I’m in the medical ward though. And if I said yes, would you be mad?” Saito responds nonchalantly.

Tsubaki gives out a small squeal, quickly touches her lips and grabs the pillow beneath Saito, and begins beating him with it and says.

“What the hell did you do? Why are you such a creep, hurry up and die!”

Saito laughs with every strike of the pillow and says.

“Don’t worry I didn’t kiss you. I could tell you drooled a little so of course I didn’t do that. Just brushed your bangs a bit, that’s all.”

Tsubaki stops for a second and touches her cheek, it’s a tad wet but immediately evaporates as she begins to give off steam. Under her breath, she begins to mutter out the words.

“Die.”

She then forces the pillow onto Saito’s face and starts suffocating him. Saito lets this happen for a bit and then forcibly springs off the bed. Tsubaki gets up and corners Saito to the wall, however, he moves in one swift motion and the tables have turned. He slams his hand against the wall, the infamous Kabe-Don. Tsubaki’s eyes light up and she blushes even harder, her lips quiver, and stares at Saito intensively. He looks deep into Tsubaki’s eyes, leans in, and says.

“Ever since I came back, you’ve been acting strange. It’s not like you to be so upset all the time.”

Tsubaki’s expression drops and mutters under her breath.

“Maybe it’s because you never tell me-”

Saito picks up what she says. And interjects and says with a smile.

“Tell you that I love you? I do all the time.”

Smoke starts leaving her head again and she pushes Saito away and says.

“For someone so clever, it angers me you don’t understand what I’m referring to. Just move, I’ll call Akihiro now that you’re up.”

Suddenly, she feels her phone vibrating.

“Saving me the trouble, his timing is impeccable sometimes.”

Tsubaki sighs.

She pushes Saito to the side and pulls out her phone and answers after finding her composure.

“Hello hello, is this the women’s kendo champion? I’d like to have word with her.”

Akihiro says as he holds in his laughter.

“Why are both of you so annoying? Especially you! Whatever... Saito’s finally awake.”

Tsubaki says while letting out another sigh.

“Perfect! I’ll be there in an instant! Luckily, we're just studying right now and not doing anything new today. But yeah, I’m on my way, don’t do anything.”

Akihiro shouts as you can hear his sneakers making a mad dash.

The phone hangs up and Tsubaki walks towards a corner of the room and sits in the corner, trying to cool off.

[10 minutes later.]

Saito and Tsubaki trade glances at each other from different ends of the room. They fumble around with their hands, trying to get each other’s attention.

[Another 10 minutes pass.]

Saito sits atop the bed, in silence, viewing the spectacles outside the window.

Tsubaki walks over to the hospital bed and sits on the ground. Leaning against the frame of the bed, carrying her hair in her arms to avoid it spilling on the ground, grooming it slightly.

[Once more, 10 mins pass.]

Tsubaki eventually lets out a loud yawn, she stretches and sits on the bed next to Saito and she says.

“I’m tired of this silence... Saito, do you remember when we played chopsticks before you left. Do you wanna continue that match?

Saito turns his head to look at Tsubaki, and he dons a giant smile. He responds.

“Of course, I will. If I remember, we both were on our last finger.”

Tsubaki’s eyes light up and she quickly says.

“Yeah yeah! We just wouldn’t give up until someone gave out. That was so fu-.

She stops herself, and readjusts herself and says.

“Ah umm, whatever, let's just play the game already. “

They sit facing each other on the bed, staring intently at each other. Saito presses his pinky fingers together, readies himself, and goes for the strike. To his surprise, he doesn’t succeed in finishing off Tsubaki.

It’s Tsubaki’s turn, she aligns her fingers together and takes a deep breath. She extends her arms towards the ceiling, she readies her stance as if she’s ready to cleave the sky in two. She clenches down on her teeth, breathes out, and attempts to strike Saito’s fingers. In response, Saito makes a last-second effort to put more pressure into his fingertips, he places too much pressure and weakens his defense. The strike lands with speed and precision. The winner is clear, Tsubaki has won this match of chopsticks.

The two sit up proper and humbly bow to each other, as they bow their heads meet and they start laughing. Suddenly, they hear footsteps running towards the door, and within seconds, the door bursts open.

The two suddenly stop laughing and freeze up at the appearance of Akihiro. He gasps for air, and then simply says.

“So how do you like my timing?”

“Yeah, Tsubaki’s right, pretty impeccable. How’d you get here so fast anyways, did you really run all the way from school?” Saito says with a smirk.

“Oh no, that's practically impossible for me, might be for both of you guys though. I did get faster but I still had to take transit.” Akihiro responds.

Akihiro moves from the doorway and jumps on the bed to be seated next to the two of his friends.

“Seems like you guys were laughing a bit ago, I thought I said don’t do anything without me, hmmm? Hmmm?” Akihiro questions.

“Don’t worry, it wasn’t anything too crazy, just a game of chopsticks.” Saito and Tsubaki both reply with a small smile.

Saito glances at Tsubaki as she seems a lot more relaxed and giddish, he smiles a bit, and then Akihiro starts some real conversation.

“Well well, where do we start? Tsubaki skipped today’s class just tending to you and making sure you were well, even though we have tons of medical staff here. Miss Tsukiko, got anything to say?” Akihiro says with a big grin.

“Ah, it makes sense now. Even aside from knowing I wasn’t in class, you still have a tracker on me, don’t you? Gotta say that’s pretty weird, might gotta tell a certain person about that behavior.” Tsubaki deducts.

“She’d be fine with knowing that I still do that. It’s my job to protect you guys, couldn’t ask for better partners. Aside from that, how do you feel after your two-day nap?” Akihiro says.

“Tsubaki didn’t even tell me it was two days. Although, thanks for tending to me sweetie!” Satio jests.

Tsubaki jumps off the bed and heads towards the door. She then says.

“Keep goofing off and I’ll step through this door and won’t come back.”

“Alright, alright. Get back here, I’ll talk. Truthfully, I still feel groggy and weird, but after spending my early minutes with Tsubaki, I feel a bit better.” Saito says as he looks at his hands.

Tsubaki heads back to the bed and grabs Akihiro’s hand and places it on one of Saito’s hands. She does the same for her hand. She looks into Saito’s eyes and askes.

“I’m glad, a buffoon like you is doing fine now. Certainly, makes my efforts seem worthwhile. I need you to answer what happened the other day at the party. Suddenly, after talking to Zaikai, it’s as if you saw a ghost or something.” Tsubaki says carefully.

“I mean I guess you can say that now, can’t you? There’s a reason why I didn’t come back with my dad.” Saito says as he lets out a big sigh.

Tsubaki and Akihiro look almost stunned to hear Saito utter those words. They look at each other, grip his hands and turn back to Saito. Akihiro starts with.

“I guess those files are right about your father going MIA. Odama allowed me to look through some files regarding your dad but that's about it. His actions are only really documented in the NA branch, and there’s only one thing I can think of.”

Tsubaki then interjects.

“Regardless of the data, his MIA doesn’t make sense to us. Why is it so heavily under wraps? How could someone of his caliber just up and vanish.”

“Based on your comment, we can only assume he’s de-” Tsubaki and Akihiro questions.

“Ding ding, hehe... You’re right. The only reason the files are so sensitive is because of me. The grandparents pushed the decision on me, whether to mark him as KIA or MIA. I chose MIA for the time, since it made more sense. Aside from other various reasons, that I’ll explain in a bit.” Saito says in a somber tone.

Tsubaki puts her foot down and exclaims.

“But what’s the thought process behind that?! I understand that the associated family members can make the decision to reveal sensitive info of a deceased operative but this clearly is a big deal considering his ranking and the mystery of this situation.” Tsubaki says in a mild tone.

“That’s precisely it, it's because of his ranking is why being marked as MIA makes more sense. If everyone knows, he was killed, it begs the question of who or what killed him, and if there are third parties out there seeking to take out operatives.” Akihiro ponders.

“I’m ready to say what happened, I’ll talk it over with Odama after we get things done here. In my six-year leave from Japan, it happened four years ago, the day before my birthday at 11:00 pm.