Snippet #2741485

Tokyo, Japan

Somewhere, in a remote suburban site just on the outskirt of one of the once prosperous metropolises of the world - Tokyo. There was a large mansion built in traditional Japanese-style lying solely on a blasted land, which surprisingly, was once a lustrous forest before they were utterly reduced to ashes for who knows how long ago and sadly is still yet to recover. But on the contrary of the rather sorrowful scenery to behold, the weather is surprisingly nice. The sky was blue, the white clouds drifting by, the sun shining serenely. It sure gives people hope on their continuous journey of recovering from which that had teared their lands apart.

"Oji-san, oji-san." A young boy with hair as white as snow hastily ran through the hall with an excited expression on his face of the mansion towards the backyard, while calling for his uncle, who was sitting under the sakura tree, reading a book and drinking some green tea calmly, as if there is no care in the world.

"Hatake-kun, what is it?" Mikiya shifted his gaze from the book he was reading to his nephew, who had just arrived at the entrance to the backyard. His smile seemingly never fades from his lips.

"I finally manage to read someone today. Oji-san's tips work really well! Obaa-san is really pleased with me that she hadn't knocked me on the head for the whole morning!" Hatake enthusiastically approached his uncle and happily reported his little feat that he had just barely accomplished earlier.

"Is that so? Congratulations, and I'm so glad that my cute nephew is so good already." Mikiya smiled brightly and ruffled Hatake's hair, "Can you show me how you did it then? Go ahead and tell oji-san how he is feeling."

Hatake nodded with an innocent grin before closing his eyes and holding Mikiya's hand tightly, exhaling a deep breath of air while concentrated his mind on trying to read his uncle's feelings. Apparently, it took a great deal of effort out of the young boy whose ability was unlocked not so long ago, and is still pretty much hasn't been honed at all. But Hatake managed to get the results, eventually. "Hmm, oji-san is feeling really contented and happy right now. Am I correct, oji-san?"

"You couldn't be more right, Hatake-kun." Mikiya smiled and complimented his nephew, "You are super good. I couldn't manage to read anyone yet when I was your age. But don't slack off because of that and keep training hard everyday, okay? Don't let obaa-san knock on your head." He winked.

"Even though you probably won't be returning home any time soon with this mission, you're still surprisingly optimistic. Sometimes I wonder if you have extraordinary courage, or just foolhardy, nii." A tall, thin woman with short white hair entered the backyard, as she exhaled a breath from her cigarette, "This isn't going be like any other missions we've been sent to, y'know."

"Kaa-san, you're back!" Hatake happily chimed and skidded to his mother, at which she cuddled him with her hand. It seemed that she too had just returned from an assignment from the government.

"Aoko, welcome back." Mikiya stood up from where he sat and smiled with his sister, "So, you've just heard too, huh?"

"Of course, you forgot that I'm the most updated one in this family?" Aoko sneered, but her expression quickly tensed up, "Are you sure it is going to be fine? I won't even be thinking about your welfare if it is just our everyday tasks, but I've got a hunch something sinister is going on here, nii."

"Overprotective as ever, Aoko." Mikiya smiled and caressed his sister's chin, which seemingly eased her up, "Let's just think of this as our everyday tasks, okay? The elders are confident in my ability, and if they feel that only I can accomplish this, then I won't let anyone down."

Just last night, the elders of the Kaneshiro family received a strange "distressed call" all the way from Berlin, Germany. The atmosphere tensed up greatly within just hours, because there was never a call like this before. They only knew about it directly from the two members of their clan that survived the cataclysm a hundred year ago. But one thing for sure, to receive a distress call like this could only mean that nothing good is about to happen. Something huge that will not only affect the genetically modified community in Japan, but throughout the world as well.

An emergency meeting is held and they have ultimately decided that they will answer the call, and the one most suitable for this assignment is none other than the heir, and the most prominent member of the clan - Mikiya. And he had accepted it without a second thought.

Mikiya has finished prepared everything he needed for the upcoming trip. Because it's going to be a long one, so it ended up a lot more than he had anticipated. But not that it mattered much. He can always find a way to make it through the airport terminal without too much hassling. He looked into the mirror and add the final touches to his disguise and testing his voice modifier. This time, Mikiya is going to be a young businesswoman named Fujihara Makiko. For a trip abroad, this sure looks like a lot of works, but as one of the top secret agents of Japan, obviously he cannot afford to carelessly show his true identity.

Before entering the car that take him to the airport, Mikiya hugged and said goodbye to each of his family - his mother, sister and nephew. Coincidentally, his brother-in-law Satsuki is currently on a trip to Berlin so there is high chance that they will meet. With a promise that he will return before they know it, Mikiya departed with a silent prayer that everything is going to be fine. His family is all the he ever got, and he doesn't know what he will even do if harm comes to them.

Berlin, Germany

The trip from Tokyo to Germany was thankfully uneventful. As usual, none of the staffs in both airports question his identity. They are just making it too easy for him, as this was not any different than the missions he was sent to before. Well, he did have some problems with his luggage as they are admittedly catching attention, and it was a bit too much for Mikiya to handle himself. But nothing is going out of his hand, yet.

Normally, he would stop by a public toilet or something to dispose of his disguise already. But a part of his mind tempted him otherwise, so he just went on to search for the hospital he was supposed to head to under the disguise of Makiko by his phone. Berlin is nowhere a small city, so it did take a while, but eventually he made it there.

Walking in through the entrance of the hospital, Mikiya was immediately greeted by the receptionist, "Hello, miss. Do you have an appointment?"

"Yes, I was told that I was to find someone named Schreiber here." He went straight to the point, it seemed that she doesn't know that he is disguising, in the least. The receptionist nodded in acknowledgement, and only a moment later, another woman whom Mikiya assumed to be Dr. Schreiber arrived. "May I help you?"

"I am from the Kaneshiro family, and I have arrived on behalf of my family." Mikiya spoke in a rather convincing tone, and keep smiling as usual.

Dr. Schreiber narrowed her eyes in question of his statement, "Are you sure you are? I thought the one sent by the Kaneshiro is supposed to be male-"

"Is this enough of a proof?" Mikiya showed Dr. Schreiber a piece of paper with an insignia of the clan, which can only be acquired through the elders. Glancing through the paper, though still seemingly doubtful, the woman just nodded, "Follow me, miss Kaneshiro." She said as she led him through a long, winding hall, to a sanctuary of sorts locked by a hand-scanner. And inside the room, he was greeted with all sorts of out-of-the-world gadgets. Normal people would be surprised that these kinds of technology really exist, but not for Mikiya, as he had seen them more than once before.

Looking around, Mikiya saw two girls and two boys have already arrived before him. They all look considerably younger than him, and he can notices that a boy among them is also a Japanese. "Please wait here until further notice. There is still one more left to arrive, and that one should be here soon." Dr. Schreiber said to him, and he nodded. He carried with him all of his luggage to an empty chair nearby and set them aside, comfortably making himself at home - all while keeping his disguise as Mikako.

Even without using his ability, Mikiya can tell that the atmosphere is rather somber, and none of the four are actually interested in introducing themselves or getting to know each other right now, so he has no reason to force them to either. But secretly, he found this to be exceptionally interesting, and held much anticipation of how will the events will play out from now.