Snippet #2763988

With both Tora & Kali finally back at Tamakoma, Shugo then moved to the living area after they finished the dinner of the day, which was curry rice (boy, that was some good stuff). He then sat down, along with the others, on the sofa, with the two rookies on the opposite of him, while the rest of Tamakoma were on the sides. Director Rindo also came back before the two rookies returned from HQ. All of the pieces were in place, all that's left was to let it rip.

"First, I bet you're confused on why I knew that you, Tora, came from the Neighborhood. What I'm about to say will explain why. And Kali, I know that you have a lot of questions. This will answer them for you. So... Here we go." he said, as he took a breather before he explained.

- Flashback for the purpose of explaining occurs! -

1-2 years ago...

"I'll be going then. Don't worry, we'll be seeing each other again soon." Exios said as he boarded the expedition ship. Irette, with tears in her eyes, held tightly to the letter that he entrusted her with. As for to whom it was addressed to, these were the words visible on the letter's envelope: To my dearest mother, Vinlett. His ship took off the ground and went up to the sky before opening a Gate, as his sister waved at his ship.

He then launched through the Gate and went into the black sea known as Space. He was fortunate that his predictions were correct. The orbit of Kion at the time was at least close enough to Meeden. He then set it to autopilot, with the designated target being Meeden. Alongside him aboard the ship were his two teammates, Lucreccia de Luvion and Xilles de Korzdt, who also happened to be his classmates during his tenure at one of the most prestigious Military Academy in Kion. Like him, they were also of Nobility. He then reviewed his plans for once he lands on Meeden. Cyone, his autonomous Trion soldier partner, then came out.

"Once we land, what do you plan to do?" Cyone asked.

"Well... I do know that things would be very different compared to when I was still a third grader. I just hope that I can re-adjust well-enough." he replied.

"As usual, your plans really suck, don't they?" Luvion said to Josua, sighing.

"Hahahaha, what did you expect? I mean, we never really invaded Meeden as much as we needed to in order to gain the required info, right? It can't be helped." Xilles said while laughing at it.

"Still, this is a serious situation. If you were to land and got discovered by the local authoritites, who knows how will they react when they see you or me?" Luvion said.

"That's why I'll land using a Bamster as the decoy. We'll move out from the immediate vicinity once we land, and then we'll try to gain info while laying low. Simple, right?" Josua replied, outlining the plan.

"Well, that's assuming that Meeden has yet to advance. From recent info in the records several months ago, Meeden has acquired Trigger technology, and they're rapidly advancing." Cyone said.

"Have they? While that is worrysome, but at least he can gain some time before they could find him, right? You'll have to keep that in mind though." Xilles said.

Cyone sighed again, while not completely approving of his plan, but it was at least a sound one. It would take about several more hours before the ship almost reached Meeden's borders. Josua took some shut eyes, as Xilles piloted the ship with the guidance of the ship's AI and the map from Cyone, while Luvion was preparing the program for the Bamster, while watching over the sleeping Josua.

Several hours later, Xilles notified the rest of the ship via the intercom.

"Approaching Meeden's border in 30 minutes." he said.

Exios, or as his old name was known, Josua, woke up. He had taken a nap for several hours prior. It was the combination of the ship's notification and Cyone that woke him up. He then went to the transfer room, while Xilles was piloting the ship, and Luvion oversees the deployment & guidance of the Bamster and also the activation of the Gate.

"Deploying Bamster at landing zone." Luvion said as she activated Gate.

"Okay, now teleport!" Josua said as he and Cyone went inside the Gate at the transfer room, which was at the aft of the deck of the ship.

It took several seconds before both were finally on Meeden, or as it was called by those living on it, Earth. Luvion programmed several Bamsters to be deployed as to buy Exios more time.

As he touched the ground, he heard the sirens and loudspeaker.

"Emergency Alert! Gate generation confirmed! All Civilians please evacuate from the vicinity & do not approach the Forbidden Zone!" said the loudspeaker.

He didn't really understand what the language was, but thanks to Cyone, who translated it, he then decided to immediately leave the location before anyone showed up. The Bamster, programmed by Luvion, went on a rampage to bait anyone that will come to his arrival location. Meanwhile, Xilles piloted the ship back to Kion as planned. Josua then ran from the location, with Cyone guiding him.

"Where's the nearest safe location?" he asked her.

"It's right around..." she said as she scanned around the area.

"Here! Head over there!" she said as she finished scanning.

He then ran towards a house in the distance, and entered. It wasn't locked, so he thought it was odd. He then went upstairs and into a room. There, he sat down, finally able to settle down for a little. Cyone then came out, and her "antennas" were twitching.

"Hm...? What's wrong, Cyone?" he asked her.

"I'm detecting radio waves. It seems that Meeden has this network of information called the Internet..." she said as she continued to search for info.

"Can you try to... Find any info related to me? I think it was about... Arrgghh, can't remember... Anyways, try to search it." he said.

"Okay... Searching..." she said as she browsed through many news sites and civillian registries.

"Found it. A boy went missing near school... Family searched for him but he was never found... Police classified the boy as deceased...The family made a foundation to help children in honor of the missing boy..." she said.

He sighed. He didn't really expect anything, but as he guessed, that was the most probable case.

"At least they won't be looking for me now, thank God..." he said.

"Why would you say that? Wouldn't your family be glad to see you still alive?" she asked him.

"It's... Complicated..." he replied.

While Cyone was aware of his old memories thanks to Vinlett's programming, she didn't know how badly the impact it has on him when Vinlett told him, since it was one of those suppressed memories.

Half an hour passed, when suddenly, Cyone detected movement. Josua was half-asleep when he was woken up. It was night-time there.

"Movement, 20 meters from the house! Only one though..." she said.

"Prepare traps. Make sure that whoever that is, they don't come in here." he said as he took out his Trigger.

"Trigger on." he said as he activated his Trigger.

His clothes changed to that of an long-sleeved shirt with a mantel coat on the outside, while his weapon's form at that time was a short sword. The crest of his family was visible on his left front torso. Despite the traps that Cyone had prepared, it was set off
without any signs of the intruder getting injured or killed.

"Not bad... I guess we'll have to face the man in here, huh..." he said.

Cyone could only nod in agreement, and prepared, as the intruder was nearing the door to the room he's currently in. As the door opened, the man jumped in and introduced himself.

"Hello, unknown people! I'm Jin, The Talented Elite!" he shouted.

Josua looked dumbfounded, but Cyone was readying her weapons.

"Whoa whoa, calm down now. I'm not here to arrest you or anything." Jin said.

"How did you find us?!" she asked.

"Ah... You see, it's because I have this thing called Side Effect, and mine can see a little into the future, that is, the people that I've seen anyways." he answered.

"I knew that someone was going to arrive here, but I didn't precisely know who is that until I see them in person." he continued.

"What the hell?! That's just overkill!!" Josua shouted, when he heard Jin's explanation from Cyone's translation.

"So, when are you gonna introduce yourself? Mr...?" Jin asked.

"Fine... My name, well, my current name is Exios la Revilus, but my old name... It was Josua. And my floating partner here is Cyone." Josua answered.

"Nice to meet you, Josua, and Cyone!" Jin said.

"Let's continue this conversation at another place, shall we? It will be bad if anyone were to see you in your current outfit." he continued as his hand signs to follow him.

Josua simply nodded, knowing that it would be bad if he were to be seen right now, even if he's not in his Trion body, since there was Cyone. All of his conversations with Jin and later on, the others, were translated by Cyone.

After some time, they arrived at a place. It was a building by the river.

"Welcome to Tamakoma Branch of Border!" Jin said, while he introduced it grandly.

"Border? What Border?" Josua asked.

"Come in. I'll tell you more once we're inside." Jin said. Josua then followed suit, entering the building.

Both of them then went into the living room, so to say, after they took off their shoes. There was a girl with glasses inside, sitting on the sofa, while a little boy was riding a capybara, for some reason.

"I'm back! The Talented Jin has returned!" Jin said as both of them took notice of him entering the room.

"Oooh, welcome back, Jin-san!" the glassess girl said.

She then looked to the person behind him. "Jin, who's this? A newbie?" the little boy asked him.

"Yotaro, watch your words. He's older than you, you know." Jin said as he smacked the boy's head.

He then turned to the glassess girl.

"Ah, he's a special guest. Can you prepare him something?" he asked her.

"Ah, I'll go get him some tea then. We're out of snacks though." she replied as she went to the kitchen cabinet and took out some cups.

"Here, have a seat." Jin said to Josua, as he gestured him to sit down.

"So... What is this Border that you were a part of?" Josua asked.

"Hm... What is Border, huh... Border is-" Jin said before the glasses girl interrupted him.

"Allow me to explain it!" she said as she put down a cup of hot tea in front of Josua on the table.

"Border is an organization responsible for the defense of Mikado City against Neighbors!" she explained enthusiastically.

"Ah, before I forget, my name is Shiori Usami! Nice to meet you!" she introduced herself.

"Nice to meet you." Josua said, bowing his head a little.

"Mikado City...? This isn't Jakarta?" Josua asked, confused.

"Jakarta... Wait... Are you from Indonesia?" Jin asked Josua.

"Well, it was my hometown. At least, until several years ago anyways..." he replied to Jin.

"What do you mean several years ago?" Usami asked.

"I don't remember what year was it exactly, but I do know that there were no such thing as Border back then." he said as he took a breather before continuing.

"I was only in third grade of elementary when it happened. I was walking around my school at the evening that day, waiting to get picked up. I felt a sudden tremor that was different than what you'd expect from a truck that occasionally passes by. I immediately went to the source of it, out of curiosity. And it was there, that I saw this black thing." he continued.

"Black... Thing?" she asked.

"Well, I didn't know that it was a Gate back then. Since I was always curious of a lot of things, I went to the black thing, and stretched my arms into it. It felt weird, and it piqued my interest further, so I decided to went inside. At the time, I only had my wallet with me. When I realized, I was at a completely different place, no longer outdoors. Long story short, I was found by the soldiers there and taken to the office of the commander there. It was there that I was told that this wasn't Jakarta, or Indonesia, or even Earth. It was a completely different world." he said.

"You know what a Gate is?" Usami asked again.

"Yes, well, that was after I learned it at the academy. Anyways, in short, I got stranded at a world called Kion." he answered.

The three of them were shocked when he said the name Kion.

"Kion... By that you mean... The freezing superpower Kion?" she asked.

"Yes. And before I continue, I want to show you this." he said as he gestured Cyone to project the news about him.

"This news... Can you tell me how long has it been since this was reported?" he asked them.

Both Usami & Yotaro were shocked once more, while Jin was more composed.

"This was about 7 - 8 years ago, I believe. I see, that explains it..." Jin said after reading the news.

"Ah, before I forget, this here is my partner, Cyone. She was given to me as a present for my birthday back on Kion." Josua said to them, since both Yotaro & Usami were having a hard time between listening to him or looking at her hovering beside him.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance. I'm Cyone, an autonomous Trion soldier, made & programmed by Exios' mother, Vinlett la Revilus, the current head of the Revilus family, one of the noblility of Kion." she said.

"Exios? Your name is Exios?" Yotaro asked, confused.

"When I was adopted by the Revilus family, my mother gave me the name Exios. Aside from that though, my old name is Josua." he answered.

"What was it like? What was living being a noble like?" Usami asked, looking very excited.

"Well... It was... Great, I guess?" he answered.

"Great? Just that? PLEASE EXPLAIN IN DETAIL!" she pressed on even further.

"Usami, you're too excited. Calm down." Jin said.

"Ah, I'm sorry! I was just really curious about it!" she apologized.

"No no, it's fine. I'd be curious as well if I were you. Though... You might want to keep it down..." Shugo replied.

"Okay, back to the topic... I got adopted by a noble family there, the Revilus family. Apparently, I looked like the previous head of the family, his name was... Axius, I believe? Yeah, Axius la Revilus. He died several years before my 'arrival' there. Well, me looking like him isn't the only reason. Aside from my high Trion, apparently, I also emit an aura that's similar to him." he explained.

He then took a breather before he continued with his explanation.

"Shortly after that, I was admitted into Kion's most prestigious military academy, which was run by the family of the commander that welcomed me when I first arrived there. I enrolled there for about a year, and after that, I graduated & participated in a lot of action, so to speak. Thanks to that, I became a high-ranking military officer that gave me a lot of perks & discretion on my activities. Hence, I'm able to get back to Earth, though, it's also thanks to my comrades that I could even get here without any other problems that may surface after I left." he continued.

"However, even with that, I have to return to Kion to check in with the higher ups and my family, every once in a while of a year. Hence, if for some reason, I'm not found in this city, then you can safely assume that I returned to Kion to do what I just said. Don't worry, I'll return before they notice my long absence." he further said.

"With that out of the way, now here's one thing that I wanna ask: How will I even be admitted into Border? Technically speaking, I'm a dead man." he asked them.

"Ah, don't worry about that. I already thought of a plan." Jin replied as he looked towards the door.

Director Rindo came in through the door. He wasn't surprised when he saw Jin looking at him entering the hall, even with Shugo, back when he's using his old name Josua, being there. He then approached the party and sat down.

"So, I assume that you have something in mind for our new friend here?" Rindo said.

"Yes. Our friend here is a returnee from the Neighborhood. He's considered dead here, so he needs help in order to be admitted into Border." Jin explained the basic summary to Rindo.

"Okay, I can work my magic with that. Though I'd like you to explain it to me after I've completed your registration papers." Rindo replied, with a shining symbol appearing next to his glasses as he fixed it with his hand.

"Sure, I don't mind it." Josua said.

"Ah, before I forget, my name is Rindo Takumi. I'm the director of Tamakoma Branch." Rindo introduced himself.

"And oh yeah, don't forget to explain this to the other members of Tamakoma. They're gonna ask you anyways if they saw you, so I'll help out in setting the time & place." Jin said to Josua.

"Yeah, I suppose." Josua replied.

Rindo then prepared some papers, concerning Josua's new identity, alongside his admission into Border and the local senior high school that's also affiliated with Border. For his new name, it was derived from his eye color and his behavior. Hence, he got the name Kurenai Shugo. And for his background, Rindo & Jin thought up of it being:

Shugo spent most of his childhood overseas before returning to Japan. His mother and his sister were overseas, while he returned to Japan.

After finishing the background of Shugo's family (most of his personal details were made similar to his old biodata, with the only exception being the cover background), Rindo had Shugo explained what he just said to the three. Thanks to that, he was able to confirm the cover was perfect enough.

The next few days, with the rest of Tamakoma who weren't present during that night, he explained his background to them (which includes Reiji, Konami, Karasuma, Yuri and Cronin).

- Flashback ends! -

"... And that's the basic gist of it." he said as he finally finished explaining.

"Though compared to what I've heard of your past, Tora, mine is tamer, I suppose?" he said to Tora.

"And I hope this answers the questions that you, Tora & your Trion Soldier partner, and Kali as well." he continued.