Keiga Tadaro's Story

---

╔╗╚╝

---

---

---

Dialogue ~ #CD8F00 Dialogue ~ #9D7DA7

---

---

The aroma of eggs could be smelled throughout the house-like apartment as they sizzled over the heat of the electric stove. Bits of bacon, green pepper, and onion shifted together as Keiga lightly moved the pan back and forth, mixing the ingredients together with a long pair of chopsticks. He made breakfast every morning, always changing it up, though it was a pity one couldn't see the various colors of bright yellow eggs, the golden brown of crispy bacon, or the lovely green of peppers. Still, even if the food looked bland and boring, there was plenty of color in the taste.

"We should leave soon."

"Reiko-san probably pulled an all-nighter again. She'll collapse if she doesn't eat something."

Keiga turned his head to look at his friend as he spoke, but the cat let out a sigh as he sat atop the kitchen table. He gave him a reassuring smile and turned his attention back to the food he was preparing. His caretaker, Reiko, rarely ever left her office on her own accord. Sometimes she'd join Keiga for dinner, but other than that the only time she ever left was to attend meetings or do other business that Keiga never asked about. Therefore, is was Keiga's duty to make sure she was eating and taking care of herself.

He flicked off the stove and shook the pan one more time before walking to the table and sliding the scrambled egg mix onto a plate. He'd already buttered a couple pieces of toast and poured a fresh cup of coffee. Machi hopped off the table and followed behind Keiga as he made his way down the hall, food and drink in hand. He stopped in front of his caretakers door and made a couple knocks with his foot before pushing the door open. The room was dark, lit up with only a few computer screens on the other side of the room where the silhouette of a woman could be seen.

"Morning, Reiko-san! Made you some breakfast!" he said as he made his way across the room, careful not to step on any of the papers or book that littered the floor.

"Yeah, thanks," replied a clearly sleep-deprived voice, though she didn't move from her spot as Keiga placed the food on her desk. "I present scrambled eggs with green pepper, onion, and bacon, with nearly burnt toast and black coffee."

The woman sighed and leaned back in her chair, taking a long drink of the coffee, before finally giving Keiga a light smile. "You know me too well," she said as she set the cup down and stuffed a piece of toast in her mouth before leaning forward again.

"I also know that you're not getting enough sleep."

"At this rate you'll turn into an old hag."

"How about I eat you next, furball? Keiga, you should get going. I'm busy with something now so I can't escort you, but I made you a map so make sure you don't get lost," she said, handing him a sheet of paper. Keiga gave her an understanding smile and nodded. "Okay, and you make sure you get some rest today. I'll see you later."

He then left her office, closing the door after Machi and making his way out of the front door and into the hall. He was feeling rather excited now that he was ready to go. Today would be the day he'd get to maybe see some familiar faces, though he knew that seeing someone he knew from back then was probably unlikely. There were so many of them at that time, after all.

It took a little while, but he stopped at a room that seemed to be where the map was directing him too. He couldn't hold back the large smile as he stood in front of the door, feeling eager to meet some new people. He bent over and scooped up Machi into his arms, rubbing between his ears for a second before opening the door and stepping in. The cat made his way onto Keiga's shoulder, his deep purple eyes scanning the room along with Keiga. There were a few people here already, but as much as Keiga wanted to talk to all of them, it would be better to start off with just one, and so he sat himself next a girl in all black.

"I'm Keiga Tadaro and this is Machi," he said, gesturing to the cat on his shoulder who turned his head away. He'd never really been one for making friends. "What's your name? Oh, and I like you hair!"

---

Change.... is good.

If you gave Touma a chance to answer a question regarding what made things boring, well, he would point out that repetition was the main case for boredom. A schedule that repeats leads to nothing new or exciting. A song on repeat will get old. Watching a movie over and over again will eventually make it lose its charm. That is why life seemed so dull and boring for Touma. What differentiated him from the other failed experiments was that he could see that life was just a dull experience. He knew how to live life, and that was by waking up, eating breakfast, showering, wasting a few hours of your life, eating lunch, wasting a few more, and then eating dinner before, perhaps, wasting some more time before bed. It was a cycle on repeat, and while some might switch up the steps, they were almost all the same. So, Touma could see that this world was nothing special, nor new. Everyone followed the same beat and nobody differed. At least from what he had seen of others.

But.....

There were others. People who weren't so bland and dull. People who were 'like him', although much more entertaining, from what he was told. He was to meet these people with color, these new and exciting beings who weren't just wasting their lives away, and he was to work with them to make sure this place wasn't so boring anymore. He was excited, though judging by the blank look on his face, nobody really could tell. He wanted to go meet these people right away and see what they had to offer, but he couldn't. Until today. But even so, he wasn't so excited as to forget the law of this world, and that was that repetition was common, and it led to boredom.

*Sigh....*

Although in this specific case, it might have been better to say it led to irritation.

When his golem, Akite, had asked him if he wanted to be bored together, he imagined it more of a symbolic gesture about friendship or something like that. He did not take it literal, but that's how days have been with Akite. The same, just with one more person. And this person, this golem, had taken it upon himself to sigh about forty times in the last ten minutes. The sound alone was annoying.

"As much as I would like to enjoy that sound a bit more.... well, could you perhaps stop?" Touma asked Akite, not bothering to actually look at the brutish figure.

"Hmmm......mmm...... but..... so..... bored.....dull...." it answered slowly.

"I'm aware of that. But we're going to do something interesting today, remember? Well.... it'll probably be interesting." Touma seemed like he was not expecting too much.

Audible thuds resounded from the places in the floor where the golem placed his hands to push himself into a stand. Once it had picked itself up, it stretched its arms straight up, causing another thud to be made when it accidentally hit the ceiling. On top of being a huge beast of a golem, Akite also seemed to be very clumsy. Perhaps because it would require more effort to pay attention to what one was doing, but this was simply speculation on Touma's part.

This time, it was Touma that sighed. "Could you watch it? The ceiling isn't invulnerable. If you're not careful, you'll break something."

"Mmm....." Akite gave a unconvincing nod.

Touma felt a small headache coming on.....

*BAM*

With the subtlety of a honey badger tearing a cobra apart, the door flew open with incredible force, slamming into the wall behind it, causing both Touma and Akite to jump in fright.

"HELLO!" a voice practically shouted from behind the door, if it were still there. "Are you guys ready? I am perfectly sure today will be an incredible day full for excitement! New people! New things to do! And, of course, saving the world! Aren't you guys just excited!?"

....
....
....

Actually, what really happened was this:

The door opened gently after a very light and professional-sounding knock was made. Behind the gap stood a very bland man who. like usual, was dressed in awkward clothing. A suit. It was always a suit. For what reason he wore a suit every time they saw him, Touma did not know, but it did not look good on him, nor did it seem like the suit was proper for his job, which was to watch over Touma and his golem. Despite this, the man never seemed to mind the weirdness of his attire, nor did he seem to mind much at all. He walked in after giving a moment and looked at Touma with eyes that made even Touma seem bright and bubbly, then spoke.

"Come on, we are supposed to leave now."

Touma had a connection with this man that made it to where he could sense and detect the guy's arrival before he made it clear. It was not the strings of fate, nor was it some cruel plan by destiny. No, it was perhaps evolution by Touma's own self to warn him of danger. You see, this man was the sum of everything Touma despised in a person, when it came to just being themself. This man was not mean, nor did he abuse his position..... but he was just so....

....dull.

Nothing about this man, save his attire, stood out. He spoke in a monotone similar to Touma (and Touma certainly needed more monotones in his life), and he did not seem to offer anything individualistic about himself. If you had a list on what the average person in his job might say to a given question, he would certainly answer with the highest-rated response. His favorite thing to do was to simply do his job. Be paid. Go home. And then head off to bed. This was what he told Touma on the first day they had met and it told the young man all he needed to know.

....So, on occasion, Touma's mind would have to compensate with the added dull moments by imaginging this guy as someone not boring. Someone cheerful, bright, and excited. All the things Touma, his golem, and this man couldn't be.

.....
...
.

To explain their trip to the room would be about as interesting as further interaction between these three. The man (whose name is never remembered by Touma) had led them in the right direction, but before they ever reached the room, he took his leave, which was perhaps for the better. Too much time with him led to Touma regretting his own existence. So when they eventually found the room, Touma took a deep breath in before opening the door, the same blank expression still on his face, as usual.

"I am Touma." he introduced himself to everyone as he entered. He did not appear to care that others might have been giving one-on-one introductions.

Following behind him was Akite, the huge figure that obviously could not fit through the door.

But that did not seem to stop him, as he took his hand and made the doorway bigger himself. That being said, it was now impossible to close the door, as the frame was deformed. As if guiltless of anything at all, the golem followed Touma and stood right behind him as he sat at the nearest chair available without another word.

---

╔╗╚╝



”Come on Kon, it’s time to go! Wake up, wake up! You still need to make breakfast!” The incessant beckoning and light thrashes barely permeated the spera’s slumber, only a few groans of displeasure were obtained as a response. But the constant pestering of the childish voice soon forced the sleeper to stir from his slumber, ”Five more minutes mom…” The boy managed to auditate from his impeded sleep. ”I’m not your mother! You never even had a mother! Meanie!” Kon kept his face firmly planted in his pillow’s embrace. It was all too tempting to remain in rest, regardless of whatever pressing issue was among them. This was how most mornings went for K&K, where the more staunch of the two was forced to wake up the other drowning in lethargicness. ”Fine, I see how it is. You leave me no choice…” The young voice hissed as the boy felt the owner’s posture change. The small frame which was originally hunched over on her knees was now standing on her own two feet, keeping perfect balance on the extremely soft bed. Kon could feel the individual’s every movement through the medium of his blanket, along with a faint shadow in the outermost portion of his peripheral vision.

The person was now looming over him, as if it was a predator in wait, suspending all functions until the perfect moment to strike. All of a sudden the owner of the voice lunged forward and swiftly yanked the away, tossing the entire piece of cloth into thin air with inhuman strength. Kon narrowed his eyes at the sudden change in lighting, standing over him was a silouhette contrasting with the ceiling lamp above. It took a few seconds for his eyes to properly dilate, yet his brow was furrowed eons beforehand, producing a canyon on his forehead. ”Good morning, Kyo. So… What was so pressing that you had to wake me up?” The girl automatically noted the tinge of disdain in his voice, yet kept a resolute stance in the conversation. It was a little intimidating to do so, given the fact that Kon’s eye was twitching out of anger, and a wry smile was stretched across his face. It was as if Kyo was having a staredown with death. The golem pouted and planted a foot right into Kon’s abdomen.

”It’s operation day, silly! Now wake up!” Albeit her attack had as much weight as a feather, her pouting was able to spur the apathetic boy into motion. Kon picked Kyo off his stomach and placed her on the floor, then slid himself off the bed. He glanced back at the tempting sheets with a longing expression, ”Please baby, don’t cry. I’ll be back soon.” Kon turned back and was instantly faced with narrowed eyes, ”Get into your uniform as well. Quit having dirty thoughts about your bed. Oh, and I want extra sugar on my pancakes!” With his orders now issued, Kon let out a sigh as he slowly progressed with his tasks. Throughout constant yawns and muttered curses, the boy was finally in a presentable suit and breakfast had been spread out on the table. Since he was low on time, pancakes had to suffice both of their insurmountable appetites. Kon kept a stoic complexion as he cut through his meal at his own pace, meanwhile his companion was energetically speeding her way with every mouthful, as if the spera’s cooking was on par with ambrosia. The boy slumped in his seat and threw his shoulders backwards, glaring longingly at the scene portrayed through the room’s lone window. ”You said it was operation day, right? Operation: Optare Color, eh?” He made an expression of void of enthusiasm and raised an eyebrow, ”Say, Kyo. Why didn’t Darren wake me up? His method would have surely given us more time…” By method, Kon meant the brute’s means of forcing him out of sleep. Well, moreso hurling than forcing, as the muscular caretaker was able to fling the spera out of bed. With his finger. ”Oh, something came up. He said, ”Well, Kon does a good job taking care of you both, right? He should be able to find his way to the meeting room.” And then he gave me this.” The girl plunged a hand into her robe pocket and produced a small piece of crumpled paper.

”This parchment is in such bad condition, I’m surprised he didn’t crush the pen as well.” He mumbled as he unfolded the paper and smoothed it out with the pinnacle of his elbow, sighing as he did so. Scrawled out in horrible handwriting were directions to the meeting room, accompanied by the amount of meters between each step. ”Wow, I’m surprised I didn’t need an ancient tome to decipher this. Anyways, finish up. We have our orders.” The two picked up the pace with their breakfast and discarded the plastic plates into the trash. ”Is your hat on firmly?” The girl made a minute sound of confirmation and looked around at the entirety of the apartment, ”First day we leave… Why aren’t you getting any goosebumps, Kon?” The golem looked up at her comrade with worry and was met with a reassuring smile, a rare sight which should be treasured, ”Of course I am, I just have a good way of hiding it. Anyways, let’s get a move on. As much as I would like to be late…” His voice trailed off as he patted Kyo’s hat, and with that, the two disembarked for the first.

The cerulean clothed pair proceeded to the set meeting place and without a moment to spare arrived at their destination. ”Wow. That was quite the uneventful trip. I think I saw a knob with a lighter shade of grey than the rest.” The spera sighed as he entered the room, the fact that the frame and door were deformed was not worth his time to dabble with. Already the rest of the aforementioned individuals were present, ”...Remind me to ridicule Darren later, alright? We could’ve chosen the seats closest to the door if we had gotten here first.” The boy clicked his tongue as they entered the room and found two empty seats. ”Woah… Look at the others golems… There’s even a giant! Kon! Why didn’t you give me big muscles! Do you know how many candy wrappers I could open with that kind of payload!” The youthful voice pouted when she compared herself to the other manifestations. The boy sighed and lightly tapped his companion’s forehead, ”Don’t be intimidated. I’m sure you have read far more books than that creation. Don’t wallow in your weaknesses, prop yourself on your strengths. I thought I’ve taught you that for a while.” The girl nodded and sat back down in her chair, ”What do we do now?” She cocked her head and looked up to Kyo, expecting an answer which would suffice her need for knowledge. ”Why it’s quite simple, young grasshopper. Take a na-” The girl swiftly sank her shoe into the spera’s side, she was now sitting sideways in the seat, ”NO SLEEPING!”

---

╔╗╚╝

---

---

╔╗╚╝

---

---

Valerie watched as a boy followed by a young girl entered not long after she did and took a seat farthest away from everyone. "Not very social are they?" though she didn't really have room to talk, it's not as if she went out of her way to greet them. The same couldn't be said for the boy and his cat that came in later. He promptly sat down next to her and introduced himself and the cat, asked her name and told her he liked her hair.


She felt a little overwhelmed by his bubbly nature, it had been a while since she'd been around a person like that. "Uh. . . Thanks, I'm Valerie." Seconds after the words left her mouth another boy came in and announced to the room his name only to be followed by a behemoth of a man that had to destroy the door simply to fit through it. "Despite the fact that he looks like all the other cursed people, he's kind of lively in a strange way."


Finally the last of them joined the group, another guy and a small girl with animal ears in tow. As Valerie sat there and looked around at the others and how . . . normal they all appeared a small bubble of fear began to grow inside her. What with her alternative style and gruesome companion she wondered if she’d find a place among them. Maybe she was pretty odd to have created a golem like Agni. She was busy with her inner turmoil when disgusting excuse of a human being came in announcing their missions and partnerships, all the while acting as if the slaughter of Mackenzie and the others was no big deal.


As he spoke feelings of hate, anger, and sadness washed over her but in the end it was fear. The fear always tried to overtake her. After the scientist left the room Valerie sat there doing her best to conceal her fear, the only indication that anything was wrong being her playing with her lip ring. Slowly she glanced around the room. ”Where are you Agni? I need you.” she thought as she stood up her hands visibly shaking. Gripping them tightly into fist so that no one would notice she watched the first girl that had been in the room speak not really hearing what she said.


When Valerie felt as if she couldn’t take much more a familiar black mist appeared swirling in front of her. From this mist stretched out two skeletal hands that took her by the face. Almost instantaneously she could feel the fear being drained away and she closed her eyes giving a small sigh of relief. Agni then took his full form and released her face ”You are okay.” he stated matter of factly in his demon like voice. Valerie simply nodded ”Yes I am. Lets get going then.”moving around him she left to follow the other girl.

---

╔╗╚╝



K&K analyzed and comprised information in their own respects and manner. Kyo was barely able to keep herself fastened within her seat, at this point her hands were gripping onto the table with unfathomable enthusiasm and stood firmly on the cushion. It was as if she was about to leap onto the countertop and barrel her way towards another duo just to get a closer look. Meanwhile, Kon was lazily slumped back in his seat, with eyes traversing from person to person with the speed of a snail covered in a pound of salt. His ears only picked up the high-pitched exclamations of his partner, a mixture of cries of surprise and envy, ”There’s even a kitty! I want to pet it so bad!” The girl childishly bellowed into the side of his head, causing an expression of minor irritation to take form, ”Well, depends on if it's alright with hounds. Who knows, might be your arch-nemesis from another life?” He offered to spite the young golem, but instead unconsciously shattered her dreams of running her hands through feline fur. She fell back into her seat with a flump and bore an empty gaze, hope and joy had disembarked from her heat, ”...Possibilities. Not probabilities. No way my advisor can so easily lose faith.” The girl instantly shot back up and nodded ebulliently, her wagging tail had transformed into a nigh blur. The sudden back and forth sway in her morale made the boy sigh, but this was just the way she acted when she wasn’t on a task. Before they could indulge themselves further with making mental notes of their comrades, a scraggly old man appeared from one of the room’s intact doorways.

The man was a walking skeleton, a shifty character nonetheless, but a certain disconcerting aura followed him on an invisible leash. It was there, surrounding him, and slowly expanded until it filled the entirety of the room with its intangible presence. ”Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, my trust for this man just got flung out of the nonexistent window.” Kon rested his chin on the palm of his hand, not exactly feeling entranced by the man’s presence, just merely intrigued in seeing the direction of the upcoming conversation. He stalked his way to the head of the table and leisurely sat himself down in his seat. After his introduction, the snake of a man continued on with a self-ridiculing session, innocently brushing upon the slaughtering of their siblings. This only made Kon narrow his eyes slightly, yet it was obvious he had his a few of the other Spera close to home base. ”Now said trust just fell from a ten story fall, and is being forced into a super-powered vacuum, the contents of which will be later disposed of in an incinerator.” Though the argument could be made that his actions were inhumane, they did indeed render feasible results.

With a quick glance over to his side, Kon noticed that Kyo was listening intuitively as well, her eyes focused with a deadlock upon the professor. They were both instinctively awaiting the portion of the briefing they truly cared about, granted the history lesson and the gratitude to their fallen relatives were nice additions, they were surpassed by the main course of the event; their mission. Kyo leaned forward marginally, hanging onto the man’s every word until he finally reached the pinnacle of this whole shebang. A minute grin of appeasement appeared on the golem’s face when Elbar finally got around to elaborating on their orders. In conclusion, they were succinct and direct. Find and kill Hatchi’s manifestation; Vengeance. Both Kon and her training had let up to this chapter in their story. They could affirm that their existence wasn’t meaningless. They were humanity’s last hope, the product of an insurmountable amount of currency flow and sacrifice. What she wasn’t expecting was the new form of training they were compelled to do, a partner-based system. Another factor she managed to pick up on was how they were paired. Albeit she wasn’t entirely sure who was who, from the snippets of chatter she had listened in on prior to Elbar’s debriefing, partnered Spera appeared to be polar opposites of eachother. ”Wouldn’t it be more effective if they paired them up on a like-on-like basis, to optimize cohesiveness and similar mindsets?” She cocked her head with a quizzical expression painted on her face, unable to narrow down Elbar’s reasoning.

”Well, that was pretty interesting, right Kon? Wonder who this Keiga character i-” She spun around to face her partner, expecting a friend with as many questions as she, but was instead faced with a resting slacker. ”WERE YOU EVEN LISTENING?” The girl screamed as she stood up in her chair and sent a limb flying in Kon’s direction. Without even opening his eyes a sliver, he managed to catch the finely shined shoe in the palm of his hand, ”That man’s voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard, I couldn’t get a wink of sleep.” He complained with a drawn out yawn. Unlike Kyo, who appeared to have an array of internal emotions running amok, Kon appeared blissfully calm. ”At least we got our mission. Aren’t you phased by the slightest about your deceased siblings? Technically, he is the one who killed all of them.” Kyo stated nothing but the truth, rather than overreacting, Kon retained his stoic complexion, ”Of course I’m not happy with the fact that he slaughtered 7,994 children, but I’d rather not waste the time nor the energy lamenting it. As they say, no need to cry over spilled milk.” He pushed himself out of his chair and stretched out his sore physique.

The golem had her fingers clamped onto the crest of her chair, with only the upper half of her face elevated over the woodwork. ”Look at it this way, we’re not pawns, but neither are we kings and queens…” His eyes quickly ran across the figures of the rest of the Spera, ”We’re just the middle echelon, consisting of bishops, knights, and rooks, each of which with our own unique abilities.” The boy let out a sigh as he pulled out Kyo’s chair, then looked down at the golem. ”Hey, your tail’s wagging.” Kyo rose an eyebrow then glanced at her back, finally realizing the unconscious subtle movements from beneath her robe. Her face instantly grew a bright shade of red, in addition her arms flew into the air frantically out of embarrassment. ”Come on, you’re taking a million years to get out of that seat. Might as well see who our new partner is. Who knows, maybe they can make sweet food for you?” Kon nonchalantly chirped as he began to pace his way ahead, a sliver of a grin across his face. ”Usually I’m the one leading him around…” She puffed her cheeks in flustered thought, then lunged out of the chair. He was soon followed by his energetic companion. ”Koooooooooooon, wait uuuuuuuup!” The two followed suit of their relatives and proceeded to the new portion of the institution.

"I wished those days continued forever. I can’t stress that enough.”