Chapter 70 - Effects

Tokyo Hoso Kyokai Headquarters, Shibuya

[This has been Morimoto Gin, reporting.]

A man in his 50s, wearing a dress shirt and khaki pants, throws down his cigarette butt and gently steps on it without looking, and takes a deep breath.

"Did you check if it was tampered? Or has some visual effects on it?" He asks a 30 something year old man beside him.

"Yes, sir. Aside from Gin using a greenscreen of Lake Chuzenji as a backdrop… It's as legit as it can be." The younger man reports.

"Gin. He really did it…" The older man chuckles.

"What do we do, Akiyama-san?" The younger man asks, his voice trembling a little as he closes the laptop he has been holding up.

The younger man, by holding up a laptop, just showed the older man the news segment that Red and his gang made with Gin.

"Yoshinori, how long do we have before the show starts?" Akiyama Ichiro, THN's THN Nightly News' program director, and Gin's boss, asks his assistant.

"Just fifteen minutes, sir." Yoshinori reports.

"Let's do it. Let's insert it to the show. Make a preview. And oh, call the anchor to the conference room now." Ichiro orders.

"Sir. Are you sure? Like… Aren't you gonna be fired for this?" Yoshinori asks.

"Nah, I won't be. I'll just get chewed out. I can even argue to the folks at the top that even if they try and block it, they can't stop Gin from uploading it to his social media. Hell, Gin can even go to other networks to sell this. We'd rather squeeze it for ratings than pass it to others." Ichiro smirks.

Yoshinori is still scared, but follows the logic enough to understand.

"I'll get on it." He goes back inside.

"Gin." Ichiro shakes his head before continuing his smoke break.

He might not have another chance of having a cigarette until the night is over.

<>

Nikko.

"CRAZY BASTARD!"

*CRASH*

Takeo throws the remote control to the huge flat screen TV.

One servant in the living room witnessing the scene, winces, finding such newly bought, state of the art tech, is broken just like that.

"Father. At least he didn't talk about being detained here." Yuri, Takeo's daughter, does not really care about the image of the clan. She was also against the decision of covering the early morning incident.

"Sir, if I may speak freely?" The servant asks.

Takeo and Yuri raise their brows at him.

"This serves as proof to present the Sunada." The servant reminds them.

"The old ways no longer work, father." Yuri smiles, seeing that Takeo's face shows acceptance.

<>

Sagamihara

"Demon…" Gorou looks at his son lying on the hospital bed.

His wife and his son, who are with him in Hideki's hospital room, do not know what he is thinking.

The three are still processing that Hideki was possessed by a demon, and they had no idea.

*ring**ring*

Hikaru, Hideki's younger brother, answers his phone.

"Yes *****-san. The clan head is not available for the moment. If this is about the demon core, then I will tell you what I told others. Mr. Fool took it away."

He immediately explains without even letting the person at the opposite end, talk.

"Get offended all you want. We are having tough times and it is quite disrespectful of you to do this. If there's anyone who should be feeling offended, then it is me." He drops the call, annoyed.

Gorou smiles for a bit, but soon it fades. Hikaru's way of dealing with the annoying inquiries of other clans makes him feel better at least for a short while.

"What if… What if it was the demon that made Hideki the way he was?" The Hasegawa matriarch utters weakly.

Gorou acts as if he did not hear it.

'You were bad parents.' Hikaru meanwhile, is trying his best not to scoff.

He has no love for his brother. After all, he too, before he grew strong enough to defend himself from Hideki, suffered from Hideki's bullying.

He has love for his parents. But while he does, he holds quite a bit of resentment for them. They turned a blind eye on Hideki's actions towards him, and only admonish Hideki after the deed is done.

It was not until Hideki was crippled of his superioris powers that his parents started to pay attention to him.

*ring**ring*

His phone rings once again but when he sees the caller ID, his annoyance that start to form in his heart once again, did not come out.

"Father, Mother. I have to deal with these calls." He excuses himself.

<>

Stockholm.

A fancy office.

"General. There's news from Japan from two hours ago." A young Caucasian man who looks to be in his late 20s, wearing a nice suit, reports to a caucasian woman who looks to be in her 30s.

"What news?" The woman raises her brows as she looks up from the paperwork from the table.

"I don't care about Japan unless one of our partners went bankrupt."

"A demon was killed." The young man reports.

The expensive fountain pen the woman is holding get crushed.

The young man then plays a video on his phone before handing it to the woman.

A few minutes later.

"Ahhh…That idiot." The woman can barely suppress her anger as she tosses the phone back to the young man.

"Did you know him?" The young man asks.

"Ag'dramos…" The woman reveals.

"Ag'dramos?!" The young man's eyes widen in shock.

"That general Ag'dramos?" He asks just to be sure.

After all, he has heard of Ag'dramos' exploits and achievements during the great war.

"Did he live after the gates were closed?" The young man asks.

"He lived among humans years after that. But just like us, he was discovered and hunted. He survived and went to slumber. He even woke up a decade before we did." The woman remember the day Ag'dramos found her.

"Without his help, I could not have established a base here." She adds.

"I see…" The young man nods, feeling a bit grateful for Ag'dramos.

"I told him to be patient. We had time." The woman then sighs and buries her face on her hands.

The young man tries to keep calm. He has never seen the woman be so emotional before.

A few minutes later, the woman gets back her bearings.

"This … oddball in red. Who is he?" She asks the young man.

"They call him Mr. Fool on the internet. A possible S-Class Superioris." The young man reports.

The woman can only shake her head at her acquaintance's misfortune.

"But, general. Have you seen a superioris like this? To be able to force Ag'dramos' demon specter back to his host… Seemingly without spells, runes, or any artifact?" The young man asks, witnessing such scene for the first time in his life.

"I don't know what kind of superiori powers humanity have given birth to since the war. There might be things we know that no longer apply." The woman explains, while internally, also nervous at the ability she saw.

"I see." The young man can only accept.

"… So an S-Class huh... He could have gotten away had..." The woman shakes her head and sighs.

"So stay by my side until hell ascends again. You never know who's watching." She can only warn her subordinate.

"I know, general." The young man easily accepts.

"You were right. Even though I just got this body two decades after waking up, at least I survived longer than a general."

"Good." The woman nods.

"How about the newbies we found? Are they still antsy?" She wants good news to feel better.

"Yes, general. Now that they've got their own bodies, they can't wait to grow stronger and go out to play." The man scratches his brows in frustration.

After knowing about Ag'dramos' death, this bad news is barely a nuisance the woman.

"You were just like them. Maybe you can help them accept their situation." She suggests.

"I told them. I told them that lying low and assimilating is the way. And that has made rescuing them and sheltering them easy. But I guess there is no reasoning with demons of pride." The young man complains.

The woman leans back on her chair.

"I can't help you there. I failed to convince Ag'Dramos to stay, and gluttons like him are easier to talk to than the prideful ones." She shrugs.

"Why not just let them go, general? They can only possess the non-superiori anyways. They barely add power to our forces." The young man suggests.

"You don't think they're worth the effort?" The woman chuckles.

"Yes, general." The young man admits easily.

"Good. Then eliminate them." The woman orders.

The young man is taken aback.

"Will that really be fine?"

"Yes. Like you said, they're not worth the effort. If you let them go, they might expose us. You do know that humans are rather creative in their interrogation methods, right?" The woman asks.

"Then I understand, general." The young man accepts the order.

He is still not leaving the office however.

"Problem?" The woman asks.

"Yes uhhh…" The young man takes a deep breath. "Those newbies, the pride demons? They weren't the only ones I found." He confesses.

"And I hope you have a good reason of keeping it from me." The woman raises her brows.

"General, they refused my invitation. Said they would rather have fun among the humans. Said they feel happier than ever. I didn't know how to bring it up." The young man reports in defeat.

"All of these things are temporary. Once our lords and prince ascend, they will know that." The woman scoffs.

"Scamps? Soldiers?" She asks.

"Scamps." The young man confirms.

"Pff. So scrubs even back in hell. Eliminate them too. Reminds me of Zograthan. We don't want anyone else following the footsteps of that traitor."

The young man gets chills, feeling the anger in the woman's voice.

"I'll start a plan on it, general." He accepts the order.

"Oh. And please tell the others to stay in the city until further notice. We don't want another demon-hunt to begin before we're ready." 

"As you wish, general." 

<>

Hinohara

"Hahhh… It's over." Gin lies down happily in the living room floor.

For the past three hours, he has seen how much attention his video garnered online and internationally.

"Hey. Watch the jacket. You're gonna stretch it!" Fumio nags at Gin as he takes back his laptop.

"Oh… Shit. Sorry." Gin quickly gets back and takes off the jacket.

"What do you want to do now?" Kotone, setting up dinner at the dining table, asks.

"Oh. That's right. Your wallet. Your phone…" Fumio starts enumerating. "And yeah. Are you sure your stuff wasn't already thrown out by your landlord?"

"Yeah. It's gonna be a mess to sort out." Gin sighs.

"Hey Gin." Red, who the three forgot is lounging on the frame of the sliding door, smoking something with a pipe, calls out.

"Check the pockets." He points, with his pipe, at the jacket that Gin wore.

"What?" Gin then pats the pockets of the jacket until he finds one that contains something.

He then takes them out, and to his surprise.

"My phone… my wallet…" He cannot believe what he found and he kisses his items.

"The only concern now, is although you're not wanted, officially, you now have a bounty on your head." Red says.

"Bounty?" Gin gets scared.

"What do you mean, boss?"

"Isn't it over? Didn't he prove his innocence?"

Red's two disciples are confused.

"Many people will want to know your connection with Mr. Fool, Gin." Red shrugs.

Gin deflates.

"I guess you really can't have it all, huh." He smiles bitterly.

"Well, why don't you work for me?"