Kibishi's POV

  "As you all know, tonight's mission isn't to look for the monster, but to get the newcomers accustomed to what we do here. We're only giving them a feel for what it's like to be on the battlefield."

  The Founder tapped on the table as if he was trying his very best not to say anything too far or even sarcastic. I wasn't sure why, but from here, I could tell that he was holding back everything he wanted to say and had decided on only the important points.

  And—truth be told, I was gd he made that decision.

  Anything more than that would have spelled chaos. And I was betting that was the LAST thing he needed right now.

  "Which leads to the two fresh, bewildering newcomers who caused trouble during their first day. Normally, I would have banned them from setting foot in this building again. But due to how interestingly they chase trouble, I shall allow it." The Founder chuckled after saying that statement.

  "You seem to be having fun..." I whispered while narrowing my eyes.

  "My word is absolute. Some will disagree with me. As an example, we'll use our friend here who is narrowing his eyes so angrily at me—Kibishi." The Founder looked at me. He seemed to be having fun poking fun at my reaction to his words.

  "Kibishi is such an interesting fellow. Having the guts to question my actions without a second thought when it comes to those he cares about. In a normal world, if a citizen questions an authority and doesn't obey the w, they shall be punished by said authority without a second thought."

  The Founder rested his head on his fist as he continued.

  "But the more that fire burns, the more dangerous someone can become. I would be worried, but then again, if he deeply cares for those he cherishes, he wouldn't dare go beyond talking. Isn't that right, my dear friend, Kibishi?"

  The Founder's grin never left his face. Just looking at it reminded me of those types of people who can get away with anything as long as the power is on their side.

  No matter how much I wanted to scream or shout at him and tell him that he was wrong, The Founder had me within his palms. One bad move and something would happen to Davide and Riley. Worst, he might do something to Tao.

  I couldn't even stomach those ideas, so I swallowed hard. I closed my eyes, using the silence as my answer.

  If I spoke then, I knew that I would say something that he might hate. I knew I didn't personally care about being on his bad side. But again, he had me cornered.

  I wasn't afraid of him specifically. Oh no, far from it. I was just terrified to see the look on Tao's face if she was in trouble.

  The thought of Tao getting hurt was driving me nuts. I could sense my eyes glowing from my pure emotion. Not only that, my body heat skyrocketed through the roof. It wasn't from the warmth I was used to. It was from the agony of losing the one who gave me purpose.

  And I COULDN'T lose MY purpose.

  If I lost my purpose—something I deemed precious, there was no point in living anymore...

  The darkness... was evolving within me. I could sense the sight of this darkness taking over my mind. I had to open my eyes.

  Static!

  My mind was getting fuzzy. I had to open my eyes. But if I opened them, then I would shout at The Founder with all of my might—

  "That's enough, Founder." I heard a gentle voice.

  I opened my eyes towards the direction of the voice. I saw Yosei, who had been sitting there silently the whole time. Only now had she decided to speak up. Yosei didn't seem pleased for some reason. In fact, she seemed annoyed.

  Yosei looked away, folding her arms.

  "We're here to speak of a serious matter. Not for your entertainment. If you have nothing else to say, then shall we get moving? I want to get this mission over with." Yosei said in a deep yet serious voice.

  Wow.

  Before, Yosei had been all cheerful. It was almost as if she were the big sister type. Well, she is the sister of Kuma, so that made sense. But now? The way I saw it, the things that The Founder had said to me really bothered her. And since it bothered Yosei, she had decided to speak up.

  Almost as if she were protecting her own family.

  "I agree with Yosei. We can't afford to waste any time. And by the way, I don't like the fact that you tried to abuse Kibi's patience just because you have the authority. It makes me upset JUST thinking about it." Kuma chimed in.

  Kuma's expression seemed furrowed. She wasn't the type to be angry like that either. But it was to be expected since she didn't really like the idea of me exploring without any experience. Tao, too.

  "I suggest that we don't use our personal emotions in this, please. That goes to not only The Founder but to all of us." Kujira said bluntly as she narrowed her eyes in dissatisfaction.

  "Yosei. Kuma. I understand. Believe me, I get where you're coming from. But I don't want to lose sight of our goal just for a few emotional rages."

  "I'm not raging..." Yosei's voice deepened. She seemed to be backpedaling at this point since it was clear to me that she was still emotional about The Founder's statement.

  "I'm perfectly calm..." Kuma's voice was just the same as Yosei's. I could tell these two were angry at The Founder's statement.

  "You two are such horrible liars. Your expressions are obviously giving away how you feel." Kujira coldly stated while closing her eyes. "And I hate to be the one to say this, but we can't afford to have this during an important meeting."

  "..." Yosei remained silent.

  "..." Kuma did the same.

  We heard The Founder ugh at the supernaturals, which was us. It wasn't from underestimating our expectations. It was from a guy who KNEW the people that he was working with.

  "Fear not. I don't pn to harm any of you as long as you're useful to our cause. My word is absolute. I shall not cause hurt to any of you. You have my word on that."

  "...There you have it," Kujira said before deeply sighing.

  "Right. So let's go back to the topic at hand, shall we?" Tao said in an emotionless way. I looked in her direction. I could sense such hostility from Tao. It was almost as if the air around her was being sucked away.

  Tao wasn't the type to attack someone like that, despite what anyone would say about me. But I think those words that The Founder had said to me really put her on edge. It was taking all of her willpower not to say anything, just like how I held in everything to not cause any problems.

  We all had learned that there was a time and pce for everything.

  Not to mention, I could hear Emily in the background scolding Davide and Riley to not do anything reckless again. It was a losing battle, but in the end, they simmered down.

  I then heard an adult sigh in disbelief. I looked in the direction and saw the new guy with the mechanic junk suit and dark skin step in next to The Founder like it was nothing.

  "Good grief. Can we NOT cause any more problems tonight? I don't want my daughters to be in a foul mood just for your sick kicks." The man with a junk suit pced his hands in his pants pockets.

  "You're always a parent first and a team pyer second, huh, Kevin?" The Founder chuckled.

  "Of course. What kind of dumbass would pick work over their kids? A stupid kind, that's what." The guy named Kevin snarked back at The Founder in disbelief once again. He had this disgusted look that showed how unhappy he was with The Founder's comment just now.

  "..Haah..." Mato sighed deeply.

  Mato had been quiet for some time as well. I wondered why he hadn't intervened like st time.

  Mato then stood up and shook his head.

  "I know that you ordered me not to interfere whenever you're in a mood to mess with Kibishi for some strange reason, but can we PLEASE move on, sir? This is... getting a bit weird for my taste..."

  I agreed with Mato there. This was getting a little too weird, indeed.

  "Hmm... I'm not sure what you mean, Mato. Mind expining it to me?" The Founder generically asked with his brow raised out of curiosity.

  "WHA—! Mm... okay. I'll pretend that I didn't hear that and move on anyway." Mato, who looked disgusted by The Founder's action, decided to close his eyes and swipe on his ft long device that seemed to resemble a tablet, creating a projection.

  "ANYWAY! Moving on from that brief distraction, we shall continue our expnation of Super Codes."

  Mato smiled and pointed at the projection.

  "So, as I expined before, Super Codes are made out of three major factors. I expined what those are, so I'm sure I don't need to expin it again, yes?" Mato said.

  Honestly, I STILL didn't know what those three major factors were, even though he had expined them that morning, but that was just a personal problem. If I needed to, I would ask the others during the exploration.

  No. More like I still didn't know what those had to do with the Super Codes themselves...

  If I remembered... it was...

  The fabric, the technology, and... the magic... I think.

  I didn't really know the details, but remembering the major names of the concept of the Super Codes made me a bit rexed and happy.

  Anyway, I had better pay attention to Mato.

  "Like I mentioned before as well, the Super Codes will depend on the situation. So we adjusted the Super Codes to adapt to whatever weather conditions you all may encounter." Mato expined while scratching his nose.

  "So, for example, if there's a winter storm in a yer, the Super Code will adjust to that climate change?" Tao asked curiously. She seemed to be a bit calmer since it was a topic that seemed interesting despite being a bit confusing.

  "Correct! So, I pced each teleporter with each of your Super Codes. You all will enter your assigned teleporter and will be in that connected teleporter of that section of the yer." Mato expined—wait, what?

  "Whoa whoa whoa! Back up for a second. Teleporters?"

  I had to stand up and raise both of my hands to pause the meeting for a bit. I knew that The Founder would be mad at me, but that didn't matter at this point.

  This new concept had just come out of nowhere, and I thought I deserved SOME kind of expnation.

  "We don't have time to expin—"

  "No! No, no, no! We DO have the right to know! What do you mean by 'teleporters'?!" Tao stood up as well. I suppose the word 'teleporter' made her stand as well.

  "I mean, a 'TELEPORTER'?! Is that scientifically possible?! I-I mean! By logical standards, the concept of teleporting your body from one pce to another defies the physical ws of the universe!" Tao's eyes swirled as steam came out of her head.

  "I mean! As a fellow believer in science, this SHOULDN'T be possible! Listen—look! I get it! We use magic, we have magical monsters, and we somehow have powers! I can get behind that! Super Codes?! I'll buy it! But teleporting?! That's not pos— that's not possible! Nope! Not physically possible!"

  Tao seemed to be... panicking!

  I rushed to her side, holding her shoulder for support.

  "C-calm down, Tao. Breathe in and out."

  "But, Kishi, there's no technology that's THAT advanced in our lifetime! Teleporting isn't PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE! I-I can't get the logic behind it-!"

  "E-easy! Easy there, Tao. Just take a deep breath, okay?"

  Tao blinked at me. She then closed her eyes. Tao breathed in.... breathed out. Tao had to do this a couple of times before showing any sign of calm.

  I mean, I got it.

  That, to me, wasn't really logical either. But thinking about it then, it was probably thanks to the magic factor.

  But even still, Tao's reaction was pretty logical and very fair.

  "O-okay. I'm okay. I'm okay!.... I'm okay." Tao slowly sat down. I sat back down in my seat and brought it closer to Tao. I rubbed her back so she could calm down some more.

  Tao breathed in... then breathed out. She then smiled at Mato for some reason.

  "..." Tao closed her eyes while still smiling.

  But then—

  "You have teleporters?!" Tao shouted, her eyes seeming to swirl from not only conflict but confusion as well.

  "Tao?!" I shouted.

  "Oh boy..." Kujira rolled her eyes and rested her hands on the table.

  "Um... to keep it short, let's just say that it's the same method we used to create Super Codes. Did that help?" Kuma asked Tao with a nervous smile.

  "The logic doesn't make any sense, though..." Tao whispered as she held her head.

  "Think of it as transferring data that's been enchanted by magic. Only we break down the atoms of your body with magic being at py here." Yosei expined while trying to reassure Tao.

  "Well, while we're on the subject, I'll just say that the 'norm' and logic of certain things can be made possible by magic. Even if magic could improve the possibility of feats like teleporting, you'd still need to know where to pce the atoms, when to rebuild your body, and how to repeat it without losing an arm or a leg. So I get Taoreta's concern, at the very least. So yeah! All in all, it's all thanks to science AND magic!" Mato grinned at us.

  "...U-uh-huh..." Tao didn't seem satisfied with that answer.

  All in all, so was I. But I didn't think we would get a clean answer right then, so I had better calm Tao down so that we could move on.

  "Um... It's like the others said. Since magic is involved, the science behind it has advanced more than our current technology to date. So I believe that's why it's possible... maybe."

  "..." Tao closed her eyes and held her head. "...I suppose I'll leave that be for now. I really want to know the technique behind this tech, but I shall leave it at that for now. Thanks for clearing that up, Kishi..."

  Honestly, I doubted I had cleared anything up, but it seemed my point was essentially what the others had mentioned before, which finally calmed Tao down. I suppose that since it came from me, Tao had finally accepted it for now. I wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing, though...

  "At any rate, since we got the Super Codes to work properly, you all can explore far longer than st time. I would rather that we test a few things for Kibishi and Taoreta, but that'll have to wait." Mato turned off the projection and made two sets of clothes appear out of nowhere.

  Huh.

  Must have been a new tech or maybe some type of magic.

  "Kibishi, Taoreta. Please wear these for tonight's mission. These are your Super Codes." Mato tossed each of us our new clothes which were known as Super Codes. I caught mine and unfolded them. It seemed to be a bck shirt with bck pants and some bck shoes. Honestly? It seemed to be based on a school uniform, to be honest. It seemed a bit foreign, too.

  Tao's, on the other hand, seemed to be like a fancy dress.

  So, did that mean the clothes I would wear were like a school uniform, or was I getting that wrong? Hmm... either way, these were some nice, clean clothes.

  "Don't worry, we made them to fit your size, so they shouldn't be too tight or even loose," Kevin said with confidence as he held his neck.

  "Wait, how did you know our measurements?" Tao asked with her left brow raised.

  "Let's just say that the clothes you wear on your back tell us all." The Founder said something unsettling yet scary. This made Tao observe her clothing for a moment. But no matter how many times she checked, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Tao shivered and held her chest as if having her spine tingle from the information she had received from The Founder.

  "...I'll come back to THAT ter..." Tao whispered, looking a bit disgusted.

  I didn't bme her either.

  To be frank, I would definitely come back to this too if I remembered. But Tao never forgot, so the chances for that were pretty high.

  Wait. If they could know the size of our body, then...?!

  Ding!

  As if a stone had hit a boulder and then spshed into the ocean, my mind started to run wild.

  "Wait a goddamn minute?! Does that include ALL of our height AND weight?!" I shouted in a panic.

  "Yes. For the females, they also measured our chest and ass sizes as well." Kuma bluntly stated as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

  "Does that include Tao's?!" I blushed like mad when I said that.

  Just thinking about them measuring every inch of my best friend's body without permission made me restless. From her neck to her chest, to her stomach, to her hips. Even all the way down her thighs as well! How could they do something like that?!

  I gnced over and saw Tao hugging herself uncomfortably. That sight made my head boil in rage. Right then, I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs. But I swallowed very VERY hard, almost as if I were drinking water fast. But in actuality, I was holding myself back. I turned to The Founder with the most genuine "smile" I could muster. I closed my eyes afterwards.

  "Ahaha... so THAT'S how we're pying it, huh." I said in the most "cheerful" way possible.

  Don't worry, Founder. I don't get revenge. I get even.

  But right then, I would save that for ter. I opened my eyes and then grabbed hold of Tao's hand.

  "Let's go, Tao! I don't want a CERTAIN adult to see you changing like the CREEP he is. Let's head to my room and get changed." I announced loud enough for everyone to hear. I saw Tao blink twice, followed by a hint of confusion. It didn't take long before a hint of blush appeared on each of her cheeks.

  "....eh?" Tao tilted her head in shock.

  "Whoa whoa whoa! What do you think you're doing?" The Founder asked me with a disapproving look on his face. But to be honest, I didn't give a rat's ass how he felt about it. He had poked the hornet's nest, and now he was gonna suffer for it.

  "Huh. Funny. I don't remember asking for your opinion, Founder. Did anyone else hear me asking for an opinion?" I looked around as if I were slow. Everyone seemed either shocked, surprised, or a little bit of both. I saw the other supernaturals giving me mixed signals as well. Kuma was giving me a grin, Yosei looked surprised, and Kujira looked shocked by my actions. Most of all, Tao seemed to be frozen by my statement as well.

  Well, it didn't matter to me at that point, so I simply pulled Tao up before she could give me her answer. I then brought her closer to me and held her hand.

  "Well then, I'll meet you all by the teleporters." I waved my free hand with my new clothing at everyone.

  "WAIT KIBISHI! I WASN'T FINISH-!"

  "Yeah, yeah. Super Codes will protect us from the weather; we're all on the frontlines, we're only taking a look around, yada, yada, yada." I started to walk away from the group with Tao. I could hear her breathing heavily. I gnced and saw she was all red. I was kinda feeling warm myself for acting like a fool, but it couldn't be helped. They had done something unforgivable, so I didn't want to be around The Founder right then, since he had approved such a horrible act against my friend.

  "Now then," I continued to walk away with Tao.

  "Wait a second- damn him! Yosei! Follow them to Kibishi's room!" The Founder shouted, sounding VERY annoyed by my actions.

  Good.

  That jerk deserved it.

  I heard Yosei saying "yeah, yeah," in an unmotivated tone, and her chair being pushed out. I then heard Kuma and Kujira following suit. Their footsteps were following me from behind as I looked forward without a care in the world.

  Yep.

  I could be a bit stubborn from time to time when it came to Tao. And to be honest, I was going to have Tao use the bathroom to change while I used my room itself to change as well. I wasn't pnning on doing anything that would make Tao uncomfortable. But I really wanted to move away from the crowd and cool off my head. I wasn't the type to be hot-headed. It was more like my emotions had gotten the better of me once more. And it had started with The Founder's comment from before. And now hearing that they had measured Tao without any consent broke the camel's back.

  I had no room to argue, nor the time for it. I needed to focus on the mission at hand. But not without a little payback by pissing The Founder off a little bit with my actions.

  Yeah, it was worth it.

  I nodded to myself with my brows lowered. I could feel myself being annoyed by that statement from The Founder.

  "Are you okay, Kishi? Did I do something wrong?" Tao whispered next to me.

  Did she do something wrong? Of course not.

  "You did nothing wrong, Tao. Come on, let's go so that we can get started with the mission..." I whispered back as I could hear Kuma and the others whispering from the back. I could tell that they realized I could be a bit strange when it came to Tao, which was one hundred percent true, too.

  Having them follow us might not have made The Founder as angry as I had hoped, but I didn't mind them at all, so it was what it was.

  I looked up at the ceiling. I wondered what the outside would be like without being in prison.

  My heart raced to gather some answers to my question. But for now, I tightened my grip and continued to walk. Tao responded to that with her own grip.

  It was disappointing that I wouldn't get to hear the rest of Mato's speech. Heck, I even felt bad for walking away from it, too. But there were things that were more important than information right now...

  That important thing was Tao's privacy.