Dishonesty

Chapter 9- Just go

The group was invited to the Wizard King office, although, instead of the Wizard King himself, inside they found a man Oriana had seen before, but couldn't remember his name. He had very distinguished hair...

"Yo, mushroom head," Yami took a long drag from his cigarette. "I hope this is important."

"My name is Marx!" the man shouted, but quickly composed himself. "I'm sorry for having you come all the way to the Headquarters, but the matter is rather urgent."

Marx observed the faces around him, probably to make sure everyone was listening.

"Unfortunately, there is a new threat. Even more unfortunate is that it escaped to the south and is endangering innocent, defenseless people," Marx explained. "The Magic Embassy of Japan contacted us, because there were reports of dark mana in their country, specifically, in the Miyagi Prefecture."

Oriana's heart skipped a beat. She just left the Miyagi Prefecture, how could it be?

"Do you know anything about the enemy?" one of the Coral Peacocks inquired.

"They haven't been able to identify the culprit, yet, but from what they have gathered, this new foe feeds off the negative feelings and energy from others and lately their mana has been growing stronger with every passing week. We have no idea of what their intentions are or if they are stable, but the matter has grown past their capabilities." Marx elaborated on the matter, then turned to Oriana and Suga, standing side by side. "Koshi Sugawara and Oriana White. The two of you lived in that area for the last year, correct?"

Unable to give a verbal answer, both of them nodded their heads.

"The Wizard King and I already read your reports of the accidents in that mean time. None of them seemed connected to this case." Marx spoke. "Since the two of you are familiar with the area, the Wizard King would like to ask you to return and investigate for how long necessary. Of course, the King is aware the both of you are preparing for the upcoming war with the new demon and this will affect your training. This is why it is up to you to decide if you want to go back to Japan and take the matters into your hands or if you'd rather stay and keep training. In case you choose the latter, another team will be sent."

"I don't understand..." Oriana was breathing heavily. "We just- we just left there and everything was fine. The Miyagi Prefecture is a small and happy town... where did this come from?"

"Something must have triggered the dark energy for this mage to feed on." Finral mumbled under his breath.

"They say heartbreak really fucks with you." Yami adds while biting his cigarette.

With wide open eyes, Oriana stared at something that wasn't there. Daichi. The Karasuno team. When Sugawara looked at Oriana, she didn't seem to be breathing. Sugawara himself was pale and his hands felt colder than ever.

Did we do this to them?

***

Given the rest of the day off, Oriana was not sure what to do with herself. For the first time in her life, she wasn't able to make a decision on the spot with her usual confidence. The Wizard King was kind enough to give her and Sugawara time to think. In about a week they would have to go back and report their decision, in case they said no, the Wizard King would just assign another team to go to Miyagi.

However, Oriana just arrived in the Clover Kingdom after a whole year. She had the determination to train alongside her squadmates and had a heat inside her that filled her with the will to fight, but if her Miyagi friends were in danger and if there was the slightest chance it might be her fault, she couldn't just do nothing about it. It was her theory that her and Suga's departure might have something to do with all this. She left not even two months ago and she might be coming back already. The travel time to Japan, investigating the occurrence, finding the culprit and a probable fight to stop whatever their intentions might be. This could take months of training she couldn't afford to miss.