edelweiss - &team

6

When morning came, most were still snoozing. For immortals, they sure needed their sleep.

Amazingly, despite having gone to bed at past three, Maki was up and about, raiding Yudai's fridge at the wee hour of 7 am.

"Why are you up so early," Yuma grumbled as he rubbed his eyes, shuffling into the kitchen in desperate search for caffeine.

With a box of frozen waffles secured, Maki beamed, tapped the fridge door shut and replied, "We're gonna leave soon, didn't Yudai tell you on your way down?"

Yuma paused, rummaging through his sleepy memories, recalling Yudai murmuring something to him as they passed each other.

"Oh, shit. We're checking up on it today?" Yuma yawned and poured a cup of pitch black coffee, freshly made. Maki nodded, "Harua came last night. Or more like, this morning. Once we're all up we're good to go."

Yuma hummed, taking a long sip of his coffee, his eyes studying the dark liquid, before he perked up and demanded, "Make me a waffle."

"Why should I?"

"I'll fling you out of the building, that's why."

"What are you two doing?" The duo were interrupted by Jo standing before then, already dressed but still groggy, evidently forced awake.

"I see Yudai is throwing everyone out of bed now," Maki chuckled, before sticking a raw hard waffle straight into his mouth.

Yuma sent him a look of combined disgust and amazement, as Maki brushed bits of ice from the freezer from his shirt.

Jo sighed as he leaned against the kitchen counter, "Ah, this is all so sudden. I'm starting to get nervous. What if we-"

"Nope," Yixiang swiftly cut him off as he walked over, snatching the coffee pot and helping himself to a cup, "We're not going to mention it until I see it in front of my face."

Yuma rolled his eyes. "Are you scared?" He taunted, but everyone politely ignored the slight tremor in his voice.

An uncomfortable silence ensued, Yixiang never took his eyes off Yuma and his expression was almost of pity.

To ease the awkwardness, Jo remarked, "I saw one of your recent races, Yuma. You looked good."

"I always look good," Yuma joked, but his expression was appreciative and grateful.

The others started to trickle, all grouchy from being forcefully roused, Yudai did a head count as they ate breakfast. When he confirmed that he had hauled everyone out of bed, Harua set down his fork and coughed lightly, his gentle eyes grave.

"I didn't physically go down myself, but I felt the barriers being tampered with, as if it were struggling forcefully against it," He explained, fingers twisting together, I've never felt it before, it was so strong and I just knew something bad was brewing."

Immediately, some of them lost their appetite, pushing their plates away. Maki, still shovelling scrambled eggs (that Yudai whipped up) into his mouth, said, "Okay. So when do we leave?"

"Once everyone's done and we have all the things we need," Yudai declared as he stood up with Harua, the two heading off to grab some essential items to bring.

-

After they were all done and ready, they all loitered at Yudai's living room until the two finally descended the stairs, Yudai holding a small cross body bag.

"Took you long enough," Fuma grumbled, but there was an endearing expression on his face, as though he were about to go on a field trip with kids.

Harua withdrew a tattered and glowing talisman from his worn satchel, "Everyone ready?"

Yuma sighed as he eyes the golden talisman, "I had hoped we'd never need to use that again."

Harua released it and let it flutter down to the ground, the second it touched the fluffy carpeted floor, it expanded into a large gold form, glowing so brightly some of them squinted, then the light was too blinding to see anything.

When they were greeted with warm wind, they opened their eyes to the dreaded but familiar sight of a dry, hot desert. From all directions, there were no buildings in sight, no signs of humans or modern technology, simply dunes of sand and dying plants.

"Good old limbo," Riki remarked, holding his hand up to shield his eyes from the blinding sun. Yudai's eyes were fixed on a large shimmering thing in the distance, grim but determined.

They headed in that direction, and soon were looking down the depths of a wide, seemingly endless hole. On top was a shining mesh, which rippled like water. Maki peered over the edge, then exclaimed, "Where the f is he?"

"Nice censorship," Jo chortled, but fell silent when he too took a peek at the hole and realisation sunk in.

"Oh my god. Oh my fucking-" Yuma clapped a hand over his mouth, turning his back to the hole, taking a few steps away as he breathed.

"Wait, did we gather all the way here just to stare at an empty hole?" Yixiang asked, incredulous.

"Forget that! Harua, where did it go?"

Harua threw his hands up in frustration, "I don't know! I helped to trap it, not track it!"

"Hang on. It didn't break through the top barrier. So it tunnelled through the ground," Fuma said, fingers resting at his chin in thought.

"No way, it could be half way across the globe for all we know," Riki bit on his thumbnail, eyes unfocused as his mind spun.

"Hell."

"You shouldn't use your home place as a swear word, Fuma."

"One more word, and I'll send you right there."

Yixiang scowled, ignoring the bickering, both hands gripping his head as he paced, "Damnit, if we were here earlier we could have caught him-it. We didn't need all of us to be here!"

Harua frowned at him, eyes glinting a sharp gold, "Oh, so you wanted me to come alone? It took all nine of us to seal it a thousand years ago, I would stand no chance alone."

"Enough," Yudai stepped between the two, easing the tension, "No point arguing now. We need a plan, we'll have to find and capture it again, so let's try to calm down, okay?"

"God, I would rather write a hundred research papers then face it again," Fuma groaned, fingers wrapped at his neck as he stared up to the sky.

"No point mulling over that. For now, I don't know about you guys, but I'd rather stay here for a bit and train. I have not been using my powers, I'm really rusty," Riki piped up, the usually cheeky and cheerful one solemn for a change.

Yudai sighed, "Me and Maki should be fine." He eyed Maki, and the other beamed, confirming his worries.

"Ah, right," Jo laughed, "The famous actor Yudai and his delinquent brother who beats up classmates."

Yudai looked like he was considering tossing someone off a cliff, though he seemed mildly relieved they could take their minds off this worrying topic for a second.

"Yudai, you still haven't clarified that he isn't your brother?" Harua asked, in disbelief.

Yudai rubbed his temples, "I never confirmed nor denied. My agency believes that doing either is too risky, hence I've just been dancing around it." He shot Maki a dirty look, the youngest only grinned back.

"Okay, it's great we want to train and all, but we need to come up with a plan that isn't as sloppy as our first one," Euijoo announced, determined.

Harua perked up, "Let's go to the archives. Might as well, we all need our weapons. We can plan and train there."

After an unanimous agreement, Harua yanked out another talisman from his book and they were off.