The Promise of Tomorrow

Chapter 56

"Hurry up! We need every manpower we got to deal with the threat!" a military personnel shouted as a military base was rounding up every manpower and firepower they had to prepare for Origami's arrival. Every soldier was preparing for the worst as they were about to face a freak of nature that scales beyond a natural calamity. A sergeant saw a passerby just enter the base, and he immediately told the passerby, "This is a restricted area, lady. Turn back now,"

Unfortunately, the lady soon revealed herself and replied, "Oh, my good sir. I'm already where I'm meant to be," and clapped her hands. From below, dark tendrils emerged from the shadows and snatched the sergeant's pistol away and the moment that every single soldier was alerted, it was too late. A dark crimson veil was already surrounding the whole base from above and the lady had already revealed herself to be none other than Kurumi. She had the whole place on lockdown, with clones already taking everyone in the vicinity as hostages.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you wouldn't mind if I took some your time, would you?"

On the other hand, Shido and Tohka had just arrived at Y/n's last known location. Just before they could enter the open field where the eternally blooming cherry blossom tree is, they were met with a barrier. Intended to not let anyone in just in case someone had found his location. However, the moment Shido touched the barrier, the said thing felt like jelly and it had been easy for him to enter inside the barrier. The moment Tohka tried to enter, she felt like she had just hit a brick wall.

'I see. So I guess it is just us supervisors that are allowed to come in. Everyone else were prevented from entering to ensure that he's well protected,' Shido analyzed and immediately deactivated the barrier. Not long after that, they saw both Kusakabe and Y/n sleeping on the grassy ground. "You think Origami knocked them out?" Tohka asked to which Shido answered, "I doubt it. More likely lulled to sleep. I can't see Origami hitting them, especially Y/n."

"I'm really glad that this is only a short trip and it is nighttime. Otherwise, people would ask us questions why we're carrying unconscious people," Shido points out while carrying Y/n. Tohka suggests that they should run home quickly, stating, "No one will see us if we're fast enough to run." Shido replies that it is a bad idea, and they might get detected or put under suspicion."

Unfortunately for them, the AST were already on their way above, and soon descended in front of the two. With Mikie as the lead, she immediately saw that Tohka was carrying the lieutenant and every single one of them became defensive. "Relax, we found her unconscious. We didn't attack her nor did we do anything wrong," Shido attempted to diffuse the situation which he somewhat succeded, although Tohka seemed to be on her guard too due to her experience with AST.

"We got here after we tracked Origami's cell signal...well whatever was left of it before she obliterated her phone," one of the AST soldier narrates the method in locating the Lieutenant. "Y/n was last seen here, and as you can see, both him and his superior were knocked out cold," Shido tells his side of his story which the group believes, knowing he is on their side. "We'll take Lieutenant with us. At this point, we're in the dark with what is with Origami," another AST member said, and she seemed to be a member of Kaede's gang.

Mikie soon then spoke up, and wanted some reassurance. "You guys... You don't believe it right? Right?!" she asked with fear and panic in her voice. "Not in the slightest. However, I doubt she's the type to just take it lightly, not when the action affects every single loved ones she has," Shido answered with concern laced in his voice, knowing that probably righy now, Origami had plotted something that is guaranteed to be outright reckless.