The Horsemen: Himawari's Arrival Part 3

Chapter 1: Revelation

UPDATE: THE TCRC PART IS NO LONGER CANON

I've always wondered what it felt like for people who've spent their whole lives to create the perfect home, the perfect family, and the perfect life...only to watch it be taken away from them in an instant. A poor man who finally met the love of his life, only to get news that she died of a sickness that couldn't be cured. A business man who gave himself a mansion in the estate, just to watch his children brutally murdered by his business rivals. A political figure who might have spent his whole life trying to do good for the community and push policies against climate change, only for the next government to go in the opposite route.

I've always wondered what it must feel like for families who watched their homes wash away in floods, for children to watch their parents get divorced, and for fathers and mothers who watched in live television their children being killed in terrorist acts. This is the reason why I've chosen to become a journalist.

And in a way, that's just how I feel.

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Omega Control Headquarters

Sirens blasted in the air everywhere around me. The streets were crowded by onlookers who were trying to help the wounded out of the rubble.
The whole building had collapsed. Omega Control Headquarters was no more.

"We're calling in all medical staff! Everyone else please make room!"

I coughed a bit as the smoke had difficulty clearing out. A large fire raged dead center of the collapsed wreck, and firefighters that had recently arrived at the scene fought desperately to kill off the flames that seemed like it could only grow.

"Richard! Richard Solar!"

I turned around to see who was calling my name.

"Richard, why are you over there? Get over here!"
Her short blue hair bounced as she ran towards me before being stopped by police officers who were surrounding the building. She wore the uniform of my school, SJASMS and bore the Journalism Club's patches on it. Her blue eyes stared right at me, contrasted heavily by the orange sky that was partially blackened by the plumes of smoke forming behind me.

"Tiffany, how did you-"
Tiffany Daisy placed a finger on my lips before I could finish my sentence. "You shouldn't have dashed out and left Spring behind like that."

I looked around the crowd despite the smoke and the fire that surrounded everyone else. Searching for that signature orange hair tied back into uniquely curled twintails, I could not catch a hint of Spring Hill.

"I mean, she's one of those kinds of people so I guess it's a given that she probably wouldn't think too much into it." Tiffany gave off a nonchalant shrug. "I mean- she knows just how much this place is for you."

"Why are we having such a perfectly calm conversation in the middle of all of this?!" I asked, suddenly being pulled back to the reality unfolding right in front of me. "Where is Agent Omega?!"
"I'm used to seeing chaos," Tiffany began to say. "I'm a journalist and I used to-"

"Aspiring journalist." I pointed out.
She recoiled a step back and frowned. "Fine...an 'aspiring' journalist, and I used to be a CQUAD kind of girl."

"Yeah..." I looked back to the ruined building in front of me. I can't believe that in the same month, I was lounging around in Agent Omega's office...that there was a grand party held here where a couple of people danced here...that less than a week ago, we were planning the end of the CQUAD Detective Group.