Eros. (Benimaru Shinmon)

❁三十五❁

Present Day (198)

Slowly and reluctantly, I uncover my face. I blink, close my eyes, and blink again. Streaks of sunlight penetrate the window and blind me. I sit up, straightening my posture in my chair in the car.

"Glad you enjoyed your little power nap."

Immediately I looked at the rear-view mirror to see Akira staring straight at me with a small smirk on his lips.

I blinked multiple times and turning my head towards the window and notice the multiple buildings we were passing by. We were in the capital of the Empire. I smiled to myself at the thought that captains would need to attend this meeting due to the recent threat that the empire had upon it and yet I was reminiscing on my past...as it haunted me.

"None of this made sense to me," I thought as I continued to focus my attention on the moving buildings.

"And we are here," Ichijiro annonced.

Akira parked the car in a spot closer to the Empire. It was nice to see that the parking lot was empty and not a single matchbox was insight.

We all exited the car and walked towards the empire. Considering that this meeting was important, it was important for us to be brief on the information and since this meeting meant that all captains had to come to it-Benimaru would possibly be at attendance from which I heard was a rarity.

Therefore, the empire told us to come by that way we would be debriefed before the captains would arrive.

Akira, Ichijiiro, and I walked up the stairs towards the cathedral. It was funny how we got this far and it only took two years for us to get to this place.

I walked up towards the cathedral doors and opened them, allowing Akira and Ichijiro to walk in first. Rarely do we even come here and yet the time we do, it surprises me how beautiful this church was. I don't even worship their god and yet I can tell from the artistry of the stained windows that there is a lot of care put into this place.

"Inori you have arrived along with your companions," an old voice said.

I turned my attention towards the elderly man with a braided long beard that reaches down to his chest. I only met him a handful of times. This was only because of the fact that we differ in beliefs. If the record holds, he believes that anyone who is citizens or was citizens of Asakusa are worshipers of a God of Destruction because of Asakusa's refusal to be led by the church as heretics. Considering that I had left Asakusa, he assumed that we would convert our beliefs to worship the church and that had backfired-so we really don't see eye to eye.

"Hn," I responded as I looked towards him with disdain.

"I have spoken with the general of the Tokyo Army and the chief of the Fire Defense Agency and they told me of a group acting in secret." the emperor said, "Threatening our nation's safety, Indulging in blasphemy, and they would defile the great Sol's blessings."

I sighed, clearly annoyed at this guy's rhetoric as he could never get straight to the point with the message. It was highly annoying to be here to listen to this man preach about his god.

"Like a secret OP of the Fire Force, I call on you to help the brave soldiers of the Special Fire Force to make these blasphemers pay for their sins!"

"I am only giving you 5 minutes to tell me exactly why you called me here," I said.

"As I was saying, we need you to coordinate with the other companies in order to defeat the Evangelist,"

"Evangelist?" I thought as I closed my eyes remembering a couple of days ago about what Akitaru told me.

Flashback

"You know...when people mutually split, they don't actually come back to their ex-girlfriend's place," I said as I opened the door and leaned against the frame with a quirked eyebrow as I looked at Akitaru Obi as he stood at the door nervously laughing at my statement.

"Y-yeah, I know," he said, "But this is something I know I will need your help on so it would be best for us to discuss the topic at hand inside."

"Hm?" I questioned as I got off my door frame and walked into my house with him following behind me and closing the door. As I took a seat in my living room with him swapping into a pair of house slippers he had since he would often come here.

Since that day he took my virginity, we started dating. However, recently, we had split amicably because of the fact that he was devoting more time towards being a captain and his force was increasing with new members. It was nice to see how far he had some with his company.

"One of my subordinates, Shinra Kusakabe, possess something known as an Adolla Burst. We were hoping at the emergency meeting that they would explain it more to us. On top of that this group known as the Evangelist have been turning children into Infernals."

"Hm," I said as I leaned back in thought about everything he was telling me.

End of Flashback

"What is an Adolla burst?" Ichijiro asked.

"It is an unsullied flame of absolute purity. The primordial flame. The spark from which Sol fashioned the world we live in. Tokyo's perpetual thermal energy plant, Amaterasu provides power for the whole Empire. All that energy comes from a flame, which, like yours, is an Adolla Burst."

I remained fixed on the old man while staring at him coldly. Everyone in this empire had motives, it was very hard to trust anybody but Akitaru Obi because of his integrity.

"A boy by the name of Shinra Kusakabe has an Adolla Burst as we need to protect it from the Evangelist. They must not get their hands on it."

"I am pretty sure that the eighth has that under control," Akira said.

"They do, but we need extra assurance to make sure that the boy isn't taken by the Evangelist."

"I am only to help a company when they request it and we review their request; if the eighth requests for help then I will assist, until then we will not meddle in the eighth affairs," I replied as I glanced up at the clock and noticed that the emergency meeting would start soon, meaning that individuals would be coming in very soon.

I turned around and headed towards the door. Right before, We went to touch the door, Akira, Ichijiro, and I activated our helmets to cover our identities. To the captains besides the captain of the fourth, Lieutenant of the Seventh, and Akitaru Obi, our identity remained a mystery to them-and for that, we wanted to keep it that way.

It was coincidental that the first captain to arrive was the Captain of the Seventh Company along with his lieutenant. I felt his droopy crimson eyes locked in on mine and yet they couldn't meet due to my mask covering my face.

"What the hell are you looking at," he taunted causing me to snort at his attitude-still the same.

When he heard me snort, his brow furrowed in confusion. Probably asking why I made such a noise as he stopped his movement towards the cathedral and turned his focus onto us as we walked down the stairs.

"Hey!"

"Waka, now is not the time!" Konro warned as he pressed his hands --bandaged hands--on Benimaru and pushed him lightly towards the cathedral entrace. Benimaru clicked his tounge in annoyance and turned back around to enter the church.

The moment Benimaru turned around to look at us once again, he noticed a black convertible driving away from the church with three heads of hair blowing in the breeze.

And yet...only time will tell...when we will see each other eye to eye