K SIDE:BLUE

Chapter 4 (part 1, pages 165-179)

Special Ops Squad of Swordsmen Division

It was a gang shootout case that involved superpowereds.

Soon after the formation of the special ops squad, it received a Beta Cla.s.s emergency dispatch orders. At the site of the incident Kusuhara was shot to death, becoming the first member of Scepter 4 under the leadership of Munakata to die on duty.

The military funeral ceremony was held on the grounds of Scepter 4’s HQ, under a drizzle.
“Draw your swords! Salute!”

The troops, in full-dress uniform, held their swords in front of their chests. The motion was beautifully rehea.r.s.ed and mechanical, but the members could not quite hide their inner devastation, their expressions frayed around the edges.

Their work was such that it could cost them their lives… naturally, they were fully aware of this possibility when they chose to take up this duty. But it was the first time when reality in the form of a concrete fact was thrust before their eyes.

Unlike them, Zenjou had gone through the experience of losing a few tens of his colleagues in the past, but he never got used to it, even now. If anything, now that he was older and looking at the young troops, he was a.s.saulted by a feeling much like pain, only far stronger than the one he had experienced back when he was on active duty.

Once the formal rites were over, the lines disbanded, troops returning to their regular duties.

The tall members were leaving, soaked with the rain and walking with quick steps in every direction. In their midst, as if being buried, there stood a married couple of pet.i.te stature. They bowed their head to every member pa.s.sing them by.

They were Kusuhara’s parents, and they came to Tokyo from Fujioka specifically for this ceremony. Age-wise, it was still too early to call them aging, but, having lost their only son, the spouses looked conspicuously small and old.

Zenjou stopped, rooted to the spot and staring only at them.

Across from the couple, a man in mourning clothes, who was speaking to them, spotted Zenjou and, dragging one foot slightly, approached him. “…You are Zenjou-san, aren’t you?”

“My name is Tamura,” the man introduced himself. “Takeru… I mean, Kusuhara-kun would mail me once in a while. In the message he sent the other day… Kusuhara-kun wrote that he was finally on his way to becoming a full-fledged member thanks to you, Zenjou-san.”

Urged by Tamura, Zenjou stepped in front of Kusuhara’s parents.

“…Zenjou-san,” Tamura finally asked, breaking the lengthy silence. “Was Takeru commendable?”
Zenjou could answer nothing. Casting down his eyes and keeping his silence was all he could manage.

“No… he wasn’t,” someone murmured in his stead from the side.

“Get a clue, man, a clue!”

“He was a guy with a future… with a potential that he needed to realize in that future.”

“Like h.e.l.l I’d wrap it up with a noncommittal yes-he-was-grea— ow!”
“…Moron.” Fuse smacked Hidaka upside the head and glanced towards Gotou. Gotou gave him a small nod and together, they took Hidaka under the arms on both sides and, giving a salute to Kusuhara’s parents, dragged him away.

Only Enomoto was left next to Tamura and Kusuhara’s parents, and he hastened to apologize, “I’m sorry. It was inconsiderate of him at a time like this…”

“Haha, that is true… isn’t it, Zenjou-san?” Scratching his head, Enomoto looked up at Zenjou.

Zenjou only bowed to Tamura and Kusuhara’s parents and turned to take his leave without a single word.
“Ahh…” Enomoto made to stop him but let his hand fall away halfway through the motion. “How about we go inside…? You shouldn’t stay here in this cold…”

Hearing Enomoto’s voice behind him, Zenjou kept going away with long strides.

Inside him, a hot storm was raging. The energy with no way out threatened to explode from inside his body.

His feet carried him towards Munakata’s office in the main building - a place he would normally avoid getting close to.

Inside the office, besides Munakata, there was another member of the troops he was not familiar with.

Pushing him aside, he stalked towards Munakata, who was putting his soaked coat on a hanger. Munakata turned to him, and Zenjou grabbed him by the lapels, slamming his back against the wall. For a second the tall Munakata’s feet were dangling in the air as he was lifted clean off the floor with Zenjou’s one good arm.

Zenjou was glaring at him, eyes tinged with an obvious killing intent, growl escaping his throat.
“Oh, Zenjou-san… You are making a much better face today,” Munakata said with that thin smile of his, same as usual.

“Ahm… Captain,” the member from earlier drawled languidly from behind Zenjou. His dark eyes behind the gla.s.ses were smirking with cynicism. “If you’re in the middle of something, maybe I should come back later?”
“No, no need.” As Munakata replied, the member turned to Zenjou, “Then… Zenjou-san, was it? Could you postpone that till my business here is finished? I’d like to get it over with already…”

Zenjou looked down to get a better look at him. The operative wore a blue uniform but did not look to be affiliated with the swordsmen division. Zenjou had never seen this young man on the grounds nor in the dojo before. At a glance, he had refined features, but there was a slight hoodlum edge about the way he held himself. It created a disparity, making him come across as somewhat twisted.

The member shrugged his shoulders and took a step back. The way he kept his distance was also expertly. Strength of a very different nature than that of Awashima and the other troops could be felt in him, the strength of one well used to fighting.

“This is Fushimi Saruhiko-kun, from the Intelligence Division. I am transferring him to the special operations squad starting tomorrow,” Munakata explained.

“…I see.” After a pause, Zenjou let go of the King, “I apologize for the interruption.” He turned his back to both Munakata and Fushimi and headed for the door.

“Ah, please wait, Zenjou-san,” Putting his disheveled collar in order, Munakata called out to stop him. “You have come at the perfect time, I was about to call for you myself… I would like you to listen to what I have to say.”

†

—Kusuhara Takeru’s death had a special meaning to it.

That was what Munakata said to his two subordinates, Zenjou and Fushimi.

The emergency dispatch happened on the same day Kusuhara had been transferred to the special ops squad. The case involved 3 Beta Cla.s.s superpowereds.

It was not rare for strains who were not affiliated with superpowereds’ organizations to get easily roped into partic.i.p.ating in criminal gangs and political extremist groups. That day’s case also started with a skirmish between criminal gangs for division of the spheres of influence.

It turned into a large-scale incident that mobilized not only the Blue King Munakata and the special ops squad, but also the regular swordsmen squads 1 and 2; however, since Beta cases had been occurring on an all too regular basis in the past few months, the one they had on their hands was not deemed anything atypical at the time.

The superpowereds, confirmed at the site, were promptly suppressed by the members of the special ops squad. That also went as usual, not giving any reason to consider the operation atypical either.

However, what happened immediately after was—

Kusuhara got shot with a handgun that one of the superpowereds had hidden.

For superpowereds - and especially those of Beta Cla.s.s - to rely on something as common as firearms was very unusual. And this belief was what had proven to be the fatal blind spot for Scepter 4. Moreover,
“His target was not squadsman Kusuhara… but myself.”

Out of all the troops in Munakata’s immediate vicinity, Kusuhara was the only one to react to the gun. Instinct and reflexes—

It was Kusuhara’s first opportunity to put his unique talent to use; it also became his last.

Guided by his reflexes, Kusuhara jumped into the line of fire. But he had not yet mastered his own superability enough to be able to instantaneously deploy his probability singularity field and repel the bullet.

As a result, the bullet, fired from behind Munakata’s back and bound for his heart, hit Kusuhara in the head. His death was instant.

“Squadsman Kusuhara died, sacrificing himself for me. This is the undeniable truth.”

a.s.sa.s.sination of the Blue King Munakata Reishi - this was the true goal of the invisible “enemy”. The criminal gangs were no more than tools used by that “enemy” for his own ends.

Since some time ago, there had been signs. The sudden onslaught of cases involving Beta Cla.s.s superpowereds was by no means a chance occurrence but a result of someone pulling strings behind the scene— and this was not his imagination running wild but a pragmatic conclusion.

Kusuhara’s incident had proven it beyond doubt: the series of those cases could no longer be regarded as simple accidents.

It was an attack attempt targeting Scepter 4 itself.

A clan of people with superpowers like Scepter 4 was a powerful organization far exceeding the boundaries of the civilian society, but at the same time it had a crucial vulnerability. There existed a possibility of the organization collapsing in an instant in case of death of its top bra.s.s or its king who stood at the very top of it.

—Squadsman Kusuhara’s death had two meanings to it, said Munakata.

The first one was, in exchange for his life, he was able to protect Scepter 4.

And the other one was, using the opportunity his death created, Scepter 4 was going to be reborn as an even stronger and tougher organization.

†

Scepter 4 got to business utilizing every means at their disposal in an attempt to uncover any trace left by the “enemy”. They started what is called “active intelligence gathering”, except their methods pushed the boundaries of typical police activity geared towards preservation of public safety.

All sorts of information flowed in: the data that Annex 4 itself had acc.u.mulated on superpowereds, records from every field operation conducted until just a few days ago, judicial and administrative information obtained through application of Code Blue, complete with the data that a test run of the digital surveillance system “Yuishiki” provided—

Before long, miscellaneous pieces of information started to fall into place, coming together to form the whole picture.

An 8-storey multiuse building located in a corner of Kamikouzuka business district in Toyosawa ward. A few Beta Cla.s.s superpowereds were spotted coming in and out of it. At the very least there were 8 of them. That count banned any possibility of their comings and goings being accidental. Two of them were involved in a recent Beta Cla.s.s incident and had been arrested.

And finally, on the 15th day since Kusuhara’s death—

10 large vehicles pulled up to surround the site: 9 were personnel transport trucks and one a command-and-intelligence vehicle. The anti-superpowereds organization Scepter 4 had ordered mobilization of its entire sword-armed force.

The highways had already been sealed and civilians had been evacuated out of the sieged building through cooperation of the local police that Scepter 4 enlisted.

One by one, men in blue uniforms with sabers strapped to their waist came out of the transport trucks, lining up in neat rows with agile movements. After the regular swordsmen squads 1 through 4, the special ops squad followed—

The last one to come out of the special ops squad’s truck was the one-armed giant of a man, Zenjou Gouki. At his waist, he wore a very long saber, modeled after a large wide-bladed longsword.

“We’ve confirmed 6 Beta Cla.s.s and 11 Common Cla.s.s superpowereds inside, as well as 5 non-powereds; 22 people in total. This case is on a completely different scale than anything we handled before, so prepare yourselves for a fierce battle. However…” Awashima addressed the lines of troops, “…our foremost objective is information gathering. So I trust you to make every effort and gain control of the situation while avoiding unnecessary bloodshed as much as possible regardless of whether it’s a superpowered you’re up against or a non-powered.”

”“As much as possible”,“ Awashima did not compromise.
"Moron,” Fuse smacked Hidaka upside the head.

“—Well, that’s the spirit, as they say.” As Munakata approached, Awashima stepped away, ceding her position to him. After casting a look around and surveying the troops, who immediately straightened themselves under his gaze, Munakata recited:

“We will carry out the duty entrusted to those wearing swords. Permitting neither chaos on the holy ground nor violence in this drab world,

for our cause is pure.”

“Men, draw your swords!” “Yes, sir!”

At Awashima’s command, Akiyama, Benzai, Kamo, Doumyouji – all the members of the special ops squad lined up in one line released the lock on the sabers at their waists, drawing their swords one by one. Blue glow engulfed the blades as each of them unleashed their superpower.

Munakata was the last one to unsheathe his sword. His blade emitted light of a completely different level of intensity than his subordinates’, bathing his surroundings in it.

As if drawn out by the power of their king, the troops’ power also strengthened, dying the whole neighborhood blue.

Inside the command-and-intelligence vehicle, the personnel of the Intelligence unit of the special ops squad were reporting the situation, checking the data provided by the on-board information system and displayed on the monitors.

“"The Sword of Damocles”, taking physical form.“

One of the members in front of the monitors turned around.

"Fushimi-san…?”

The chief of the intelligence Unit Fushimi was looking up at the sky out the vehicle’s window. “…Ahh, it’s visible now.”

High in the sky up above the building a sword-shaped crystalline object was being conjured, its view partly cut off due to the window being small.

“Huuuge….” Fushimi narrowed his eyes, letting a cynical smile tug at the corners of his lips, “…Jeez, what a stupidly huge thing…”