CHAPTER 5: WELCOME KENTARO.

The girl he knew very well...

Tenka.

Hair tightly tied back in a combat bun. Coat crisp, heels planted like a general before war. One hand behind her back, the other gently looping the now-familiar crimson thread around her pinky- slow, deliberate, hypnotic.

"I need a full breakdown on her chart. Also, I want his chart during the incident. Make sure it’s detailed, no mistakes people." She ordered, her voice cutting clean and sharp.

The room shifted into motion like a well-rehearsed performance. All six officers responded in perfect timing, no verbal acknowledgement needed. Kentaro stared. It wasn’t just that she was commanding.

It was, that she made it look effortless.

Then, without looking at him, Tenka spoke again.

"You can close your mouth now, Kentaro. You’re not catching flies. Yet."

He blinked. "Huh? I-i wasn’t-"

Tenka slowly turned to face him. That calm, unreadable stare pierced right through whatever comeback he thought he had. The thread looped once more.

"You’re two steps behind and twelve questions too late. Don’t worry. You’ll catch up eventually."

Kentaro, with a straight face, stared at the side of Tenka’s face, wondering. "Who is this girl? Is she the Tenka that I know?"

Tenka, feeling his eyes, gave him a quick glance of a commander trying to intimidate the newcomer. Before narrowing her eyes at him, then continued to focus her attention towards the screen in front of her.

"Tsch... yeah. Good to see you too." Kentaro muttered, scratching the back of his head.

From one of the nearby consoles, a voice chimed in.

"Ayo, don’t sass the Commander on your first tour newbie," said a grinning officer, lanky mismatched eyes, coat unbuttoned, and badge flipped upside down.

Tenka didn’t even glance at him.

"Shogo Nara, if you speak again while I’m talking, I’ll rotate your chair 360 degrees until you black out!"

Shogo raised both hands innocently.

"Just trying to welcome the fresh meat."

Haruka placed a calm hand on Kentaro’s shoulder and leaned in close, too close.

Her voice dropped to a whisper, flat and precise like she was reading from a danger manual.

"Listen. Try not to get too friendly with Shogo."

She paused, eyes subtly shifting to the left like a trained assassin. Kentaro, still new to the game, mimicked her movement exactly, but with all the grace of a kid cheating on a test.

Mistake.

Shogo, who had been facing the monitor screen, snapped his head around like a cursed animatronic.

"YOO, why we whispering?"

"I heard my name and I felt spiritually summoned."

Kentaro flinched.

Haruka didn’t move. She just sighed.

"Ignore him. If you feed attention, he multiplies."

Shogo was already walking over, arms wide like he was approaching an old war buddy.

"Renny-boy! Finally getting the briefing, huh? Did she give you the ’don’t trust the sexy vice captain’ speech?"

He slapped Kentaro’s shoulder hard enough to dislocate a ghost, then turned to Haruka.

"You’re looking emotionally unavailable today. Love that for you."

Haruka adjusted her glasses without blinking.

"I’ll put cyanide in your tea."

"Kinky."

Kentaro stared at them, unsure if he should laugh, run, or file for psychological evacuation.

"This is your team." He thought "How do these people have jobs here and what the hell do they do?"

"Shogo, You Dumbass! Stop messing around. I need you to get me my coffee."

Tenka shouted, clearly annoyed with the fact that Shogo wasn’t doing anything useful.

"YES, MISS RIGHT AWAY!"

Shogo sang out. His voice sounded like a teenage high school girl trying to act all sassy like.

"You’ve got to be kidding me," Kentaro muttered, not even trying to hide his disdain. Haruka, with her blank expression, would sigh. "She got him in a tight leace, if you can’t tell."

Kentaro had seen a fair few clowns in his time, class clowns, office jokers, even that one guy who barked at pigeons outside his part-time job. But none of them came close to Shogo Nara.

Shogo wasn’t just a joker, he was a 6’1 slab of walking contradiction. Built like a security door, dressed like a guy five seconds from getting kicked out of a nightclub, and he somehow is still the vice commander, if the team supposedly keeps everything and everyone in order.

His uniform was more ’suggested’ than worn. Collar popped, jacket slung over one shoulder like a cape and boots untied on purpose- ’for speed’, he claimed, but Kentaro didn’t buy it.

No one did.

Shogo’s black hair was always slightly unkempt, like he’d just rolled out of a tactical nap. His cat-like eyes carried that strange mix of ’I’m flirting’ and ’ I might punch you.’ A look that didn’t so much reassure as threaten with charisma. In a mere few seconds, Shogo blitzed through the command room doors with the energy of a man proposing on live television and dove into the Halcyon kitchen. Mugs clattered, steam hissed. An emergency coffee grinder was probably violated.

Then-

" Here you go, my Lady."

Shogo returned, bowing dramatically with a tray held like a wedding proposal, one steaming cup of pitch black coffee balanced perfectly in the centre.

Tenka didn’t even look at him.

"Hmph. Took you long enough." She muttered as she snatched the cup from his tray with royal disdain.

She sipped once.

Paused.

Turned her head slightly.

Then.

"YOU ABSOLUTE MORON! WHO TOLD YOU TO BRING ME BLACK COFFEE?! I HATE BLACK COFFEE!"

It happened in less than a blink. Her right leg snapped forward, faster than light, faster than logic- and then drove straight into Shogo’s stomach with the force of an orbital cannon.

BOOM.

Shogo rocketed across the room, slammed into the far wall, and vanished in an explosion of concrete dust and emotional regret. The entire base shook as if the building itself said, "Damn."

Kentaro stared in silence.

"Umm.. Is he dead?" he whispered to Haruka, daring not to move even a centimetre in case the sudden death was contagious.

Haruka didn’t look up from her tablet.

"No, Ren. He’s very much okay. He may look like an idiot, sound like an idiot... act like an idiot... but he’s actually our second strongest fighter behind the commander."

Kentaro squinted.

"...Lies. There’s no way. Sure, he’s got the muscles, but-"

"COMMANDER, I THINK IT’S HOT WHEN YOU KICK ME WITH SUCH PASSION AND DOMINANCE!"

A voice echoed from the smoking crater, sounding aroused from this whole ordeal. Then slowly, a hand reached out, brushing aside the rubble. And like a character out of an action movie, Shogo emerged through the haze looking like a gremlin rising from the ashes. His shirt torn, grin intact, and aroused by near death.

Kentaro’s soul left his body for a moment.

"You’re kidding me," he muttered.

The Kick was like a god tier finishing move from an anime protagonist. The kind of attack you’re only supposed to use once per season, and even then, someone dies.. But, this man just tanked it and started monologuing.

Shogo casually dusted himself off and approached Tenka again, despite her eyes still glowing with rage.

"Forgive me, my queen. My ignorance has fouled your elegant tastebuds. Allow me to redeem myself with a new Brewww..." He paused, taking in a deep breath.

"This Time, with Millllk." He groaned, exaggerating his final word while bowing.

Deeply, too deeply...

Tenka raised a single hand and pointed at the wall like a judge passing sentence.

"NO, I REFUSE, GUARDS!"

The massive double door at the back of the room burst open, and smoke rolled in like the finale of a game show. Behind the smoke and doors, two hulking bodyguards stepped forward, shoulders wider than the room, dressed in tight black shirts with sunglasses indoors.

Kentaro’s brain broke in real time.

"Are... are those the guys from earlier...?"

Haruka, Still looking at her tablet.

"Yes. Don’t say anything weird near them," she said with a bland tone.

Kentaro, without thinking, would open his mouth

"Why Not-"

He stopped himself, remembering that one thing that Haruka had told him back when they first walked past them.

Shogo, suddenly panicked, screamed.

"NO NO NO NO NO!!, NOT THEM PLEASE I’M STILL SUFFERING FROM LAST TIME, ANYTHING BUT THE DROP THE SOAP BRIGADE!"

The bodyguard cracked their knuckles. One of them, whose arms looked genetically engineered to crush planets, took a single step forward, each step causing the floor to crack beneath his boot.

They walked towards Shogo, who now had his back against the wall with nowhere to run, and like out of some sort of movie, they grabbed each arm and dragged him, letting his legs slide across the floor.

"PLEASE, COMMANDER I’LL MAKE YOU A CARMEL MACCHIATO NEXT TIME, JUST DON’T LET THEM DO THIS TO ME."

"THEY HELD ME IN THE SHOWER FOR THREE DAYS!"

His voice going unheard, Tenka didn’t give a glance at him or give him any response to his plea and cries for forgiveness until those cries began to fade away slowly.

Till it was no longer there...

Kentaro still stood in the same place as he had been. He had blinked twice.

"This place is insane," He muttered.

"Welcome to Halcyon," Haruka muttered, still looking at her tablet, before walking away and heading towards the kitchen...