4 “They”

"No, I can't leave this place, Kaname!"

His voice, he lowered it as much as possible, while trying to show them that he was screaming. Though it wasn't a good idea, he still decided to do it.

"Justice! We can't handle any amount of Demons that Vine will bring with him here!"

"I'll do whatever I can to protect this place . . . I have lots of memories connected to here."

"Why can't you understand the fact that if we stay here, it'll be inevitable to die? Do you really want a child such as Tenma to die?"

". . . No."

"Then why can't we all leave?!"

"Kaname, I never said anything about you two not being allowed to leave. You two are free to leave this place, but I will not leave."

"Justice . . . Please just leave with us——!"

"I can't, Kana—"

"——Mommy, Daddy, stop yelling at each other!"

The two look down at the little girl standing in between them. She had tears running down her face. Both her face and her puffy brown hair were covered in dust and dirt.

"Yeah, sorry . . ."

"Justice, if you don't mind me asking, what kind of memories do you have here? You know that I don't have any memory of my past, so I'm curious as to other peoples' memories."

Justice stares at the ground. He looked full of regret, which causes Kaname to apologize for asking.

"I'm sorry for aski—"

"It's okay, I just needed to remember, is all!"

He smiles. Kaname gets confused, as he looked full of regret a few seconds ago, then, she realizes why he's smiling. She knew that if he didn't show a sign of happiness, it would make Tenma sad. She became a little happy seeing Justice's fatherly love for Tenma overwhelming his actual feelings. Yet, she was also sad at the same time, as she was a little jealous of his affection for Tenma. Kaname shakes her head up and down.

After confirming that whether if she got his facade or not, he sits down, with a smile that was holding back his true feelings. Following Justice, Kaname sits down, so did Tenma, who sat in his lap. Tenma looks up at him.

"Is it story time?"

"Mhm."

Justice nods in confirmation.

"Before Yaldabaoth's attack, me and my— father, would always come here and play. Back then, this wasn't a cave, it was a forest. After I would finish my training with him, we would come here to play. He and I did this for as long as I can remember. Everything ended when Yaldabaoth attacked. My father told me to stay in our house, while he goes and investigates what was happening. After an hour or two, I got worried and tried looking for him in the forest, but what I saw . . . traumatized me."

Justice stops speaking after that.

"Huh? What traumatized you?"

"It was . . . nothing, Tenma."

He smiles at her, doing his best to hide all of the regret and tears coming out. He also didn't want her — a young child — to know what gruesome scene comes next, and he didn't want to make up a fake ending that would later make Tenma — when she's older, believe that all he did was lie to her.

"Oh, okay!"

Tenma smiles back.

"Justice . . . I'm sorry for what I said earlier. . ."

"Don't worry about it. Anyone who hasn't really seen my perspective would've said the same."

"Oh, did I come back at the wrong time?"

"Who . . . Are you?"

Kaname asks. She summons her Magic Staff. After the battle with Vine, she created Anti-Demon barriers, which could only keep out a specific number of Demons, so she was confused as to how one person was able to find this place. He looked like a Ninja. His mask was off, so it was identifiable that he had shaggy black hair and very dark brown hair. He also had a well-sculpted body, comparable to Justice's.

He was almost the same height as Justice, as well, he was a little shorter, though. His costume also had a large cape, which could be able to envelop his entire body. Justice stands up and goes to greet the man that had gotten into the Cave. To Kaname, what's weirder is that Justice shakes his hand with him.

"It's been a while since you were last here. I thought the Demons had attacked you."

It seemed that Justice and the man knew each other.

"Sorry, for making you worry. I found some new people and possibly a new base, and I got distracted. So, what's up with the woman and the kid?"

"That's Kaname and that's Tenma. I saved both of them by searching through the rubble of many places."

"Daddy, who is he?"

"Oh, he's Sakaki. We've known each other since we were young."

"What does she mean by 'Daddy'?"

Justice gives Kaname a look that said "Distract Tenma," which she proceeds to do, by asking her if they could play together, somewhere else in the cave.

"As I've said before, she lost her memory. She thinks that I'm her father and Kaname's her mother, because of that."

"I don't know if you're lying or not. You and the kid look pretty similar if I'm going to be completely honest."

"Hm, really? I'd say that she looks more like Kaname."

"She looks—"

They all start shaking. No, the Cave was shaking, it was felt like an earthquake. There was also a loud explosion-like sound. Hearing that sound petrified everyone in the cave.

"Hiiiiiiii!"

That voice came from someone neither of them knew. It was a woman. She was waving her hand at them, cheerfully, and behind her, were hundreds upon hundreds of Demons. She possessed pink hair, and she was so beautiful, she could rival Kaname in that department.

"Demons?! I thought I erected a barrier to keep them out!"

"Yeah, but, it really wasn't that strong. I only needed about a hundred demons to break the barrier."

Justice pulls out his sword, while Sakaki gets out a few kunai, and Kaname summons her staff.

"Just who are you?!"

Asks Justice, he was infuriated that hundreds of Demons were able to enter the cave.

"Me?—— Oh! I forgot to introduce myself! I'm Agiel, one of Mr. Yaldabaoth's direct subordinates. I heard that you guys injured Vine, so they sent me to take care of you."

"They?"

Justice thinks. "Who is "they"?" keeps popping up in his head, while he's trying to focus on the situation at hand. Eventually, he gives in, and asks Agiel who she was referring to when she said "They".

"Who is 'They'?"

"Mr. Yaldabaoth, of course. Now, shall we get this battle started?"