23 Chapter 23 Aftermath

On the day that Marie left Takamagahara to go back to France, something was about to happen in district 3's prison, there were two women walking side by side in the halls of the prisons hospital ward, one of them was a beautiful woman with violet hair tied in a ponytail and violet eyes that was wearing a business suit, that woman was Kuroiwa Yumeko, and she looked rather angry.

"I can't believe they called me, right in my day off!" Yumeko said with an angry tone as she stretched and yawned.

"I think they called you here because you are the only one capable of handling this Yumeko-senpai!" The young woman, that was walking beside Yumeko said in a tone that was as if she was trying to cheer her up, this woman was Izumi Aoki.

Yumeko's partner in the Soteria unit, she was also a teacher in an esper high school of district 4, she had short black hair cut in the style of a short bob with white tips, she wore round glasses that made her look like a nerdy girl and she was also wearing a business suit, but unlike Yumeko, she wore a pencil skirt instead of pants.

"Please Aoki, don't try to sugar coat this, they called because no one else wanted to take care of this..." Yumeko said as she sighed to the now flustered Aoki.

"I'm not sugar-coating this Yumeko-senpai! You are the best in the Soteria unit, and you could be a lot better if you respected your superiors, and didn't cause so many damages when we are working on a case! Instead of being lieutenant, you could be vice-captain or captain already!"

Aoki said as she used her fingers to count the things Yumeko does wrong, but her tone was filled with respect towards Yumeko if anything.

"Oh, I see, I see...so I could be better if I knew how to control myself, but I'm just a trouble maker..." Yumeko said in a stoic tone that had a hint of sadness, this made Aoki flustered again.

"I-I didn't mean it like that Yumeko-senpai! I'm just saying that your good at your job and you could be a higher ranking, you deserve it!" Aoki said this in a way, to get Yumeko's spirit back up.

"I'm just kidding Aoki, I don't care about becoming a higher ranking member of the Soteria unit, it would just be staying in the office all day, doing paperwork and going to boring meetings, I prefer to stay like this, get work done and help to protect people!" Yumeko said as she smiled.

"Yumeko-senpai..." Aoki could only say this as she looked in awe at Yumeko, that was acting, in her eyes at least, really cool.

"But I will have to give our captain a piece of my mind later! I'm tired of being called for these small things, especially when I'm on my day off!" Yumeko said a bit angrily, right after looking so cool in front of her partner, this made Aoki sigh a bit, but then right after it.

"Say, Yumeko-senpai, what is this all about?" Aoki asked a bit curious since she, like Yumeko, was suddenly called to come to the prison in district 3.

"Well, from what I was told, it's about a man called Kay Cross, a knight, I think from the Lion Emperor, that attacked the museum in district 3 and tried to steal the sword Excalibur..." Yumeko said in an informative tone to Aoki, which caught her off guard.

"Wait! Really? But there wasn't anything on the news about this!" Aoki said to Yumeko with a confused tone as she adjusted her glasses.

"Well, the Lion Emperor probably wants to keep this under wraps since it was one of they're own that did this, I heard that the Lion Emperor themselves, told us from the Soteria to stay away from the museum and not investigate, but tough luck if something happens here in Takamagahara we have to investigate!" Yumeko said with a mischievous smile on her face, which made Aoki sigh again.

"This was what I was talking about..." Aoki said this silently with a depressed tone.

"But how was this man stooped?" Aoki asked a bit curious and expecting that Yumeko knew, she jolted and stooped for a bit upon hearing Aoki's question.

"Well...I don't know how he was stooped but I know who stooped him..." Yumeko answered with a flustered expression.

"You do? Really? Who was it? Is it someone from Soteria? Or is it someone from our intern program?" Aoki asked with an excited and curious tone as she moved around Yumeko.

"It was an outsider..." Yumeko said a bit angrily while she began walking again, Aoki followed suit, still asking who it was, and after a while of not obtaining a response, she began thinking and it hit her.

"Don't tell me Yumeko-senpai, it was that Tatsurou you're always talking about, the same one that defeated that woman from the Black Bear unity last week?" Aoki asked even more curious about Yumeko's answer.

"It was..." Yumeko answered the excited Aoki after a small moment of silence.

"Oh, that's amazing! Good that he was in the right place at the right time!" Aoki said still with an excited tone, but it faded quickly as she looked at Yumeko's depressed face.

"What's wrong, Yumeko-senpai?" Aoki asked with a worried tone.

"Well, it's good that he stooped this guy, but he wasn't at the museum by chance, if had to guess probably someone was in trouble and he went to help them, it was just like last week with the woman from the Black Bear unity, and he got hospitalized too, but this time he had a lot of cuts and bruises..." Yumeko said this as she stooped a bit before proceeding.

"I'm worried that one of these days he might hurt himself badly and that there won't be a way back, but then again it doesn't matter how much I or Hime tell him to stop once someone needs help he won't stop until he helped that person, he is just so stubborn!" Yumeko said in a sad and worried tone to Aoki but as she finished saying this.

"I know how you feel, my little sister also entered recently into the intern Soteria unit and it's hard to not get worried, but I think that if she wants to help people and is happy doing it then it's ok!" Aoki said this which made Yumeko look at her for a bit.

"What I mean is that if he is happy helping people and being helpful then you should let him do it, yes it takes some time to get used to but in the end what matters is that he does what makes him happy" Aoki said with a smile and a tone filled with certainty as she kept looking at Yumeko.

"Aoki-chan..." Yumeko was so impressed that she could only say her partner's name.

"You're right but he always does this and causes me trouble, just like last week, so that idiot better get ready cause he won't get away without a few words of "wisdom" from me!" Yumeko said in an angry tone as she cracked her knuckles thinking about the earful she was going to give to Tatsurou.

"Eeep! Poor Tatsurou" Aoki thought to herself as she prayed mentally for Tatsurou as she had been witness to Yumeko's earfuls, after a bit more walking they finally arrived at the front door of the room Kay was in.

"This is it, room 56" Yumeko said as she looked at the door that had a sign with the number 56.

"So, Yumeko-senpai what are we going to do?" Aoki asked a bit curious since it was her second time on the field.

"Well, just going to interrogate him to get the general idea of what happened, then he will probably be transferred to the prison on the main island..." As Yumeko said this, Aoki was taking notes in a small notebook and nodding with her head in agreement, but they were interrupted.

"Your right about the interrogation and transfer but we will handle it!" A masculine voice was heard by Yumeko and Aoki and as they looked to their side they saw two people, one was a tall handsome boy with short messy dark red hair and sharp red eyes, that was wearing a black three-piece suit with a white shirt and black tie and around the neck, he wore also a silver cross and next to him was a young girl with long straight silver hair that reached to her back, her bangs covered her eyebrows, as for her eyes she had them closed, and she wore a black and white Gothic Lolita dress, that and her young pale face made her look like a porcelain doll and around her neck like the boy she wore a silver cross.

Upon seeing and hearing this Yumeko and Aoki got a surprised and confused expression covering their faces.

"Who are you and what do you mean "we will handle this"?" Yumeko asked with her hands on her hips as she got close to the boy wearing the suit, that didn't let Yumeko's question get cold.

"I'm Louvain Durand and this is my sister Laura Durand we are two chevaliers of Lady Delacroix, now please step aside!" The boy in the suit said in a polite tone and yet it had a hint of authority, as he signaled with his hand for Yumeko and Aoki to go away, but unfortunately for them, Yumeko didn't take orders from strangers.

"Huh? Who do you think you are to barge in here and order us around?" Yumeko asked with an angry tone as she got close to Louvain.

"Poor thing, you must be deaf, I already told you who we are, you sorry excuse of a magic-user!" Louvain said with a serious yet joking tone to Yumeko, this made her even angrier.

"Sorry excuse of a magic-user? Says the kid that's just acting tough!" Yumeko said with an equally joking tone to Louvain that made him glare at Yumeko.

"Me a kid? That does it..." Louvain said as he reached with his hand to the inside of his jacket, upon seeing this Yumeko got into a battle stance, getting ready for whatever Louvain was about to do, but before they could do anything, the echoing sound of clapping was heard, this sound came from the girl that was with Louvain.

"S'il Vous plait, show a bit of restrain Louvain, after all, we are visitors of Takamagahara and we were told not to get into trouble!" The young girl said with a soothing voice as she got close and placed her hand in front of Louvain.

"Je suis vraiment désolé for my little brothers behaviour mademoiselle...?" Laura said as she bowed towards Yumeko.

"It's Kuroiwa, Kuroiwa Yumeko..." Yumeko said as she was still suspicious of this boy and girl.

"Yumeko? Oh! That's such a beautiful nom!" Laura said as she put her hands together and tilted her head, it looked cute and innocent, but for some reason, Yumeko felt kind of uneasy with this girl, Laura took notice of that.

"Mademoiselle Yumeko no need to act all suspicious like that we have a good reason to be here and we got orders to be the ones to handle this!"

Laura said as she fumbled around her dress looking for something, after a while when she finally found what she was looking for, and she handed it to Yumeko, what Laura handed was an envelope with the symbol of Takamagahara on the front, Yumeko looked at it for a bit still suspicious but then she opened it and began reading it in silence, meanwhile Aoki tried to read the contents of the letter by getting on her toes and looking over Yumeko's shoulder.

"Wait a second this can't be true!" Yumeko said with an angry and confused tone as she looked at Laura, that kept smiling.

"Well as you can see Mademoiselle Yumeko, it's as true as they come, this case is now under Supreme Cross jurisdiction, the letter was even signed by lady Youjo herself!" Laura said as she pointed her finger to the bottom of the letter, where there was a signature made with a brush, in black ink, that signature was made by none other than Izayoi Youjo, the ruler of Takamagahara and the woman that revealed to the world that magic exited 40 years ago.

"Damn it!" Yumeko said as she clicked her tongue, with a letter like this even if she wanted to pursue this case she couldn't, because an order from Lady Youjo to Soteria or the AMDF is absolute, unless if you want to face the harsh consequences of going against her orders.

"Very well then an order is an order we will leave this to you, let's go, Aoki..." Yumeko said as she handed the letter back to Laura and began walking away.

"Huh? w-wait, Yumeko-senpai!" Aoki said as she began running after Yumeko leaving Louvain and Laura alone.

"What were you thinking Laura, I could take them..." As Louvain was about to say something he stooped as he saw Laura glaring at him with her eyes still closed.

"Louvain! Show some restreindre, Lady Delacroix told us to not cause any trouble, right?" Laura said this to Louvain in a way as if she was a mother scolding his child, Louvain just looked away from her.

"Bien, we have the trip back to France to talk about this, temperament, of yours!" Laura said as she turned to the door of Kay's hospital room and started opening it, as they went inside they saw Kay laying on a bed, his face covered in badges that made only his eyes and mouth visible, there was a heart monitor on the right side of the bed and IV pumps on the left side and other various hospital equipment.

"Not bad, they treat criminals quite well here in Takamagahara..." Louvain said as he got close to the right side of the bed.

"Tu vois, my dear Louvain they have to keep these criminals alive so that they can pay for their crimes!" Laura said as she got close to the left side of the bed, it was at this moment that Kay opened his eyes and jolted upon seeing Louvain and Laura.

"W-Who...are...you?" Kay asked as the most primal instinct kicked inside him, fear.

"Who we are? Quite simple, Kay Cross, we are your worse nightmare..." Laura said with an evil smile as she finally opened her eyes to reveal the jade color they had, upon seeing this Kay tried to scream but it was in vain as Laura covered his mouth with her hand, his screams were now muffled and nobody could hear him, but even so, he moved around trying to make noise.

"Louvain, cheri, would you be so kind as to shut him up, s'il vous plait?" Laura asked with an innocent expression and tone as she looked at Louvain.

"You don't have to ask twice!" Louvain said as he punched Kay in the stomach making him fall unconscious, it was at that moment that Laura removed her hand from his mouth and cleaned it on the bed's sheets

"Well then Louvain, how about we begin to "transfer" him?" Laura asked as she looked at Kay with evil intent covering her innocent doll-like face...