Chapter 24

"Douma are you alright?!" A familiar face was running towards him. Thankfully, Shinobu was OK after everything that happened the blonde was worried sick about her.

"I'm alright we have to keep going."

This response gave Shinobu mixed feelings about their next move; where were they going to go now? Tokyo was supposed to be their main location to conduct their investigation. Without proper direction it would take a longtime before they find that strange place.

"N-now?" 

"Yep and we can't let anyone see you here," Douma glanced at the sky a few helicopters were on their way towards the scene, followed by the sound of sirens heading their way. "They might start questioning you."

Taken aback by what he said, Shinobu crossed her arms she couldn't believe her friend was going to hide everything the world needed to know what was going on. With how things were escalating she was starting to get tired of her friend's sly antics running around wasn't going to solve anything.

"Just be straightforward with them is it that hard? I'm tired of your games Douma let's just put an end to this investigation we're not getting anywhere."

"Shinobu can you just listen to me? If the military is capable of handling these monsters than explain that." Douma pointed at a wrecked army tank that was recently blown up in flames before meeting Shinobu's gaze again with a stern look on his face.

"Do you know that Japan is technically on lockdown because they can't detect these monsters' whereabouts? It's almost been a week- oh and other countries had the same problem before Japan now it seems all the monsters have moved here." 

"You won't betray us?"

Douma was surprised by Shinobu's sudden question. I would never do that if I wanted to I would've done that a longtime ago. Saving others will always be my number one priority. You might think I don't care but actually I do.

"Of course not I would never put anyone in harm's way." Douma turned to Shinobu and smiled. "I'm grateful for having you by my side Shinobu."

Looking up at him, Shinobu took a deep breath rethinking what she could've said earlier she was starting to regret sounding so pessimistic about his actions. Maybe he was truly sincere about helping mankind. 

"Douma what you're doing means a lot to us," Shinobu responded. "But since you have all the information that the Government needs, I'm sure you'll be of much help. You don't need to hide anymore."

"We can't always rely on others Shinobu, we can make a change by ourselves."

That reminded the purple-haired girl about what Eiko said not too long ago and that was to always step up your game and not wait for others. Has Shinobu truly forgotten about her capabilities? With the scariest things she just witnessed, she was starting to feel that she was trying to chicken out of what's happening. Douma was right they had already gone this far why stop now? Even if the higher authorities don't know they're trying to help it doesn't matter it's their efforts that count. 

Besides if the cops asked Douma personal questions like his background how was he going to answer them? They'd probably suspect both he and Shinobu, to avoid that they'll have to continue their mission by themselves, until they get called upon nobody will notice if they make the right decisions.

"You're right, I don't know what I was thinking, I just thought it would make things less complicated if we told them what's going on. Now that I think about it we don't have much proof of anything and it's not like they're going to believe us that easily."

Douma hummed and approached a pile of rubble with the same dark goo from the mountain. "Think it through Shinobu we don't have to seek their acknowledgement if we can finish this quick everything will go back to normal in no time." The streets were engulfed in smoke making it hard to see beyond the smoke. "What matters is your safety the repercussion is worse if you get caught and the Hasu Mountains isn't going to stand up for anyone not anymore so we have to be careful. I don't think Eiko and Atashi would want to hear that their friend sacrificed their promise for recognition."

Yeah I think I really needed this lecture I really don't know what to do now. Even though Douma is making a lot of sense I still feel doubtful about my actions, am I even doing the right thing? To hide the root cause of this disaster from everyone? They'll find out eventually right? What am I supposed to do right now I feel like a traitor for keeping secrets but at the same time I have to play this role to help everyone I can only do this with Douma. Despite the encouragement Shinobu still wasn't and couldn't buy it she was starting to feel like an outcast. It felt strange to be working alongside someone who wasn't even human, Douma was something else that she happened to meet and she just couldn't put this bizarre friendship to words sometimes it felt like an illusion to the point where she would be asking herself if the current events were even real to begin with.

"It's not a dream Shinobu, to put it simple, are the authorities and investigation teams looking for Atashi as we speak?"

"No not at all I haven't heard anything from them." Shinobu wasn't surprised that Douma read her thoughts especially with her being in this state of doubt.

"Alright then so what are we waiting for? Let's get going." 

Now that Douma mentioned about Atashi's case, for the past six hours Shinobu didn't receive any phone calls. Aunt Mai did inform Atashi's parents so it's likely they have filed a report, but if services were still active why were they taking so long to gather witnesses and clues? Perhaps everything has been completely disrupted by those monsters.

Suddenly a loud explosion was heard shaking the ground to its core. 

"What the..."

Both Douma and Shinobu spun around to see a large shadow towering the buildings surrounding it. The closer it got, the easier it was to make out its features and judging from its appearance, it was definitely a bigger threat.

The last aircraft was knocked down by the giant worm-like creature, plummeting to the ground like the rest of the tanks and helicopters struggling to keep it out with their artillery. The group of cops and soldiers firing at this creature were ants compared to it. 

Cables and wiring from the buildings were merged together to form this giant worm. Douma suspected it had something to do with the silverfish it wasn't here before. With the techniques these creatures have been possessing it was no surprise if they could pull up something like this. It might be linked to the dark goo or acid, they had some sort of ability to create new lifeforms upon contact like spreading their cells.

"That thing is huge- where did it come from?" Shinobu was full on horrified they started off small, now they were a giant monster.

"Shinobu run as fast as you can."

Before the purple-eyed girl could respond, Douma began sprinting towards her direction giving her the cue that it was time to make a move for it.

Instinctively Shinobu ran before Douma could even catch up with her. They could hear the worm following after them from its slithers and the scraping of debris against each other. Buildings collapsed sending waves of dust to every corner.

I need to use a far range attack to get rid of this thing it's very agile there has to be a spot somewhere. In that case I'll get it to focus on me and lead it away. Douma bolted towards the left leaving Shinobu stunned though she continued on towards the safe zone.

The young founder leaped over damaged structures to get a good view of his target. Once he landed on the last pile of planks and rubble, Douma jumped up soaring above the highest point in the city. He raised his fan that reflected light from the sky off of it. 

Watching the worm creep up close to where he was getting its plunging attack ready, Douma gathered the light energy he could accumulate that was starting to heat up his fan and surroundings.

Shinobu hid behind one of the pillars watching Douma's attack that was about to be unleashed. It seemed highly destructive, she wasn't sure if this was the best spot to take cover, she could only hope.

"Radiance."

The fan slashed through the air creating a large blow in the form of a light ray that decimated the creature into evaporating ashes sending a large-scale explosion that blew away everything in sight. The air became extremely humid and the buildings that once stood disappeared from the face of the Earth. It felt like summer was at its prime for just a few seconds. With the humidity caused by water vapor that filled the atmosphere to its brim from the melted snow, the heat was unbearable.

Sheltering herself from the impact, Shinobu hid in the corner of what was once a store and covered her face with her elbow. It was bright out there and the scorching heat was biting her skin she wanted this sudden rise of temperatures to come to an end it was tormenting sure the large solar ray was admirable from a distance but the effects felt like a fever dream with a wave of lethargy.

Soon the aftermath of the large air slash subsided. The weather returned to normal but the humidity was still quite prevalent. Shinobu got up and stepped out of the store, the giant worm had vanished which meant it had been completely taken cared of there was no way it could've survived that.

"That part of Tokyo is probably unrecognizable now." Shinobu quietly said to herself. "I was just here a few days ago." It was hard to believe that the once bright and lively city had turned into a city of ruins. Shinobu hoped the civilians they rescued managed to get away she didn't see them anywhere. Regardless they shouldn't be roaming around these areas after this.