Vision

"Ahh…" Akai's refreshed breath exhaled from his mouth and nose, steaming with the fumes of the Daimyo Ramen. His flushed face drowned over three shots of vodka bundled with him slurping down the ramen's rich soup. "That hit the spot," He clumsily stated, enjoying the subtle vibes of the rustic bar. "It's been a while since I've enjoyed such a nice meal."

"Me too," Ryo admitted, resting his hands on his belly.

"Is that a smile I see?" Akai mentioned, clapping to Ryo's meager grin. "See, you can have a good time! I knew it, man. I knew it."

"Shut up…" Ryo brushed off, hiding his smile by looking away. "This was all your idea."

"Sure it was, you definitely followed me just because I enticed you, hmm?" Akai cackled, slapping his knee after finishing off his final shot. He stood up, pushed in his stool, and stretched his arms in the air. "Good talk, good talk. Well, I've gotta get back. Little Rosie's waiting for me back at HQ. That little snipe is cunning for her age. Too cunning, almost…"

"Little… Rosie?" Ryo asked, unsure of what he was referring to. "Your daughter?"

"Rose Accel." Akai corrected.

"Oh…" Ryo said, turning away from Akai. The only memory of Rose Accel was getting pummeled trying to defend one of his friends. There was no apparent reason for it. Rookie's luck, Ryo thought.

"Hey," Akai said, patting Ryo's shoulder with his palm. "Look, I know you're still upset over that whole shocking introduction. Who the hell would have expected that, That is what I bet you're thinking. But in all honesty… Rosie's a good person. She's just… antisocial, you know what I mean?"

"Not… really," Ryo stated.

Akai sat back on his stool. "Come on, did you get a good look at her?" He exclaimed. "Little Rosie's handicapped. She can't walk on her two feet without a cane. And even when she unleashed her power on you, did you think she could walk away just fine? No. That's because… Rosie's dying."

"What?" Ryo said.

"That's right. Rosie, our head chief at Sunlight, is dying. There's just something about her that no one can quite comprehend that's killing her. But even so, she still enjoys life as it is… her way, obviously. The amount of times that she's played me like a fool for her own gains is way too much. It is what it is. I deal with it, of course. I'm her caretaker, the more I think about it. And I don't hate it one bit."

"You don't hate how she's controlling you?" Ryo asked. "Why would you say that?"

"Buddy, it is my job," Akai said with a witty tone. "The next time you see her, I'll make sure she's nice and easy going on with you and the others. To tell you the truth, the reason why she decided to lash out at you and Cagliostro was that… I told her to."

"Are you serious?" Ryo angrily stated.

"I just wanted to see the look on your face, that's all," Akai laughed. "That's more than enough amusement for me. Besides, since she's dying, I'd like her to do everything she can to feel alive, and that certainly made her feel like the dominator. It's kind of difficult to comprehend why she acts that way. Maybe it's because of her age, who knows. But all I can say is… as long as I'm alive, no one touches her."

Ryo seemed frustratingly conflicted with Akai's dual personality. On one aspect, he was an affectionate samaritan who killed people with kindness from the bottom of his heart for support. On another, he was a cunning jokester that treasured seeing others struggle under his orders. His primal beatdown was an example of his second half. His complex nature made Ryo's trust in him incomprehensible. He's a man who's said more words than do more actions, and Ryo could not let someone as unpredictable as Akai step him down.

"Then… I'm assuming the rest of Sunlight knows about her condition?" Ryo asked.

"That would be a no," Akai said.

"What?!" Ryo leaned forward, unsure of Akai's intentions. "Then, why are you telling-"

"Isn't it obvious? Because you, Ryo Nakai, are my friend," Akai described, wrapping his arm around Ryo's shoulder to pull him close. "I've only seen you a couple of times, but I've never really talked with you before. The truth is, being with you makes me feel young again. It's like I'm talking to the world's most innocent child ever! And once in a while… you gotta spoil an innocent child. Secrets are the best bet, don't you think? Not to mention I've already told you about my wife, eh, friend?"

"Don't…" Ryo swiped Akai's arm off. "Don't call me your friend. We're far from that."

"All right then," Akai said, wrapping his arm around once more to draw Ryo closer. The female bartender giggled at their rambunctious and childish behavior. "Then, alcohol drinking and ramen eating buddies it is, then!"

"Get off!" Ryo shouted, pushing Akai away once more.

"I have to say, you're really pulling off the innocent child persona really easily," Akai complimented. "One of these days you'll come winding back to me wanting to eat more. We'll definitely see each other again, Ryo. Ciao!" He edged out of his seat and sprinted out of the story in a drunken manner.

Ryo sighed profusely, placing his fingertips on his temples to lay resting. "What is it with that guy…" He complained to himself. He contemplated telling the rest of Sunlight that Rose Accel was slowly perishing away, but he remembered that their relationship with her was not on the best of terms. Rose Accel only existed in their lives like a boss who ruled with an iron fist. There was no clear connection tethered from friendship or trust; everything was merely for acquaintance. Therefore, Ryo concluded that informing Sunlight of her condition would not accomplish anything, considering how they were reluctant to support her without the possibility of hostile retaliation. Ryo wished that this difficult connection was not the case.

"Thank you." Ryo softly spoke to the female bartender and the chefs nearby who prepared his ramen. He stepped outside and sensed the fullness of his stomach, reveling in the atmosphere of casual dining. Despite having disdain for Akai, he did admit that spending time dining on fresh ramen made him much happier than usual.

Ryo exited the shopping district and noticed that the parade floats were clearing up around his area. The parade advanced towards the opposite side of the district with less traffic cluttering the streets. Ryo took this as a perfect opportunity to backtrack to where he initially landed towards his true destination; the hospital.

Ryo patted the satchel behind his back to ensure that the memory fragment still remained. He entered the hospital and moved to the receptionist area to ask for visitation.

"Good evening, sir," The female receptionist greeted Ryo. "Can I help you?"

"I'm here to visit April Springwell," Ryo said. "I'm a friend of hers."

"You said April Springwell?" The receptionist asked, typing her name into the computer.

"Yes, ma'am," Ryo replied.

Ryo patiently waited for the receptionist to finish typing information into the computer. She glanced at Ryo quickly before turning back at her monitor. "I'm surprised you're here tonight." She said mysteriously.

"Huh?"

"April Springwell has had a visitor twice every week since she was hospitalized. I'm surprised you're not her."

"Oh," Ryo said, wondering who the guest was. "Who's been visiting her?"

"I can't quite recall her name," The receptionist said. "But I think she's in her room right now. Please, you can follow me."

The receptionist escorted Ryo through a series of double doors, followed by an elevator ride up to the second floor. Ryo recalled the lobby area where Chiaki and Star purchased several snacks from the vending machine to sustain until the next morning. He stepped into the hallway, where he remembered Sumire's argument and how Natia stopped them. Ryo disregarded it and kept moving on, following the receptionist.

Two nurses were transferring medicine and equipment on a rolling cart, passing by Ryo and the receptionist. She led Ryo towards a hallway full of expensive hospital rooms cleaned hourly by automated machines. Room 292 was the right place, and the receptionist bowed to Ryo in respect after she had escorted him.

Ryo stepped inside. Her room was unexpectedly neat and polished as if someone frequented her room hourly to make sure not a single speck of dust was present. A bundle of orchids nestled beautifully near the open windows, letting in the parade and light show's merriment inside. His heart pounded with anticipation to see April for the first time after her near-fatal injury, and it tore the more he was reminded of the incident.

"April…" Ryo whispered as his full attention went to the patient lying on the hospital bed. April, who had been given a massive haircut until her hair was halfway to her neck, laid on the bed with rejuvenation liquids pouring into her body through a series of tube systems. Her mouth was covered with an oxygen mask, and her wounds were gradually healing based on the damage since the incident; her devastating injuries were only minor bruises and cuts that stopped bleeding.

Ryo approached her hospital bed and pulled up a nearby chair to sit on. His heart rate increased, as he was suddenly reminded of the incident that led her here. He gently placed both of his hands on April's, pretending that he had pulled her into safety that night. "We haven't really… talked to each other a lot. I don't know if it's just me being nervous or… or it's something to do with you. I don't really know. But what I do know is that you saved me before, and I didn't." He said.

April remained still, breathing through her oxygen mask with her eyes closed.

"Anyways, I brought you a gift," Ryo said, grabbing the memory fragment from his satchel. "Well, I wouldn't consider it a gift, but… it reminded me of the first time I met you. I was looking for this the moment I stepped foot in your estate. I was dying, and you still gave it up."

Ryo held the memory fragment near April, looking through its opaque amber texture.

"When you had this fragment, you said that you could feel it calling to you. What did you mean by that? Please tell me," Ryo asked, realizing he was expecting an impossible task for someone under April's condition. "I'm stupid. I shouldn't have followed him to Aries and made you a part of this mess. That's why I'm going to return it and end this. No more suffering."

"It shouldn't have been…" April whispered.

"What?" Ryo's head shot up, looking at April's face. However, the oxygen mask and her resting nature made it impossible for her to speak. "April, was that you?"

"Separate…" An unknown voice whispered once more.

Ryo realized that April was not speaking. He held up the memory fragment and noticed its color transforming into a bright sapphire instead of amber. "What is this…?" He whispered to himself, peeking in.

With Ryo's one eye peeking into the sapphire crystal, he sensed a sharp tug from his sweater's collar to force him to come closer into the view. Ryo shouted as the sapphire color began engulfing all of his vision, surrounding him in a blanket of fog. He called for April's name as the light from the hospital room's ceilings began to fade away. In a dream-like trance, Ryo sensed his feet floating through an ethereal plane of clouds, levitating him without the use of his nanosuit. His vision was sent into another medium as if he was peering through someone else's eyes. His throat closed up, and he could only hear incoherent echoes of voices through a bubbling liquid circulating his body.

"You told me that a single form would be created. Why has it separated?" An aggressive voice came from Ryo's left side. No figure was available to examine.

"It's been separated because it was too unstable to keep together," Another panicked voice replied. "We're working the best we can to keep the fragments together."

"Answer the fucking question," The voice retaliated. "The fragments are already unstable. You put them any longer in those chambers and they'll-"

"The fragments won't destabilize. As long as there's a host, they'll stabilize."

Ryo was clueless on what was happening. However, there was one significant clue that determined what he was looking into. One of the human sleeping pods that he encountered in Genesis Laboratories was present, making him understand what he was witnessing.

"Sir, where are you going?!" The panicked voice continued. "The fragments need a reagent to extract its energy. If we don't have one, then we'll-"

"I'm going to get one. I've had enough," The other voice replied. "Those Sagittarius fuckers have been safe for far too long. Those relics that they have will suffice as a reagent."

"Sir, you've already spent years trying to retrieve-"

"And your point is? I've spent years toying with them, being kind to them so that they could trust me. But all they do is care about themselves. They're not concerned with what happens to outsiders. Well, I've had enough. This time, I will come back. We can steal and power the weapon after."

"Sir, your forces," The panicked voice continued. "You're lacking the resources to storm their city-state. What will you do?"

"Then… I shall be part of them."

"Ryo? Ryo?" An otherworldly voice enveloped Ryo's ears, overtaking the voices in the laboratory. A flash of light stunned Ryo's eyes before he had awoken from his sleep at the hospital bed. He sucked in a deep gulp of air before he realized he was dreaming. The memory fragment tipped off of April's bed and crash-landed on the ground. Its amber color had returned, and the person calling for Ryo picked it up to examine it. "Why do you have this?"

"Jinni?" Ryo recognized the voice after turning around. "You… you're the one that's been visiting April?"

"Segreto," Jinni said, nodding. "I come here late at night to change her flowers and bring her food. I… I did not think it was fair that she had no support after her accident."

"I…" Ryo stuttered. "Thank you. I would have done the same, but…"

Jinni set the memory fragment on a nearby countertop. "Why is this here?" She asked.

"I just saw something," Ryo said, recalling the events of his vision. "I saw the place I stole the fragment from. I heard voices talking about the fragments… and Sagittarius."

"Sagittarius?" Jinni astonishingly said. "Do you think they were talking about the district? If they were, that area is mostly forest. I don't think anyone has been there for a while now."

"Then I've got to find out more," Ryo said, standing up and grabbing the memory fragment from the countertop. "You've got to take care of April. I'll be back."

"Aspetta! Where are you going?" Jinni cried as Ryo moved towards the windows in the hospital room. She dropped a large bouquet of tulips on the ground and rushed towards him. "You must not go! You and Naoto were almost killed!"

"I have to do this," Ryo insisted, pressing on his chest to activate his nanosuit. "I'm sorry, Jinni. I can't let anyone else get hurt because of my faults. I have to end this myself."

"Ryo, no!" Jinni cried, reaching out at him.

"I'm sorry." Ryo apologized one last time before leaping out of the window, activating his ignition booster. He propelled himself forward as he held his heart with full regret for leaving Jinni and April behind. However, he knew it was the correct action to do. He was tired of sitting idly around while the world around him destroyed itself. As he traveled through the skies, he began to recall where the laboratory's general area was after being forced into the heist.

Ryo retraced his steps. He stopped at Aries Station X8, landing down in the empty plaza where all civilians were absent. "There was a car who picked me up. There." Ryo said to himself, examining his surroundings. He dashed towards the street and remembered the ride connecting towards an elongated highway down a one-way road. Ryo turned around to face the lane's direction until he saw an unexpected visitor watching him from a distance.

"Over here." A clear silhouette of Sez Fuma's figure appeared in the shadows underneath a streetlight. He beckoned Ryo to follow down the street before he vanished into dust.

Ryo's impulsive tendencies to cut out his past were returning once again. He had the same experience with Ash's blood in Sumire's shower, and Sezan's face after thinking about his words. Ryo seized control over his combat ax to ensure it was there, and dashed forward at maximum speed. He launched himself off the streets and propelled forward, seeking the laboratory where he had made his first mistake.