Changes

The three months after the museum incident were peaceful for the students and staff of the horizon Academy.

The order of blight had gone into hiding shortly after the incident as Imahaya's task force, led by Amino Jashin continued to press them.

Amino had made a speedy recovery after being hit with a hail of bullets during the clash with 5 and 4 during the bank robbery.

His determination after his recovery made him the perfect spearhead for the anti-blight task force.

Though his group had made no big arrests, the vigilance of the task force had driven the order into a corner.

This caused members of the order to scatter across the city, as being holed up in one building was too risky.

During those three months, Fujimoto also held a press conference as a defense mechanism against the government officials and their mysterious plans for the Academy.

During this press conference, in of his statements, he said, "I'd like to request the help of the government in dealing with this problem. There's only so much the teachers and members of this academy can do while trying to protect the students from that terrorist group"

This was one of his closing statements. One that tied the hands of the government officials because if they decided to remove Fujimoto after he asked for help, it would seem suspicious and even though they were enraged, there was nothing they could do now.

The Academy had the time to make some upgrades to security. There was now a small building outside the Academy roughly 200m away from the main gate. This building contained 5 police officers including a member of the powered unit. There were also several alarms around the academy that instantly contacted them if something went wrong.

The security guards on academy grounds had also been improved. They were now allowed to carry holstered pistols and a small number of them were on constant patrol of the Academy.

Kaneda had also made some adjustments to the turrets by increasing their field of view. Meaning they could cover a lot more ground.

There was also three week long holiday at the end which allowed the teachers and parents to reflect upon the first term of the Academy. The students mostly spent that time reflecting upon all that had happened to them since they came into contact with the order of blight.

It was evident that a majority of the parents were still sceptical about letting their kids return to the Academy because on resumption day, not everyone turned up.

"Did you notice Takeyomi isn't here?" Rani said to Minako as they walked to the student dorms, after an assembly with the teachers.

"It's not a surprise. His parents were really shaken after the second incident"

"how did your parents react?"

Minako chuckled before answering,"they left the decision up to me. Of course I was going to return but I have to give them regular updates. They told me to keep training so the Shihata incident doesn't ever repeat itself. They were pretty cool about it. What about yours?"

"My mum was pretty scared. It took some convincing from me and my dad for her to let me come back here."

The girls noticed one of the armed guards walking past them before Minako acknowledged it. "It seems they've made significant improvements to the security around here."

Rani nodded in agreement, while looking around for her other friends.

Over the three week holiday, she didn't hear much from Yashiro and Rando, but she wasn't sure why.

A few seconds later, the both of them walked up behind the girls, putting their arms around their shoulders. Rando's on Minako and Yashiro's on Rani

"How are you girls?" Rando asked

Rani had a facial expression on her face that suggested she was not impressed. While Minako was all smiles.

"Where were you guys all holiday? You guys barely said anything to me"

"training as usual" Yashiro responded, while laughing. "Thought I'd change it up this time. I spent about a week with my mum, a week and a half outside training and the last few days resting"

"I did something similar. I tried maintaining steel form underwayer. In the cold ass blue river." Rando added.

"Really?" Minako asked "blue river is extremely cold. Did you make any progress?"

"well I can reach the bottom and stay for about 30 seconds before swimming back to the top. The challenge is to do all this in steel form"

"that's pretty impressive Rando." Rani said,"what about you, Yashiro. Any progress?"

"Achieving simultaneous activation has become a little easier for me but I still have to concentrate intently for a few seconds before I can pull it off and I can also maintain it for 2 minutes now"

"Show us" Minako said, grinning as she did so

Yashiro laughed and removed his arm from Rani's shoulder. Breathing in slowly, he clenched his fists and put his arms down in front of him. After 4 seconds, the veins in his arms and neck began throbbing as the muscles around his body began swelling.

When he opened his eyes, Rando was grinning while the girls stared in surprise.

Though he wore a large oversized hoodie and tracksuit on that particular day, the fibres of his clothing struggled to contain the absolute mass of muscle that he had now become.

"You're...huge" Rani said, struggling to get the words out.

Yashiro laughed once more before reverting himself back to his normal size.

"I'd show you guys what I could do in that form but I'm still technically in my rest days"

"I'd love to fight you in that form" Rando said, slightly punching Yashiro's arm.

"That sounds like fun. We'll ask Mr Hirowa if we can use the skyline arena"

Rani interrupted them, "before you guys get excited about beating each other. What are we going to do about Takeyomi? I mean should we talk to his parents?"

"There isn't much we can do, Rani. My mum was frightened too. She called Rando's mum to see if they were letting him back him because she didn't know what to do"

Rando quickly added, "luckily, the academy hasn't had an incident in a while so I was able to convince them but I feel like if anything happens again, that will be it."

They all nodded in agreement, hugged each other, and went to their separate dorms.

Meanwhile, at Takeyomi's residence, Ichisuda was having a meeting with his parents regarding his future at the Academy.

"Mr Noriki" Ichisuda said, addressing Takeyomi's father. "Isn't there anything we can do at the Academy? Or a compromise we can reach? Takeyomi has made a lot of progress and friends at this Academy. We have also bolstered our defences and are in constant communication with the police."

"Mr Ichisuda" the father replied, "I appreciate your concern, but the well being of my child is more important than whatever bonds he may have made at the Academy..."

As this conversation continued, Takeyomi sat with his arms folded, he did not look happy.

After a few more seconds, Ichisuda spoke again, "how about this? You let him come to the academy everyday but he comes back home at the end of the day. Which should be easy enough for him given his ability"

Kino Noriki thought for a few seconds before adding terms to Ichisuda's suggestion.

"If anything were to go wrong, I want my son to teleport straight home. I'm not taking any chances, and neither should he"

Ichisuda nodded and shook Kino's hand, causing Takeyomi to smile and hug his father from behind.

Takeyomi walked Ichisuda back to his car but explained a few things on the way there.

"I don't really blame my dad for being this protective. After my mother died, all he had left was me and my little sister. He's got no powers so naturally, he became over protective afterwards. Which is understandable but he needs to let me live my life sometimes"

"may I ask how your mother died?" Ichisuda asked

"She was a teleporter, just like me. We all felt it was an invincible ability. You could be here one moment and in a different city the very next. She was a member of one of the cities powered unit and on that day in particular, she went into a hostage situation alone, she managed to take out everyone there but she didn't realise the hostage had an explosive strapped to their chest. The resulting blast took out the entire building."

As he finished speaking, he wiped the tears from his eyes and smiled as Ichisuda placed a very reassuring hand on his shoulder

"I'm really sorry to hear that Takeyomi. Your mother was a hero and she'd be very proud of you right now"

"thank you sir"

"See you at school tomorrow" Ichisuda said, before they went their separate ways.

"How did things end up this way?" 6 asked, while staring outside the opening, where a window should've been, of the abandoned building she and 3 were camped out in.

He shrugged his shoulders and continued bouncing a ball against a wall.

The lack of curtains and glass windows made the house very cold. They were currently in the living room and towards the back, there was a doorway leading to the kitchen and the backdoor, which was boarded shut. There were no windows anywhere in the house.

There was mould on the bare brick walls, so much that the colour had changed from brown to a sickly green colour, there were cobwebs everywhere and the house was dimly lit by old and overused light bulbs. Other than the fact that it still had a roof, it was nearly uninhabitable but it was good enough for the two fugitives.

"Has 1 said anything yet?" 3 asked

"no, nothing. At this rate, we'll be hunted till we're all captured or dead. I can't believe there's a shoot to kill order on all our heads"

"you're forgetting the bounties too" 3 added, while laughing quietly, which made 6 shake her head in disappointment.

He continued speaking, "but at least we are together, out of everyone in that group I get along with you the most. Could you imagine if me and 5 were together right now?"

The thought of the both of them fighting about the smallest things made 6 laugh, but she suddenly went quiet due to movement outside the building.

She got up and looked outside the window to see what the noise was but was met with multiple bullets to her torso instead before the words, "Come out with your hands up. We have you completely surrounded" ripped through a megaphone.

[Shit] 3 thought while ducking and rolling towards the window to see if 6 was okay.

She had been hit in the chest and stomach and was coughing up blood but her wounds were already glowing white as she healed herself.

"You'll be alright" He said to her, gently laying her on the floor before thinking about his next steps.

The entrance door was flimsy, and he knew a single kick would bring it down, the openings of the windows also gave them the options of tear gas and grenades.

He knew if they came in, 6 might die so his only option was to go out and meet them.

"This is your last warning" the voice from the megaphone said, "Come out with your hands raised"

[well, shit] 3 thought, [here we go]

He leapt out the window, both arms coated in diamonds. Luckily for him, there was an agent standing a few metres from the window.

He smacked his fist into the agents jaw then immediately grabbed him by the collar as he fell, using him as a shield as more bullets came his way.

He pulled a grenade from the agents utility belt and threw it in the direction where the bullets were coming from.

They were in an alleyway, so there wasn't much space for the agents to move around as they were currently hiding behind bins.

The high powered grenade exploded, taking out three of the agents.

3 charged straight forward with his torso covered with diamonds. The remaining two agents peeked from behind their bins and fired their automatic rifles at 3

The bullets hit him but bounced off his hardened body. When he got close enough, he grabbed the head of the first agent, and slammed it hard into the floor.

There was a crunching sound as the agents skull cracked upon impact.

The last agent seeing all that had just happened dropped his gun in fear and picked up his radio and requested back up, right before 3 slammed his boot into his head and knocked him out.

As he walked back towards the abandoned building. He was shot three times by the agent who he had punched in the jaw. All three shots sank into his chest, causing him to fall to the floor.

The agent walked up to him with his pistol raised but before he could shoot and end 5's life, 6 ran up to him, and kicked the side of his knee, breaking it, then again in the side of the head as he fell.

She ran to 3 and placed her palm on his chest, healing him before permanent damage could be done.

"Thank you" He said weakly, placing his hands on top of hers.

She nodded before responding, "we need a new place to hide now"