Team Soul

Recently in Tokyo, the strange events of Tears appearing have begun to cause panic among society. There had been even more videos, speculations, and rumors spreading on the Tears since the mall attack & Saki had been involved.

No one had suspected me to have been involved, there were no witnesses at the mall either, and everyone had managed to evacuate. so I was in the clear. At least for now.

"Good evening Alan.", Saki said.

While I was fidgeting on the phone checking reports and social media feeds for any info that might've pointed me as a suspect.

"S-Saki San, what are you doing here so early? I ask.", I was thrown off guard by her approach.

" I decided to come early hoping to have enough time to speak with you."

"Okay but about what exactly…?", I ask.

"You remember that strange monster-person that attacked the mall yesterday? By the time I came back with help, you were gone. What happened?", she asked.

Oh shit. Erios must've forgotten to wipe her memory. Well, I guess there was no point in doing it now-Erios was still low on energy. It's not like anyone saw me use my powers to fight that thing. I just had to play it cool. I don't think Saki was smart enough to think I was somehow connected to that thing.

"Ah well I ran and I eventually managed to escape from it.", I responded.

"I see…well thanks for protecting me.", Saki says while bowing.

"Alan maybe we could-"

"Hey guys!… Did you guys hear about the monster attack at the mall?.", Juudai says while also walking over. Dressed in uniform like always.

"Yeah, I was there. Alan protected me and led the monster away.", Saki said.

"No way is that true? If so then it must've been scary.", he said

"Those monsters have begun appearing all over the city. I heard the government would soon get involved somehow."

The Japanese government had begun putting social safety rules in place, for whenever tear attacks occurred to put Japanese citizens in safety. As for counter measures the Japanese had no idea how to stop them.

"Anyways Alan-I was wondering if we could spend more time together after school."

"Really? I kinda don't know what to say."

"I would love to Saki but I don't really have the time.", I stood up & pushed my chair. Don't worry I'll make it up to you, I said while waving.

My plans for the day were originally to go home but I would've probably been bored. I have been doing a lot of training recently and needed downtime.

"Eh…you're going to a club today Alan? I thought you had no interest in these sorts of things.", Erios says.

"I don't but I did tell Aika I would consider joining her Ghost research club.",

The Ghost research club was the least popular club out of the entire school. The building was pushed all the way to the back of the school's outer yard. The club building was similar to a shack, but it wasn't run down, the windows were clean. It also looked like it was recently built & its silver & black color scheme gave it an ominous look. It was a building many people would not dare to look at again. Very subtle & yet unnoticeable.

"This is weird. How come I've never noticed this building before?"

"Alan, are you sure about this? It doesn't seem IFlike a good idea. If she sees me, we could be Compromised."

"It's fine Erios I go way back with Aika.", I proceeded to go up to the door.

Aika wasn't really a friend of mine, like Saika but she was the daughter of my moms friend. She would often come around when I was younger in Grade school.

Since then Aika has changed vastly, she's way cuter now & has the voice of an Angel. If I had to say who was cuter I'd choose Aika over Saki, anytime of the day.

"Hello? Aika are you in here?…i'm here to join.", I said. I peeked around the corner of the room e trance which was well-kept.

"This place doesn't look too bad.", I said while observing and taking mental screenshots of the beautifully arranged club room. The floor was made out of black & white tile and the walls were black. It was the opposite to the traditional White floors and floor walls in Toko High.

"Yay you finally came!"Aika tackles me with a hug. She seemed to be pretty cheerful.

"Hey! W-what are you doing?", I ask.

"A-Alan, who is this girl?", Erios whispers. A wave of jealousy flowed over her.

"A-Ah I'm sorry…please forgive me. I didn't mean to invade your personal space.", she says. While backing up off of me slowly. Aika smelled very nice, and her eyes were beautiful.

"No worries, it's fine Aika. So I guess I'm the only person who joined after all Huh?", I said.

Aika nodded, and her eyes lit up with joy. She was excited that someone had joined.

I'm so glad you could join. How is your mom doing?", Aika leaned over.

I could see her blue bra through her cleavage & I tried my best to ignore it.

"S-She's okay.", I blush.

"I see we'll, I'm glad to hear it!"

"Well now since you're officially a member…let's begin.", she smiles.

Aika has turned the tv on and began to play a video about ghostly sightings in the world. Things of the paranormal and supernatural that had not yet had answers.

"For so long I've always wanted to see a ghost up close.", she said. While running on and about, just the thought of actually discovering one made her very happy.

I then decided to do something that might've been foolish or smart. Since Aika was an expert on this stuff I told Erios to come out.

"Hey…Alan what are you doing? I don't think this is a good idea. What if she tells everyone.", Erios whispers.

"I'll make sure that she won't and besides maybe she can help us.", I said.

"Aika since you know so much about the supernatural. Can you help me?…No can you help us?", I said.

"Eh…what do you mean?", Aika asked.

I nodded giving Erios the signal to transform back into her human form. She brought a sudden coldness to the room, as if she had been from the attic. Aika was thrown off, hy a sudden turn of events. But she observed Erios closely and she couldn't believe her eyes.

"I am Erios Goddess Of The Moon. It's a pleasure to meet you…your name was-?"

"Aika! Aika Obata!…", Aika rushed over to Erios, holding her hand and observing her clothing.

"Aika, this is my partner. Erios, she's an otherworldly goddess from the moon. We need your help with something.", I say.

"Okay but explain everything please & don't miss any fine details.", Aika says. She then proceeds to lock the room door, & close the blinds. She must've really intended on keeping a secret, due to how discreet she had been on letting anyone find out.

A couple moments later I had told everything, from what happened at the Shiba park massacre to all of the strange events that have been happening around town.

"I see, well that sure is something. You know Alan, you really are one interesting guy.", Aika says after digesting the info I had told her. She must've thought I was cool or something now since I had powers, wouldn't the average person have just been scared and run off and tell everyone everything.

Aika was different from everyone, she had a reputation of being dependable from her other classmates and she was a great listener. Not to mention she was super cute & passionate.

She was in the same grade as me. I'd often run into her every now and then, but we never actually hung out.

It was one of those conveniences in which my moms friend forced us to get along.

"From what I've gathered. You encountered 2 types of tears.", she said while drawing them on a board.

"Tear 1-Type A: a group of thugs who attacked you and Saki out of nowhere at Shiba park. There were no signs indicating that they were actually tears, except for their eye tear-marks."

"Tear 2-Type B: a woman who was taken over by a tear at the mall who attacked you and materialized her body into a weapon.

And lastly

"Tear-Type C: Tears from prehistoric earth who manipulated humans into destroying one another. They weren't exactly able to materialize, but they existed as forces of nature to govern the human world."

"Could it be?…" Erios said.

"What?…do you have an idea? I'd like to hear it teehee.", Aika said.

"They're evolving-alongside humanity.", Erios responded.

And the other recent ones on the news which had fallen into Type B category. Could it have been? That the tears were evolving. And if so it was at a faster rate than expected.

"I think that might actually be the case. Tears from the time of the last Soul King only existed as forces of nature, but as for possession & materializing weapons It's unheard of. So why now?…", Erios wonders. She rests her hand on her chin deep in thought.

"Last Soul King?…so I'm not the first?", I asked.

"Since-no…Since the universe was created there have been multiple Soul Kings. The Soul King merely exists as a way for the world to maintain equilibrium in Chaos. To prevent Tears from sending the world into a down spiral."

"That sounds scary.", Aika said.

"Hehe…I'm sorry if I scared you Aika. But it's just the situation at the time."

"Erios speaking of the other Soul Kings. What exactly happened to them?", I asked.

"Soul Kings in the past were either annihilated by Tears in battle, broke the rules or gave up their contract due to not wanting to take on the responsibility.", Erios said.

The thought of there being other Soul Kings before me made me quite uneasy.

"As for the Tears we need to figure out where they are coming from."

"Well it's not like we can pinpoint exactly where the Tears are coming from. It's been random & if we don't do something about this then things will get worse...ah this sucks", I said. I stretched my body back in the chair letting out a deep breath. We had gotten nowhere.

"It seems that your best bet is to defeat the Tears until you somehow find an answer as to where they are coming from.", Aika said.

This made perfect sense. Defeating tears could potentially somehow lead us to understanding more & uncovering the truth of what they are really. We all agreed to that.

"It seems like we have no other choice then…right Erios?"

"Yeah, it's the best chance we have at learning about this world's tears."

Erios nodded. If we were going to work and stop the tears then we needed somewhere to meet & plan. Aika was the only person who could really help us at the time & my sister was coming home. So it's not like I could introduce her to Erios. I wouldn't want to get her involved.

"Aika…do you think we could use your clubroom for our meetup spot.", I ask.

"Of course! I think it's a great idea after all no one is really interested in joining this club. But I have you now and that makes me happy Alan.", she smiles, a bright expression filling her face.

"Alright from now on what should we name our group? I ask.

If we were going to take on the responsibility to protect Tokyo then we needed a name for ourselves.

Everyone took a sudden minute to think about what name we should come up with.

"How about team PSY-fire?", Aika proposes. The name had a nice ring to it but no one had psychic abilities. No, thank you.

"Team-starlight?"Erios said. Starlight could have been referring to the stars and space that Erios had come from, but it didn't match. For now, I advised that we abandon the idea of a name, and we would instead come up with something later.

"Ah forget about the name, you're terrible Erios.", I said.

"Hey no I'm it! At least I tried to come up with a cool name for our group!…", Erios yells.

"Kek…for now, let's just focus on defeating the tears.", Aika said.

Once our club session ended Aika came along with me & Erios to go back home, to get some things. If the club room was going to be our secret base then we needed things.

We quickly went to the convenience store to stack up supplies, mostly food & beverages. Erios had taken quite the fascination with sweets while ravaging the cake aisle.

By the time we finished stocking up on snacks & other things, Dusk had arrived. The sky turned dark orange as the sun set on the horizon.

"Hey look at the sky, the sun is going down. We should hurry up and go back.", Erios said.

"Yeah, right now we have everything we need.

"Hey guys…I've finally come up with a cool name for our team. Wanna hear it?"

"Hm, let's hear it!", Erios said.

"Sure Aika, let's see what you've got."

"Hmm…we'll since you're the soul king. How about Team Soul?", she smiles.

"Team Soul? That's not half that bad.", Erios said.

"Yeah, that's a great name. Team Soul is a perfect, great job Aika.", I said.

"Thanks, Alan!"

While Erios & Aika toyed around making laughter and jokes, A strange jolt zapped through me like electricity.

"W-what the?…is someone over there. I felt strange just a moment ago?", I thought.

"Is something wrong?", Erios asked.

She had felt it as well since we were connected.

"Alan is something wrong?", Aika asked.

I felt like someone had been watching us. Or maybe I was seeing and feeling things. It definitely felt real. Whoever or whatever was watching us, what could they be planning?

Whoever we're onto us was definitely human. Could it have been another Tear or something else? I wondered. Maybe my mind was just imagining things.

"Alan quickly get back!", Erios shouted.

"Hey Erios what's wrong?"

WHOOSH!~

In front of us, a Golden magic circle appeared. I had never seen anything like it before & out of nowhere, a woman stepped out of it.

Her long jet-black hair blew along with the ridges of her outfit. Her eyes were yellow & her figure was slim & average height. She wore Golden high-equipped armor and shoulder pads. With a black cloth around her top & bottom. She also wore a tight skirt, with golden-high heels with straps.

Her aura was intimidating yet that of a playful child. It was as if she had come from a planet far away. She looked human but her outfit said otherwise. I had a bad feeling about this.

"Who are you?", I asked.

The woman raised her hand. Pointing directly at me with a menacing smile on her face.

"Hehehe. At last, I've finally found you…The Soul King & Soul Queen!", she said.

I had no idea what the woman wanted with me or Erios. However, I couldn't let her intimidate me, I stood my ground staring her dead in the eyes. Whoever this woman was she posed a threat.