Worrisome Tidings

Walking along, Natsuki murmured, staring down at her phone, "A meeting… why… We usually don't gather the commandments together. This must be relatively urgent I guess… but why?! Right when I have some free time too!"

"Nothing I can do… I'm a commandment for a reason," Natsuki sighed, gazing up at the sky before putting on her mask and leaping off the roof she was walking on.

Leaping off the roof as her hair transitioned colors, Natsuki clicked her tongue, disappearing into the sky as a bird.

*thunk*

Stepping out of the darkness, a masked figure growled, recalling his knife, catching it by the blade before twirling it in his fingers. Examining his knife, the masked figure snapped, melting his knife back into the shadows, waving towards the other side of the street.

Throwing a scroll into the ground in fury, the masked man ignited a scroll into blood-red flames. Stamping out the flickering embers, the masked figure stalked off, melting into the shadows.

-------

Flying back over the ocean, Natsuki swept her eyes over the training camp, admiring the quiet bustling as the sun dipped below the horizon and the stores closed. Landing on the roof of the tallest building and transforming back into a human, Natsuki stared at a certain cake store, seemingly hoping to see someone.

Before mumbling, "I'll go buy some more sweets after this meeting," while patting down her pockets and popping a piece of chocolate in her mouth.

Walking down the maintenance stairs, clicking her tongue as the stairs creaked under her, Natsuki cursed, "even old-ass stairs are calling me fat these days… what has my life become."

Choosing to climb through an inconspicuous window beside the stairs, Natsuki looked around before leaping down from the windowsill. Landing with ease, with only a slight bend in the knees while also tying her hair up, Natsuki slid into her seat before munching on candy while passing the time.

"Not even going to greet me Natsuki?" A question floated over from the languid beast tamer, with a slight playfulness infused into his tone, "I thought we were best of friends~ our magic is so similar after all~"

Popping another sweet into her mouth while sinking into her chair, Natsuki turned to the side, asking, "So, what's up, Hunter? I'm surprised you came to this meeting, you're in the middle of a pretty important mission after all."

"I-... I see what you're doing," Hunter nodded, catching on after a second, "Everyone's coming I think, except for the Mechanic."

"BWAHAHAHAHA! I'M HERE NOW! No need to sit there all anxiously, we're all just chilling after all!" The brawler roared with enthusiasm running through the door, flexing his muscles, cutting off Natsuki's response, "Boss mentioned it's going to be really important today! No skipping unless extremely important!"

"Of course~" The Beast tamer added, "That's why I've been waiting here for 6 hours already~"

"Why," Natsuki retorted, "The meeting has a scheduled start…"

"I just couldn't resist coming back to this… Wonderful~ brightly shining~ area filled with youth and potential," The beast tamer answered, joy visible in his eyes.

…

Everyone falling into silence following the Beast Tamer's… questionable motives, time seemed to inch along until the set time, everyone gathering together, ready for the meeting.

Standing up from his seat, the Gladiator began, "So… I've called a meeting of the commandments today because I've found some… worrying undercurrents."

Barely finishing his first sentence, the Gladiator rolled his eyes as others began murmuring,

"Alrighty"

"Hurry up"

"What a goody-two-shoes"

"Ohhhh, I hope I can help"

"Let's goooooo… responsible leader Gladiator!"

Chuckling, the gladiator continued, "you know with the commandments not changing for 8 years now… we're all quite relaxed with each other!"

"Hurry up old man!" Volcano snorted, "Don't get so sappy so fast!"

"It's fine~ continue your sappiness if you want~!" The healer added, "Volcano's just being difficult!"

Taking a sip of water while rolling his eyes in amusement, Gladiator continued, "Let's just get started!"

Ignoring the random whisperings, Gladiator began, "I've recently been finding out about a secret… terrorist organization let's say… Except what sets them apart is I haven't been able to find any ideas on how extensive their reach is."

"Furthermore, as I've kept looking, I've found that they have extensive ties to the late American regime…" Gladiator sighed, shaking his head in disappointment, "Somehow some branches or roots of that government survived and created or helped create this organization."

Flipping to the next page of his notes, Gladiator continued, deciding to answer the pending questions at the end, "I've also found that they've created a similar structure to this 17 commandments thing… have their own, the 13 zodiacs."

"Along with this 13 zodiacs thing," Gladiator explained, before sighing and pausing for a second, "They also created another organization called the Weapons of the Lord. I'm not even sure this second organization even exists, as it's still totally shrouded in mystery for me. However, it worries me how many experts this terrorist organization has, seeing as each member of one of these organizations ranges from a little weaker to just as strong as all of us."

"That's it?" The warrior asked, pursing her lips, "Do you not have any more information for us?"

"Sorry to say, but I do not, I've only been investigating this organization for half a month, but I felt this was already concerning enough that I should share it with you all," the Gladiator replied with an apologetic tone.

"Tsk, I just wanted to run there and beat them all up…" The warrior confessed with a disappointed expression.

Throwing an ice needle at the Warrior's forehead, Blizzard teased, "Don't be so battle-focused ~ you're still so young~ why don't you find a boyfriend or girlfriend~!"

Catching the needle and throwing it back while growling in anger, the warrior scowled while exclaiming, "I don't care about that stuff bliz… you and your stupid machinations…"

"Ah~ don't scowl like that young warrior~ you'll get wrinkles if you keep scowling like that~" Blizzard continued teasing, "Too bad I already have my eyes on someone or I'd go for you~"

Leaping up in anger, the Warrior was held back by a laughing Brawling while shouting, "F*ck you Bliz! Let me go, Brawler! I'm going to beat her so bad she's going to have to retire from retirement!"

Squirming in fake embarrassment, Blizzard replied in a 'bashful' manner, "Ah~ warrior~ not out here~ all the other commandments are watching~"

Smirking and bowing to the rest of the commandments, Blizzard looked at her watch, exclaiming, "Would you look at the time~ I have to go~ nice seeing everyone again!" Before dispersing into snowflakes and dissipating out the window.

Growling at the dispersing snowflakes, Warrior scowled, "I'll get her… I'll show her…"

Waiting until everyone calmed back down, Gladiator chuckled while scratching the back of his head, "Y-You know… I'll just email everyone the normal administrative tasks… I'll just end the meeting here for today. Seeing how… riled up people are today."

Chairs screeching across the floor, everyone thanked Gladiator for organizing the meeting before leaving through their respective means, be it windows, magical dispersion, or deciding to be a normal person and leaving through the door.

-----

Leaping out of the same window she arrived through, Natsuki leapt back to the roof, whistling a few times, waiting for something to appear.

Waiting for a few moments, Natsuki facepalmed, stomping her foot lightly, muttering, "How could you forget you stupid Natsuki…"

Transforming back into a bird, she flew off, towards the cake shop to buy some more cake and sweets, meeting up with a certain Blizzard along the way to hang out.

-----

Staring at the disappearing bird of her coworker the Shaman with a cool gaze, the warrior muttered, "Why does Amelia have to tease me so much… does her role as my Senpai back in Highschool really allow her to do that… Though, at least I have all the dirt on her…"

Running along the rooftops towards her temporary residence on the academy campus, Janet the Warrior muttered, "Just when will those two dense commandments start dating… Blizman? No, I guess it'd have to be Shazard…"

Snickering in amusement, Janet chuckled, "Oh Amelia, you and Natsuki are so dense for two people at your age… Lucky their magic gives them a longer lifespan or they'll never confess~"