Chapter 17: A Free City

            As the battle finished, the humans of Morisumo worked together to build up walls round their city using their elements. Shingo picked up a gun from a destroyed robot and shot down the blimp. Yuzuru, Hisakawa and Kanako rushed the fallen blimp, killing the demons that emerged. People began to wander as they realised all their enemies had been defeated. They gathered at the stage where Kotone and Kosuke were. “Shingo! Kana-kun!” Kosuke ran up to them giving them a hug.

Shingo and Kanako then took a few steps back, they knelt down on one knee each to showed off the man Shingo and Kosuke had saved along side the imp children. “Look who we found!” Shingo exclaimed.

“Awesome, it’s, it’s uh… I never got your name.” Kosuke realised.

“I am Kageyama.” The man answered. “It looks like you have been busy here. Young, uh…”

“Matsuoka, please call me Kosuke.” He then motioned up on the stage to Kotone. “The young lady who was singing is Kotone-sama, it’s really her you should be thanking, without her, we wouldn’t have been able to take back our city.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Kosuke-ku-san, I wouldn’t have been able to sing without you protecting me!” Kotone snapped.

Hisakawa, Yuzuru, Asahi and Minami joined the others as the rest of the humans gathered. Hisakawa climbed the stage, Kotone handed her the microphone. “Thank you all for taking a stand with us, we have managed to take back out city from the demon invaders. Um, I’d hate to ask this of you, you all have been through so much in such a small amount of time, but.” She paused for a moment. “Would anyone be willing to become guardians of this city and patrol the streets to stop the demons from reestablishing themselves here, again. I’m hoping for at least six volunteers, although I have ten swords made out a special metal that demons are weak to. The, saints, and I are planning on liberating Ishidamu, but we won’t leave out city unprotected.” Hisakawa explained.

Just has Hisakawa was about to speak again. Kageyama approached the stage, the young imps grasping onto his pants like their lives depended on staying attached to him. “I’ll be the first, Kageyama Taro at your service!”

A young woman raised her hand. “Yoon Bora!” She came up to the stage, when she saw the imp children she flinched, but let herself relax when she realised that they were more scared of her then she was of them.

The crowd was silent. Kosuke stormed up to the stage and grabbed the microphone from Hisakawa. “Come on people! We can’t do this on our own! How the heck are we supposed to go save others, if we can’t leave this city. Are we just going to sit here, and wait for the demons to gather their forces, so they can crush us. Or should we take the fight to them, stop waiting for attacks and save our fellow humans who are currently enslaved. All we need is a few people to keep an eye on things until we return. I am terrified, but I’d rather die trying to save the world, then live as a piece of property!”

A teenage boy ran forward. Yuzuru recognized him as one of his classmates. The teen wore a tattered school uniform. “I was starting to take up swordplay, but when push came to shove, I surrendered, I’d like to redeem myself. I’ll join the fight, I’ll protect the city.”

Yuzuru patted him on the back. “I’m glad to hear it. Thank you, Kajiwara-san.” He smiled.

“Nakai-kun? You look and sound like him, but you’re acting strange.” Kajiwara stared at him with confusion.

“Call me Yuzuru.” He gave him one final pat on the back and walked away.

“I’ll fight!” Someone called out coming forward.

“Let’s do this!” Another woman shouted as she came up.

“One more!” Kosuke shouted. “Come on! We can do this!” He then whispered into the microphone. “Please, we need to save Emiko-chan. She is my best friend’s little sister, he lost both of his parents, I know you all have lost your friends and family too, so please, if there was an opportunity to save them, would you not hope for someone to step up so you could go save them.”

As Kosuke finished speaking, a woman came forward. “Alright, I’ll fight, but you idiots better come back.” She told him.

“Yes, we will! Thank you, all of you!” Kosuke and the other saints all bowed to the volunteers.

Hisakawa took the microphone back. “Thank you, if you come with us, I can get you your swords. They will make it easier for you to fighting demons.” She gave another bow.

Soon the volunteers were given swords, and a few days passed. The city was at peace, no more demons, no more evil robots, some sense of normality and routine had returned, although most people still seemed tense. People were constantly looking over their shoulders, jumping at sudden noises. Kageyama had adopted the imp children as his own, he had lost his son, their parents had abandoned them, they would heal together. Kanako had even done up paperwork for them to make it ‘official’.

Everyday, Kosuke visited his apartment, hoping to find his mother sitting at that table, ready to give him a hug. He stared at his letter one evening. “Maybe she escaped the city…” He told himself.

“Kosuke.” Shingo spoke, standing in the doorway to the apartment. “I’ve been talking to people. No one has seen your mother. Asahi-san, Kanako-kun and I have gone through the records at the school again, we haven’t found anything about her there. I know you are hopeful, but it’s most likely that she is dead. If she isn’t she will come find you. There are some people who are setting up some missing persons boards, if she is out there, she will be found.” Shingo walked up to him and gave him a hug. “It’s time to move on for now.”

“Okay.” Kosuke let himself cry. As he and Shingo left his apartment, they talked. “Did you find anything about Kana-kun’s mom?” He asked.

Shingo shook his head. “No. Kosuke, it’s not looking good.”

“Ever since we found her rotting hand, I pretty sure Kana-kun thinks she’s dead.” Kosuke watched his shoes as he walked. “We should check up on her, let her talk out her emotions. Before she hurts someone.”

“Yeah. We did find information on Kotone-chan’s parents. They were taken to Hell. As was Asahi-chan’s mother, her father was sold to someone in Mexico. I mean, at least he is still in this dimension.” Shingo explained.

“I need to talk to Kotone-chan, she must be so upset. Wait, Mexico? Why? Doesn’t matter, need to go be with Kotone-chan.” Kosuke spoke swiftly and took off running towards the hideout even faster.

“Kosuke! Wait for me!” Shingo called out as he cased after him.

That evening was mostly spent by Kotone crying in Kosuke’s arms. “I’m never going to see them again!” Kotone wailed. “They’re alive but we can’t save them. Kosuke, Kosuke-kun, I miss them, I wish they were here, I wanted them to meet you. It’s never going to happen now!”

“Never say never. We will find a way to rescue them, no matter how hard it is or how long it takes. They will see you preform on stage. I promise.” Kosuke told her.

Kotone wiped her tears. “I know you’re trying to comfort me, and I know how you are Kosuke-kun, but don’t promise me that. You might not be able to keep it, it’ll be a miracle if we can free the people still on Earth, how are we supposed to raid Hell? I appreciate the sentiment though.” She sat up straight, breathed in though her nose and out through her mouth. “Alrightly. Asahi-chan, you had that big catering gig tonight, how did that go?”

“It went great, I’m glad Yuzuru-san helped, otherwise I probably would have had a breakdown, it was so busy and stressful. Everyone loved my food, maybe just because they haven’t eaten decent food in months, but they still loved it!” She squealed.

Not long later everyone went to bed and had a restful sleep. In the morning, they awoke to Hisakawa banging metal together. “Everyone up! Get up! I have something to show you!” She yelled from the balcony. When everyone had got out of bed, Hisakawa took them outside to the old station. “Ta-da!” She displayed a modified train. “This will take us to Ishidamu, I’m going to put tracks in front of it as we move along, and we will fly all the way there, out through the gaping hole in the ceiling. Well, we are going to stop by my childhood home and visit my family first, but we are leaving today!” She shook her fists in excitement. “Go get packing!”

Within ten minutes, everyone had loaded what they needed into the train. Kajiwara and Kageyama had came to see them off. “Don’t worry too much about us, we can handle things while you are gone.” Kageyama reassured them. “Just do your best to stay safe. Good luck!” He waved.

“See you later!” The teens called out, waving back. The train’s door closed and Hisakawa pulled out of the station. The tracks from behind the train floated below it, fitting perfectly in front of the tracks it was on. The train took to the sky, off to Hisakawa’s hometown.