Chapter 23: To Eclipse

Steam curled lazily from the ramen bowls, but none of them touched their chopsticks.

The shop was quiet enough to hear a pin drop as they sat, tension rising with each moment of silence.

"Where to start..." Kodaka muttered.

"How about why we couldn't do this on campus?" Meguri asked.

Kodaka picked up his chopsticks, took a bite from his ramen, and nodded.

"There are ears all over campus,” Kodaka explained. “The administration knows that you're trying to figure out information about the suits. You're just lucky that I know too."

“I realized that yesterday,” Asumi nodded, also taking a bite.

"You’ve always been smart,” Kodaka smiled. “As for further dangers, as of the time when Headmaster Kishimoto regained consciousness, Taichi became the #1 Most Wanted Criminal for the suits. You can’t go back to campus, Taichi.”

“Then what should I do?” Taichi asked, just now breaking his chopsticks.

“I messaged Yukimura to remove his things from the room before the suits could get to it. Do you have a place to stay nearby?"

"Uh... no?" Taichi said.

"I would offer you a place to stay, but my family isn't really..." Asumi started, staring off into the distance.

"Yeah, no, don't worry about it. I know you'd do anything you could," Taichi nodded.

"My house is on campus, so that doesn't really work..." Kodaka muttered.

"I can take him in," Meguri chimed in, her bowl already finished somehow. "The Isshiki family has a decently sized estate. It's not huge, but it can definitely house Taichi."

Her smile transitioned to a teasing smirk.

"Unless, of course, Asumi has a problem with that."

"I don't," Asumi responded. "Taichi's safety is on the line here."

"Tsk... you're no fun," Meguri scowled. "But yeah, offer stands; Taichi."

"I'll take it," Taichi nodded.

"Anyway... how is this school not going to just collapse after seeing the headmaster is a murderer, Kodaka Sensei?" Meguri asked.

"Because nobody's going to remember," Kodaka muttered.

"How could anybody forget?" Asumi said, a shiver rolling down her spine remembering the sight.

"Because our esteemed headmaster has been keeping a secret, and none of us ever thought to ask the question... have you ever wondered what his aspect was? He's seen as the strongest sorcerer in the world, but nobody knows a damn thing about him... more importantly than that, nobody's even curious."

"That's not..." Asumi muttered reflectively. "I guess I haven't really thought about it."

"And that's by design. It's a part of his aspect," Kodaka explained. "An aspect is a magical property that gives you authority over an element... and Kishimoto Akihiko's element is a person's memory."

"So you're saying that he's... going to use his aspect on everybody in the arena?" Meguri asked.

Kodaka nodded.

"He'll erase everything they understand about the administration, everything about the suits, everything about today's incident. To them, Taichi never fought Rank #1, and he never earned the rank."

"Wait, wait... everything about the suits..." Asumi backtracked. "I've always thought it was strange that I knew nothing about them... how often does he use his aspect on us?!"

Kodaka shrugged his shoulders.

"Hell if I know – he uses it on me too. God knows how many times I’ve had this realization. At the very least, I can guarantee that everybody here has fallen victim to the headmaster's aspect at least once, and probably more than that. Since Taichi evaded memory erasure, he’s gonna be at the top of Kishimoto’s agenda."

“Wait, but what about Asumi and Meguri?” Taichi asked. “They still have their memory, so… wouldn’t they be hunted too?”

"Well, possibly..." Kodaka muttered. "He doesn’t know that Asumi and Meguri escaped, so he might assume that they're already wiped. You were down in the center with him, so he knows for certain that you weren’t erased."

"That's in the hypothetical that he can’t read our minds, though," Meguri pointed out. "Asumi, wanna stay at my family estate also to be safe?"

"I guess I don't mind that," Asumi shrugged. "I just have to grab my stuff."

"I can tell Yukimura to grab yours as well," Kodaka said, taking out his phone. "She probably hasn't left yet."

In response to his request, he received the message "I'm already at the train station," to which he responded, "too bad."

"Yeah, she'll grab it," Kodaka said, putting his phone away. "Do you need your stuff too, Meguri?"

"Nah, I have a set of stuff at home — besides, Yukimura Sensei isn't my floor's dorm head. I don't wanna draw unnecessary attention," Meguri replied.

"Very well... then I guess I'll continue on, yeah?" Kodaka asked, taking another slurp of ramen.

Everybody nodded.

"So, this academy... as I'm sure you can tell, it's basically Kishimoto's playground. What you can't tell, though, is to what extent," Kodaka started.

"I think I might know something about that..." Asumi muttered.

Kodaka quickly silenced, finishing his ramen and letting Asumi continue.

"When I was in the infirmary coming out of my fight with Natsu, I ended up seeing a few suits carrying folders. It was piles and piles of paperwork, lab reports, all sorts of things I could hardly understand for all sorts of subjects... and they were all labeled with the same thing."

"Project NATSU," Kodaka nodded, sighing in pleasure after finishing his broth.

"I wanted to figure out more, but the suits disappeared. I figured a good way to lure them out was to do something similar to what Tadokoro did at the end of her match with Taichi... so that's what I told him to do. It just so happened something much worse came before he could," Asumi said solemnly.

"Oh, yeah, I'm sorry for what my daughter did that day, by the way," Kodaka chimed in.

"Daughter?!" both Asumi and Meguri exclaimed.

"Yeah, I have a daughter – is that so hard to believe?"

"Kinda," Meguri teased.

"Once I saw the suits take her after the match with Hayato,” Kodaka started, ignoring Meguri. “I became a lot more worried about the situation at hand. I saw you guys message me around the same time, worried, but I was a bit preoccupied searching for my daughter at the time."

"And did you find her?" Taichi asked, putting down his chopsticks.

"...it's complicated."

Kodaka clenched his fist.

"Kishimoto is obsessed with creating a perfect aspect. He doesn't care who he hurts in the process. This academy isn't a school – we hardly even have real classes here. We don't have grades. We just have ranks and competitions. That's because this is the most effective way Kishimoto found to make people as strong as he can to utilize their aspects for his perfect formula. He's trying to create the ultimate soldier that can only be controlled by him with his memory aspect. As for Shoko..."

"She's part of his experiment now... you can't get her out. That's why you started communicating with us," Asumi concluded, to which Kodaka nodded.

"But what exactly is Project NATSU? I know it's some sort of experimental super-soldier, but surely it's not... actually Natsu, right?" Taichi asked.

"There were so many files for Project NATSU... Natsu is probably one of the subjects considering how many aspects he has, but he can't possibly be the only one," Asumi said.

"You're both right and wrong... all of the suits are part of Project NATSU, but... well, you'll figure it out if you go to school tomorrow,” Kodaka shrugged. “All you need to know for now is that every person in Project NATSU is incredibly powerful.”

“As powerful as Natsu?” Meguri asked, a shiver running down her spine.

“Some more, some less,” Kodaka replied. “I would give you the choice of not accepting the mission of fighting the system, but it's either fighting or conforming. If you try to leave, any of you – Kishimoto will hunt you down. The only way a person leaves Eclipse Academy under his reign is with their memories of the administration wiped or on the run forever."

"My dad..." Taichi started, looking up at Kodaka.

"Was on the run," Kodaka finished. "I went to school with him. Your dad was by far the strongest student in this academy. He had a nullification aspect similar to yours, but his control over it was... well, I'll be blunt, it was way better.”

“Gee, thanks,” Taichi said, rolling his eyes. “It’s not like I’ve been working on it tirelessly since I discovered it or anything.”

“Hey, it’s the truth,” Kodaka said. “He didn't need the pendant to turn off his aspect, and he could localize it to specific areas of his body. On top of that, as I'm sure you know, his swordsmanship was off the charts; he was the Rank #1 student. It was around this time that Kishimoto got scared."

"Of my dad?" Taichi asked.

"Yeah. Kishimoto's aspect gave him the ability to manipulate anybody to whatever degree he wished... except Hayato Rintaro.”

“That’s why he wanted me to put my pendant back on,” Taichi realized. “My nullification can stop the memory manipulation.”

“Correct. Eventually, Rintaro wanted to leave the academy because he fell in love with a normal person. Your mother. Kishimoto couldn't stop him from leaving, so somebody that strong was out of his control. Because of that... he created Project NATSU – an experiment to create a soldier powerful enough to kill Hayato Rintaro."

"So you're saying... the headmaster killed my dad?"

"Indirectly, but yes," Kodaka nodded.

“Why did he care?” Asumi asked. “Why does he need to control everybody?”

“I’m assuming he has his own goals – I’m not completely sure what they are. It just seemed like he was trying to consolidate as much power as he could,” Kodaka replied. “Since he couldn’t control Rintaro’s power, he had him killed and moved on with his mission.”

"If he fears nullification so much… then why is Taichi here?" Meguri asked.

"Because somewhere along the way, he realized something – if he could turn other people into perfect soldiers, then he could also turn himself into one. Once he pinpointed that goal, he started experimenting with greater fervor until realizing that he lost access to the most powerful aspect he'd seen..."

"Hayato Rintaro's nullification," Asumi continued.

"Initially, he wanted to rid the world of the nullification aspect so that his manipulation could reign supreme, but now he wants it for himself. Now, imagine how happy he was to learn that Hayato Rintaro had a son. But he needs to make sure you can blossom your nullification to Rintaro's level, so he's been letting you grow. If the aspect doesn’t display the potential to be as strong as Rintaro’s, I doubt he’ll want it."

"The Rank #1 is always going to be his lab pet... that's why he said he wouldn't acknowledge me despite my victory," Taichi realized.

"So... this is our situation. I need to rescue my daughter from Project NATSU, but if I do that, then I’ll have the entire suit network after me, and I’m not strong enough to deal with that. To rescue Shoko, realistically… we have to dismantle the whole operation,” Kodaka stated.

“Sounds easier said than done…” Asumi said.

“It is – if we’re ever caught by the headmaster, our memories will be wiped. He might even make me forget I have a daughter in the first place… we have to have a flawless run. The only one who’s immune to the memory manipulation is you, Hayato…” Kodaka said, finally finishing his ramen. “As much as I hate to do this, I need you to give me your strength for this battle. So, what will it be? Will you fight? Or will you roll over?"

"If that man murdered my father..." Taichi clenched his fist. "Then I'll fight."

Asumi and Meguri both nodded.

"We all will."