The Boy Unsure of his Next Steps

Toshio was apparently one to talk with his hands, and started moving them around to represent different floors of Strength Tower as he talked.

“Subarashii is an odd place, the lower you are in the ranks, the lower in the tower you are allowed. I think only the big boss and his top employees ever go to the top, what is up there is anyone’s guess, it wasn’t even in their private files. I was near the bottom, floor four, which they call the death floor internally on account of how many employees commit, uh, anyway, you wouldn’t believe my surprise.

“Floors 13 and 14 were for magical research. And they had lots of files. I was of the doubting type when it came to magic back then, but for Suba to dedicate two whole floors to research was saying a lot. My engineering department had only a sliver on our fourth floor, squeezed between marketing and the janitors. What made it crazier were how much effort they had dedicated to exploring various shrines left from thousands of years ago. Shrines built by Marlin herself.

“So, the next day, I brought in a memory stick and downloaded all their files. This caught the attention of both Mirai and Subarashii. Needless to say, if Mirai hadn’t helped me escape, I would have been dragged up to the AI division.”

The former Suba employee shuddered.

“What’s in the AI division!” Mamoru said with more force than he intended.

Toshio shook his head. “I don’t know for certain, that is on floor 16 so I never went, we just know anyone who goes there is considered a live in employee and never leaves.”

Mamoru balled his hands into tight fists.

Calm down, getting your heart rate to spike doesn’t do anything to help you right now.

He shook his head and focused on his thoughts while the others kept talking. He would have to go save his sister soon, now he knew for sure she was on floor 16, but the last fight made it clear he wasn’t ready to charge in just yet. It frustrated him, he was still weak. He needed to get stronger.

He hoped Mae could wait just a little longer, until he figured out how he could actually save her.

“Do you agree Mamoru?” Mirai said. Yamiko nudged him with her elbow when he didn’t reply right away.

“What?” He had been too distracted by his thoughts while they continued the conversation.

“I was saying, we’d like you both to join our organization. At the very least it would be good for you to let some adults take on some of the more deadly folks.”

Mamoru’s expression must have soured at Mirai’s words, she made an expression that suggested he did at least. It hurt him to be so rude with her, he would have dreamed of having impressed the blue hair girl in any other situation. In the future, he might be able to make up for his rudeness, but he was not willing to let the ‘adults’ just jump in like that. He had to get stronger on his own.

“I’d rather you give us some training if you want us to join. We can cut classes and have that Yuto guy teach us.”

“Gross, I like totally don’t want to be that buff. No thank you.”

Mirai shook her head.

“You two should not let your studies decline. I appreciate your enthusiasm for defeating Suba, but what will you do after if that was your whole purpose?”

“They have my sister. In their AI division, whatever that means. If I were strong enough, I’d have already cut that building in half, but every day I wait is another day she continues to suffer.”

Toshio looked at Mirai with concerning eyes. She vanished from the pause screen and reappeared on Mamoru’s phone.

“Your admission that you would charge in makes me more reluctant to have you get stronger. No matter how powerful you are, they have hordes of Middle and Upper Managers which are being infused with captured kaiju to supplement their magic. You saw how deadly one of them was just the other night, even Yuto struggles in a battle with an Upper Manager.”

Yamiko’s face turned to a frown, but she didn’t interrupt Mirai.

“If you charged in alone, you would die, and they who would be left with the burning desire you have to save your sister? It is good you are motivated to help her, but there are many ways to do so, and not all of them require you to be reckless.”

Mamoru gritted his teeth, but said nothing.

“For now, why don’t you rest? You still need to heal some.”

Much as the high school boy wanted to disagree, the weight of exhaustion still hung over his shoulders, he grunted. When he got back to the bed, the sleep won over quickly and he was out.