April 15, 2025
The shrill, insistent chime of a cell phone shattered the early morning quiet.
Ring... Ring...
Sam reached across the desk and snatched up the phone, a prickle of annoyance crossing his face. Allya had already departed for school, leaving the apartment unusually quiet until the ringtone broke the silence.
"Yes, Mom?" he answered, pressing the receiver to his ear.
"Hello, Brother. Where are you? Why aren't you taking my calls?" A sharp, demanding voice instantly blasted through the speaker.
Sam pinched the bridge of his nose. "Rika? Hold on. I missed one call."
"So what? You should always answer your younger sister's calls! She misses you so much," Rika insisted, her tone brimming with dramatic flair.
Sensing a trap, Sam let out a heavy sigh. "Alright, what did you do this time?"
"I want to see the kids, so I'm coming to India! It's been way too long," she complained bitterly. "I haven't even had the chance to speak with them properly, and you get to live in the same house? That is completely unfair."
"Just try setting foot on a plane," Sam warned coolly. "Mom will skin you alive."
A soft, weary voice interjected from Rika's end of the line.
"Mom, please! I want to go—"
"No. Absolutely not," their mother stated, her tone firm and final.
Sam couldn't suppress a smug chuckle. "Heh... Any other brilliant ideas, little sister?"
"Fine, fine! No more jokes. Talk to Mom, she actually wants to speak with you," Rika grumbled, relenting as she handed the phone over to Fatuba.
"Hello, Shinkai," her gentle voice echoed through the line.
"Hello, Mom," Sam's posture softened immediately. "How is your health?"
"I am doing well, and taking good care of your niece and nephew," Fatuba replied, her tone warm with maternal affection.
"I know," Sam admitted, a slight strain in his voice. "Though they certainly give me a hard time occasionally—especially Allya."
Fatuba let out a soft laugh. "Yes, she takes after her mother in every way."
Before Sam could respond, Rika's voice chimed in from the background again. "Pfft! Big Brother getting bossed around by a little girl? Hearing that just made my entire day!"
"Be quiet, Rika," Sam snapped. "Aren't you supposed to be twenty? When are you going to act like an adult?"
"Hey! I am twenty, which means I am plenty mature!" she huffed loudly.
Fatuba ignored the sibling bickering, her voice drifting into a quiet murmur. "Looking at her really does feel like looking at her mother..."
"Yeah," Sam agreed softly, glancing toward the window where Allya had walked off toward school just a short while ago. "It really does."
"And how is Kirito faring?" Fatuba asked.
Sam snorted. "Ah, that boy... He's practically a carbon copy of Rika, just with half the brain cells. Consider that your official status update."
"Hey! What is that supposed to mean?!" Rika bellowed in the background, clearly struggling to determine if she had just been insulted or complimented.
Fatuba chuckled softly at the chaos before steering the conversation back on track. "What makes you say that, Sam?"
"Well... he acts completely on impulse and spends most of his time looking clueless," Sam explained, his gaze shifting to the ceiling. "But the moment he goes on a mission, something shifts. He enters this total, cold serious mode. Above all, he's fiercely protective of his sister. If anyone says the wrong thing to her, he snaps. Honestly... I recently got a whole lecture from him."
"What did you do, Sam?" Fatuba asked, her tone sharpening slightly.
"First, promise you won't get angry at me," Sam bargained quickly.
Fatuba gave a quiet sigh. "Fine. I won't say a word."
Relieved, Sam leaned back against his chair. "Rika, how many members of your squad are currently stationed near here?"
"Hmm... None," Rika answered, her tone shifting to focus.
"Good, then I'm safe," Sam exhaled. "The truth is... I hid Allya's awakening from everyone. She can use Water Magic now."
"What?!" Rika shouted.
"Shinkai!" Fatuba scolded, her voice dripping with disapproval. "You know how critical this matter is, and you kept it hidden from me as well?"
Sam rubbed his temples. "Mom, please. Kirito already gave me an earful. Don't start too."
"You are so dead!" Rika's enraged shout boomed through the speaker. "I'm going to track you down and strangle you with my bare hands!"
"Rika, calm down! Don't do anything stupid!" Sam pleaded, growing genuinely flustered. "Mom, say something to her!"
"You brought this upon yourself. Deal with her on your own," Fatuba replied simply, completely unbothered by her son's distress.
"Rika, set that aside for a moment," Fatuba commanded, her tone turning businesslike. "Shinkai, you need to return to Japan for a month."
Sam frowned. "Why? Did something happen?"
"There is an assignment here that requires your personal attention," Fatuba explained.
Rika immediately chimed in, stripping away the vagueness. "Oh, come on, Mom, just tell him! There's an upcoming international summit. Major investors and prominent figures from around the world are attending, and Mom wants you to represent our family."
"I understand the importance of the event," Sam argued, brow furrowing in concern. "But what about the kids? Leaving them alone here would be reckless."
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"Shinkai, you are overprotecting them," Fatuba said gently. "They are capable. They can handle themselves."
"It's not just about their capability, Mom," Sam countered, his voice darkening. "The people who targeted them in the past are still hunting them. They need active supervision."
"My niece and nephew are Dark Knights," Rika boasted proudly. "They can crush those pigs without breaking a sweat."
"I respect their status as Dark Knights," Sam replied grimly. "But they aren't invincible yet. Last time, Akira personally intervened to attack Allya. If he comes back..."
The room on the other end went silent for a beat.
"If that is the reality of the situation," Fatuba conceded, "then leaving them unattended is indeed too dangerous."
"Then let me deploy to India!" Rika offered eagerly.
"Absolutely not," Sam interjected immediately. "Mom, if she comes here, she'll blow the cover on everything within five minutes."
"You're not wrong," Fatuba agreed thoughtfully. "However, I have a alternative."
"An alternative? What is it?" Sam asked.
"I will permit Rika to travel to India, but she will board at the inn near your residence," Fatuba instructed. "She can monitor them discreetly from a distance without drawing attention."
"Works for me!" Rika accepted without hesitation.
Sam sighed, surrendering to the compromise. "Fine. As long as she doesn't do anything idiotic."
"Have a little faith in me, brother!" Rika huffed.
"Right... Anyway, I'll book my flight and leave the day after tomorrow," Sam said, finalizing the arrangement. "Talk to you later."
"Bye," Sam said before ending the call.
Despite the upcoming headache of managing Rika, a faint smile touched his lips at the prospect of returning home. He put the phone down and walked toward his closet to pull out his suitcase.
It's been a whole year since I last went back, he thought, feeling a rare wave of nostalgia. I should bring back some local gifts for Mom and Rika. But what should I get? Hmm... I'll take Allya with me later. She has better taste with this kind of stuff.
Later that afternoon, the front door clicked open, and Allya walked in. She tossed her school bag onto the couch with a heavy exhale, quickly changed into comfortable clothes, and retrieved a plate of food from the kitchen before settling in front of the television.
Sam emerged from his room, watching her kick her feet up. "Allya, are you free this afternoon?"
"Yeah," Allya replied around a mouthful of food. "Why?"
"I have to fly back to Japan for a month," Sam explained, leaning against the doorway. "I want to pick up some local souvenirs to take back, and I need your help picking them out."
Allya stopped chewing, her eyes widening slightly. "Oh. Wait... did you buy the groceries for the house before deciding to leave?"
"No," Sam admitted.
"Ugh, why not?" She groaned, swallowing hard.
"Finish eating before you start complaining," Sam chided gently.
Allya quickly gulped down a glass of water and set her plate aside. "Look, let me finish up so we can hit the market for groceries too. If I leave it to Kirito while you're gone, he'll just keep procrastinating until we run out of food."
"Fair point," Sam agreed. "I should make sure the pantry is fully stocked before I board my flight."
Without wasting any more time, the two headed out, targeting the local grocery market first before making their way toward the handicraft stalls.
A short while later, Kirito, Reno, and Asuna arrived at the front door of the residence, only to find it locked tight.
"Where did they go?" Kirito muttered, tugging uselessly on the doorknob.
Reno glanced over at the empty driveway. "The car's gone too. They probably just went somewhere nearby."
"Did you try calling them?" Asuna asked, looking between the two boys.
Kirito pulled out his phone, displaying a shattered, completely unreadable screen. "Sherry somehow managed to obliterate my display earlier. It's totally unresponsive."
"And my battery died an hour ago," Reno added with a shrug.
Asuna rubbed her temples, letting out an exasperated sigh. "What do you two even do at the academy all day? Fine, move over. I'll call them."
Before she could dial the number, a harsh alert pinged from her device. A crimson hazard banner flashed across her screen, accompanied by a high-priority system notification:
[ALERT: Devil Signature Detected in Proximity. Directive: Neutralize.]
The three of them froze, the ambient atmosphere instantly shifting as the carefree mood vanished.
"Since the alert went straight to your device, Asuna, you should handle it," Reno suggested smoothly.
"Don't be ridiculous, Reno," Kirito interrupted, his eyes darkening as his demeanor shifted into full combat readiness. "Look at the threat class. It's an Entitlement Level 6.2. We all go."
Without another word, they set their school bags down neatly against the front gate and broke into a sprint toward the designated neutralization zone.
Navigating the alleyways, they reached an intersection near an older district.
"Guys, it's on the roof!" Asuna commanded, spotting the looming, grotesque shadow perched atop a commercial building.
"Understood," Reno called back.
As they ran, Reno's eyes snagged on a heavy iron reinforcement rod resting against a pile of construction debris near the curb. Extending his hand, he channeled his mana into the metal.
"Kirito, get ready to move!" Reno shouted.
The iron rod rose into the air, shrouded in a hum of kinetic force, before accelerating forward like a cannon shell. The projectile tore through the air and struck the massive Devil, driving it backward. Reno knew a raw physical attack wouldn't finish off a Class 6 target, but the impact staggered the beast perfectly, exposing its chest.
"Atomic Rail!" Kirito roared.
In a fraction of a second, Kirito closed the distance, launching himself high above the rooftop. The black slime coating his arm morphed instantly into a dense, razor-sharp blade. He plunged downward, driving the construct straight into the creature's thoracic cavity to shatter its core.
Clang!
The blade struck dense bone instead of the vital core.
"Dammit! Missed the core!" Kirito cursed under his breath. He severed the slime connection, forcing his body to vault backward to break his momentum.
"Kirito, watch out!" Reno screamed from below.
Before Kirito could recover his footings, the Devil's barbed tail whipped through the air with terrifying speed, slamming squarely into his side. The impact launched him across the gap between buildings, crashing hard onto the adjacent roof.
"Ray of Justice!"
A commanding voice echoed overhead. A blinding beam of searing yellow light descended from above, piercing the sky and striking the Devil dead center. The energy incinerated the creature's core in a single, devastating pulse, reducing the massive beast to ash in seconds.
Kirito picked himself up from the gravel, shaking off the impact as he looked toward the high ledge. "Nice shot, Asuna!"
"That wasn't Asuna," Reno stated cautiously, joining Kirito on the roof.
Standing atop the highest point of the structure was a figure clad in a crisp uniform, his stark white hair catching the afternoon light. He looked down at them with absolute disdain.
"How pathetic," the white-haired boy sneered, his eyes cold. "And you call yourselves Dark Knights?"
Kirito blinked, pointing an indifferent finger at the newcomer. "Hey, Reno... who is this white-haired guy?"
"He's in our class," Reno answered quietly.
"That's Lucious," Asuna clarified, stepping up beside them and stowing her device. "He transferred in recently. You missed his introduction on the first day, Kirito."
Ring... Ring...
Asuna's phone buzzed in her hand. She swiped to answer, placing it on speaker.
"Where are you guys?!" Allya's furious voice burst through the speaker. "We're back with the groceries! If you don't get your butts home in five minutes, I'm locking the door and you're sleeping outside!"
"We're on our way," Asuna replied calmly before ending the call. She turned on her heel. "We need to go. Now."
Without granting Lucious a second glance, Kirito, Reno, and Asuna turned around and leapt off the roof, heading straight back toward the house.
Left standing alone on the ledge, Lucious's face contorted with rage, his fists trembling at his sides as he stared at the empty air where they had just been standing.
"How dare they ignore me?!" Lucious seethed, his voice trembling with humiliated fury. "I will make them pay for this insult... I, Lucious, will make them crawl!"
April 17, 2025
Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi
The bustling sounds of the terminal filled the air as travelers navigated the crowded concourse. Sam wheeled his luggage past the gate line, stopping when he spotted a familiar figure leaning against the departure partition.
Rika stood there in casual wear, giving him a playful wave.
"Take good care of them while I'm away, Sis," Sam said, stopping in front of her with a serious expression.
Rika gave a crisp, mock salute. "Leave it to me! Mom is waiting for you back home, Big Bro. Don't keep her standing."
"Right. Stay out of trouble," Sam replied, giving her a quick nod before turning toward his flight's boarding ramp.
Watching him disappear into the jetway, Rika let out a long, dramatic sigh of relief, a massive grin spreading across her face.
"Ah, sweet freedom at last!" she cheered softly to herself, stretching her arms above her head.
She turned and marched out through the arrival gates into the main concourse, soaking in the atmosphere—until she froze mid-step, realization dawning on her.
"Wait a second... my connecting flight to the local region is in the other terminal," she muttered, her smile instantly melting into a look of absolute dread. "Oh, come on! Why did I walk all the way outside?! Now I have to go through that ridiculous security line all over again!"