Chapter 38: Chapter 38 - Off to Omega
I fell asleep and slept pretty well that night. When I woke up in the morning, I was still somewhat tired simply because of the time I went to bed, but I had enough energy to get around. Yui, once again, stole the blankets from me, leaving me chilled.
She was wrapped up snugly, and to be honest, looked quite adorable. I decided to get out of bed quietly to not wake her. I got up, put on some fresh clothes, and washed my face. I looked at myself in the mirror and noticed something...odd.
"Huh? What's that, on my neck?" I asked myself, pulling my collar down to reveal what appeared to be a mark of some sort. It looked like a symbol, representing the head of a goat. When I rubbed it with a cloth, it vanished.
"That was weird..." I said, wiping away the mark. I decided to check out the rest of my body, to see if anything else strange had happened to me. I found nothing out of the ordinary, except for the fact that I had begun to build more muscle in my arms.
Perhaps I was changing due to the awakening of some of my power. My body is trying to adapt to the sudden change in energy flow. I still felt energized, like the night before, except it was more subdued.
I was still shirtless when Ambrosia suddenly barged into the bathroom. I turned sharply to the right, and my face went red. Ambrosia just stood there, looking at me.
"AH! AMBROSIA!"
"Oh, sorry about that Yuki, I probably should have knocked. Hey, you're looking pretty good, have you been working out?"
"Ehh, not really. Gosh, you startled me. I think this is because of the power inside of me awakening. My body seems to be morphing to try and accommodate for it."
"Oh really? Perhaps if we awaken 100% of it, you'll be ripped! There's only one way to find out though." said Ambrosia, closing one eye.
Why wasn't she leaving? It's like she's completely disregarding my second-hand embarrassment from the situation. But then again, I remembered she did find me quite charming, so perhaps I was quite a sight to see. I quickly put on a shirt.
"Ugh, well, what are the plans for today? Are we getting transferred to Omega?"
"Yeah, the trains are arriving a day early, so we can leave today. I hope everything of yours is packed, or else you might get left behind! Hehe."
"Pfft, believe it or not, Henka packed our things up for us. While he was in Mayumi's form, he was packing our bags, remember?" I asked. Ambrosia's face turned white.
"Say that again, Yukio..."
"What? Henka was packing our-" I was then interrupted by Ambrosia, who suddenly yelled, in an anxious tone.
"HENKA WAS PACKING OUR BAGS!"
Ambrosia ran out of the bathroom, immediately toward her belongings. She ripped her bags out from under the bed and started opening them, vigorously. It was enough to wake up the others in the room.
"H-huh? What's going on?" asked Mayumi, yawning.
It took me another minute to realize why she was flipping out. Then it hit me, it was Henka we were dealing with... who knew if he sabotaged our belongings or not? He could have stolen things from us or planted tracking devices in our bags.
I exited the bathroom and watched as Ambrosia tore through her belongings. Her book was still here, she always kept it with her, even during the battle we had with Marius. I still wondered what was up with it... she had it sitting on a desk next to her bed.
"Yukio, check your stuff, nothing from mine is missing. But also check for new things that you don't remember having. He could have bugged our luggage with something."
"Wait, what are you talking about? Ambrosia? Is everything alright?" asked Mayumi. Cyprus and Yui woke up shortly after, both confused as to what was going on.
"Henka had access to our luggage, we're making sure nothing was stolen or sabotaged. You three should check your stuff too, to make sure everything is in order."
"Oh shit, really? Okay then, Cyprus, get up and check your stuff."
Cyprus rolled out of bed, promptly landing on the floor. He then stood up, brushed himself off, and cleared his throat.
"I checked my stuff last night, knowing we would leave today or tomorrow, and everything is fine. You should have been more prepared."
Ambrosia covered her mouth in anticipation of Mayumi's rebuttal. Mayumi assumed an expression of annoyance and smacked Cyprus on the side.
"You shut it! You're right...but you're annoying! Just double-check, it would make me feel better."
"Fine, for you, I'll double-check. But I can guarantee you that everything will be exactly as I left it last night," said Cyprus, opening his bags.
Yui climbed out of bed and fixated her hair before sorting through her own luggage, and I decided to do the same. Turns out, Henka really did just pack our bags for us. He stole nothing, and nothing was new, it was a simple gesture from him, but why?
"See, everything is just fine," said Cyprus, showing the bag's contents to Mayumi.
"Thank you for double-checking, everything in my bags is in order as well. What about you two?" asked Mayumi, looking at Yui and me.
"We're all good." we both said.
Yui looked at me shortly after, like she wanted to ask me something. Ambrosia, Mayumi, and Cyprus closed their bags and put them together in a group so that they were all together.
"So Yukio, continuing from last night, what exactly happened out there? You said Hero came back?"
Mayumi and Cyprus stopped dead in their tracks and turned around. They had looks of concern written all over their faces. Perhaps Hero's return really did mean something went wrong...
"Did you say...Hero?" asked Mayumi and Cyprus simultaneously. I replied that I did indeed, and their jaws dropped.
I caught the three of them up to speed on what occurred last night. I told them about Marius, the giant monster body, the near-death experience of everybody, and Hero's appearance. It seemed like the trio didn't believe me.
"Your story sounds so...outlandish. Ambrosia, did this really happen?" asked Cyprus.
"Yes, it did, he's being sincere."
"I just...can't bring myself to believe it all, but if it's true... then dear god, the Zodiac is far more dangerous than I thought, considering a single Patriarch almost took out the top ten..."
Cyprus put his hand on his forehead and grimaced. He seemed to be feeling defeated. Mayumi walked over to calm him down, but as she was kneeling down next to him, we heard a knock on our door---
*Knock knock* "Hey, can I come in for a sec?" asked an unknown voice.
"Who is it? Yukio, can you go check?" asked Ambrosia, reading from her book.
"Yeah, hang on a second," I said, getting up to walk to the door. When I got there, I looked through the peephole and was met by a lavender eyeball, staring right back at me, followed by some muffled laughter.
"Come on, let me in Yukio, haha." replied the boy outside. It was Hero... I opened the door, and he walked in. He was wearing a black T-shirt with an unbuttoned white jacket over top, and jeans. He was dressed casually.
"HOLY SH-" Mayumi was ready to scream, but Cyprus covered her mouth with his hands, stopping her. Yui was also shocked at his sudden appearance.
"Oh, hey everyone! I didn't know the five of you all had this room, otherwise, I would have dressed nicer before coming here, apologies!" said Hero.
"No, no worries at all! W-why are you here? Where have you been for so long!?" asked Mayumi.
"Ah, I was simply out doing some fieldwork, hunting down The Zodiac. But even after 5 months of searching, and attempting to bring them to an end, even I failed... they're weird, I've never dealt with an enemy like them before."
"Damn, well, are you here to help us then? Yukio here says you came back last night to save the top ten before they were killed by Marius."
"You could say that. I came back because I sensed that my fellow comrades' lives were in danger, so I rushed in as fast as I could to stop whatever put their lives in peril. I'd say I made it just in time too."
"Dang, how could you tell, and how did you get there so fast?" asked Mayumi, still in shock that Hero was even here with us.
Hero's expression changed. He tilted his head down a bit, and his eyes darkened in color. He smiled and replied to Mayumi in a deeper, more ominous voice. It sent shivers down everybody's spine.
"...sometimes, you can just sense when things aren't right..."
Mayumi's face turned white, and Hero assumed an expression of anxiety. I remembered, he had a worrisome demeanor.
"Ah, wait! I didn't mean to scare you, what I mean is, I followed Marius and Henka back to Camp Alpha, and made it just in time for the battle. I stopped time when I got there because things were looking grim!"
It was too late, Mayumi fainted! Hero's presence was just too much for her. Hero facepalmed and gritted his teeth.
"So, why are you coming to our room? Do you need to talk to us about something?" asked Cyprus, holding Mayumi in his arms.
"Well, to be honest, I missed transfer applications, and I don't really have a camp to go to... so I was wondering maybe if I could tag along with you guys to wherever you're going, at least until I'm called upon?" asked Hero.
"Wait, you wanna come with us? Why us? We're all weak except Ms. Esper Witch, and plus, having the top two heroes with us would surely put a thousand targets on our head, especially if The Zodiac is after Yukio!" said Yui.
"Well, two reasons. One, I wanna help train Yukio. He and I have some Chakra business to attend to. Two, Ambrosia, I heard you wanted to duel me again, is this true?"
Ambrosia suddenly shut her book with tremendous force and glanced up at Hero with annoyed eyes. She flew out of her seat, flying over to him.
"Not sure how you figured that one out, but yes, I want to duel you again. It's settled, Hero is coming with us to Camp Omega, I won't allow any objections," said Ambrosia.
"I guess we can't argue with that. I guess Mayumi's just gonna have to get used to seeing him around!" said Yui. Cyprus sighed.
"Oh, we're really doing that Chakra thing?" I asked. Hero looked at me and smiled.
"Of course we are. If you can get ahold of that power inside you, there's no way The Zodiac will win in a fight against us. Plus, if we all work together, we will dismantle them for sure."
"There you go talking about Chakras again. You're such a weirdo," said Ambrosia, punching Hero on the side.
"Trust me, Ambie. I wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn't meddled with them. Anyway, the trains are leaving in a few hours, so I'll meet you guys downstairs!" said Hero, leaving the hotel room.
Mayumi came to shortly after, and we caught her up on what Hero said. She was shocked to learn that he would be coming with us to Camp Omega, but was accepting of the fact, claiming she felt more secure with him around.
We finished packing our bags and tidying up the hotel room in preparation to leave. When our final checklist items were cleared off, we left our room and made our way downstairs. Hero was downstairs waiting for us.
"Alright, it looks like you guys are ready? Let's go then!" He said, leading us out of the hotel. We returned our room key to Kenji, who saluted us on the way out. When we left, the city was bustling with heroes going to the train stations.
"Alright, follow me guys, the station is just over here. We'll get on the Omega Train, and then head off to our next destination, the Port City of Camp Omega!" said Hero.
I was excited to work with Hero. It seemed that he sensed something special in me. He knew that I was summoned here, similar to Ambrosia, and he was willing to help me unlock my power... things were going well...
But then, as we were walking to the train station, I heard a voice in my head... it was the same female voice I heard when I woke up in the flower field weeks ago... it was speaking new words to me...
"You're doing well... keep going... you've overcome the first hurdle in your task..."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone