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𝟭𝟭𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗽𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹𝘆𝗽𝘀𝗲: 𝗪𝗮𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝘂𝘀𝗽𝗲𝘅

I'm jumping across trees at top speed. I had to get back to HQ as quickly as possible. This guy who was spying on us, he has to be working with EXO 5. If so, we'd have to redo our whole plan! I spotted Makoto by the entrance to the shrine by himself, just strolling about. "Makoto!" I called out to him before flipping and landing in front of him.
"This... isn't... a good... situation..." I say through heavy panting. There are WAY too many trees in this shrine.

"Relax, buddy! Take a breath and start again. What's happening?" he asks curiously. I manage to pull myself together after controlling my breathing. "As soon as the meeting ended, I spotted someone trying to escape the shrine through the tree forest!" I tell him, his face suddenly dropping. "He must've heard what we were all talking about, and he was prolly gonna tell our enemies about this."
"Did you chase him down?" Makoto asked me.
"I did... but he got away." I say head facing downwards. "But I did happen to catch his features and I recognise who it is." I add, which piqued Makoto's interest.

"Seijuro, lay it on me. What's he like?" he said to me.
"His most distinguishing feature was his purple hair I could see through his mask. There's only one person I know with purple hair like this." I say, now seething at the thought of saying his name. "His name is... Taiga Yoshida."
I notice Makoto scratching his head and his face turned very serious, quickly too. "Very well. We'll tell everyone about this, you go tell your friends bout it, I'll get everyone else." Makoto orders me, now leaving to find the others around the shrine.
"Yeah, gotcha." I say before leaving. There was no reason for him to be in the shrine to begin with. This was intended for our use. Yet, the bastards at EXO 5 sent out spies to spy on our conversations. Talk about low...

I told Haru, Yusuke and Shiina about everything and about Taiga's return. "I really didn't expect Taiga to be a spy for EXO 5." Yusuke says, shaking his head.
"I mean he always had it out for us after we exposed him back in Junior High. But man, student council prez really turned into something interesting!" Haru said, scratching the back of his head. It was a time, junior high school...

FLASHBACK
Back in junior high school, I was a misfit. Heck, all four of us were misfits before we knew each other. I was hated on just 'cause my hair and stud earrings made me look like a delinquent; Haru was the sportiest in our year, yet he was isolated since no one wanted anything to do with him; Yusuke, obviously a talented calligrapher, but he was a perfectionist and always expected too much of his club, making most people leave. Finally, Shiina. The only reason people talked to him was to use him for studing and tests. At the time, Taiga Yoshida was the class rep of our year and he established the misfits club and made us all join. We got along great and we had awesome times together, messing around, playing video games, you name it!

But it all changed midway between the semester.
"Yo, you see the reports?" I said walking into the club room of the misfits club. "Apparently, that idol MILA is seeing someone!"
"Yeah, he had purple hair was around her age. It's not our problem though." Shiina said looking at Haru and Yusuke.
"I wonder... maybe the guy's Taiga?" Yusuke ponders. We all paused and began laughing at the impossible suggestion, but it became harder not to believe Taiga was the guy. He was targeting teenage idols and crushed their spirits by doing the unspeakable to them.

We found out the hard way. All of us had agreed to follow Taiga's every move, leading us straight to his house and his backyard. What we saw that day was absolutely disgusting, enough to make even me vomit. That's as far as I can remember, other than how he had girls throw rocks at us while we were tied to chairs. Our memories of him weren't fond.

EXO 5 HQ
"You better give me what you promised, Ryoma." Taiga says to Ryoma. Ryoma scoffs and looks at him.
"You better not tell me what to do or I'll kill you," Ryoma says in reply. They were walking up to the main hall of their HQ; Taiga in front, Ryoma following behind. Suddenly, Ryoma pierces through Taiga's chest, revealing a hole in his body. An explosion. The smoke now clearing over, showed Taiga in his new form. His humanity had been lost and he has now taken the power of the Fell Dragon.
"So, this is the power of the Fell Dragon..." he says before laughing maniacally. Ryoma sighed and grabbed his shoulders. "Listen. If what I asked of you isn't done soon, I'll trash you like all the others who tried." he said with a cold glare.
"I've got this. I've know that shit-stain from when we were in junior high! It'll be a cinch." Taiga replied, removing his mask and revealing his purple eyes and long eyelashes.

Back to Seijuro
For the rest of the day, we all changed our game plan and we trained and sparred for a good while before we set off for home. I was walking by myself and it was really late out, the moonlit sky was twinkling with stars and the once blue sky was tainted with a void-like black. There was a lot more stars out than there usually would be, it was pretty to look at. I arrived home to see my sister on the dining table.
"'Sup Rena! How's things?" I say with a smile.
"I'm fine, but are you ok? You've been coming home late and auntie and me are worried bout you!" Rena says pouting.
"It's no biggie, for real! I'm fine, y'see? I've just been a little busy recently, that's all." I tell her, trying to reassure her.
"As long as you're safe, big bro." she says letting out a deep sigh.

I began laughing. Whenever I have a bad day, my family always make me forget about what's happening and relax. "By the way, where's Aunt Mitsuki anyway?" I ask, looking around the house.
"She went out for a sec. I dunno what it was for but..." she tells me before trailing off. "Who's that behind you?" she asks, making me feel ominous. No way someone followed me home. I turned around but it felt like it was slow motion and I saw nothing.
"Ha! Gotcha!" she says laughing.
"Haha. Very funny." I sarcastically say before turning back around and noticing someone behind Rena. My heart skipped a beat, and was now throbbing at a pace. I took a second to see who it was and he had purple hair. "So, Taiga. You came to pay me a visit, huh?" I say, my eyes darkening.
"Seijuro. It's been a while, old pal." he says with a condescending tone. "But, I'm not here for you. I'm here for your sister."

I was filled with an unspeakable rage.
"What are you gonna do to her, you bastard?!"
"Nothing really, she's just the Auspex, the creator and destroyer of life." Taiga tells me.
"Auspex? Why the hell is my sister that?!" I ask, no longer wanting to see her mouth covered by Taiga's hands. He didn't answer.
"You're starting to piss me off. Explain. What are you doing working with EXO 5?" I say walking up to him. He clicked his fingers and disappeared with my sister in tow. "That's for me to know, and for you to find out." he says before fading. I reach out my hand to try and grab Rena but she disappeared before I could. Damn it! Why her? What did she do to be classified as some Auspex? It's all a bunch of shit!

The next day, Aunt Mitsuki came home and I told her about everything. To my surprise, she believed every word. "It's because I was like you too kid! Before I was 30, I was a 17 year old Apocalypse Hunter." she told me which was a surprise. Another shock was that she knew Rena had the Auspex in her. It was because she was a frail child and could have died after birth, so my mother sealed the Auspex in her so she could live. It resulted in her death too though...
"Well enough storytelling, it's Sunday, let's go to HQ." Aunt Mitsuki says to patting my back.
When we got there, after a bunch of jumping through trees and light poles, we were greeted by a shocked Haru, Yusuke and Shiina and an angry Makoto. "You're just in time, man! Take a look at what EXO 5 sent us." Shiina says handing me a note which I read aloud:

To the Apocalypse Hunters,
We plan on deploying our 4th to 10th Seats in 2 days from now. We have the Auspex in our possession and if you want her back, you better come and get her. In 2 days, head to the abandoned building in the eastern part of Tokyo. We hope to see you there, don't be a no-show!
EXO 5

"This, this is a declaration of war!" Makoto exclaimed pacing back and forwards. Everyone is stressed, I guess mostly because of the Auspex.
"We know what the Auspex does but who even is the Auspex?" Haru asks.
"The Auspex is my sister, Rena." I say, my head down and seething. Everyone else sorrowfully looked at the ground in sympathy.
"Hey. It's gonna be alright, okay?" Kana's soothing voice says to me. I look up and I see Yuki and Mio walking towards us.
"Sei-chan, you've got this. If they steal from ya, you gotta get what's yours back!" Yuki yells, slapping my back.
"We will help you too. We have some beef with those shitheads at EXO 5." Mio says, nodded profusely. I'm glad all my friends have my back.

On top of that a person I had seen before, but I hadn't talked to him. He had sky blue hair and bright yellow eyes. He wielded a katana which was sheathed by his side. "Hey, you're Seijuro, right? The names Shigure Matsuno, I'm a first year too." He says holding out his hand for a hand shake.
"Yeah, nice to meetcha Shigure." I say shaking his hand. I look forward with all my friends beside me. I'm filled with an everlasting confidence and belief in us. But I'm also filled with something else. I don't know what it is, but I was filled with the instinct to kill. I want to kill him. I want him dead.
"Don't worry, Rena. Soon enough, I'll have his head." I said, my expression heating up. I swear on my beating heart, Taiga's blood will spill on my blade.

Next on Apocalypse Hunters, the War on the Auspex begins...
Thanks for reading this far, y'all are awesome 😁