Honoka Saito sat in her room, focusing on the project she was assigned to do for one of her csses, she had white skin and aqua colored eyes with short dark hair.

  Despite the fact that it was the first day back, her history css already had an assignment to complete in two weeks time, by now, Honoka was already halfway done.

  She was asked to construct a diorama, but as she looked at her work so far, her phone, which was id next to her, began to ring. "Huh?" Honoka turned towards her phone, she was confused as to who might be calling her at this time of night, it was Haruo, it had been awhile since he directly called her, which meant that something bad had happened.

  "Hello?" Honoka, her tone serious, yet also worried, answered her phone.

  "Honoka we need help, now." Haruo sounded frantic, which only made Honoka a little more on edge, he must have been involved in another fight with a monster, hunter or something more messed up.

  "Huh, what's wrong!?" Honoka got up and began to approach the door to her room.

  "Meet me at the woods near our house, you know the one with the broken street light?" Haruo asked, Honoka quickly got out of her room, and grabbed a green cardigan that was hanging on the side of her door.

  "Yeah." Honoka answered back as she began approaching the stairs.

  "How bad was It this time?" She asked, Haruo irked a little on the other side of the line, Honoka was, so used to coming over to where Haruo and the other kaijus were so she can escort them back to the house to recover by now, if a fight has gotten that bad.

  "Brutal." Haruo wasn't going to suger coat what happened.

  "Sota is injured and there's this girl." Haruo expined which quickly got Honoka's attention.

  "Wait, what?" Honoka paused in her, she was already halfway down the stairs when Haruo mentioned this girl.

  "What girl, another kaiju, or Vio?" Honoka was confused by what Haruo meant. The other female members of the family (Fuyuko, Kae and Hanae,) were already in other parts of the house tonight, so it couldn't be them, in fact Haruo referring to this girl meant that Honoka hasn't met yet her, which made her even more worried.

  "Neither." Haruo remained honest, confirming that this was indeed a girl who didn't have anything to do with their business as Hitman Detectives, yet, now she was.

  "Just come out here, and I'll expin everything once we get home, we're losing blood, please!" Haruo pleaded, Honoka had never heard of him speak in that tone of voice before.

  Honoka soon hung up and began making her way towards the front door again, it wasn't long until she reached the broken street light, that weakly fshed now and again. The city council was pnning to repce the ones that broke in a few weeks time, but they had been so focused Peter Barnes sudden death to focus on doing that.

  When Honoka got to that spot, she saw three figures emerge from the woods, they were Haruo and Sota, who were standing close together and Haruo was holding the unconscious and bloody Celosia in his arms. The state of the girl was enough to have a shocked Honoka cover her mouth.

  "Oh my god--That---Yeah, we know!" Haruo snapped at Honoka, interrupting her panic.

  "Scan the area in case someone's nearby." Haruo commanded, that was the main reason why he asked Honoka to come over to where he, Sota and Celosia were. Honoka obliged and walked forward with the two kaijus following behind, carrying Celosia.

  Honoka's aqua eyes glowed as she looked around the darkened streets as she lead the boys back to the house. Her enhanced vision allowed her to look through walls and brightened the twilight streets of Fmel in her point of view. Unlike Haruo's abilty to sense danger, Honoka had a more stronger sensory power that allowed her to sense people in general.

  "Nobody's around." Honoka informed the boys as the three arrived back to the house.

  "Thank Gido." Sota sounded relieved, they brought Celosia into the house after climbing the stone steps.

  The next two hours were intense, when Sota checked Celosia's pulse as they entered the house, there was barely one there, no wonder with the gunshot wounds, it was a surprise to the three that Celosia was even still alive.

  But Gido be damned that Haruo was going to let another witness die, especially with how hard Celosia fought against David and how she stabbed that rock into that multi eyed monster to free Sota according to them.

  It wouldn't be fair for her to die here, Haruo thought, he wasn't going to let that happen.

  Once they gathered the other kaijus, they used what magic crafts they had to treat some of Celosia's wounds, such as her gunshot wounds, she convulsed as Fuyuko and Masumi pulled out two bullets that were still lodged inside her and then went to try and cover the wounds around her cheek and near her chest.

  Blood was pouring out of the wounds at an arming rate which meant that Celosia may have gotten a few hemorrhages from the fight.

  Haruo looked more and more frantic as the operation to save Celosia went on, despite his own injuries, like his shattered hand, he was putting that aside for now in order to revive Celosia.

  "Stop those wounds from pouring out, fuck!" Haruo yelled at the other kaijus, his determination to save Celosia's life growing with every second.

  He remembered that talk he had with her back in the Hospital regarding her aunt. That girl had problems, he thought, and there was... Something off about her, given the way she acted in fighting David.

  But, she saved him and Sota and now, Haruo wanted to save her.

  It was ironic, that he thinks Celosia should live, when, Celosia herself doesn't want to live, she actually thought she was going to die when she lost consciousness.

  "That's all we can do, we just have to hope for the best."

  She heard a girl's voice, in that famair abyss of darkness that she was in, the girl's voice echoed within this abyss, she's been here in her dreams a lot and she was so famair with it by now that she liked being here, and she was preparing to come here permanently.

  "Hey."

  That was when she heard another voice, Haruo's voice.

  "If you can hear me in there, please."

  His voice was gentle, his voice, sounded broken and exhausted, Celosia felt bad, she thought it was her fault he sounded like that, her body must be a mess in the outside world.

  "Please wake up."

  She can hear him more clearly now.

  "We've lost so many people who saw what we did, they got killed by those bastard hunters because they were at the wrong pce at the wrong time. I don't want that to happen to you. You still want to see your aunt right? When you're ready, when you're not scared anymore? What's good with keeping that promise if your dead?

  Don't die on me now Celosia, please, wake up."

  No... Celosia wasn't going to die yet, she wasn't going to die here.

  Because he needed her.

  And she wanted to see her Aunt Evelyn when she wakes up.

  Celosia opened her eyes, after stirring her head, the first thing that she saw was a green ceiling, and the first thing she heard was a group of people talking nearby.

  "Ugh." She looked at herself, as she grabbed her side in pain, she realised she was ying on a long white cover, and was in a living room somewhere. As her vision came back to her, she would see the group standing nearby, their back turned from her, as they talked about Celosia herself, unaware that she was awake now.

  "How good do you think the crafts did?" Masaru asked, his arms crossed, he hasn't this been this serious since the night he, Taiki, Yuto and Haruo killed that hunter guy.

  "I'm not sure, but I hope it's enough to treat her, she might have to rest for a few days, but, like I said, we did the best that we could with what we got." Fuyuko sighed, she was bming herself. She could have called her mother, but by the time she and her resources arrived, Celosia would be long dead by then. Haruo was the most silent of the group, with Sota looking the most guilty.

  "It's my fault." Sota would admit.

  "I saw that monster moving through the woods and took the opportunity to try and kill it, but Celosia, she was with me, she followed after me because she was worried that it would kill me." Sota confessed, his voice ced with guilt.

  "If I was alone, she wouldn't be here at all or in the forest and saw everything and--" Sota's tone was of guilt, over what he caused.

  "Hey." Haruo reached out, putting his hand to his shoulder.

  "She's going to be alright Sota, it wasn't your fault." Haruo assured Sota.

  "It's nobody's fault." Haruo looked over at Fuyuko, noticing the guilt she had on her face too.

  "She'll, be alright." But even Haruo was unsure, he failed at hiding his doubts, his arm was now in a cast, having gotten it treated after Celosia's operation, with the side of his stomach in bandages as well, Sota's shoulder bdes were also wrapped in bandages, it hurt's for him to move them.

  I don't want to fail again, Haruo thought, Vio was right about him.

  He can't protect anyone.

  "Don't be sad everyone, she's awakening from her slumber, look." Kae pointed over towards Celosia, she was the first to notice Celosia as she slowy stood up from the white sheet, she was clutching her side.

  The kaiju's turned towards Celosia, surprised to see that she has already awakened after only a few hours.

  "Um." Celosia looked down at her wound, before looking back at the kaiju's.

  "Thanks for saving me?" She said in a casual way despite what had happened to her, the kaiju's look relieved, Haruo especially.

  "Y-your awake." Haruo was the first to approach Celosia, before the other kaijus followed behind him, however, Fuyuko stopped them sans Haruo from getting close to her, as they didn't want to swarm the girl and scare her.

  "Give her some space everyone, she just woke up." Fuyuko commanded but Celosia grinned at her.

  "Don't worry, I'll be fine---" Celosia tried to move but staggered a little bit, which caught Haruo by surprised.

  "H-Hey!" He stuttered and stopped Celosia before she fell to her knees.

  "Don't overdo it, alright?" Haruo ordered, his tone was angry, but was also ced with concern that Celosia may reopen her wounds. Celosia noticed the fear on his face, but she smiled back at him in assurance.

  "Thanks." Celosia stood up straight with Haruo's help, and looked down at herself, she had, blood all over her clothes, as well as on the sheet that she woke up in, no doubt the blood was her.

  Yet, Celosia wasn't concerned, compared to everyone else in the room.

  "This is the first time that I woke up covered in my own blood." She ughed, a smirk arising on her face as she looked back at the kaijus, who were, stunned by her reaction.

  "Y-Your not scared?" Haruo asked, perplexed by Celosia's reaction like everyone else.

  "Scared, of what?" She asked, she still looked happy.

  "Of everything that you seen tonight!?" Haruo raised his voice out of shock over how unusually calm Celosia was acting.

  "That guy shot you! That monster almost ripped you into pieces, we even thought that you were going to die when we had to operate on you!" Haruo shouted, pointing out everything that happened tonight and yet, not once does Celosia look, traumatised by everything that happened, was the reaction deyed? He didn't know, she didn't show a deyed reaction.

  What's, wrong with her? Haruo thought, she's not like other humans, she should be screaming or scared by now.

  "Wait, operation?" Celosia rubbed her cheeks, to find that they were back in tact and not cut open. She looked at a nearby mirror, and gasped at how they looked healed after David cut them open with that bde he had.

  "You fixed them!?" Celosia pinched her cheek, Haruo was no longer holding her since she was keeping her bance.

  "B-But how?" That was the only thing Celosia was surprised by so far.

  "That creepy hunter guy stabbed right through me. It would have taken months to heal something like that, unless it was---Magic?" Masaru interrupted Celosia with a smirk. Compared to Haruo, he liked how little Celosia was reacting to everything besides her cheeks, he found that funny compared to everyone else in the room.

  "Yeah, magic can heal quicker then you can imagine, it's a relief that we managed to get the right crafts to treat all the injures that you, Haruo and Sota got." Masaru expined.

  "Your hand." Celosia looked over at Haruo's cast.

  "That bastard." Celosia growled over what David did, but Haruo assured her.

  "It's, alright." He said, giving off a gentle smile.

  "It's broken now, but, thanks to the kind of magic crafts that we got, it'll heal faster then usual." Haruo said.

  "Same with Sota's shoulder bdes." He said, using his free hand to point to Sota, who rubbed one of his shoulders.

  Celosia learned about magic crafts earlier today at Besant. Crafts are easy to make using magic, but using magic further then that, is more difficult, and dangerous due to, the sanity it takes on whoever is using It.

  Celosia looked down at her wounds, the area near her chest was covered in bandages, and she was starting to get impressed with how fast her injuries were healing. "Holy shit, I... I actually almost feel the same way that I usuaully do." Celosia said, impressed with the kaiju's work.

  "Are you in shock with everything?" Fuyuko asked, and Celosia was soon taken aback, by quickly figuring out Fuyuko's identity.

  "H-Huh, y-You're mom's name is Masako right? Masako Mizushima?" Celosia asked.

  "Y-Yes she is." Fuyuko would confirm, her face turning red, stunned by the sudden question. Celosia didn't say anymore, but she was happy that she was talking to someone quite well known.

  Celosia had heard a few things about Masako's daughter, but she never expected to meet her, she looked cute too, Celosia thought, causing her to blush herself.

  "Do you need to sit down, or anything?" Haruo asked.

  "I'm sorry I'm just, wondering if you're in shock or anything." Haruo further added, scratching the back of his head, with how calm Celosia was being, he didn't know what he could do to help her next.

  Until Celosia's smile dropped, as if she had come to a realisation, like she understood now why the kaijus looked, uncomfortable.

  "Uh, do you guys have a shower that I can use?" Celosia looked around at everyone in the room, she wanted to think about something else, as to not make anyone more uncomfortable.

  "It's easy to find." Fuyuko assured to Celosia as she gave her directions as to where the shower in their house was. Kae had also left the group a few minutes ago to go back to her room.

  "If you have trouble, Kae and Tsuneo can lead you to a bathroom." Fuyuko advised.

  "Talk to Kae mainly, Tsuneo would try and hit on you." Haruo warned.

  "If he tries to touch me in anyway, his hand's are getting shattered." Celosia smirked, by the sounds of things, Tsuneo sounded like a pervert.

  "I couldn't say that he deserved it." Haruo said, as he watched Celosia begin going upstairs to find a bathroom.

  "If you still have trouble, then you're free to use my private bathroom too." Fuyuko offered, this caused Celosia to blush as she left for upstairs, once she left, Fuyuko turned to Haruo next to her.

  "What do you think we should do?" Fuyuko asked as she and Haruo began to walk back to the living room, where Masumi, Sota, Hanae, Honoka, Masaru, Susumu, Fumihito and Hayate were still sitting around, thinking about Celosia's presence and the problem that arises regarding her, Haruo for once remained quiet, he didn't answer Fuyuko's question, his thoughts still crowded over Celosia's behaviour.

  "Do we just, forget about what she did tonight?" Masaru suggested, although he didn't like the idea, and neither did Haruo and Sota.

  "We can't just pretend that we never met her after tonight." Haruo objected.

  "And yet she knows who we are now, she could put herself at risk." Susumu pointed out the danger in Celosia knowing who they really are.

  "The hunters might figure out she knows about us and target her next. She may have survived the fight tonight, but she won't be as lucky next time if they take her by surprise." Susumu pointed out.

  "Can't we just erase her memories? Just so she wouldn't know about us?" Hanae sounded annoyed by her suggestion, as she didn't want her new friend to forget about her, she thought Celosia was cool, but if they needed to find a way to protect her, she thought it would be the best option that she could think of.

  "We can't do that, you know how dangerous eraseing a person's memory is." Masumi chastised.

  "Besides, they would probably still figure out that she talked to us and would want to interrogate her. If we erase her memory, their going to target an innocent---Masumi paused.

  Was Celosia really innocent? He thought, given what he was told of her tonight, he was unsure.

  "There going to target someone who they think have information about us." Masumi corrected himself.

  "Why did you fix your sentence just now?" Fumihito noticed Masumi's correction.

  "Because she's clearly not innocent Fumihito, she killed a guy tonight." Masumi pointed out, he sounded hesitant.

  Just about every kaiju in this room had killed someone at this point, the only person who hasn't was Honoka, and now there was another person upstairs, a human girl, that wasn't like them, and yet, she did the same thing they always did, kill someone to protect herself, without as much as a blink of an eye by the sounds of it.

  "I don't want to push her out of our group, even though she's a human." Honoka admitted, pying with her fingers.

  "I can sense how she feels." A sad look arose on Honoka's face.

  "She's, deeply sad on the inside, it's the kind of sadness someone who deals with a lot of issues often feels, like the feeling of lonliness." Honoka said, the group was in silence over what Honoka said, Haruo approached her.

  "Does she feel guilty at all for what she did or just, anything like that?" Haruo asked, Honoka again tried to feel Celosia's emotions to see if she was feeling guilty at all.

  "I can't feel anything like that." Honoka revealed, leaving the group in silence again as Haruo stood back, they were still unsure if Celosia could be trusted, and the way she acted, creeped some of them out.

  "We're not locking her out or erasing her memories."

  Fuyuko however, saw a potential allie. She survived tonights events, so she can survive simir encounters if she was trained the right way.

  "We're just going to have to tell her, everything." Fuyuko announced.

  "If Celosia was fine by that." She added, some of the kaiju, such as Haruo, Masaru, Susumu, Sota and Masumi were shocked by Fuyuko's decision.

  "Shit, you sure Fuyuko?" Masaru asked.

  "She's a human, she doesn't have a body like us and could easily end up in pieces." He added.

  "And she proved that she can survive such fights tonight, and, I don't think she'll tell anyone, like she said, she can't, she already knows we're kaiju, so, we should have her join the club and not leave her isoted, and have her know more about us." Fuyuko suggested, although the rest of the kaijus were unsure about her idea, most notably, Haruo had a worried look on his face as he stood in the back of the room.

  "Wouldn't that also put her in danger as well?" Sota looked unsure, he feels as though they might be putting Celosia in danger again if they have her join their club.

  "She's going to be in danger no matter what we decide to do Sota." Fuyuko said.

  "Like you said, the hunters will try and interrogate her, even if we try and erase her memory, their going to come for her no matter what, so we should prepare her if that happens, so she doesn't die like the other humans that stumble upon us." Fuyuko herself, knew that this wasn't a good idea.

  But there wasn't any alternatives, it was either shut Celosia out and leave her to die for the hunters, or welcome her into their business and help her be more prepared the next time she ran into a hunter.

  It was too risky to shut her out of their lives, and Fuyuko herself knew that it wasn't right to just suddenly cut Celosia out like that, she wasn't like that, nobody in the room was like that, even if Celosia was strange, she didn't want to leave her alone. Fuyuko thought about what Honoka said regarding Celosia's emotions, she had issues, issues of lonliness.

  She hated seeing people alone, and she didn't want Celosia to be alone, despite only just meeting the girl.

  Haruo was still silent, he also didn't think this was a good decision on Fuyuko's part, but what else was there? He didn't think it was right to cut Celosia out of their lives either.

  She seemed to be lonely, Haruo was still troubled by her, and yet at the same time, couldn't help but feel bad about her either, he remembered the talks he had with Celosia, she seemed nice, even if she acts the way she does.

  "At this point, we might as well, tell her everything." Haruo finally spoke, agreeing with Fuyuko.

  "Besides, I have a feeling that she would agree." He added.

  "No human would just, kill like that and then pretend like nothing had happened. We need to find out more about her and why she's like that, and in the process, get to know her." Haruo spoke out, Fuyuko smiled at him.

  Now all they needed to do, was to wait for Celosia's own decision, Fuyuko already has an idea on getting to know her some more.

  As Haruo and Fuyuko went upstairs to check on Celosia, they would see her talking with Kae and Goro, all three of them were smiling as Celosia's uniform was now clean again after they got washed.

  Haruo briefly panicked when she heard Celosia and Goro ugh, as it would mean that Goro was alone with Celosia, but upon seeing that he was enjoying the girl's company, Haruo calmed down.

  "Oh Goro, you awake man?" Haruo smiled upon seeing Goro, Goro nodded, looking shy.

  "S-Sorry, I just finished my nap, and was getting hungry." Goro said.

  "And I heard people talking downstairs, so I wanted to know who it was, and then." Goro looked up towards Celosia.

  "I met y-your new friend, she's really nice." Goro would soon bow to Celosia.

  "N-Nice meeting you Celosia, sorry for bothering you." Goro apologised, but Celosia shook her head.

  "Don't be, it was nice talking to you and Kae here." Celosia looked over to Kae, but the kaiju didn't smile, she couldn't anymore.

  "Oh Kae, you don't have too." Fuyuko said, but Celosia turned to her.

  "Nah, let her." Celosia said as the three watched the two kaijus heading downstairs.

  "So, Celosia, I guess your ready to head home huh, are your folks worried?" Haruo asked.

  "Probably not." Celosia stated bluntly.

  "I mean, their not often worried about where I am, but I'll go check to see if they left any messages." Taking out her phone from her satchel, Celosia looked at her message history... And there was none since her recent take an hour ago.

  sorry for being quiet, i went to a new friend's house, will be home soon.

  Her mother had yet to respond, even in the message before that.

  heading home now, i made a new friend

  Celosia often expected her mother to reply, but she never does, unless someone figures out that Celosia was missing and wondered to Isobel where she was. Haruo and Fuyuko looked surprised at how Celosia hasn't gotten any messages from her family yet.

  "They-Haven't replied yet?" Haruo was surprised at how, neglectful Celosia's parents sound as Celosia looked back at the two as she put her phone away, she shurgged in response to Haruo's question.

  "I always send them texts to remind them where I am, but they hardly care, unless they fear getting into trouble by other people." Celosia sighed.

  "I could be murdered like what almost happened tonight, and they wouldn't give a rats ass." She joked, but Haruo and Fuyuko didn't ugh, they didn't find the fact that she almost died tonight funny compared to Celosia herself, they focused back on how neglectful Celosia's parents were.

  "Shit, your family sounds neglectful." Haruo fumed at how uncaring Celosia's family is.

  "Trust me, it's not the worst thing that they do." Celosia mented.

  "Well, before you do head home for the night, there is something we would like to ask you." Fuyuko said, Haruo looked troubled but remained quiet.

  "Would you like to have dinner with us tomorrow night?" Fuyuko offered.

  "I know it's a little too soon, but with how much you learned about us tonight, we think it's best if you, well, know the entire truth, about us." Fuyuko said.

  "Really? You, don't do this regury with people you meet huh?" Celosia said, surprised by this.

  "No because those bastard hunters end up killing them." Haruo said with a troubled tone of voice and with brutal honesty.

  "Your just the first one to survive, and now, it looks as though you might be becoming a part of all of this for the long haul." Haruo said, he didn't sound too proud about that.

  "That is, if your okay with this? I then think it would be best if you avoid us most of the time, because, we're dangerous to hang around." Haruo warned.

  "Yes." But Celosia gave her answer, she looked alert when she heard the word "avoid."

  "I would love to come back again for dinner tomorrow night." Celosia looked between Haruo and Fuyuko.

  "I mean, I know too much right? And you already seem to know, what I've done." Celosia said, Haruo was still uncomfortable with bringing a human into their business.

  "That's good, we'll be happy to have you, we'll expin more about everything." Fuyuko smiled.

  "Do you want me to walk you home? After everything tonight, I'm concerned about you walking home alone." Haruo offered, which Celosia apperciated.

  "Sure, I think the house that I'm staying at is nearby at the very least, but, thank you, I apperciate it." Celosia, was happy in making friends today, more so that she was going to learn more about them ter on.

  Isobel had a good day, back at her house, she looked down at her pocket watch, which was now repaired by Tristan Petrea. She seemed more fond of meeting a new person in her life, and getting her watch fixed more so then the whereabouts of her youngest daughter.

  As Celosia and Haruo left the kaiju's house, they were being watched by an unknown figure with long blonde hair, they didn't notice them as they were leaving.

  But the figure was angry, seeing her with him.

  Back at her apartment, Maria looked at the time on the clock, looking saddened, her hands tightened by the table that she was sitting at, a troubled look on her face.

  Tonight's events were over, she thought.

  But the worst was yet to come for this Isnd.

  END OF CASE ONE

  AnnouncementCelosia has discovered the truth about the kaijus, but gaining their trust will be another story as Fuyuko invites her to have dinner with them to get accaquinted and so Celosia can learn more about their lives.

  While Fuyuko sees her as a potential new allie, Haruo remains afraid of Celosia's personailty and wonders if she could actually be trusted as he begins learning more about her and find out more about her missing emotions, but someone is pnning to invade the dinner, with their target being Celosia herself.

  In the next case, the Hitman Detectives go against Lawrence Barnett.

  - Dora Nielson

  AnnouncementThank you for reading so far, as of this chapter, Hitman Detectives will be going on hiatus until further notice. An announcement about the next arc will be posted sometime in the future.