Evan squealed and made small talk with Madam Yamada while Lee Seng and Calis ate quietly. The silence between the two was enough to draw Ryu's attention from his youngest brother to them. Ryu cleared his throat and shifted his body to look at Lee Seng and Calis.
"So, my brother told me a lot about you, Lee Seng." Ryu initiated the conversation. Lee Seng looked over with a large piece of meat in his mouth. He slurped it up and chewed on it.
"Oh?" Lee Seng responded with a large question mark on his face. He swallowed his food, almost choking on it. He grabbed the cup of water near him and cleansed his throat. "What did he say?" Ryu thought for a moment, giving Ritsuka anxiety about what Ryu could answer with. Ryu smiled and looked at Ritsuka then to Lee Seng.
"He said you were a good sport. You worked out with him a lot while you were at the Academy, right? I'm shocked someone can keep up with my muscle-brained brother." Ryu patted Ritsuka hard, letting out a small chuckle.
"Ouch!" Ritsuka flinched. Ryu hit Ritsuka, again, but this time it was much harder. "Ahh! Stop it, nii-san! That really hurts!"
"I guess you aren't a muscle-brain yet. You would've withstood that." Ryu shook his head like he was disappointed. "Tell me, Lee Seng, why are you guys here today? I'm sure Ritsuka didn't bring you here to meet us with the city being the way it is."
'He knew I came back here for a reason?' Ritsuka thought. 'Crap, it means it's less likely they'll give what we want. I should—'
"We came for a car." Lee Seng answered truthfully. Ritsuka looked at Lee Seng.
'Stupid, don't say anything! He won't give it to us now!' Ritsuka's eyes shook at Lee Seng, who ignored his silent pleas.
"Uh, nii-san, actually it's for a good r—" Ritsuka began to salvage the small chance.
"A car for what, may I ask?" Ryu asked Lee Seng. He stuck his hand up to his brother, quieting him as he waited for Lee Seng's response.
"I'm chasing a rumor to find something in particular." Lee Seng started his answer. "We met some people I know and someone privately gave me an address. I'm not entirely sure if this will give me something, but there's someone there that needs me." Madam Yamada's eyes flicked over to the conversation.
"You want a car to travel in this horrible state we're in? You have a death wish?" Madam Yamada asked.
"I would honestly say I'm past death wish." Lee Seng smiled. Ritsuka gulped and turned to his brother.
"Ryu, this might help us solve our problem." Ritsuka began to fill his brother in.
"Problem?" Ryu raised his eyebrows. He looked at Ritsuka, who immediately fell into one of his brother's traps. "What problem? Asking for a car is one thing but to use it to solve some problem… It must be a big problem, right Lee Seng?" He looked at Lee Seng, again while Ritsuka panicked. He silently tried to give small warnings to Lee Seng, but as sharp as Lee Seng was, he wasn't "picking" any of it up.
"Just so I have some background context, did you guys ever figure out why our climate and environment changed?" Lee Seng asked Ryu.
"Something happened at the Creator's lab. That's all we know. Nobody could get in. The heat was coming from there." Ryu told Lee Seng. "What does this have to do with your problem?"
"I attempted to right one of the many wrongs the Creator - my father - has done." Lee Seng sighed.
"Lee, you don't have to explain that far…" Evan whispered.
"Have you ever wondered how the Biohuman serum came to be?" Lee Seng raised an eyebrow at Ryu and then to Madam Yamada. "We know that the Numbers were obviously tested on… but my thought always goes to 'how many people were tested on until the serum was right?'"
"I've had my concerns about that, too, but the Creator was a very smart man so I never questioned it." Madam Yamada piped up. "Why's the son of the one who made the Biohuman serum questioning his father's ethics? Did it not sit right with you?"
"It didn't." Lee Seng answered. "Did it not sit right with any of you?"
"There were many things done in history for the betterment of a people. The Biohuman serum can… and probably is seen like that by most, if not all, people." Ryu added. "There were world wars where countries wanted something. Everyone does something for their own gain. Your father happened to give that out to everyone else."
"And our world's not the same because of it." Evan commented.
"I brought this up because it weighed on me a lot." Lee Seng continued. "I acted out a lot because a man who is seen by the world as 'evolutionary' didn't seem to care about his family so why would he care about everyone else?" It grew silent in the second living room. Lee Seng mulled with his thoughts before continuing. "That anger festered. That bitterness continued to not sit right with me and everything happened around me and I couldn't do anything about it. I got close to something two years ago and everyone was brainwashed to not remember my form. If you think about it, it's like there are two different stories happening at once: one where I'm human and one where I wasn't.
"The academy was infiltrated. I was constantly targeted to the point I had fled only to have one of our friend's villages wiped off the map by the D31 people." Lee Seng's eyes glistened with a sense of longing. "A lot has happened and I missed out on how hard the last two years were, only to wake up recently with the resolve to end things only for them to blow up in my face and now… my father's skeletons have… come out of their prisons."
"Skeletons? What do you mean by that, dear?" Madam Yamada asked. Ryu bit on his thumb as he took in all of the information.
"And this rumor… this thing an informant gave you… is telling you the answer might be five hours away?" Ryu asked. Lee Seng nodded and Ritsuka nervously watched his eldest brother continue to bite on his thumb. It was a bad habit of his brother's, but it was a habit that meant Ryu was considering the possibility.
"It's alright if you don't give us a car, either." Evan piped up. "It's not like we have our own way of getting a car if you don't."
"Evan!" Ritsuka turned and shushed him. "Don't say that!" Calis and Lee Seng smiled at Evan's illegal behavior. It was true, though. With or without Ritsuka's family's help, they'd find a way there.
"Why don't we teleport there? Don't you know the teleport rune?" Calis whispered in Lee Seng's ear.
"If it's how my portal ability worked before, I need to see it first." Lee Seng whispered back.
"Our resources are thin and it's hard to get the impenetrable city back together." Ryu sighed. "Despite that, you seem like you're on a mission. Tell me: will this mission end with someone's life lost? Could my brother potentially die?"
"Nii-san!" Ritsuka stood up. Ryu stuck his hand out, silencing the youngest. Ryu's eyes were serious. They waited for Lee Seng's answer.
"Everyday millions of people go out and risk their lives to slay a beast, find belongings in the Old World and maybe even reclaim a part of that world for the rest to use. Many lives have been lost already. Many more will be lost in the pursuit of reclaiming the Old World for ourselves. We all know the risk of following rumors and maybes."
"Ritsuka, do you know what you're doing? Are you okay with that?" Madam Yamada asked her son in Japanese. Ritsuka turned and faced his mother with a serious expression. He nodded. Madam Yamada licked her lips and reached for her son's hands. She grabbed them and looked into his eyes. "Tell me yourself. Are you really okay in risking your life for the Creator's son? Nothing good has come from him. Devils speak eloquently and are still a danger."
"Mom!" Ritsuka pulled away and stood up. He looked at his mother in disbelief and without a beat, Lee Seng spoke.
"A devil's deal is an enticing one, Madam Yamada?" Lee Seng said in Japanese. Ryu kept his composure while his mother's eyes widened.
"You know… how to speak Japanese?" Madam Yamada asked in Japanese.
"Well, a devil has to make his pacts somehow, right?" Lee Seng smiled.
"Lee Seng, don't say that! Now I won't be able to go with you!" Ritsuka switched back to English, fully panicked. Madam Yamada stood up and started to back away, almost falling. She pointed at Lee Seng, eyes full of fear.
"Y-you would say such a thing in front of an elder?!?" Madam Yamada asked. "C-crazy! You're just what they all say! All of that is just a front… A-a—" Ryu's laugh interrupted them. He clapped his hands together and threw his head back. Lee Seng's craziness was outdone by Ryu's. Madam Yamada and Ritsuka stared at Ryu, watching him laugh. Tears were brought to Ryu's eyes and he wiped them away and recomposed himself.
"I'm sorry, I didn't actually think that whole thing happened." Ryu apologized. "Man, joking like that usually wouldn't work out but I couldn't contain myself with the way you said that all in Japanese."
"Nii-san…" Ritsuka whispered. Madam Yamada snapped out of it and doubled down.
"You can't have a car and Ritsuka's staying with us now!" Madam Yamada grabbed her youngest son.
"Mom!"
"I'm not going to let you have my son's life!" She looked over to Evan, realizing Evan was still there and grabbed him too. "You can't have Evan either."
"Mother." Ryu sighed. "Let go of them. They came and asked me. Last I checked, Father's unable to speak on behalf of us, so I will do it." Madam Yamada's jaw clenched as Ritsuka pulled himself away from his mother's grasp. He grabbed Evan and yanked him over to where he was, shielding him from Madam Yamada's grasp.
"I'm still the head of the house while your father is sick! I will have the final say!" Madam Yamada shouted back. "Those two aren't going anywhere with him. I won't have them colluding with a wolf in sheep's clothing!"
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