EPISODE SEVEN: SETTLEMENT

Jenna cut through the air, the gear strapped tight to her waist sputtering but steady enough to carry her past the storm of smoke and dust. Her chest surged with every breath as she locked her eyes onto the chaotic blur of spirits clashing in front of her. Hibiki and Satar were tearing the sky apart, crashing back and forth like lightning made flesh. She didn't hesitate.

Her hand shot to her shoulder. She pulled the badge loose and tossed it high into the air. The emblem spun, catching the faint light as it glowed sharp against all the dust. Her voice ripped through her throat, strained with everything inside her.

"HIBIKI! COME BACK!"

The glow tightened, drawing the spirit like a beacon. In an instant Hibiki vanished from the battle, ripped toward the badge and pulled straight into it, pushing Jenna back with such impact, she flew back in air.

The world cracked with silence in his absence. Satar stood alone on the rooftop, the glow of her eyes dimming as her face tipped upward. A grin broke across her lips. Her chest rose with a strange laugh.

"Hibiki... so strong," she muttered into the empty sky.

Jenna's vision swayed. Her lungs burned with the call, her body buckling under the exertion. The gear stuttered, glitched, and carried her down too fast. She twisted in panic, but the collapse was already set. Branches split as she crashed into them, tumbling through until the ground snapped her momentum. She hit stomach-first, the grass cutting cool against her skin. The air left her body in one forceful grunt.

Her arms trembled as she tried to push herself up. The world tilted. She closed her eyes, held steady against the dizziness. For a long moment, she lay still.

Date: 1st August
Time: 6:00 AM
Location: Eastern JEO Headquarters: Medical Centre

White curtains fluttered with the early wind, delicate fabric brushing the edge of the window frame with a sound that barely registered against the stillness. A small drone sat by the top edge of the window, clinking softly. The room shone with pale sunlight reflected across its pristine tiles. Air barely stirred except for the hum of the vent overhead.

Jenna's eyes blinked open slowly. The ceiling blurred before focusing into clean white. She exhaled. Her limbs shifted beneath the weight of the blanket. She raised herself just slightly until her gaze fell on the figure next to her. Momoko, slumped with her head against the bed edge, eyes closed, body giving in to exhaustion.

The blur of memory rolled into Jenna then—dust, lightning, Hibiki's image disappearing into light. She blinked hard. Her eyes turned left. Kagaro and Shimin sat on the opposite bed, shoulders taut but their faces carrying trace relief. And there—further against the wall—a figure half-wrapped in bandages. Yone, still as stone but alive, face obscured by the wrappings around his brow and left eye.

Words leaked out of Jenna's lips before she caught herself. Something quiet, for herself. "So... it wasn't just a dream."

The whisper struck. Momoko stirred at once, eyes flashing open wide. She jerked upright. "Jenna! You're awake. Sweetie, are you okay?"

Jenna blinked at her. "I'm... fine." Her voice cracked on the syllable, uncertain.

Momoko reached to brush hair from her forehead. She forced her words calm. "This is the eastern medical centre. JEO wings."

Shimin moved, sliding from her seat straight to Jenna's side. Her expression serious, eyes zoned sharp. She leaned down, voice clear. "Jenna-san. How do you feel?"

Jenna swallowed dry spit, collected. "What happened?"

Shimin kept her eyes steady. "You pulled Hibiki back into your badge... then you fell. We couldn't catch you in time." She paused, exhaled lightly. "Thankfully... you made it. There was damage, but at least, you are here with us."

Jenna's eyes dipped, barely nodding. "I see."

On the other bed, Yone stirred at the sound of voices. He dragged his head to the side, blinking against the haze of waking. Kagaro sat near him, frowning down into the glow of his phone, thumb scrolling with sharp speed. Then their eyes met. Kagaro's hands stilled. He tossed the phone aside and leaned in fast.

"Yone." His voice rose with a break of relief. "Thank God—you're awake."

Shimin darted back to him immediately, rushing to his side along with Kagaro. Their hands lifted to steady him as Yone forced his body upright against the bed rest. His lungs dragged the breath slow, his eyes scanning, reading the shape of his injuries.

His right arm wrapped in plaster. His leg bound, bruised. He lifted an unsteady hand to his forehead—feeling the layers of bandages pressing against the string of pain beneath. His other hand crawled across the bed until it dropped loose. His lips barely moved.

"...Captain. How much did we lose?"

Shimin's voice came quick, ready to shut him down. "Yone, you need rest. Don't—"

His reply cut sharp, unrelenting. "How much?"

Kagaro's eyes closed. Hesitation pulled at his throat. Then, slowly, the answer fell.

"Eighty-six alive. One-thousand and sixty-five in treatment. Five-hundred and thirty-six critical. Six-hundred and fifty-two dead. Seven-hundred and one resigned. After Jenna called Hibiki back, Jento sir forced captured her in your bandana, you were unconscious."

Silence punched the room.

Yone's chest tightened visibly. His lips parted again, whisper caught in disbelief. "All... out of three thousand and forty?"

Neither Kagaro nor Shimin corrected him. His shoulders dropped under the weight.

Shimin leaned back, her voice dim, trying to open a doorway without blowing it apart. "Yone-san...Jento-sama told everyone, everything possible about the stars, and now, people are afraid of us." Her eyes searched him. Care flickered through the words, but fear lay heavy. Fear of being ignored.

Six hours ago...

After the medics had taken control of the situation, Jento had called a meeting. Everyone capable of moving was in the room. He had addressed the stars with as much details as he could, explaining every bit with patience. "The contract between a star and a star-bearer is a loyalty oath. An oath that states their utmost help to the bearer no matter the circumstance. This contract, however can be demolished. When trust binds the star and the star-bearer, the contract is no longer needed and can be broken. Well, that is one way to do it anyway. The other is when the star forces itself away from the contract by breaking one rule at a time. Slowly, so the bearer doesn't realise.

"Now. The contract states that whenever the bearer calls you back into sealing, you have to go back in. In Agent Jenna's case, this rule exists even with the contract gone, because Hibiki agreed to it. That is how it works. But since the contract doesn't exist, it takes time for Jenna to gather the celestial power in her star item before calling Hibiki in with a seal command. And that time has no upper or lower limit. Depending on how Hibiki's powers were used prior to the situation, it took take hours or even weeks to restore the star item's capabilities.

"In Agent Yone's case, Satar refused to obey the seal command even with their contract in place which weakened Yone since he is celestially bound to her, and that caused him not only mental but physical injuries too. Regarding Hibiki's horns, I believe it is because his entire being is destructive. Since it was detached from his body, the power tied within it broke loose, and touching a non-celestial item caused it to explode. 

"But, of course, breaking a contract would often times kill the star-bearer and force the star back to the celestial world. The star will not be allowed to move around at all then, because their defiance caused the death of their owner, which is against the star laws. Natural death is out of hands, but a star shouldn't be the reason for the owner's death. This is what Mono told me anyway. I was able to seal Satar back thanks to Mono's ancient abilities since he has been a star for a time that crosses more than mere eras."

"Mono told you, sir? I figured Captain Kagaro's identity from Leeney as well. It would seem our stars do infact tell us everything," Momoko added as Jento's words rested heavily in the conference room, or, whatever was left of the eastern conference room, with only a tad bit of population who were there. 

Kagaro glanced at Momoko from his seat opposite to hers in front of the long, round table. "He told you who I was? Did Anisol tell him about me?"

Jento spoke then. "No. That is not possible. Stars are not allowed to share information about their owners from their lips to others. They can share information about others, not their own masters. I believe, the God of Stars leaked the background check to star Leeney for Momoko-san's sake. Might have been Leeney's request to leak it."

Commander Awara raised his voice then, glancing at the confused faces in the room. "Wait. Wait, wait. This is a lot to take in all at once. What do you mean when you say God of Stars?"

"All you need to know is there is a world of stars out there, where only people like them live. Apart from that, I have given you all the information regarding whatever happened today. Why and how I mean," Jento bowed his head slowly as he rested his case along with all possible answers. Every glance in the room flew towards Kagaro, Momoko, and Shimin. If even they had issues controlling their stars, how were they to believe another incident like that wouldn't take place again? It took Awara everything in his power to have people trust the fact that the star-bearers wouldn't harm anyone and would only help in eliminating the Jenemes. But now, new doubts were creeping in again.

In the southern headquarters, walls sealed shut and hidden from view, Commander Kisuke pulled every string imaginable. The disaster never touched newspaper or broadcast. Not a scrap of truth escaped. It helped that JEO was in a secret location, hidden from the outside world. Offices shifted from south to east, entire files stripped from one district to another overnight. Families left unanswered, burials carried out in silence—anonymous graves, private plots owned by JEO. The public never knew.

Among eastern halls in Shinjuku, agents limped or laid in rows of sterile beds. Others were shipped to Gaieren's specialized clinics. Shibuyu stamped papers, passed calls, stacked reports with sleepless precision, doing everything she could not to let the organization slip into ashes.

Meanwhile, tucked within their rooms, Jenna and Yone drifted in and out. Each waking moment short. Each return to unconsciousness longer. Their bodies demanded nothing but time in return for survival.

Behind closed doors, Awara broke the news slowly to seniors. His new order for the bearers landed like stone on Kagaro's shoulders. But Kagaro didn't deliver it yet. Not to Jenna. Not to Yone. Not to anyone who had barely pulled themselves to morning light.

The edges of grief clung to the walls.

Date: 7th August, Monday
Time: 7:30 AM
Location: Shinjuku School of Science and Technology

Jenna's hand slid against the white rails as she climbed. Every step felt heavy. She ignored the familiar elevator, too hollow to step into the green-and-blue capsule tubes she had always used. To climb step by step felt longer—but truer. Each foot dragged forward anyway.

Her chest ached. The week hadn't left her. The screams hadn't faded. Her eyes still burned with their ghosts. Even though the school had been on break due to the Jeneme attack the same time the spirit war broke in JEO, Jenna didn't feel any better. It was all still a lie, still a cover.

By the time she reached her class door she realized she'd arrived early. Five minutes early. Later was what she had wanted, to skip as much of class as possible. Instead she had beaten the bell. Her stomach sank.

She sighed heavily, staring blankly into the blue scanner light. The beam swept her features, processed, clicked an approval. The doors glided open.

Inside, desks hovered in faint patterns of light. She reached next to her hovering desk and pressed the button on her remote. It flew down right next to her. She sat on it lazily and it went back to floating in it's stationery state. Yone sat right next to her, her seatmate, his arms stiff in bandages, face matched in wrap. She didn't meet his gaze, didn't dare look. She set her bag into the cublicle quietly and collapsed her face onto the seat.

The bell readied to shriek. The teacher's footsteps entered. Everyone was in class. Many gave words of comfort to Yone as he told them he was attacked in the Jeneme attack in school, hiding his JEO identity well. Then—

The ceiling split.

A massive boulder crashed through the classroom, its weight smashing into the teacher's body and scattering nothing but blood. Arm torn. Blood sprayed, splattered across the wall, across blue cloths of uniforms. Sonomo flinched hard—the red strip cutting her cheek.

Screams. Desks rattled.

Kagaro muttered low, half curse, half disbelief. "You've gotta be kidding me."

The class dove for exits. Some tripped. Some scrambled half-crawling. A second rock thundered through the window, shattering the glass and cratering the tiles.

Yone's head sank, pain dragging him as the shock ran through his injured arm and leg. But his eyes opened again fast, pushing the pain aside as he fixed on the scene—the teacher crushed. Students pounding in vain against the door.

Doors here didn't open without authority. Student identities burned into the system. Teachers unlocked the devices with prints or their voice. Mid-session? No chance.

They were locked in.

From the window, three figures stood outlined against sunlight. Hoods olive-green, faces shadowed. Shimin's breath froze. Her chest hitched. Her desk's edge shook under her grip.

The tallest of them lifted a massive rock in one hand. Effortless.

She saw it before anyone else moved—the throw. The boulder slammed straight into the classroom door, bursting it wide open then jamming it under its impossible weight. No exit.

Voices raised into a blend of panic and despair. The noise crashed across the room, every student choking on terror.

Yone rose, pulled straight by instinct. His lips whispered the call, headband glowing bright. Light cracked open. Satar came alive in her ethereal flare, wrapping him so no one could notice his presence, if they did against the panic at all, carrying him instantly.

Without pause, he thrust himself out the window. Gone.

Gasps rattled what remained inside.

Kagaro's face tightened into resolve. He snapped at Shimin and dragged her down into cover between shelves, bodies cloaking from sight while chaos swallowed the rest of their classmates.

Sonomo sidled closer to Jenna, her lips brushing the words in desperate hush. "In the corner. Left tile. Hidden door."

Jenna blinked. Her hands froze around the desk. "What?"

"You want to live? Move."

Her body shook but obeyed. She shoved her desk toward the corner tile. Her fists trembled. Sonomo grabbed them, pulled them steady, eyes sharp. "Trust me. Now."

They dove. The desk collapsed behind them in noise, but the screams covered it. Sonomo's nails slipped beneath the slab, catching the handle. She flung it open and tugged Jenna down with her. The door shut back into place, sealing, camouflaged instantly with the mechanism.

The chamber smelled of stone, ancient and hollow. Sonomo's face cut serious in the dim light.

Jenna's whisper shook. "Why do you even know this?"

"We don't have time."

"You know about Yone's family," Jenna snapped back, voice rising despite fear. Her eyes scanned the carved bricks of the wall. "You know things no one should know, not even the government—and now this basement? Old walls from centuries ago? Tell me the truth!"

Sonomo didn't waver. She dragged Jenna deeper, her voice low and flat. "Forward. Now. Don't stop."

Suspicion burned in Jenna's chest, but survival forced her legs to move.

Yone burst onto the rooftop, face lifted in fury as he faced the three cloaked figures. "Who are you?!"

They only grinned, shadows twisting over olive hoods. One stomped forward. The roof itself cracked with his step, sending Yone snapping backward. His body flung into air until Satar caught him, steadying his fall. Trusting Satar after everything she had done was a huge gamble. But Yone knew. He knew that without her help, he wouldn't be able to defeat these people. He could tell.

His arm jolted, pain sparking, but he held the ground.

Kagaro and Shimin appeared seconds later—their cloaks whipping with the sudden wind. Kagaro slipped Yone's cloak free from his pack and flung it out. Satar caught it easy, slid the buttons tight across Yone's shoulders.

Kagaro planted his weight, flying above them with his gear, his voice hot. "Names. Now!"

One figure stepped forward. His silver nails flashed as his hand lifted. A wall of bricks rose, breaking gravity, pulling themselves into the air around him. He smirked, swung his arm.

The swarm of stone lashed out straight for Kagaro's chest.

He twisted his gear hard, spinning into a sharp dodge, the bricks crashing behind him, and below, into dust. His body steadied again, floating strong.

He shouted across the rooftop. "Our orders were to stop! The commander told us no more stars, told us to hide." His tone sharpened, fury heating every word. "But you—you poison the streets with blood and terror—" His hand cut air in front of him like a vow. "So I revoke his damn orders. Aquí and now."

Cloaks whipped behind Yone, Shimin, and Jenna had now appeared alongside them too as they rose to stand at his side. Kagaro's chest heaved. His gaze burned steady.

"I, Captain Riyu Kagaro of Unit 9, take full responsibility." His voice cut like steel.

He turned, pointing, shoulders squared to the wind.

"Agent 43—Ken Yone.
Agent 52—Jaienta Shimin.
Agent 67—Jenna Ornard.

We engage these guys standing before us."