Chapter 37 - NoMiko

NoMiko
Turning away from the unnerving Hakurei Barrier, Chamber flew over the city to Lake Arcania, Arcania City's nearby body of water, kindly created by Haruhi to simulate Arcania originally being a seaside city in its original world. Overlooking the huge lake was a cliff, on which sat The Lunar Castle, White★Rock Shooter's not so humble home, made of white stone. Chamber flew down in front on the large wooden front double doors. As he did, three orange portals appeared to his sides, through which walked Rokiahi and Void and Rulia and Sora through the third one. They nodded at each other in greeting, having met during the week long festival held by Old Gensokyo a year ago to celebrate the end of Doomsday's First Anniversary. Noticeably, all their eyes were their original colour.

"Is there some kind of meeting going on here?" asked Chamber to nobody in particular.

"That's what Ilse told me," answered Void with concern.

"She didn't come with you?" Sora questioned.

"Well, no," responded Void shaking her head, "She needed to stay behind to distract our creator. He had yellow eyes, it was so scary." Rulia glanced at Sora for a moment.

"Hmm... That's what KC's doing right now," ended Chamber.

"Meiling was the one to inform me," input Rokiahi. She had an assault rifle strapped to her back.

"Not Naluri?" inquired Sora.

"No, I don't actually know where she is at the moment. She's not answering her mobile."

"That's not good news..."

"It looks like we're assembled," stated a voice behind them. They turned to see a group of females, ten of The Big Fifteen, Haruhi leading the way, Miku, Marisa, Yukari, Gumi, Rin, Teto, Yuki, Remilia and Shikieiki behind her. With the exception of Marisa's naturally yellow right eye, all of their eyes were not yellow. Reimu was noticeably absent. "We're holding a meeting," declared Haruhi to the five in front of the door, "It is a meeting we would like the four of you to attend."

"Four?" repeated Chamber, with confusion.

"I am just an escort," explained Sora, crossing her arms, "It's the four of you that are important at the moment." As Sora was speaking, Haruhi passed them, the doors of The Lunar Castle opening wide to reveal White standing in the main hallway with purple eyes, waiting for them to enter. They made their way into the interiors of the castle without another word. Rulia, Rokiahi, Void and Chamber were lagging behind, unsure of what to make of this sudden call of a meeting with some of the world's most influential beings. They eventually reached another set of wooden double doors. White pushed the doors open to reveal a large circular room with a circular desk in the middle, big enough to seat sixteen people. On the far end of the room by the ceiling was the ying-yang orb emblem of Old Gensokyo. Looking left and right revealed that North High's tilted H emblem and New Yamaha's Y emblem were also displayed, essentially splitting the room into three.

White turned to the five people trailing behind, "Gensokyo will not be attending this meeting so you are free to take their seats." Rokiahi glanced over at the four natives of Gensokyo in bewilderment but went round the table anyway, followed by Void, Sora, Rulia and Chamber, sitting in the seats of Old Gensokyo's, hovering in Chamber's case. Everyone else also sat down at the table, White sitting on a chair between North High and New Yamaha. But something was noticeably odd.

"... Why is Yuki sitting with New Yamaha?" asked Rulia. Yuki was sitting between Gumi and Miku. On closer inspection of the white name and title signs in front of each seat, Yuki was sitting in the right place and with the title of The Enforcer of Order for The Yamaha Kingdom. Gumi, Rin, Teto and Miku had retained their titles with Yamaha, which appeared to have reverted to becoming a kingdom again. Looking over at North High's side of the table where Haruhi and the apparently former Gensokyo administration were sitting, Yukari, Remilia, Shikieiki and Marisa had changed their allegiance to The North High Colony, even though the kingdom had officially been dissolved a year ago. They had kept their titles of The War Minister, The Enforcer of Order, The Enforcer of Law and The Captain of the Guard, respectively. Putting two and two together, Rokiahi turned round the sign in front of her, followed by the others, though Sora was not surprised at what they said. Ayu, Konata, Ritsu and Black had joined Gensokyo. Konata was now The War Minister, Black retaining her Enforcer of Order title. Rulia looked nervously at Sora who had an expression of disgust.

"What is the meaning of this?" firmly questioned Rokiahi, "What's going on? What's with the shift of power?"

"The world changed an hour ago," explained Sora, the only one out of the five to know, "The world's fallen back into the three kingdoms because of the differing views on the three sides. We've attempted to have a diplomatic meeting to settle our differences but Gensokyo is not keen to discuss anything."

"Differing views?" repeated Void, "Like what?"

"North High believes that everyone should be free, like how it was this past year," replied Haruhi, "Freedom to choice what to do."

"But however, that belief is too risky," retorted Miku, Haruhi scowling at her response, "As we have now experienced, Haruhi has been unable to control everyone to ensure that a free world is safe. It would be safer to reinstate newcomer imprisonment into our society. If a newcomer is a threat or does something wrong, they should be imprisoned. Doom and Magneto killed me a year ago and they were not penalised at all." This was news to Rulia who was a little startled.

"Lack of freedom is what started the conflict," argued Marisa, "If we had not been so intend on controlling the population, things would have not deteriorated so quickly."

"During the first year, we did not suffer from national unrest," countered Rin, "We imprisoned those who were a threat to society and benefited from a secure Kingdom."

"What you're planning is to imprison anyone who's a threat to you," frowned Yukari, "If we give you any authoritative responsibility, there's no doubt you'll find some excuse to lock us up."

"It will be on a case by case basis," spoke Yuki, as monotone as usual, "We will not imprison those that have given good service." Remilia couldn't help yawning at this response.

"That is unfair to all those involved," joined in Shikieiki, "You had far too many innocents locked up during The First Year, including Rulia here."

"It was a necessary precaution to ensure safety and security," disagreed Gumi.

"Didn't work for Doom, did it?" jeered Remilia.

"Order, please," intervened White, "We need to get onto more pressing matters."

"Sorry to interrupt," began Rokiahi, "But what is Gensokyo's stance?"

Haruhi turned to Rokiahi, "They want a unified planet, one country, one world."

"That doesn't sound so bad," commented Chamber.

"Remember," started Miku, "This is coming from a Kingdom who refuses to attend a diplomatic meeting. If they had the world to their own, they will essentially enslave everyone they can. Any issue you have with Yamaha's policies, Gensokyo will extend to unforgivable lengths." Silence fell around the table.

"And you need us for?" inquired Void, getting the topic back on track.

"Rokiahi," answered Haruhi, "She is the only one out there immune to any sort of mind control. Even from me." Haruhi paused to allow this to settle in, Rokiahi blinking in indecision over whether to believe her or not. "And Gensokyo are fully aware of this. They will attempt to find a way to imprison you. Now, we are not asking you to agree with our ideals. All we want is you to stay safe. Rulia, Chamber, Void, I know this is very sudden but we humbly ask the three of you to protect Rokiahi as beings with no affiliation with the three kingdoms."

"If we fail against Gensokyo," added Miku with a very serious expression, "And something happens to Haruhi, it will be up to the four of you to ensure the world's return to normality. As much as we hate to admit it, Haruhi is currently Yamaha's only defence."

"What about Sasaki?" brought up Rulia.

"She is why we are so concerned," told Haruhi, folding her arms, "She has pledged allegiance with Gensokyo and is preventing me from using the full extent of my powers. If I cannot compete with her powers, she will allow Gensokyo control of the entire universe, except for Rokiahi, which is why she is a target we want to stop them from reaching."

"I have a question," spoke Rokiahi.

"Yes?"

"Do you know where Naluri is?"

Haruhi looked down, "She, like you, is also immune to any form of mind control. However, I have no idea where she is, I can't sense her at all... I lost her while she was visiting Doom's castle. Doom is now a member of Gensokyo so... Gensokyo must have done something to her..." Rokiahi did not speak, with no idea why Naluri would be in Doom's castle. "We can take you somewhere safe but please keep in mind, don't trust anyone with yellow eyes-" Marisa nervously scratched a cheek. "-The majority of people with yellow eyes are allied with Gensokyo, including most natives. Gensokyo outnumbers both North High and Yamaha together so we are at risk. Rokiahi, take this." She rolled a golden ring across the table, which settled directly in front of Rokiahi. "This is The One Ring, The One Ring to Rule Them All. Sasaki will attempt to cloud my godlike vision so you will most likely fade from my sight but if you wear this ring, by The Convenience Theory, I will be able to track your location."

Rokiahi looked at the ring with no attempt to touch it, "... You want me to wear this?"

"Not now, if you don't want to. While there is no downside to you wearing the ring now, I would like you to have the choice whether to trust us or not. But if you or others get into trouble you need help with, please wear it so we can try to help you."

"Trouble? What kind of trouble?"

"Plan for the best, prepare for the worst," responded Haruhi, simply.

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