Danso dropped Xeno near the port and found Natsuki, who was helping some patients as usual. In order to avoid more suspicion, Danso sent Karkous back to Natsuki, changing his suit to a casual shirt and jeans, and making his way towards Natsuki.
The sun had fully risen by now, and it was obvious that the First Ninjaro Raid had ceased. Many government officials were leading the reconstruction of Akuza and were giving funds to the refugees who had lost their jobs in Uptown. Downtown was not damaged as badly as Uptown due to Xeno and himself stopping the bomb from exploding. This was the use and purpose of the Dead Bomb's arm.
Both Xeno and Danso agreed that it was too dangerous for it to be with someone, so they decided to give it to Karkous, who hid it in a place where neither of them do not know. So now with most of the loose ends tied up, Danso made his way towards Natsuki, who was helping some patients.
"Hello," greeted Danso from behind and startling Natsuki.
"Oh, Danso! Where were you? Are you fine? I heard from Karkous about everything! Did you get any new information?" bombarded Natsuki.
Danso lifted his hands and sighed.
"One question at a time! I am fine! Thank god the message came to you from Karkous. I got no new information from the tower, so it was a waste of time, but I managed to break out and come here as quickly as I could," explained Danso.
Danso felt bad lying to his dear colleague, but he knew it was a necessary lie that he had to tell to make sure his secret as Red Samurai was safe. Natsuki, after hearing Danso's words, was a little disappointed, which was evident by the look on her face.
"At least you're safe," said Natsuki, smiling.
"What happened to the rest of the DMMS?" questioned Danso.
Natsuki's smile quickly turned into a sad frown before she sat down on a nearby chair and asked Danso to sit down too. He was genuinely worried about his friends since he had not heard about them all night and did not know what was going on with them. With the expression that Natsuki had, he knew that she had some idea of what had happened to them.
"I don't know where to begin…" said Natsuki.
"It's okay to try to explain as much as you can," said Danso.
"Alright…"
Natsuki's voice broke, but she tried to continue speaking, which Danso respected a lot. After a second, Danso did not pressurize her to continue speaking, and Natsuki started to speak on her own.
"Chiro is sealed, the President is dead, the Vice President Lilia is captured by those Ninja, Jale's first ring has exploded, and it joined Richard Crater due to an explosion," said Natsuki quickly without stopping.
Danso paused. He did not speak a single word. It took a while to digest the words that Natsuki just spoke. Chiro got sealed? That must mean he lost, which was impossible. If Jale's first ring exploded, what about the condition of Emily? What happened to Haruki and Tensei?
Danso's phone started to ring. He picked it up in his backpack in the Battle Restaurant's guest rooms, which were all under the rubble. He was very shocked to see the phone intact and perfectly working with a few scratches to the screen here and there, but no major damage. Danso looked over at the phone and saw that it was Emily calling him. All of the DMMS members exchanged phone numbers after Danso got into the DMMS officially.
"Oh, thank god, at least you picked up your phone," said Emily.
"What happened at Jale?" quickly asked Danso.
"The worst possible thing that could happen happened," said Emily with red eyes, almost as if she was holding herself back from breaking down.
"Try to explain to me, alright? Where are you guys?" asked Danso.
"We are in Rein as of now. Mayor Ozamu knew Takahashimi, so it was easier to come here than to any other city. Th done," said Emily.
"Where is Tensei? And Haruki?" asked Danso, panicking.
He knew that it was wrong for him to bomb Emily with questions when it was clear she still had not recovered and had developed some trauma from the place. Of course, realising that you could do nothing to save people and watch them die in front of you must be traumatic.
"Tensei is in the emergency room in the hospital, and Haruki has locked himself up in his temporary bedroom," said Emily.
"Nothing will happen, we will reach there tomorrow, alright?" comforted Danso.
Emily smiled and nodded before handing the phone over to Natsuki. After a quick conversation, Natsuki hung up and turned over to Danso.
"What do we do now?" asked Natsuki.
"Help rebuild the city is our priority, but the second is to rest up for the journey tomorrow," stated Danso.
"Public transport is shut down; it has only been around seven hours since the raid ended," said Natsuki.
"Who said we needed public transport?" said Danso while grinning like a madman.
Karkous flew like a plane in the sky as Natsuki and Danso rode it on its back. Karkous was a soul slime who was inhabiting a Shadow Arch-Angel, which was big and had wings, allowing it to fly. It was like a miniature dragon. Danso entrusted Natsuki with his items and fell straight asleep. Natsuki agreed for Danso to get rest as she thought that he must have been through a lot in the place where the ninja captured him. Yes, he was tired from pulling an all-nighter and protecting the city, but the reason was a lie.
Danso went into a deep slumber relatively quickly. He did not dream of anything; it was just pitch black, but after a few minutes in the dream, he found himself on the same mountaintop as before. Once he found a grip on himself and could move his body, he searched for Xu, the person who resided in the log cabin of the mountaintop.
"Xu?" asked Danso as he walked inside the log cabin.
It was empty.
Danso looked around the neat and empty log cabin before sitting outside the cabin on a wooden bench. He quickly dusted the bench off and started to shiver. In this dream, he was wearing a sweater and long-sleeved shirt, and full jeans, but it was still cold on the mountaintop. Danso started to shiver when he looked over his shoulder and saw Xu holding out a spare jacket for Danso, and he took it politely. Xu was drinking hot green tea, carefully blowing on the heat and taking a sip every second.
"I see you've returned," said Xu calmly.
"I was kind of worried I'd never run into you again since I opened that second seal," said Danso.
"No, you'd run into me more often now," Xu chuckled while saying it.
"I hope it's not a problem," Xu completed his sentence.
"Of course it's not, you give good advice," said Danso as Xu took a seat next to him on the wooden bench.
"Enjoying your mini-retirement?" asked Danso.
Xu chuckled. "Yes, I am,"
"What should I do now?" asked Danso instantly, causing a shift in the conversation.
"What do you mean?" asked Xu.
"We lost, everything's done, it's now us and some broken military versus another war-prepped country," explained Danso, desperate for advice.
"What is a loss?" asked Xu.
"It is when our goal does not get accomplished and we do not win," replied Danso.
"What was your goal then?" asked Xu.
"To protect the city," replied Danso.
"Did you fail?" asked Xu.
"No…," replied Danso with a sharp silence as he pondered Xu's words.
"You did not fail, your friends did, there's a very clear difference. Sure, it is a team, and if one fails, the whole team fails, but don't worry about them too much. You did the best you could, and we just have to watch if they have the guts to get back up," replied Xu.
"What if they are done with it all?" asked Danso.
"Then you leave them be, don't bother their life too much…Poor souls, they must have been through a lot," said Xu with a break between his phrases.
Danso started to shiver more and more before Xu put his hand on Danso's shoulder and gave him a gentle smile.
"Did you come here for everything you wanted to do?" asked Xu.
"Mostly," replied Danso.
"Then it's best if you leave, it'd be bad if you freeze to death here, wouldn't it?" laughed Xu.