Malik opened his eyes, on the infirmary bed he couldn't help but wonder where he was.

  Then the memories all started flooding back to him. The party, the sin all of it. He wasn't seriously injured or anything, not like liun and rissa, but they had insisted he be put to rest in the safety of the infirmary.

  He didn't get it.

  He noticed his phone just a ways away on the nightstand next to the infirmary bed.

  He picked it up to see if he got any notifications while he was asleep. And to his astonishment, someone had called him during the time he was asleep. It was his dad.

  He thought through his next actions very carefully, before deciding to call back.

  As he put the phone up to his ears, it rang for a decent amount of time, before the man on the other end picked up.

  "D-dad...Yes I've been placed in a division already... Which one?" He repeated the question, hesitating a little bit "...13" he answered, voice a little shaky, waiting for something from the other side.

  The phone hung up.

  He lowered the phone slowly, fingers tightening around it like it might crack.

  “…Division 13,” he muttered to himself.

  The words felt heavier than they should’ve.

  Suddenly ash burst through the door. "Hey, I heard you were awake." The older man said.

  "What the hell are you doing here?" The boy asked, looking at the older man in abject annoyance.

  "What? Can't I check up on my division when they're in the hospital? I am your conductor after all" the older man said with a hearty smile.

  "Yeah well I'm fine so go talk to one of the other two or something" the boy said, getting up And walking out of the room. Malik shoves past Ash with way more force than necessary, his scowl deepening as he stalks down the hallway. His grip on the phone is white-knuckled, shoulders tense.

  "What do you think, old man?" Malik retorted, his gaze fixed straight ahead. "Everything's 'great.' Just peachy." The words were drenched in bitter sarcasm.

  "I'm only four years older than you tho" ash said, taking slight offense to that old man comment

  Malik ignored him, "where are my guns" he asked,

  "They're up in the workshop, you're outta bullets." Ash explained and watched as the boy walked off

  "Outta bullets?" Malik repeated the words, a hint of anger creeping into his voice. "Unbelievable." He quickened his pace, heading towards the workshop with a determined stride.

  It took him awhile to get there but eventually he made it up to the workshop, which was on the sixth floor.

  He pushed open the door carefully, looking in to see what was happening on the inside.

  The hum of machinery, the clack of tools, the hiss of welders. The smell of oil and ozone hung thick in the air, mixed with burnt metal and cleaning solvent. All of these things he'd expected to come from a workshop.

  Rows of half-disassembled weapons lined the walls. Racks of rifles, pistols, experimental gear, some things he didn’t even recognize as guns anymore. Drones floated lazily near the ceiling, scanning parts.

  Surprisingly there was no one here, everything just seemed to be done automatically.

  "What can I do for you?" Malik turned to the front desk to see where that voice came from.

  It was a... robot? Actually no it seemed to be more like someone in a metal suit.

  The person's deep voice was layered with a robotic filter.

  Malik just didn't question it, whatever was going on there had nothing to do with him.

  "I was told my weapons were sent up here tonight" the boy said.

  "You're gonna have to be more specific. Dozens of weapons come through here a night"

  he rolls his eyes "They're a custom pair of dual rail pistols, with hypersonic rounds, golden lining, and a couple of custom paint jobs. Any of that sound familiar?"

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  "Oh, yeah! That came in with a couple other weapons." The person said, heading to an area where Malik couldn't see for a second before coming back around with a few other weapons in hand.

  "What did you guys do for all of your weapons to be out of commission?"

  Malik’s jaw tightened. “We fought a Phase Two.”

  There was a brief pause.

  “…Oh.”

  The figure in the metal suit tilted their head slightly. “That’ll do it.”

  They set the weapons down on the counter one by one. Malik immediately recognized his pistols, both scorched along the barrels, the golden lining dull.

  "Nothing I build could ever stand up to a phase 2" the person in the suit said.

  Malik gave them a questioning look when they said that.

  The person noticed the look and quickly clarified. "Yeah I built these, well except for yours of course." They said gesturing towards rissa's wand, ganju's sword and liun's gloves. "It's amazing how far technology has come with each new angel gear changing how we see science." The person said, picking up the bubble wand, "I made this one using a liquid mercury like material and expandable metals, tho unfortunately it's not infinite, every night she ends up coming back for refills." The person said.

  "Right, yeah, okay." Malik said, he really did not care about Any of that stuff. "Can I just get my guns"

  "Oh no, they're not fixed yet"

  "I doubt the damage is that bad" the boy said, downplaying any of their worries.

  "It doesn't matter how much damage it took, it's totally burnt out. How long have you been using these? They're in desperate need of repair. Overheating a gun like this could end up dealing more damage to you than any sin you fight."

  Malik clenched his jaw, clearly annoyed at the suggestion of his weapons being damaged. "They're just fine, I can handle them."

  He reached for them, but the person in the suit kept them just out of reach. "I'm sorry, but I can't give them to you in this condition. It's not safe."

  Malik rolled his eyes at being denied. "Safe, safe, safe. I've been using these for years. I know how to handle them."

  "And you haven't gotten them fixed once in that entire time?"

  Malik struggled to find words, so he simply turned his head away. They were right.

  "Okay, how about... I get them back to you in a week and they'll be good as new." The person said,

  Malik's scowl deepened. "A week? The hell am I supposed to use in the meantime? A fucking stick?"

  The armored figure tapped their chin thoughtfully. "We've got loaners." They gestured toward a rack of standard-issue handguns. "Basic 40 cal rounds, no customization"

  Malik cut them off with a scoff. "Basic? Nah I'm good. What the hell is a 40 cal supposed to do against a sin?" He shoved his hands in his pockets and turned toward the door. "Just fix mine fast."

  "Hey." The robotic voice softened slightly. "Take one. At least until yours are done."

  He didn't hear them as he walked out of the workshop.

  He didn't like the idea of leaving his guns in the hands of a complete stranger but what other choice did he have. He could only hope that weird person wouldn't damage them, those guns meant a lot to him.

  Before he knew it, he had unknowingly walked to the infirmary again, specifically rissa and liun's infirmary room.

  Ash and aoi sat in separate chairs while Yui was asleep in a chair between the beds, her head tilted to the side, faint golden light still flickering at her fingertips.

  Malik sighed, he didn't really know why he walked down here, he could've just, walked back home. But instead he chose to come... here.

  "You gonna stay there brooding or are you gonna sit down?" Aoi asked the boy who was still standing at the doorway.

  "Yeah yeah, whatever." He said as he walked in. Heading over and sitting on the chair next to yui.

  His eyes wandered the room looking for anything to focus on.

  After a few long, excruciating seconds, Malik asked something. " Yo, old man. You seem to be pretty well educated on angel gears and stuff. I've got a couple questions" the boy said, looking over to the girl who was sleeping while hugging a pillow tight. It was very... Childish.

  "I'm not that much older than you" ash said with a slightly annoyed expression as aoi chuckled "but, yeah I do. What do you wanna ask?"

  "Back then, she said she could feel the sin, and when fighting the thing she just kinda, learned how to use her powers. Why is that?" He asked.

  "That's kinda just, in her nature as an angel gear. I'm assuming you know the basics about angel gear?" The man asked to which the teen nodded

  "People born with superpowers" the teen explained how far his knowledge extended.

  "Yeah, but I bet you didn't know that you've been using the term angel gear wrong," ash said which confused Malik.

  "Um what?"

  "Yeah, an angel gear is actually the organ inside a person that Creates whole spectrums of exotic matter, which gives the body superpowers via controlling it with the brain. We just call the people angel gear as well for simplicity sake" Ash explained the science behind the powers

  "The body created this organ in order to kill sins. Nobody really knows why, but angel gears function like the antibody to the virus that is demons and sins." Ash said "which is why an angel gear can sense a sin whenever it's around, and their body instinctively uses the power at its disposal to kill it. the angel gear are the predators and the demons are the prey."

  "I hope you enjoyed the biology lesson, it's the only bit of science he knows" aoi joked, but he received a pinch from ash which shut him up.

  "Well that answered questions 2 through 4... So all of them, it answered all of them" Malik said.

  Malik leaned back in the chair, arms folding loosely over his chest, eyes drifting to the ceiling.

  Suddenly the redheaded girl burst out of her hospital bed suddenly, In a cold sweat and panting

  Rissa’s hands clawed at the sheets like she was trying to rip herself free from something invisible.

  Yui startled awake with a small yelp, nearly falling out of her chair before catching herself.

  The girl placed her palm on her forehead.

  "Bad dream?" Malik asked, not as worried as yui seemed to be, neither were the adults. They already understood the feeling all too well, the moment you became a real sin hunter, those kinds of dreams never went away.

  She didn't answer him. Instead she turned to the side to see ash and aoi. "A-ash sama"

  Malik blinked. “…Sama?”

  Yui was just as confused

  "Ash, sir…Can I… talk to you?” she asked quietly.

  Ash nodded without hesitation. “Of course.”

  She hesitated, then added, softer, “Alone.”

  The room went still.

  Aoi raised an eyebrow, Malik straightened slightly, and yui blinked, just as confused as everyone else.

  Rissa noticed.

  She winced faintly, then shook her head. “N-not like that. I just… there's something personal that I want to ask, and I would prefer if I didn't have an audience." She said, tho Malik seemed to notice that her eyes never left him.

  Ash quickly understood what that meant, he gestured for aoi to bring the teens with him.

  Aoi gave a lazy shrug and stood up. “Alright, alright. We’ll give you two some privacy.” He glanced at Malik. “C’mon, brooding boy.”

  Malik scoffed quietly but stood anyway. “Yeah, yeah.” He glanced at Rissa once, then at Ash.

  Yui hesitated the longest. “Are you sure?” she asked Rissa softly.

  Rissa gave her a tired but sincere smile. “Yeah. Thank you… for earlier. I never did get your name”

  "It's yui, I'm yui" the pink haired girl said as she left the room.

  As the other two started walking further away, Malik stood for a second, just kinda stood at the door. His ears caught the conversation.

  "Ash sir, I-i wasn't aware you were a division conductor." Said the voice of rissa with the utmost respect.

  "Yeah, neither was I. Also please stop calling me sir, I don't need two people calling me that."

  "You're the conductor of division 13 right" the girl asked, slightly more casually, but still reverant.

  "Yeah, I'm assuming you wanted to talk to me about Malik right?" Ash asked.

  "Wh-who?"

  "you know? Malik? The guy you were just staring at? I assumed you two had met." The boy said.

  "I never got his name, b- but yes this is about him."

  That's about when Malik checked out, he was done listening in on this conversation, he was just gonna head out.

  The conversation was still ongoing tho.

  "Hav- have you noticed that he looks exactly like-"

  "Yup" ash answered before she could finish the question.

  "And he has the same guns that-"

  " I noticed."

  "I heard that ganju attacked him, can't say I blame her... When I saw him in the doorway of the division 13 dorm, I thought he was just some stupid ghost haunting me, just another day dream. He's not."

  Ash looked back at the door when malik had finally gotten far enough out of earshot. "I didn't see it at first. But then I saw the guns he uses and my brain just kinda connected the dots."

  Rissa sighed. Taking a deep breath, and then breathing out. "It's been four years. I'm just a couple months away from graduating and... I still have no idea why they did it. So... I was hoping that, maybe you could tell me? I understand if it's not information you can just share out as you please, but... I think I deserve.. to know"

  The girl said, looking at him with pleading eyes.

  Ash rubbed the back of

  his head sheepishly, so that's why she said it was personal. He knew he probably couldn't tell her anymore than she already knew, but something was better than nothing right?

  "Alright then, so let me start from... The beginning."