The two figures floated in the air, their bodies so contrasting, big and small, tall and short. Zaki's smile widened with a condescending expression, while Noah stared at him sharply.
"Why are you doing this... I just want you to come back!"
Noah shouted, his tone full of frustration. I turned and my attention was drawn to a few unconscious girls.
"Hey, we need to move them to safety."
Quickly we picked up a few girls. I looked up again, seeing Zaki who was still in the air, staring silently at the figure in front of him.
"Zaki, I'll leave this to you."
I started running, moving Ariz and Luna who was lying unconscious. Zaki nodded his head quickly, while his smile widened again and was directed at Noah.
"So... What were you trying to say?"
Noah growled, his fists clenched tightly. His right hand rose to touch his chest, supporting his gesture.
"Why don't you return to the organization? Have you forgotten all the kindness the organization has shown you?"
Zaki was silent, then his hand rose to rub his chin, while his eyes drifted in another direction.
"Well... You're still young... So I don't need to say things that will make you uncomfortable, but I will give you a suggestion. The organization is not as good as you think."
Noah's eyes widened, his mouth opened trying to speak, but Zaki's hand went up to raise one of his index fingers, making Noah flinch and fall silent for a moment.
"Besides, if you intend to bring us back into the organization, you can come to our school and talk it over properly. Not just make my friends disappear."
Noah gritted his teeth, his hands clenching even harder.
"If I had to guess, the mission would probably go something like this: bring Kama and his friends back by any means necessary, am I right?"
Noah remained silent, his blood boiling, he stretched his hand forward again, and in an instant the large mirror tried to swallow him. Like before, the mirror didn't even react, as if the mirror itself did not consider Zaki's existence to be real.
"I told you, right? It's impossible."
"Shut up!!!"
His voice rose, one hand stretched out to point at Zaki sarcastically.
"Damn Asians!"
Hearing that, Zaki raised an eyebrow, a sarcastic laugh escaped his mouth. His hand rose to pinch Noah's cheek.
"W-What the hell is this, damn it!"
His voice was almost a mumble as Zaki started to shake his hands, his voice not becoming unstable even though it was full of chatter.
"Who taught you to talk like that? Little kids shouldn't be racist, you know, my country is a bit ethnocentric, so you have to be careful."
Noah let go of himself, he growled in annoyance.
"But I'm not lying, the organization is not as good as you think, one day you will realize, or maybe you won't realize and just become their slave?"
"They won't do that to me! They like me, and I like them."
A soft chuckle escaped Zaki's mouth, his hand raised to cover his mouth even though his voice was faintly heard clearly.
"When I see you, I feel nostalgic, about the time when I was as naive as you."
Noah stared even harder. Slowly his hand began to produce glass shards, he threw them, trying to block Zaki's vision. Zaki remained silent, the attack was completely useless against him, Noah's eyes widened and instantly his hope was gone.
"Hmmm... You seem to have really lost hope, huh? Do you need some explanation?"
Noah lowered his head, he couldn't bear to look at Zaki's face, even hearing his voice made him feel sick. Zaki floated around Noah, circling him.
"Hmmm... Think of it like this, you can't really see the air, but you can feel its presence on your skin, its breath. And then it overlaps, between being? Or not being? A being, but also a non-being."
This time, Zaki came closer again, his head close to Noah's ear.
"Do you understand now?"
Noah shuddered, there was something that felt completely foreign to him, yes, Zaki's abnormality, it was different from everything he had witnessed so far.
"Leave the organization, and why not try living a normal life? It's much more fun than being a puppet and a tool, right? If you leave the organization, I'm sure my friends like Ray, Kama, Yadz or even the others will accept it."
Noah fell silent, his gaze blank, his hands clenching, as if he had given up.
"Zaki! Have you seen any other girls?"
Genta's scream was heard from below, Zaki turned his head towards him, his hand raised and he dug his ear indifferently.
"No, I don't see anything here, all the girls have been moved."
Genta shook his head quickly after that statement.
"No, there should be one more girl, she's Asian, Japanese."
Zaki fell silent, raising one eyebrow in surprise.
"What? Japanese? Sorry but I don't see anything from here buddy."
Genta stomped his foot, and the momentum made him float in the air. Just like that, he landed beside Zaki.
"Don't tell me you're hiding it Noah?!"
Zaki touched Genta's shoulder, as if trying to win him over.
"Relax buddy, I've made sure to undo the seal, that should get everyone trapped out."
Genta growled, then dove down quickly, starting to shout and call out the name of the person he was looking for.
"Kaiira!! Where are you?!"
After Genta's voice faded, Zaki turned his gaze back to Noah, who was still looking down.
"Come on, I don't like seeing little kids sad, come on, smile, who's the smart kid?"
Zaki took a deep breath when Naoh didn't react to him at all,
"Okay... Come with me Noah."
Without any supervision, he turned and started to leave, hoping Naoh would understand and follow him. His back shuddered at something, as soon as he turned his head, a ladder appeared from behind Noah, and in an instant Noah disappeared, swallowed up just like that.
Zaki widened his eyes, his hands clenched tightly, he stared intently at the place where the stairs appeared, and started to rack his brain.
"A ladder?"