It was a calm sunny spring day in Tokyo, Japan Tokyo. In the tall DHC H.Q. A large room at the top floor of the tower in a long, white meeting room at the top of the tower. A long table sat in the middle of the room with forty-five chairs lined alongside it, at the head of the table was a shorter table laid to have its long side face the short side of the long table, with five chairs at it. Slowly the room was filled with DHC Hunters dressed in a DHC Officer Uniform, adorned with golden pauldrons and a red collar. Men and Women of all ages, each of them having a different amount of medals, each of them talking among each other as they took their seats, at the end the Top Five would enter. Who had sat at the head of the Long table, with Gokkumon in the Middle, Gahu to his right, Miyuki to his left and Tanmachi and Bocchi at the corners of the table. The room went silent with their presence as all eyes looked to Gokkumon.
Gokkumon stood up and cleared his throat, observing the room with cautious eyes.
"Good afternoon, I am glad we have all been able to gather here for this important discussion."
Gokkumon looks behind himself to a large TV that turns on. Showing pictures of the DHC Laboratory where Tomia has been stationed, showing pictures of the massacre left behind and the destruction in wake.
"It has been two weeks since Tom-"
Gokkumon gets stuck at saying her name, knowing well it won't sit well with the room.
"Subject TI, has escaped its containment. Two strike teams have been sent after it in an attempt to subjugate and terminate it, both of them failed…with an addition of the losses from its escape, it accounts to over a hundred dead DHC personeel from scientists to fellow hunters…while one termination attempt was sanctioned the second one wasn't, and went against the command. This termination has been launched by a member of the Top Fifty, Number 36 Tetsaru Miyazaki who has been stripped of his rank and put on trial. But that is not why we are here today, the Committee has demanded we take an action among ourselves and cast a vote on our next actions. Which brings us to another subject."
The TV behind Gokkumon switches screens, showing images of the Kawakami temple, with photos from a drone, of Kaito, Tomia, Yui and Hiroshi. Along with Images of the Second Termination attempt that had failed, where photos of Kaito's shadow form are also present.
"This is known as a Demonic Temple, hidden away and guarded by a powerful demon. It serves as an entry way for Demons to enter our mortal realm, as observed by my scout, Number Four, Tanmachi Arika."
Gokkumon gestures his hand to Tanmachi who is looking directly at the room with an energetic smile.
"Now I assume all of you already want to move arms and strike at this position, and while that would sound as a good choice on paper…as you know from the second termination attempt, that is near impossible. And along with that you can see that Subject TI is also in this area which already makes it a difficult task, not to mention"
Yet again on the TV behind Gokkumon a video footage of Kaito's transformation and fighting is seen, on the video…Kaito can be barely seen, only in flashes that you could miss with a blink.
"It would appear that there is another demon that seems to be able to transform the area around it in which it can hide. Proving that this would be an incredibly difficult mission to achieve"
The TV flickers once more as another set of images are shown, now instead images taken by hand, hidden images of the Kawakami Family living their daily lives peacefully.
"And it would seem to be unnecessary, from what my scout has gathered the convergence of demons is minimal in this area, in a week only once has it been used…and as you can see, these demon subjects seem to live…neutrally, like us…humans."
Gokkumon looks at the screen longingly, with a sad expression on his face.
"I suggest that we monitor these demons and make sure they don't cause any havoc, while at the same time not interfering with them either, as it would end up in meaningless deaths that we could have prevented by simply not acting."
Suddenly the room erupts into shouts and yells, and soon also arguments. Such words being used as "How can you possibly expect us to not act while a group of demons harbor an entry from hell to earth!", "Daiko have you gone insane?! Letting demons live?!", "Gokkumon is right, these demons don't seem to be causing any issues so why should we act against them?" and so on. This would go on for a while, with the top five lumping in their chairs with faces annoyed.
Gokkumon would slam his hand on the table, the sound echoing through the room, making it go silent.
"Silence! Stop fighting among yourselves you fools! We're here to vote on what action we should take, not argue about it."
A man in about his late 30's with dark brown short hair and a stubble would stand up, sitting not too far from the head of the table he looks directly to Gokkumon.
"Gokkumon with all due respect, you're asking us to go against the code of DHC. We're to eliminate all demon threat under any circumstance and protect humanity from the hell's threat. They may be playing nice now but they may be biding their time. How long till they bring armies through those temples just because we have not acted?"
The room yet again rose in voices, with most agreeing with this man.
Gokkumon would rub his temple and look at him.
"And what would you have us do Number Sixteen…Tetsaru Miyazaki? We've already lost a good amount of our best hunters to one of these demons and you'd have us fight four of them, with two we don't even know how they operate?"
Tetsaru would smirk and stare directly into Gokkumon's eyes as if to challenge his authority.
"You know what I'd have us do, I have had a team of scientists working on the DB Project. And we see-"
Gokkumon would shake his head with open eyes, giving back the glare to Tetsaru.
"Absolutely not, your project is too threatening to us and has not been sanctioned to go into full use yet. And for good reasons considering we've had minimal success with your little project"
Tetsaru would scowl and lean against the table, leaning a bit forward.
"My project has been improving, we've developed a fully functional booster and tests have proven to be more than desirable, increasing the strength, speed and reaction times double to what the testing subjects would have"
Suddenly Miyuki would speak up with a loud and resounding voice.
"Miyazaki, rats and rabbits are not humans…how can you be so sure it would work on humans too? Besides, didn't the reports say that your little drug has a 50/50 success rate?"
Tetsaru looks to Miyuki and sighs deeply.
"Well I'd be more sure if I'd have some willing test subjects to go off of…but seeing how my request on using death sentence prisoners has not been permitted yet-can't be sure can we?"
Gokkumon would sigh heavily and shake his head.
"Enough of this squabbling. Ï shall leave a voting box in the main hall, in front of each of you, is a pin with your name on it, throw it into a box which you vote for. We shall go on from there. The meeting was dismissed…"
Suddenly the room erupted into loudness again as all the people picked up the pins from the table, and started talking among each other, some arguing, yelling and so on. With only the Top Five remaining seated the room went silent.
Tanmachi was the first to break the silence.
"You tried to speak your reason to them boss…let's hope that most took it to heart and we will have some peace for Tomia…"
Miyuki spoke next as she placed her hand on the shoulder of Gokkumon who was now seated and had his face rested on his hands.
"Tanmachi is right Gokkumon, now we can only hope the airheads have a good head on their shoulders…though I do worry that Tetsaru may have swayed the room."
Bocchi speaks up next with a bit of a spit to the side.
"Man would have us all injected with his "demon blood" so he could sit at the top preferably and call all the shots"
Gahu only sat by as he slowly stood up and put a chair back into its position and walked behind Bocchi, giving him a gentle slap on the back of the head.
Bocchi grabs the back of his head after a bit of a yelp of pain and looks back at Gahu.
"The hell was that for?!"
Gahu points to where Bocchi spat.
"Stop spitting in the room, clean up after yourself you fool. I'll be off you four, I've got the new batch of recruits to inaugurate…and boss, we'll be by your side..no matter what comes"
Gokkumon would look up and look at Gahu.
"Yea yea, thank you all and good luck with the newbies Gahu, take care of the young ones and don't be too hard on them…don't wanna scare away our new forces!"
Gahu would give a bit of a nod and would walk out of the room.
At the same time Bocchi would be down at the floor in the corner of the room cleaning out the spit he spat out with a napkin, muttering under his breath something about "That damn Gahu"
Miyuki would stand up next and give Gokkumon a last pat on the shoulder.
"I also gotta go, I've got a yoga class this evening and I've not had lunch yet so…I gotta eat something, Tanmachi wanna come with?"
Tanmachi waves her hands and shakes her head as if to signal no.
"Thanks Mi, but I've got some scouting to do at the Kawakami temple…it's been too enjoyable watching them with my drone now that I installed a long range listening device to it"
Miyuki would awkwardly stare at Tanmachi.
"I won't question how you got your hands on that or why you're even doing it, but I hope it's for the sake of work and not some other creepy reason"
Tanmachi would only giggle, not fortifying Miyuki's worry one bit.
Miyuki would sigh and as she walked past Bocchi she'd point at the floor and give a teasing
"You missed a spot there"
Bocchi would look up and shake his fist angrily at Miyuki who was just leaving the room.
"Mind your own damn business woman!"
He'd look at where she was pointing and would huff out as he'd lean down and clean it.
"I'll get going too, I've gotten an assignment to report to German DHC H.Q. to check on something they found…so I have a flight to catch, and while I do have some time, I don't wanna get an earful from the transport officer again for being on time."
Gokkumon and Tanmachi would give Bocchi a wave as he'd take his leave.
Soon Gokkumon would stand up too as he'd look to the TV behind him and take a longful gaze at Tomia's face.
"Oh you poor girl…at least you have some peace for now, I just hope you get to keep it and I won't have to sanction tasks to ruin that…"
Tanmachi would stand up and walk over to stand next to Gokkumon.
"She's grown up so much, and she looks really pretty in that dress…that boy next to her"
She points to Kaito, in an image where the two are sitting next to each other in the courtyard.
"She seems to have taken a liking in that boy, he seems to be taking care of her…she's in a good place now Gokkumon, she has a family and…well she seems happier than ever, so brighten up man"
She'd give a bit of a fist bump into Gokkumon's side abdomen with a big grin on her face.
Gokkumon would look to his side and down at Tanmachi, the gesture of a much younger girl treating this old man like a buddy of the same age made Gokkumon smile a little as he'd shake his head and chuckle.
"Yea…she has something she always wanted…anyways, it's about time I take my own leave. I have to go and write a report on your scoutings to the committee, as much as I hate to give them the info..it is our duty and our only chance to keep these high ranks so we can protect Tomia."
Soon the two also disperse to their own duties.
Tanmachi is walking in the courtyard of the H.Q. humming a little song with a bounce in her step.
Tetsaru walks up from around a corner with a menacing gaze and calls out to Tanmachi.
"Hey! Kiddo! I need you to give me the truth about the Monsters at the temple"
Tanmachi would let out a deep sigh as she'd turn around to face him.
"Why are you sulking in the shadows? It's not like I'm some drug dealer…besides its really creepy AND I'm not a kiddo, its Commander Arika for you if anything, and they're not monsters but demons, each of them with a name and all"
Tetsaru would growl a little and take a step in front of Tanmachi, towering above her as he glared down.
"Listen I don't know how a teenage girl like you got to the top five within a year, who you influenced or if Gokkumon placed you there himself, I will not take orders from a child and I won't see those monsters on equal ground. They killed my friend and my family when I was younger, and now that white haired bitch is killing my friends even now"
Tanmachi would glare up at him with a scowl, reaching her hands behind her back, hiding them under her cape.
"Child or not, I have earned my position and I will have you give me respect Number Sixteen, stop making a fool of yourself or I will have you court martialed for your conduct"
Tetsaru taking this as a threat tried to reach for Tanmachi…but with no luck, she'd duck and weave and grab onto his arm, within a second she'd press her weight onto it and threw him to the ground, a blaring white steel dagger pointed inches away from his neck.
Tanmachi would look down at him, with a big smile.
"Now do you understand why I am Number Four and you're not? Hell I am surprised you made it this far with that ego of yours…you older people sometimes really like to underestimate the young don't you? Always thinking you're so mighty and better than us just because you lived a couple of more miserable years on this earth…thinking that gives you the right to judge. You started your training at what? Twenty-Five? I started my training at Fourteen…so that makes us different."
Tanmachi would let go as she'd kick him, making him roll a bit before sheathing the dagger back into a hidden pocket in her cloak.
"Now stop acting like a man child and go on before I actually report you to the committee you fool"
Tetsaru would growl again as he'd stand up and dust himself off of the dirt though not fully, with a scowl he'd stomp away.
Tanmachi with her arms crossed would watch him leave, her face no longer with a smile but more of an upset and disappointed look as she'd sigh to herself and would start walking again.
"What a waste of a rank and a chair…"