The Wheel Of Fortune

"Wow, you went on a date and the next thing I know, you ended up in the hospital? Your luck is great, Valencia.”

Fajah slaps down my back and sits on the chair beside the bed. I give her an annoyed look but I feel the same way. I wish I stayed home. Gloria and Liana enter the ward right at this time.

I roll my eyes, “Fuck off, Fajah.” I glance at my plastered leg with a sigh, “My best dress got spoiled all because of those fucking tuhus. And Duy....he died because of them, on top of that, I never got to go on a date, it all ended before it got started.”

Fajah’s smile turn a little bitter at the mention of Duy, “It was too late, you couldn’t have done anything.”

“No, I shouldn’t have left him behind, I should have let him go. We should have run instead of waiting for the reinforcement, then he would have...” I am aware that it was partially my fault that he got bitten. “Stop blaming yourself, tuhu killed him not you.” Gloria steps beside the bed, “You were tired and you didn’t expect such a thing would happen.”

Multiple footsteps from the door make me look up. Saul, Marlon, Elodie, and Hiroyuki walk in, my eyes meet Elodie for a second but I quickly turn away. Why is she here? I thought she wouldn’t come.

“You are alive.” For a second, I thought she is picking a fight with me but a large amount of relief in her voice stops me from saying anything. I look towards the window to prevent her from seeing my smile.

Now I know, she cares.

“Valencia, you should just date me, look what happened to you for going on a date,” Marlon says while passing me a bouquet of flowers. I give him a mock glare before taking the flowers from his hands and smelling them, “No, don’t even think about it but thank you for the flowers, anyways, from when did you become so considerate? Are you sick?”

Before Marlon could say a word, Hiroyuki begins reciting, “He was going to give it to his girlfriend but-” Marlon kicks him on his leg and motions him to zip his mouth but that was all needed to expose his caring front.

“He is trying to trick us again,” Says Fajah,

“Where is Nadya and Ryouhei?” Ignoring the ruckus between Marlon and Fajah, Liana questions Saul.

“Ryouhei is attending the emergency meeting and Nadya, I don’t know where she is, she was following us but she disappeared somewhere halfway.”

“An emergency meeting? Is it about the appearance of tuhus in the middle of the city?” Elodie steps forward. “Or are they finally discussing the sudden rise in cases in the last few months? Whatever it is, they are discussing it too late.”

As soon as Elodie finishes her sentence, Nadya walks in through the door. Her chest heaves up and down with heavy breaths, and she greets me with a strained smile, “I... had to do something... How are you? What did the doctor say?”

“I am fine except for my leg; they will let me go in three days. The plaster will come off in three weeks,” I wet my lips before continuing, “About Duy-”

“I talked to the captain of their sequence; the funeral will be held tomorrow. I will accompany you to attend.....Can we talk later? I am sorry, I have to go. I will stop by in an hour again.” She turns to exit the ward. Once she reaches the door, the door opens from outside, Ryouhei stops right before they could collide.

He must have rushed here since he is still wearing his uniform. Ryouhei looks at her questionably, I couldn’t see if she said anything as her back is turned towards me but I think she did.

He walks past her while Nadya leaves the room. Why did their exchange seem kind of off? Did they fight?

“Looks like you are fine.” He pauses and looks around the room, “You can take a rest, for now, the rest of us will do the remaining work from tomorrow.”

His voice diminishes all the noises in the ward in an instant. "What work? What are you talking about?" Asks Marlon.

“.... An emergency meeting will be called by tomorrow evening to address the situation. All the Extanders will attend, they haven’t told anyone but I am telling you all in advance...It will be regarding to our mission.” He sighs and massages his forehead, “Soon, I have to rush back to the palace for an emergency meeting. For the EXH meeting, I will reach right before the starting of the meeting or maybe in the middle...It depends on the situation.”

“Why are you being so serious? Isn’t it just a mission? We have worked on many missions as a sequence, what’s the difference? You were never this serious for those missions.” Fajah tries to lighten the mood, “Come on, guys, it’s just a mission.” She shrugs.

“I don’t think so.” Saul interjects, he turns to Ryouhei, “Is this time different from others?”

“Unfortunately, yes. You will know by tomorrow evening. I will meet you later. Saul, manage the meeting in my instead if I can’t make it.”

“Sure.”

NADYA SHARMA’S POV

“Nadya?”

Slowly, I lift my lids and the black fades away. I see Ryouhei standing two steps away from me. “What do you want to talk about?”

I step closer to him and meet his eyes, “What did you talk about in the meeting?”

“I can’t-”

“It is about the appearance of tuhus on the other side?” I continue, “How many cities were invaded? How many people were turned? How many died? Don’t you know it.... And my parents...are they even alive?” I grab the front of his jacket with my trembling hands. “They are fine, right?”

“How did you-” He looks at me shocked before hiding his expression as quickly. I watch as he opens his open to say something but stops at the last second, instead, he grasps both of my hands on his jacket, “Nadya....we are still not sure of the situation, after finding out your parents live in one of those cities, I tried to find out their information but-” He stops talking and shakes his head, resigned.

“So... they could be dead,” I look down at my feet while trying to understand the situation. The possibility of them surviving is half and half. They could be dead, but what if they are fine? I look back at him after making up my mind, “I want to see them dead or alive. Again, if alive and for the last time if they are dead, and I want to find my brother as well, can you do that much for me?”

“That’s the minimum can I do for you.... we might be going there in two days; you can visit them during the mission,” He raises his hand and cups my cheek, “Are you okay? Why don’t you stay back with Valencia?” He caresses my cheek while looking at me with concern.

“No, I am coming with you. I want to see them and I should do my job.” I grab his hand and pull it down before stepping away, “You should go...I heard you still have to go to the palace. I will be fine; I just need some alone time.” To get prepared for whatever news that will be coming my way soon.

He inspects my face for a few more seconds before nodding. After checking up on me once more, he walks away.

PRINCE RYOUHEI DE VAL FRANSICH’S POV

The gentle breeze companied by the crescent moon in the sky completely opposes the mood inside of the palace. The yellow light from the heavy glass chandelier lights the meeting room while people sitting at the table, whisper among each other and I glance around the room annoyed.

I look at Juan over my shoulder, recognizing the look, he leans down and whispers, “Your Grace, he will be here in 3 minutes.”

As soon as he finishes his sentence, the guard announces my father’s entrance. I take a deep breath and hide my annoyed expression while standing up. After the greeting, he orders to begin the meeting, “Head of EXH, brief us about the situation.” Jayce clears his throat and starts explaining the situation.

After talking about the situation, he continues, “We need more manpower to cover all the cities. We have only 1020 Extanders and 256 retired Extanders. Magic power starts diminishing once Extander crosses the age of 35 and only a few can still maintain the power therefore we can afford only 256 retired Extanders. Your Majesty, I request for the backup.”

“Your Majesty,” I raise an eyebrow at the familiar voice. My dearest cousin brother, Nathan shoots me a glance and raises his voice, “we can’t send them troops, it is no better than suicide. Extanders are trained, but our soldiers are no better than any normal human being, all they can use are the weapons. And anyone who has dealt with tuhus is aware that weapons without enchantment are no use against them.”

“I agree with him, we can’t help them at the cost of ours.” Akito, the Minister of Education agrees. Anyone can clearly see who is on whose side.

“And it is EXH fault that we ended up in such a grave matter in the first place shouldn’t they take responsibility and solve it themselves? How can the member of the Cabinet of Transvius act this way? Shouldn’t the one handling the Cabinet take care of this?”

I don’t miss how he emphasizes the Cabinet and who is it under.

“Oh, I remember, Ryouhei was handling the Cabinet.” He leans forwards and looks at me, past the other Ministers on the side, “Ryouhei, you are Extander as well as the head of the Cabinet, why don’t you share your view? You must have your ideas, right?”

“Yes, I do have my ideas.” He still maintains his smile but backs away. I glance at each and every person before speaking, “I think we should send the troops but in a limited amount and let them be led by two or three Extanders. Since the cities have already been captured and it has been 10 hours, most of the people must have turned into tuhus. By sending troops, our objective is to save the survivors not to kill the turned humans.”

“Once we have safely evacuated the survivors, we can think of how to deal with them. According to our intel, the barrier surrounding these cities is preventing any help from the outside, from entering the city. And it would not be the best of the decision to leave this matter to the other side as they were not aware of the existence of the turned humans before the last 10 hours.”

“Your Grace, you want to help them but what good it would do to us? And who should take the responsibility for letting such a thing happen, the media will surely question the government? I still think we should protect ourselves rather helping them.” Chege interjects.

“Minister Chege, do you think the other side is the only one under threat. I think you still haven’t realized the seriousness of the situation, by sending help, not only we are helping them out but also helping ourselves. We don’t have much intel on the organization, we desperately need the information to predict their next move.”

“But brother, how are we going to get information by helping them?”

I give my brother a smile, “Nathan, you must not know since you are not an Extander. Jayce, can you please explain to them how we could the information.”

“Yes, Your Grace...A large crowd of tuhus can never work without the leadership of a middle or an upper-class tuhu, therefore there must be many upper-class tuhus in the city from whom we can get the information from. And as they are leading the crowd, they must have the best idea of what is going to happen next.”

Once Jayce finishes explaining, I turn to father, “Your Majesty, setting up a defense by positing the troops in major cities might work to stop them for a while but it cannot defeat them unless we attack them. Without Extanders it is a lost fight, with only 1500 Extanders for billions for people?”

He considers for a moment before addressing everyone, “Ryouhei is right. We need the information to take measures. Jayce, proceed with the plan, we will send reinforcements, and Ryouhei, I want you to personally handle this matter.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Minister of Information, the media still doesn’t know about this incident, am I right to think that?”

“That’s right, but they would know soon. I am trying to stop the information but as soon as they get wind of large movement in EXH, everything would get out.”

“I see, how long can you hold them off?”

“Three days at most, Your Majesty.”

His expression turns grave, “Currently, we need all the time we would get because once the public finds out they would blame both the government and the EXH, and disrupt our work. Hold them off as long as possible. Jayce, you should choose someone from the Council to address the public.”

So, he had made the decision to put the blame on EXH and direct the public’s anger on them. There is nothing more to do, someone had to be there to take the responsibility for the matter. Jayce looks at me before saying, “Then I choose, His Grace, to address the media. He is part of the Council and Extander, he can easily handle them.”

“You are right, Ryouhei, you should handle this,” Nathan says in an enthusiastic voice.

“I do rather not, I may be a part of the Council but before all, I am the head of the Cabinet and my position is not appropriate.” As soon as I notice him trying to say something, I can him off, “I think you or Ada should handle this.” Does he think I don’t understand what he is trying to do? By addressing the crowd, it is almost like admitting that it was the government’s fault and the blame will be directed at my leadership.

“This matter is settled; the meeting is adjourned.” Father stands up and casts me a glance, “Ryouhei, come to my room.”

I nod after removing my reading glasses and standing up, “I will be there shortly.”