"You'd think," I reply, shifting my weight and rolling my shoulders in a show of keeping them loose and limber. "Then again," I continue in a mock sympathetic voice, "you're only working off what you know."

He's not wrong in thinking I'm here for Takeru. He is in assuming that's all I'm here for. Part of me whispers that he'd make an excellent addition to Messiah's forces but the rest of me rebels at the thought. I don't want him to...

To what? Not be Ryuunosuke anymore? What if he ends up like Mako? I don't want that.