Blessed by Night
Chapter 406 - 406: Making Niceties

The ship was capable of cloaking itself and any sounds that it made while it was in flight.

This didn't simply pertain to human or evolved sight. It was cloaked from all manner of detective radar as well.

That made things a bit unsteady for the Japanese soldiers who suddenly saw an open comm line appear on their dashboard, but saw no incoming aircraft to accompany it.

But with Joanne doing the talking, eventually the family was able to receive permission to enter the country, as well as a set of landing coordinates.

As they moved toward the rendezvous point, Sei kept stealing glances out the window at the city below.

Her home hardly looked the same as it did when she left it.

Some buildings looked as if they had been destroyed, and the process of rebuilding was going slowly, if it was even starting at all.

It wasn't all bad, as some areas looked like they were relatively stable, just without power restored to the entire city.

However, there were large stone walls erected around these cities and gates that were guarded by heavy military presences.

And once you got past the city limits, it wasn't hard to see why.

Even with most of the architecture remaining undamaged, that did nothing to make the place feel less dystopian.

Sometimes, Sei would catch a glimpse of what seemed like gangs fighting in the middle of the street.

From what she could tell, they were mostly all human. And the few that weren't seemed to be making quite the big displays of their abilities. As unimpressive as they may have been...

Sei quietly looked both ways over her shoulders.

After confirming that the coast was clear, she held out her hand over the window.

A silver power danced along her fingertips.

One by one, those fighting in the street dropped to their knees one after the other.

They curled up wherever they stood and drifted into an unconscious realm for which they had no need for strife or aggression.

Sei wasn't sure how long she would leave them there for. How long did it take for one's dreams to change their entire way of thinking?

"You're a sweetheart."

Sei jumped slightly and stuffed her hands into her pockets. "W-What are you talking about, Mal?"

Malachi smiled lovingly at her. "So you're just going to pretend all of those people spontaneously went to bed all on their own?"

"..." Sei smiled in embarrassment as she kept her hands hidden behind her back.

"Alright then." Mal sighed in surrender as he kissed her cheek. "I swear I didn't see anything."

As he walked away, Sei kept her gaze on his back, unknowing of the fond smile that'd spread along her lips.

Though, whatever pleasant thoughts she was keeping to herself were swiftly interrupted by the sounds of obnoxious chewing.

Sei looked to her side and found her daughter staring at her with a pouch of the kids' fruit snacks in her mitts.

"You know *nom, nom* deciding to move back in during your honeymoon was a real mistake on my part. If I see any of you look at each other all sweet again, I think that I may throw up."

Sei made an exhausted expression.

She turned her gaze back toward the window and leaned against the wall.

"So, what do you think...? I always wanted to bring you back home to visit one day, but..."

"I know, ma. We never really had the money."

Sei nodded. "But... we're here now."

Serana analyzed her mother carefully out of the corner of her eye. "...How come you don't look all that happy about it, though?"

Sei smiled wryly and chose not to answer. It was impossible to respond to her daughter when she didn't even know the answer to her question herself.

"...Is it cause grandma's a bitch and Grandpa's a bastard? You're bad with people like that."

"Serana!" Sei hissed. "We don't speak about family like that."

Normally, the pink-haired girl would have come up with a retort or two, but today, it just didn't seem like it would be worth the effort.

Instead, she removed a fruit snack from her bag and pushed it past her mother's lips.

"I just thought you would have got it by now, Mom. Family is as family does."

Serana walked off the bridge shortly afterward. Sei wanted to tell her not to go, but she couldn't think of a good enough reason to do so.

- Nagatcho, Chiyoda, Tokyo...

On the roof of the prime minister's office, a group of around twenty to thirty men in suits were assembled in rows and staring up at the sky.

It was midday now, and they had been out here for around twenty minutes or so already.

The chill of the day was beginning to get to them.

*In eastern Japanese* "Americans sure do like to take their time, don't they...?" One man said.

"With everything else except eating, apparently."

A chorus of low laughter came from the men. It helped to relieve their spirits, if nothing else.

"Look..."

Suddenly, one of the men pointed in the northernmost direction.

They had been expecting a plane, or perhaps a helicopter to show up on top of the roof. They had not anticipated that they would see several individuals flying through the air as free as birds. Three of them even had wings.

One by one, the Americans dropped out of the sky and landed on the roof gracefully.

And when the black tiger descended to join them, several men took a step back out of anxiety.

Eyes fell on Malachi almost immediately. It was hard to forget seeing someone who looked like him on TV.

They were expecting him to step forward and start making introductions. The last thing they anticipated was that the woman with white wings would step in front of him authoritatively.

Her eyes picked out one man at the back of the crowd, and she smiled in as friendly a manner as she could muster.

"Prime Minister. Thank you for being so hospitable."

A man moved from the back of the crowd. He appeared to be in his mid-forties, with salt and pepper hair and a pair of smart glasses on his face.

His cool gray eyes were thoughtful, and well-meaning, but also quite inquisitive. It was clear that he had a great many questions.

"...Ah."

He suddenly reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

He crossed the rooftop in what felt like two steps to arrive in front of Malachi.

The Prime Minister held up his phone and switched on the camera, taking a selfie before Malachi knew what was happening.

He started to speak again, but upon remembering who he was talking to, he opted for a different approach.

*In English* "For my daughter. Big fan." He grinned.

Malachi had only been in Japan for a couple of seconds, but he started to think there was a large chance he would like it here.