Blessed by Night

One would think that with their history, the Saint family would be used to having their romantic moments interrupted by explosions.

And yet, when Malachi had to stop kissing Joanne because yet another person was on a murder spree, he was as upset as if it were the first time.

"...Do you think we're just magnets for trouble?"

Joanne scoffed as she wiped her lips. "Bit late to be asking that kind of thing now, don't you think? I'm already stuck with you."

Malachi was tempted to kiss her all over again.

He likely might have, but before he could do so, the rest of their group came running down the hall and the door to the Prime Minister's office was thrown open.

"We are under attack! It's one of those rebels!"

"We noticed." Joanne replied unusually coolly. "You should stay inside and let your men handle it."

"I don't believe my men will be enough! Only thirty superhumans number among my forces, but cameras from outside counted at least fifty!"

Malachi's brow furrowed.

Sei was apparently thinking the same thing as him. "So many..? Are you sure about that, Mr. Prime Minister?"

"Yes!" He nodded firmly. "Take a look!"

The Prime Minister handed over a tablet to the group. Everyone crammed together to take a peek.

Together, they counted the number of incoming hostiles and realized that the Prime Minister really hadn't made a mistake.

"You have to help us! They'll breach the building at this rate!"

Nadine and Sei started to step forward, but Anna discreetly held their hands to stop them.

The prime minister had made his request, but he couldn't understand why no one was moving. And the complicated look on Joanne's face really wasn't making him feel any better.

If he could only hear everything that was going on in her mind, he would know just how frustrated she really was.

This was the absolute last kind of situation that Joanne wanted to be in.

The Prime Minister's announcement of the enemies as 'Rebel' forces meant there was a regime struggle in progress. This opened up an entire can of worms.

If they decided to help the Prime Minister here, he would likely start expecting them to do so in the future. And he would point them towards any enemies he had as if they were his hunting hounds.

If they refused, then the prime minister, if he survived, would almost certainly refuse their request to stay in Japan and bring aid.

Then, there was the broader spectrum of things.

There was a chance that the U.S would honor its pre-existing allyship with Japan and ask them to help. Joanne estimated those odds to be around 60%.

However, there existed another possibility that, if the current U.S. leaders believed they could install a puppet government that would give the country great benefits, then they might order them to support the rebels instead.

And with one look at Malachi's face, Joanne knew that he had come to the same conclusion as her.

"...We had to run into something like this sooner or later."

Joanne laughed dryly. "I was hoping we'd at least get to do a little good first."

Another explosion shook the building. This one sounded dangerously like a breach.

The prime minister was beginning to sweat.

"What are we doing, boss?" Ezekiel asked with his hand on his holster.

A look passed between Malachi and Joanne. They started to open their mouths.

"I can do it. My price won't be cheap though." Serana suddenly said in English.

The duo turned to her with their brows arched.

""Price...?""

Serana held up her finger. "Pork katsu. A bowl the size of my head. I won't settle for anything less, and the terrible two-some can't have any."

""Serana.""

"Okay, they can have like a couple of bites, but they can't have enough to make them full! I turned my back the other day, and those rag-a-muffins ate all my damn chicken nuggets!"

""Serana.""

"And I'm serious about this, don't just give in and let them have what they want when they make their eyes all big again like you normally-"

""SERANA!""

"Okay, okay, fine."

Serana floated off the ground and flew towards the sound of the last explosion.

Feeling curious, the rest of the Saint family flew after her without bothering to hide their curiosity.

Even before they reached her, they heard the sounds of screaming.

It filled the halls of the building and reverberated off the walls.

When they finally arrived at the scene of the incident, nothing spectacular was happening.

Nevertheless, all of the rebels were turning tail and running.

They screamed loudly as they ran back to wherever they came from. Malachi knew his Japanese wasn't the best, but he could almost swear that the rebels said something about mutated talking pigs.

He told himself that he just needed more lessons with Sei and Luna. That was the only conclusion he could come to that made sense.

Shaking her head, Sei walked over to her daughter who was floating in mid-air.

A light pink aura was wafting off her skin. Sei didn't know if she had ever seen something make her quite so proud.

"What exactly are you showing them..?"

Serana looked over her shoulder. "I was kinda sleepy, so it's something of a crap-shoot mix. Some guys are seeing flying pigs, and others are seeing nuclear used condoms and giant gerbils."

Sei was now understandably less proud.

However it was brought about, the end result was that the rebel forces were fleeing of their own volition.

Even better, no one had to get hurt for this to come to pass.

Joanne was going to get Serana the biggest bowl of pork katsu that she could find.

"Capture them! Shoot them! Don't let anyone escape!"

The prime minister rushed past the Americans and began giving orders to his forces.

Joanne should have known that things weren't going to be so picture perfect on this trip.

But she didn't think that on her very first day in another country, she and her family would be watching a sea of people get shot in the back.