And we, are, back.

After a weeks had passed after the battle against Kurome, things thankfully calmed down as all the people who were involved went back to their normal daily lives pretty quickly.

The entire event had been successfully kept under the ropes from the public and thankfully Alex managed to keep it a secret from his own mother who just got over it and went back to her normal life.

Overall times were peaceful though as usual Alex felt it wasn't gonna last long.

He just had that feeling nagging at him but he at least hoped that he'd get time to relax for himself.

It was bad enough that Akari kept teasing Alex about whether or not he did in fact bang Uni which he obviously kept denying.

Ironically over the weeks Uni and Alex hadn't seen each other as they had agreed to distance themselves away for a bit to let their intimate moment completely pass over as they felt it would've been awkward if they had immediately got together the day after.

While the two were distancing themselves they still obviously kept in contact vis texting a few times during the day.

Alex was currently walking down the sidewalk just minding his own business he remembered something Alex Õ had told him before he left.

'Messiah. Was he just spouting some cliche inspirational shit to me? He probably was. No way in hell I'm a savior of anything. I mean what kind of savior kills for a living?' He thought to himself.

Though he quickly just shrugged it off as nonsense and continued on his merry way.

Alex throughout the walk was chatting with Uni as the two traded messages back and forth.

Then suddenly, Alex felt he was being watched. As he turned to look, he swore that he saw something move out of the corner of his eye but once he was finally looking, there was nothing but people walking along going about their own days.

He looked back ahead and just sighed.

'I'm just imagining things.' He thought to himself as he continued to walk along though unknowingly he actually was being watched by a figure.

This figure didn't follow him though as it just watched him for a bit before leaving.

[TimeSkip]

It was dusk now and Alex was already back at his apartment sitting at the dining table as he and the other residents for waiting for Akari to finish cooking dinner as she was near completion and was adding the finishing touches.

As that was happening, Alex got a sudden question from Truth.

"Hey kid. You hear me?"

'Yeah I do. What is it?'

"Do you think your mom's hiding anything from you?"

Alex pondered Truth's question for a bit before immediately answering it.

'Aside from the fact she was alive instead of dead for the past 6 years instead of dead, then no. I don't think she's hiding anything.' Mentally said Alex to Truth.

"What makes you so sure she isn't?"

'What would Akari gain and or avoid from keeping a secret from me? Besides if she was keeping something hidden then I'm sure she would've said so by now.'

"Well then if that's you think then fine by me." Said Truth as he went quiet as Alex's vision returned back to reality as it turns out that little chat had lasted just long enough that dinner had been finished and was already on the table.

As everyone was eating, Alex couldn't help but wonder if his mother really was hiding something from him?

He clearly doubted it but it was something he just couldn't shake off.

Thing is if she was indeed hiding something then what would she hide?

If Alex knew Akari well, which he did, then he knew that his mom was a very open person and never really kept anything to herself.

In fact Akari had told Alex once that she actually enjoys talking about her past as it helped show people how she dealt with hardships throughout her life.

'If she really was hiding something, it probably be something super personal.' He thought.

He never brought it up though as Alex kept quiet as everyone enjoyed their dinner until they were all done and departed to their rooms leaving Alex at the couch watching tv and Akari washing dishes.

At first there was silence until Akari broke it.

"Is there something you wanna say? You had that look on youe face while we were eating dinner." She said.

"Nah it's nothing. Don't worry about it." He said.

There was another period of silence with the only sound being the sink running until it stopped.

"Alex. Can I ask you something?"

"Sure go ahead."

Akari took a while to respond.

"How, would you act........if you found out I was hiding something from you?" She asked.

Alex was caught off guard and genuinely wondered if she actually was hiding something but he immediately shrugged it off as just a hypothetical question.

"Well, at first I'd be confused and a little upset but naturally I'd calm down and ask why. So overall it wouldn't mind all that much."

As he finished his reply, he could've swore he heard Akari have a sigh of relief but he wasn't sure.

Though shortly afterwards Alex got a message sent to him and checked on it and saw that his Uncle Roy had sent Alex a message stating that he had received an assassination request.

Without wasting anytime Alex immediately put on his long black coat and went out.

[Later That Night]

It took a while as Alex was surprisingly rusty for once as with all the events he had been through had caused him to take a short break from assassination work.

Though while he was a bit rusty, he had successfully taken down his target with minor blood shed as it just barely splattered onto his coat.

As he was about to inform the contractor that the job had been finished, Alex heard clapping from nearby.

He immediately pulled his sword out and darted his eyed around to find the source of the clapping until his eyes laid upon a figure clapping in a tree with a cloak fully covering its body and a black cat mask on.

"Finally. We come into contact with one another." Said the figure.

The Bloodbound Arc: Start!

Chapter 22: End