"The 5th Earth?" Archer asked.
"Yeah, we got here a few weeks ago. You got hit pretty badly by that energy bomb," Hina said while putting the paper away.
"Weeks? Oh, what about the others? Are they here with us?"
Hina hesitated to answer Archer, pausing with a worried expression.
"What? Did something happen to them?" Archer asked, concerned for the others.
"I'm not sure," Hina said, worry evident in her voice. "I don't know about the others, but..." Hina paused again, holding back tears.
"But what? What happened, Hina?" Archer asked with even more concern, noticing the distress on Hina's face.
"Hayate... Hayate's dead," Hina said, biting her bottom lip while squeezing her left arm.
"I lost connection with his soul," Hina said as tears streamed down her face.
"Lost connection with his soul? What happened?" Archer said as he sprang up from his bed.
"Hayate and I had a soul bond. Most members in the Code had one with another member, usually the person we go into hiding with. I was usually paired with Hayate, and now I can't sense him."
Archer, confused and clueless about how to handle the situation or calm Hina down, said, "Hayate's not dead. He's not that weak," trying to reassure her.
"Hayate's not dead? Then how else could our soul bond be severed?" Hina said, turning to Archer with tears rolling down her face.
"I-I dunno, maybe he cut it off so they couldn't use it to track you or something. I just know he can't be dead," Archer said in a desperate attempt to calm Hina.
"That's not how soul bonds work, Archer. Soul bonds can only be severed by the death of one of the people joint by the bond," Hina said.
Wiping her tears with her arm, Hina continued, "I know you're trying to reassure me, but don't worry about me. I'll get through this alone."
"I didn't know much about the guy, and I don't even know much about you, but if I was really a member of this Code before I lost my memory, I must've been close friends with him," Archer said, placing an arm on Hina's shoulder.
Hina brushed off his hand. "Archer, when you asked me for more details about your time in the Code and I said I told you all I knew, I wasn't lying."
"I'm just like you, Archer. I've lost memories too. When I joined the Code, you were already on a mission. I barely knew you or anyone from the group. Even now, I still didn't know Hayate all that well. I only knew him for a few months."
"But even so, I still feel these emotions—emotions of losing someone dear to me. It's almost like muscle memory."
"I don't remember them, but just the thought of them dying makes me so sad," Hina said.
"The boss told me one thing about you, though. He said you were always cold. I know you've felt it too—when your 'friends' in V.I.P.E.R. got wiped out before your eyes, you felt nothing, didn't you?" Hina said with pain in her eyes.
Flashbacks of the firing squad shooting down Celine, Kaito, and the other members of V.I.P.E.R. ran through Archer's mind. The feeling he experienced, unable to understand why he wasn't saddened by their deaths, the frustration of his inability to feel emotions like that.
"I don't know what kind of person I was before I lost my memory, but I don't want to be like him again, I want to be my own self," Archer told Hina.
Unmoved by his words, Hina walked to the bed Archer had been lying on. "I'm going to take a nap. You do whatever, I don't care."
"Alright, I'm going to check around. I'll be back later," Archer said as he left the room.
Hina lay down on the bed, facing sideways, crying silently in pain as Archer left.
—————————————
Meanwhile, back at V.I.P.E.R. headquarters, Itsuki was still recovering in a locked vault from the injuries he suffered in his battle against Hayate.
Though his injuries were more than just physical. Emotionally hurt, with his pride even more wounded, those pains were enough to overshadow the physical pain he was in.
"Itsuki, how are you doing?" Takumi said as he approached the door of the vault Itsuki was locked in.
"No response? That's cold. You still sad that I killed Hayate? Or are you mad that you lost like a pathetic kid to that pitiful being?" Takumi said, but again, there was no response from Itsuki.
"Still no response? I don't need to hear what you want to say anyways. I just came to tell you a lot has happened since you got put in this vault."
"I couldn't find Archer, so I'm assuming he's probably in another world. We still haven't found Kaito's body, but he's probably alive. We have been able to identify the missing body from Ryuto's faction. Her name was Celine—no surname or anything. She's known in Vegas as 'the Pretty Snake.'"
"The 'Big Boss' of the 10 Dragons Mafia in Vegas has started making a move. We don't know what he's planning, but it's something big," Takumi said, receiving no response from Itsuki.
As he was about to walk away, he paused. "Oh, I forgot to tell you this, Itsuki."
"Toma is dead."
Itsuki's eyes widened as he jumped to the vault's door in rage. "What did you do to him?" he said with bloodlust in his eyes.
"Chill your horses. I wasn't the one who did it, though I wish I was. It seems he was poisoned, though we don't know who did it. I'm going to be the new Commander of V.I.P.E.R. You should be happy for me," Takumi said, walking away from the door.
"Though, if you still want to let your anger out and meet Hayate, I'm still open to that fight you wanted, Itsuki," Takumi said, taunting Itsuki.
Itsuki sat back down in deep pain and silence. He was at an all-time low.