Disclaimer: I own nothing except for my OCs and the plots.

Warning: Slight AU, appearances of new OCs, violent.

Special thanks to Tsuna11644, Metta799 and a guest who left a supportive comment on my story. It keeps me motivated even with my slow updating, which I would like to apologize again.

The chirping birds gliding across the azure sky, the gentle flow of the stream, the soothing sound of rustling greens along with the comfortable breeze…

It was a luxury sight that could only be greedily be held from picture books and NORN.

Alisa sincerely thought so.

She had no idea how she got here, nor was she in any rush at all to find her way back to the dying world where she belonged. Awestruck by the lively nature of her surrounding, Alisa wants nothing more than to savour the tranquility and soothing peace this place brought her while it last.

And she did.

It may be a dream, but it was a dream everyone need to spare themselves a couple of hours from the brutal reality in order to keep on living in the living hell.

"If only I could show this scenery to the guys from my unit…" she thought, slowly began to make her first stride on the fresh land by walking the opposite flow of the stream.

Unlike the murky water polluted by chemicals at the Sunken Grid, the water here were very much crystal clear and alive. Unlike the dirty and stench soil at the Wailing Plain, the plants and soils emitted refreshing grassy scent and growing lavishly without foreign disturbance. The sizes of the trees were abnormally large, probably larger than any other trees before the appearances of the aragami. Rather than malicious aragami, she saw various little animals supposedly extinct from the Earth either scurrying about or leaping from tree to tree, occasionally snuck a quick peek at her before continues minding their own little business in search of food. It was a nice change, she thought again, able to see other living things hunts or search for food that did not consist of human flesh.

However, weren't those little animals appeared to be much more… larger than expected? That squirrel over that tree could be as large as her forearms.

Eventually, Alisa's light-hearted stroll came to a pause as she was greeted by the sight of a beautiful lake. And again, Alisa was speechlessly amazed, almost unable to resist the urge to jump into the clean water have a swim without Gboro-Gboro jumping out of nowhere. But as tempting and she thought, she reluctantly refrained herself from doing so and changed her mind into just dipping her legs into the cool water.

As she was about to remove her heeled boots, a sharp white figure caught her attention. It did not take long for Alisa to discern it was a woman leaning against a large tree facing the lake. Baffled at the sudden appearance of another person other than herself, Alisa curiously inched closer with the intention to get a better look at the seemingly napping woman. Once she closed the distance, Alisa quietly squatted down beside the woman, only to be taken aback.

The woman appeared to be in her mid or late twenties. She has silky, long brown hair in the length of a standing person, with few strands braided and set attractively by small hair ornaments. Soft hued lipstick that complements the healthy cream complexion as well as the woman's exquisite facial features. She wore a fine white kimono with bright red under layer kimono as a contrast with a gold coloured sash tied around her waist as completion of her traditional attire. The woman was able to put on such combination of colours elegantly without looking gaudy.

"Such beautiful woman…" Alisa couldn't it help and compliment out loud. But there's something oddly familiar about the woman she could not quite put a finger on. She was sure that she saw her somewhere but the vision disappeared like a swift wind before it could fully form in her mind. It was rather frustrating. Then again, there's something else bothering her as she stared at the sleeping woman before her.

Why was the woman wearing a Kimono? Alisa thought perplexedly. A very formal one at that. No one in the world she lived in would wear such heavy attires that affect immobility. Even if it was just a dream, to have a woman in kimono appearing in the fragment of her dreamland was unaccountable.

As Alisa was lost in her own thoughts, the corner of the woman's lips slowly curled into a faint, pleasant smile. Eventually, the woman raised her head and returned Alisa's direct gaze with her amethyst eyes, which nearly startle the latter out of her wits, "I-I'm so sorry! I know it is rude to stare!" feeling flustered and embarrassed at being caught staring rudely at the woman, Alisa anxiously flailed her hands and apologized. Yet, the woman merely chuckled softly and look at her. Or rather, looking beyond her, which plunged Alisa into another confusion. The woman's gaze made her felt like she was transparent, an object that could be see through like she was not in her field of visions.

"E-Erm…" Alisa felt almost too scared to ask, but she still did, "Can you see me?"

Then, the woman responded, "I can see you."

"Oh, good." Just when Alisa was about to sigh in relieve, the woman spoke, "That's enough of hiding and seek for today, don't you two think?"

"Huh? But I'm not hiding?" Alisa flabbergasted. And what did the woman mean by 'you two'?

Soon, Alisa heard stifled laughter and rush of pitter-patter sound of footsteps coming from her back. She instantly looked back and appalled when she saw two small figures dashed towards her. It was too late to even cry for them to stop, all she could do was to brace herself from the impacts. However, things took another unexpected turn as something much more appalling than being knocked over by two weights happened. The two kids ran passed her. No pain, no obstruct. They ran through her like she was thin air and crashed directly into the woman's embrace.

"Ouff!" The woman was tipped over and had her back landed on the soft grass bed with two laughing rascals in her arms.

Deeply shaken, Alisa made an attempt to try to make physical contact with one of the trios by reaching out to them with a shaky hand. And the result was the same. Her hand just penetrate one of the little boys like a hologram.

"What in the world…" Alisa muttered. Abruptly, she could hardly assume everything here in just a dream. Something was amiss. She somehow remembers what this experience was. The sensation of experiencing a person's past whilst at the same time being just a spectator.

"Zaki, Sugi, heavy." Said the woman, trying to pry the two boys off from her.

Zaki and Sugi? Perplexed, Alisa immediately scoots closer to get a better look at the two mischief boys.

At first glance, the two was indeed twins. The longer Alisa looked, the more she began to able to trace the resemblance of the two little boys and the recent two new recruits who joined the 1st Unit.

"Kanzaki and Kansugi?!" Alisa exclaimed, not that anyone could hear her at the point, not that she cared. What confused her at the most at the moment was that she was experiencing Resonance with one of the twins. But how? She did not recall ever exchange conversation, let alone made a single contact with them to trigger this phenomenon at all. How on earth did she end up her experiencing their past?

Then again, how did she know this phenomenon was called Resonance? Had she ever experience one with someone else? Who?

All the contradiction was gradually made her head throbbed unpleasantly. Her mind would go blank when a figure of a girl emerge in her memories. It was frustrating that she could not remember who it was. The sensation was like someone purposely hacked in her mind, blocking her access to her own memories.

Release her hands from clenching her head, Alisa took a deep breath to calm herself down. She had no idea how to put the Resonance to a halt, then she might as well see how the thing goes. On the other hand, Kanzaki and Kansugi themselves were a mystery. There's not much known about them and Tsubaki had been on edge since it was a risk for people with unknown identities had an access to the God Arcs. Dr. Sakaki may be cool about it, but the Far East Branch were attracting too many doubts in the terms of the loyalty of the staffs as well as the questionable objectives from the higher-ups.

Since she's here, she could at least take a look at their past and determines if the twins can be trusted. Made up her mind, Alisa geared her attention towards the giggling trios.

'Could this woman be their mother?' Alisa conjectured.

"Phew!" the woman exhaled as she forced herself back up into sitting position when the two mischievous bundles refuse to budge an inch, "So tell me, where had you two ventured to and come back with all these access excitement?"

"Not telling you." Said one of the twins in earth-toned kimono tied with a dark brown sash. His expression of excitement was calmer compared to his counterpart, so Alisa could immediately tell that he was Kanzaki.

"A secret?" the woman raised a delicate eyebrow, curiosity was obviously aroused.

"Yup, it's a secret you have to wait!" another twin, who was Kansugi, wearing dark green kimono tied with a light brown sash, sang with a cheerful tone.

"Oh…" the woman feigned a disappointed look on her face.

"Disappointed?" Kansugi asked.

"Yea."

"Curious?" Kanzaki asked.

"Of course."

"Want to know?" Kansugi asked.

Knowing the two boys were getting defenceless, the woman beamed as she tricked them into spilling the beans, leaning in close as if she had gained the permission to get a snippet of their little secret, "So…what's the secret?"

Overwhelmed by excitement, Kanzaki apparently forgot to put the brakes on his own lips, "We are growing a garden of tul-"

"Zaki, you're not supposed to tell her yet!" Kansugi cried before turning his nervous gaze back to the woman, "Y-You didn't hear anything right?"

"Hm?" The woman pretentiously tilted her head a little to aside to appear ignorant of that little secret.

"About what Zaki just said, you didn't hear a thing right?" Kansugi stammered, nervously clutching his little hands on the woman's kimono with Kanzaki silently did the same.

"Ah, about that, I was sidetracked by the sudden gust of the wind that I might have missed what you said," There's obviously no such thing, but she knew the twins were to panic to notice her little white lie , "Would you mind repeat it again?"

"N-Nothing! Nothing at all!" Kanzaki immediately denied, albeit a little too forceful.

As a spectator, Alisa could not help it but infected by the warm exchanges of the trio, 'They seemed so close. The twins must really love her.' Alisa thought.

As she watched the trio interacts, other uncertainty continued to gnaw on her, soundlessly hinting her everything about the trio and the vast nature of her surrounding did not match up. The trio was certainly speaking in Japanese, but it was in a dialect she had never heard of from anyone in the Far East Branch. They were dressed in kimonos, which no one would wear as a casual attire for outings before the appearance of the aragami, even those who came from affluent family. Moreover, According to the NORN, it stated that the earth was running low in resources for decades after all those deforestations and there's barely any trees larger than what she saw here left in nature even before the outbreak of the aragami.

If Kanzaki and Kansugi were only in their twenties in the reality, then who could explain to her what she was seeing at the moment? If what she was seeing were true, the only valid explanation would be that the twins were actually more than a century old.

While Alisa was brain-fried by her own conclusion, a nervous cry of a child startled her out of her trance, "Stop squirming! You're gonna mess up my balancing!"

"I'm squirming because you're losing your balance!" another child's voice retorted in panic.

Along with the trio, Alisa's attention was as well attracted by the source of the two voices. If the trio's reactions were a merely plain surprise, then Alisa's reaction would be utterly horrified.

'What in aragami's name are those two?!' Alisa thought incredulously as her eyes fixated on the incoming humanoid lifeform on the sky.

"Ah, it's Chikage and Seika," Kanzaki remarked.

"Chikage, slowdown! You're gonna run yourself into the tree!" Kansugi urged panickily.

"I-I can't!" replied the raven haired boy, tiny black wings flapping vehemently on his back. The red-haired boy who he had been holding on with both hands, unable to take the stress, screamed as he was losing his grip on Chikage's hands, "M-Masakaki, help!"

Deeply affected by the tension, Alisa couldn't help but exclaimed at the woman in distress at the sight even though none of them could hear what she said, "Don't just stand there! Do something! They're gonna get badly hurt!"

As the duo was about to crash into the tree, the woman, Masakaki, stretched out her hand, pointed her index and middle fingers at the duo's direction, with a voice as tranquil as the quiet lake, she chanted, "Halt!"

In a flash, a swirl of white, glowing symbols appeared right between the giant tree and the duo, gently pushed Chikage away from the tree, saving the two kids from hurting themselves. The ancient symbols disappeared as swiftly as it appeared, pulled back her outstretched hand, Masakaki jogged up and caught the falling two children in her arms just in time.

'W-What was that?' Alisa was bewildered, staring at where the strange white symbols had once appeared out of the thin air before moving her gaze back to the woman.

"I'm alive…" Uttered the red-haired boy weakly, who had two tiny white horns grew from his forehead, slumped limply onto the woman, a tiny droplet of tears still welling up in his golden hued eyes from the shock. Chikage, on the other hand, was trying hard to struggling struggle out of the woman's arm, "P-Put me down, Masakaki! This is embarrassing!"

"It's either Grandaunt Masakaki or Aunt Masakaki for you two, little daredevils." Masakaki half-heartedly chastised as she softly set them down on the grassy ground, "I'm after all, much older than your grandparents."

'O-Older than their grandparents?! Just how old are you?!' too much outlandishness happened had happened within the span of 30 minutes, Alisa felt that her body could no longer keep up with the stress of her mind. 'B-But what about Kanzaki and Kansugi? They are about the other two kids' age, and addresses you by your nickname, and you are totally chill with it! Then how old does that make Kanzaki and Kansugi?!' Agitated, she warily eyed the raven-haired boy in indigo kimono who has a pair of little black wings flutters to shake off leaves and twigs that stuck between the feathers, then, the red-haired boy in maroon coloured kimono who has horns sprout out of his forehead, stumble all over to regain balance.

"Chikage, at least say thank you to Maki for saving you two." Kanzaki prompted.

"Don't wanna." Chikage pout, fixed his gazed on his feet, refusing to meet Masakaki's eyes.

"Seika, are you okay?" Kansugi anxiously asked as the red-haired little ogre suddenly dropped himself entirely on the ground, as limp as a seaweed.

"Land! Solid land! I am never leaving more than three inches away from you ever again!" Seika cried in comfort as he practically laying himself face down on the lush grass.

"You're being over exaggerating!" Chikage protested face beet red from embarrassment.

"I won't be if it weren't because of you!" Seika retorted, "I was minding my own business by the pond and you just came out of nowhere, hoisted me up and join you along with your lousy flying skill!"

"My flying skill is not lousy! It's just that I'm still not good at controlling my wings!"

"That's basically the same thing! Just admit it, Chikage. Even a woodcock flies better than you!"

"You did not just compare me with the slowest flying bird of the land!"

"Alright, you two, pipe down." Sighing, Masakaki squatted down and proceed to pluck out the leaves and twigs that stuck in the boys' hair and straighten up their dishevelled clothes. Then, she pulled out a soft yellow handkerchief from her sleeve pocket, wiping dirt and mud off their face.

Kansugi can't help it but chortled, "You two looks like you have been caught in a hurricane!"

"Close enough…" Seika respond feebly, feeling too pathetic to even argue.

"Good thing that you didn't get yourself stranded on the on a tree, again," Kanzaki said bluntly.

"Shut up, you!" Chikage shot the older twin a glare.

Alisa quietly looks at the four kids bantering from the side, although she still could not able to comprehend all the things that should only appear in a folklore or fairy tales occurring before her eyes, it was undeniable that these kids were beautiful.

"So," Masakaki spoke, interrupted just in time before the playful bantering escalated into a brawl, running her finger through Chikage's tousled dark strands and tied it back into a loose ponytail with an indigo hair tie, "Why are you two doing out here all alone?"

"We're out here to play, of course!" Seika gleefully responded.

"Did Chitose or Seiran knows about your little trip out here?"

"… No." Chikage didn't even put up an effort to lie, more like he didn't feel like to lie to the woman, "Grandpa don't know."

"My grandma doesn't know about it either," Seika admitted honestly, feeling a little guilty as he fixes his gaze on his feet, "We both sort of snuck out from our home without telling anyone."

Obviously being reminded of something unpleasant, the two kids' mood turned gloom in the matter of second.

"It feels uncomfortable to be in the house lately." Chikage explained himself further sulkily, "Grandpa has been mad about father for something, and they always arguing in the house. There's a few times father's subordinate would come back covering in blood, and they won't tell whose blood those belonged to even when Grandpa asked, but it was already obvious that it was humans' blood. Few times after that, most of the younger Tengu were separated from parents and we are not allowed to play outside ever since. Same goes to Seika's home."

'Humans' blood?!' Alisa appalled, 'so they killed humans?!'

"There has been a lot of complaints and grudges in my house, saying that Grandma no longer suitable to be in charge of the Oni clan because she's a female and can't make tough decisions." Seika pout at the displeasure of his grandmother being insulted, "All the adults were all so angry every day and would always pick a fight wherever they go, then would come back with all those blood and wounds. Grandma was so upset and would start scolding them, then everything turned into a fight. There're a few times some kids were accidentally caught in crossfires and gotten injured, so Grandma has us all separated from the adults and settle us at a different building for the time being."

"So long story short, you two ran away from home," Masakaki concluded, and the two little runaways duck their head down.

'You make it sound like these two boys should stay home like they were told! Of course, it's normal for them to run away! Their family is a house of psychopaths!' Alisa exclaimed with utter frustration, practically jumping on her legs.

The woman frowned, seemingly ponder over the issue that the boys were facing with a stern face, and then, she turn her gaze towards the twins beside her the whole time, "I hope you two won't mind sharing rooms with this two little guests for a couple of days?" The said two little guests' eyes practically glittering with hope at that, obviously overjoyed that they were not immediately sent straight home like they had both assumed.

"I don't mind." Kansugi cheerfully responded.

"Me neither." Kanzaki answered, then paused for a second before rephrasing bluntly, "They can have our room, Sugi and I will share your room."

"…"

'Never would've pegged Kanzaki for an opportunist.' Alisa stared speechlessly at the boy's straightforward declaration. Though she had never interact much with the twins much in the Den, but she had always assumed the older twin was a total straight-lace. Not that he was grumpy or angry like Soma, but she basically saw the guy done nothing but training, mission, eating and shut himself in the room. Then again, his younger counterpart was no better except that Kansugi was more approachable, just for the sake of being polite.

"Kanzaki, has anyone ever told you that you're a closet lecher?" Chikage whispered, assumed his words could be heard only by Kanzaki, but Alisa heard it crystal clear and she was sure the woman did too, as the woman's brow twitched with disapproval.

"Yes." Unfazed by the insult, Kanzaki responded without hesitation, failing to notice another twitch on the woman's eyebrow.

"Who?"

"You." Kanzaki replied with a straight face, "You just did."

Chikage almost choked on his own spit, "At least try to deny it! Do you even know what lecher mean?"

"I know that it is a form of insult." Kanzaki calmly retorted.

"It is?!" Kansugi exclaimed quietly, "Chikage, that's very mean!"

"Grandma said all males are naturally perverted, so I guess it's not an insult?" Seika was trying to assure the distressed younger twin, but his attempt was not very helpful.

'Oh my god, what has your grandmother been feeding your brain, little boy?!' Alisa wanted to scream, 'and I bet not even you know what pervert mean! It's definitely an insult!'

"Oh? Seiran told you that?" Masakaki cut in suddenly.

"Yea and grandma always say, guys, are naturally perverted two-timers, if you fuss too much about that, you'll never get married and stay a virgin." Seika quickly answers without reservation, then tilted his head in confusion, "I don't really understand, but, it sounds like being a virgin is a bad thing."

'No! You understand meaning of the whole sentence entirely in the opposite and wrong way!' Alisa felt like crying as she was unable to deliver her words to them.

"Grandpa said the same thing." Chikage agreed, didn't even bothered to hide the conversation from the woman anymore and said, "He said if you keep chasing every lecher and pervert away because you found them cheating a little on you, you'll never get married and be a virgin forever."

'Cheating is bad, to begin with, she has done no wrong to turn those two-timer perverts down! Don't listen to your grandfather's twisted explanation!' Alisa was starting to feel sorry for the woman.

"Is it true, Maki?" Kansugi asked warily.

"You'll attract some sort of incurable disease called virgin if you don't get married soon?" Kanzaki immediately jumped into conclusion that the term 'virgin' was an ailment.

'None of these kids are on the right track!' Alisa totally fed up as none of them were sharing the same wavelength of the conversation.

"I am totally going to have a really nice, long, rational chat with Chitose and Seiran about this." Masakaki smiled gently, though the gentleness did not reach her eyes, "Those words you four little imps just sprouting are impolite and rude words that are not allowed to be spoken aloud in front of anyone. Unless you want to be spank by other female deities or being squished by some male deities who feel insulted, four of you better not going around at saying those words. Am I clear?"

'What do the deities has anything to do with this?' Alisa lamented.

Children are naturally sensitive to adults' emotion, hence, the four kids knew that if they don't comply, the woman before them would be the one who spank them on their butt on the spot. So they nervously, vehemently nodded their heads simultaneously in order to prevent that.

"Good boy." Masakaki praised pleasingly.

"My grandma and your grandpa are in big trouble. Should we run back and warn them about the incoming nag?" Seika expressed with quail, which Chikage instantly shushed him, "Seika, shh! You're gonna get us spanked!"

Just when Masakaki was about to nag the two little one instead, strings of angry shouts from the forest. Words were incoherent due to the distance, but it was enough to set kids into a panic frenzy, especially the young crow-goblin and little ogre, clinging on to the woman for morale support.

'What was that?' Alisa tried to peer into the forest, but to no avail. She could've just gone on and check things out on her own, but there's still so much she wanted to find out about the woman and the twins, as well as the two weird kids, prevented her from doing just that.

"Did the adults found out that I ran away from home?" Chikage stammered.

"They sound so mad." Seika clutched on Masakaki's sleeve timidly.

The two kids were trembling like two newborn fawns, yet the woman said nothing but sharply gazed to the direction where the angry voices came from. The warm and gentle air around the woman was replaced by stifling sternness.

Eventually, the woman called out a name, "Shinobu."

"Who?" baffled, Alisa blurted. But her question was soon answered by a new large presence that suddenly appeared right next to her, unquestionably had the Russian God Eater jumped away from her spot alarmingly. It was a blue eyed black wolf, appeared out of thin air. Unlike any scrawny wolf Alisa had seen from NORN, this black wolf has thicker and muscular four limbs with sharp claws digging into the soil. Dense fur that capes around its neck and back made the wolf looked formidable. It was as large as an Ogretail, or even slightly larger than that.

"You called?"

'And it talks!' at that point, Alisa should have gotten used to every oddity that had occurred since from the beginning, but she just couldn't help herself. It was hard enough to comprehend the background of Kanzaki and Kansugi, the boys with extra appendages from dangerous families, and a mysterious woman with questionable age and origin. With an oversized talking wolf in the mix, it felt like everything Alisa knew or learned about the era before the invasion of the aragami were a lie.

But, she couldn't deny the feeling that she had seen this wolf before.

"I want you to take them to our home and stay with them until I get back," Masakaki said and urged the four kids towards the black wolf.

Apparently familiar with the wolf, Kanzaki and Kansugi climbed up onto its back without hesitation, but the other two showed some hesitations as the wolf gazed at them steadily.

"Not that I have anything against this two kids, I'm rather worried about your circumstance." The wolf spoke in a man's voice as made a small stride towards Masakaki, razor sharp fangs were flashing at the movement of its muzzle, "The relation between Takamagahara (1) and both Tengu and Oni clan are straining, keeping these two in your house would have the other deities questions your intention."

'Takamagahara?' Alisa thought with her face paled, 'As in the dwelling place for Shinto deities? They exist?'

"The kids' safety comes first, Shinobu." Masakaki said as she pick up the two kids and placed them securely of the wolf's back, "And it isn't the first time my opinions and values are at war with theirs. It's not that their wrong either, just that the both sides has different priorities." Once she made sure that the kids were secure, she stroke the wolf's muzzle to ease his nerves, "I'll come back as soon as I'm done inspecting." The wolf said nothing else but his droopy ears expressed it all. He lightly nudged the woman's head with his muzzle, "Just in case, seek aid from Lady Benten (2) if should anything happens while I'm away."

"As for the four of you, be good and listen to Shinobu, Okay?" Masakaki exhorted the kids before striding towards the forest, leaving the four boys in the wolf's care. Casting one last look at the sulking boys, Alisa hurriedly keep up with the woman's pace.

1. Takamagahara (the Plain of High Heaven) is the dwelling place of the Shinto gods.

2. Goddess Benzaiten, short for Benten is the Japanese/ Buddhist goddess of love, beauty, eloquence, wisdom, arts and music, knowledge, good fortune, and water. She is the protectress of children and the patroness of geishas, dancers, and musicians. Her husband was a wicked dragon whom She reformed, and She is often shown riding one. Dragons and their smaller relatives, snakes, are sacred to Her and snakes are often Her messengers. She is said to prevent earthquakes and is worshipped on islands, especially the island of Enoshima. Benten is originally of Hindu origin and is associated with Sarasvati, the Indian goddess of music and wisdom, and is sometimes shown with eight arms.

A/N: Hey guys, finally done with the first part of chapter 11, which is a pain to write! I was trying to write Alisa as a spectator in the memory of a certain someone, and I had to admit that I did not do a great job in it. The flow of this chapter was stiff and whenever I re-read after every single paragraph I wrote, I would be like, "Oh no! I forgotten about Alisa, again!" and so on.

So I would like reviews about this chapter to know what the readers think.