《Black Rock》 Prologue Everyone dies the same way when they¡¯re all under the same sun. Me and you, we¡¯ll both be under that sun someday. And when that day arrives, as they all come in their droves,If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. know this, a wheat field shall still remain. Yes. We shall yearn forevermore, as we dig upon the core. Everyone dies the same way when they¡¯re all under the same sun. Consumed by a sight repeated thousands of times. And when we finally break free of that spell, we shall know forevermore. We shall dig upon the core. We shall dig upon the core Chapter 1: Sweat Dreams "This¡­ doesn''t feel right. This isn''t my room. Where am I?" The last thing I remember was passing out watching TV. No, this isn''t my bedroom, I knew that much. I felt a slight breeze looming over my shoulder as I sat on the coldish-warmish ground. There was no sign of life. What I was viewing seemed to be almost like something out of the apocalypse, or to be more precise, the aftermath of an apocalypse. It''s so strange, I could feel everything, this was no dream, but I couldn''t move, not even an inch. All the muscles in my body wouldn''t move, all I could see was what was straight ahead of me. "Wait a second, my eyes, I can move my eyes." After this revelation, I looked around for anything that looked familiar. I tried my best to look right behind me the best I could, it strained my eyes to the point where I got a headache. With my limited field of view, I could make out what appeared to be a house, although I couldn''t be completely sure. I looked back in front of me. The sky was a blend between red and orange with a few grey clouds in the sky, but that wasn''t the only thing that caught my attention. A silhouette of a female figure caught my glimpse from about twenty meters away. I was completely transfixed. She had short, pure black hair that swayed from side to side in the wind. If I was dumb enough, I would''ve immediately fallen in love. But of course, not all things are as they seem, for what I saw next I would describe as the opposite of love, only fear. An unholy abomination of giant, black wings began to sprout out of her back as she ascended into the air, her wings hitting against the wind as she flew above me. All I could do was watch this unholy, winged beast as she angelically grasped the wind in her feathers as she flew right above of me. As I stared at her, she stared right back into me, both exchanging a sudden, final glance at each other. My limbs slowly started to regain their movement, as I slowly regained consciousness, and all my senses came back to me, I woke up, completely sick with a horrible headache, sweat dripping down my face, not on my bed, but on the floor. Coughing up blood, I attempted to steady my breathing. I attempted to turn my alarm clock off, missing and hitting my hand, hard and painfully, on my desk. I screamed out in pain. Feeling completely pathetic, but optimistic, I tried hitting it again and hit the snooze button, success. It was a cold June morning. Way too cold for June. It was like the seasons had been rearranged. "Yuuki! Are you awake yet? I''m just going out, I''ve left your breakfast on the table in the kitchen, just come and get it when you''re ready." "O-okay." "So, it was a dream?" I was still on the floor, immobile. I hadn''t moved for, I shit you not, at least for the past half an hour. "I can''t keep living like this." Almost like instinct, I jumped up off the floor, got changed, brushed my teeth, shaved my lacklustre, almost non-existent beard. Fuck yes. My fatigue was finally disappearing, and I felt kinda awake, no that would be an understatement, I felt alive, for the first time in the last few months, I felt like I could move on my own. Hell yeah, maybe this is just temporary energy, but goddamn, I''d be a fool not to take advantage of it. "Wait a minute." I realized that for the last 30 minutes, my stupid fucking brain didn''t realize that I had wasted the last 30 minutes. I had been on the floor feeling sorry for myself that I didn''t even realize the time. "Goddamn it!" It''s Monday today, a school day. "Well, nothing you can do about it." I stomped downstairs and walked into the kitchen with a solemn look on my face. I sat down at the table and ate the now cold toast my mother left for me on the countertop. The kitchen was silent, something that I''m used to by now since my mom is always in work and my sister is in college and only comes around for Christmas and summer break to see her friends from her old high school. "Maybe I should get going after all." "Besides, if I don''t, a failing grade isn''t going to be the only thing haunting my dreams for the next month." Picking up my keys, I hit the top of the door handle, opening the door. I was still recalling my dream which I amazingly hadn''t forgotten. "Was it a dream?" That, unfortunately, is still something I can''t answer with 100% certainty, it just felt so real. Call me crazy, but I remember everything about that dream, no detail left unchecked, from the rocky, sandy texture of the ground, to the red orangey sunset. "Or was it a sunrise?" Little droplets of rain started to fall onto the pavement, eventually turning into a full-on thunderstorm, and then there was me, with no umbrella, and some cheap coat I bought from some off-brand clothing store. There is always this old farmhouse I walk past to get to school, it had been abandoned for years, last time I actually saw animals on it was five years ago, and now, well¡­ all that remains are the empty carcasses of the cows, sheep and pig that once used to eat off the grass, now are buried in it, a part of it. Over in the distance, I saw a figure. Maybe it was me just being paranoid but what could only be described as a black silhouette figure stood straight up. If it was a scarecrow, it had been doing a great job at scaring the crows away, because, despite the massive circle of crows surrounding the figure, not one dared to approach it. "I''m becoming tired again." "Damnit, now''s not the time for keen observation." I ran, as fast as I could, something I didn''t think I''d be doing at half 8 in the morning, but hey, you do lots of things that you wouldn''t have done in the past. The time? 8:40. "Hell yes, got there on time and have five minutes to spare." My physical and mental state? Absolute shite. It felt like I''d ran a marathon through a downpour, oh wait, I did. I opened the door to class 1-D and I gave the usual greeting to an old friend of mine, Natsuki. I''ve known him since elementary school, we used to always give each other grief, but nowadays, it''s just the friendly hello and goodbye. We sometimes hang out after school but it''s only on occasion. Natsuki is like that one friend you''ve known for most of your life, but as you grew older, you both slowly drifted apart. It''s not like you both don''t talk to each other anymore, only less. I guess the right way to describe my relationship with Natsuki is, peaceful, so I try to maintain that peace to the best of my ability, because he''s the only friend I have. That and I kinda enjoy having his company around on the weekends. "Yo." "Yo, Yuuki! Big news!" Natsuki had a wide smile on his face, like a dog and its owner telling it if it wants to go for a walk, of course, without the tongue sticking out and the saliva dripping from the mouth. "Wait, what happened to you?" he pointed at my soaked blazer and wet hair. "I woke up on the wrong side of the bed." That was a lie, I didn''t even wake up in my bed. "Seriously? Have you tried taking pain pil-wait, back on topic." "Oh, very subtle." "Okay, so apparently, now, I have very classified intel that I may or may not have gotten from listening in on the teacher''s conversations whilst walking to class. As it turns out, we have a transfer student coming into our class." "I mean, it isn''t a Monday morning if you''re not trying to piss off the teachers, is it?" "Look, that''s beside the point, she''s coming into our class, and the only free spot is next to who? Care to guess?" He said with this sarcastic, talk-show host accent. "M-me?" "Bingo!" ¡°N-no¡­ I-I meant are you talking to me, idiot¡­¡±Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°Don¡¯t get ahead of yourself though.¡± Natsuki had a semi-serious tone to him. ¡°I was in the staff room this morning too, getting lectured about, something¡­ I can¡¯t remember, but, her name was mentioned, I was looking over to the principle at the time and, he had this scared look in his face, it was like he had seen a ghost. Whenever her name was mentioned his face turned pale.¡± ¡°How does this relate to, anything¡­¡± ¡°Well, what if she was a delinquent in her old school? I mean, think about it, transferring in only three months after the school year started?¡± ¡°Well, yeah I guess you do have a point. But it seems like a bit of an overreaction, I think. You¡¯re sure you¡¯re not making that last part up?¡± ¡°I swear.¡± "Anyway, why would I care? since when have you seen me talk to girls? I can barely make idle conversation with you sometimes¡­" The bell had singed, the teacher had ordered everyone to sit down and be quiet. I sat at my desk, looked around the classroom, no sign of any transfer student. "Why do I even care?" "Good morning class. With this unexpected weather we''re having, I''m glad you could all make it here today." I wasn''t even listening; in my head I was counting the amount strokes each character of kanji had on the chalkboard. And if I wasn¡¯t doing that, I was clicking my pen. A girl walked into the classroom; I adjusted my gaze towards the front of the classroom. A girl, around 5 foot 3, short black hair and red eyes, entered my field of vision. The footsteps grew closer and more audible. My hands at this point, were shaking. It was uncanny, just how similar she was to the figure in my dream. "Dream? I''m not even sure that it was a dream at this point. Would a dream- no, could a dream have me woken up with sweat dripping from every part of my face like that?" I could only describe this situation as scary. My chest felt like it was going to cave in, despite the scenario being just another school day to a regular bystander, yet here I was trying to make it look like I wasn''t going to have a heart attack in the middle of class. She introduced herself as Aika Yamaguchi, despite her foreign background. She walked down the right side of the classroom and sat down next to me. I kept my eyes to the front of the classroom, avoiding any kind of eye contact. And even if she wasn''t looking at me, I felt like I was being watched. I wish I could say that I put the entire ordeal out of mind for the lesson like I do with most things, but I just couldn¡¯t. Although it did give me something to do besides blankly staring at the chalkboard for God knows however long I¡¯m in that room for. ¡°Let¡¯s say that she is the figure I saw in my dreams, what would that even mean? That she can somehow enter my dreams? Maybe I had seen her somewhere else before? It¡¯s the only logical explanation.¡± I was just grasping at straws, trying to keep peace of mind. However, that was becoming increasingly harder throughout the lecture. Because at the end of the day, when all is said and done, trying to pass that off as a ¡®dream¡¯, isn¡¯t working anymore. My mind was in a mess as reality conflicts with common sense. Two things that should really be on the same side. It was already lunch. The lesson dragged. My mind was not at ease, and everyone was out of their seats roaming the campus. Sitting idly by hasn¡¯t worked before. I have to act because now that person was leaving the classroom. In times like these, you don¡¯t really know what you¡¯re doing, your body just moves on its own, and I was following a classmate of mine who I suspect to be hijacking my dreams. What kind of sick joke is this? I followed her up a flight of stairs, bumping into everyone on my way. ¡°I wonder where she¡¯s going. If it¡¯s to the roof she¡¯d be a bit disappointed to find that it¡¯s usually locked¡± I kept a safe distance. ¡°I could probably blend in with the crowd.¡± It did look like she was going to the roof, that¡¯s where the last flight of stairs led to. I had fewer people to shelter my face with, so I was basically hiding around corners at this point. She opened the door which I was certain would be locked. I wish I hadn¡¯t had followed her now because as soon as she opened that door¡­ Rain. Rain soaked me from head to toe. Some part of me now was regretting following this girl all the way up here. There I saw her. She was overlooking the entire school as the rain, wind and thunder almost knocked me off my feet. She looked at her hand which was soaked with water, her mouth was moving but all the words where inaudible. ¡°Huh? I can¡¯t hear you.¡± My face was cold, extremely cold. It was to the point where I was angry. I honestly felt like screaming out, not at anyone in particular, but just because of how goddamn cold I was. ¡°What¡¯s she going on about? I¡¯m surprised she can stand there in this weather and not get knocked over.¡± I shouted ¡°Hey!¡± to get the attention of the mystery girl, miserably failing with a sad voice crack. Memories flooded back to junior-high rollcall. ¡°I hate myself.¡± Some seconds passed between me shamefully shouting at the mystery girl as we continued to stare at each other, each second becoming longer than the previous. ¡°Just¡­ Who are you?¡± ¡°Who am I?¡± She asked. ¡°I thought you already knew.¡± ¡°Your red eyes.¡± ¡°Why do you have red eyes? That¡¯s, that¡¯s not a natural pigment, how did you get those red eyes?¡± God the words I where saying sounded so demanding but my voice just didn¡¯t seem to work well with my words, because, to put it bluntly, I can¡¯t even make a simple sentence without stumbling through my words. ¡°My red eyes, you say?¡± She stretched out her eyelid with her thumb and index finger. ¡°I don¡¯t know, it¡¯s just how I am. Why, are my red eyes not normal?¡± She asked with a raised eyebrow. ¡°Well, I wouldn¡¯t necessarily call them normal, no.¡± As if from some stroke of luck, the rain came down heavier, the thunder growing ever louder, and here I was stood outside in it. Well, I guess I¡¯m not the only idiot here. ¡°Well, this was nice, but frankly, if I stay out here for a second longer, I might actually enjoy myself, so I¡¯m heading back in.¡± I opened the door and shut it behind me. Wait. Why isn¡¯t she coming in? Are you kidding me right now. ¡°Oi, are you coming in or what?¡± I waved my arm at her, inviting her back into the building. She soon followed after me. The two of us stood next to the door which separated the inside from the outside and leaned our backs against the dry, concrete walls. I took off my blazer and began to rinse out the water that had gathered inside of it, Aika, doing the same. ¡°So, your name¡¯s Yamaguchi, is it? Aika Yamaguchi?¡± ¡°Yes, and yours is Yuuki Hayashida, I believe.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± I leaned my back further into the wall, and slid down to the floor, leaving a sizeable wet patch on the wall. I put my palm up to my face. Aika glanced over to me; observing my distressed face. ¡°Why the long face?¡± She said. It was such a badly timed joke, and honestly, not that funny. And with such a serious look in her face whilst saying it, a bit scary. ¡°Why do you think?¡± ¡°I got caught up in the rain this morning and here I am again.¡± ¡°D¨¦j¨¤ vu?¡± She asked. ¡°Well you¡¯re not off the mark with that one.¡± It truly felt like this entire day had happened before, several times. ¡°Rain in June, huh? I never thought we would get weather like this. Usually the weather correlates with the seasons. Well ain''t that funny.¡± ¡°Well, rainfall in the middle of June is pretty odd, but I don¡¯t see how it¡¯s funny.¡± I gave her a blank expression. ¡°What¡¯s up with you? You haven¡¯t spoken to anyone in our class.¡± Not that I can blame her, she must¡¯ve been like me, all the way since elementary school. I reached into my blazer pocket and got out a turn piece of paper and wrote some numbers on it. I don¡¯t know if it was pity or not, but she was kind of interesting, so¡­ ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°A cell phone number¡± ¡°Woh, hold on a minute, where did all this confidence come from all a sudden? I just realized that I was actually talking to a girl, and now I¡¯m giving out my number? Well done, Yuuki!¡± I¡¯m not gonna lie to myself though, she¡¯s probably the only person outside of my family that I¡¯ve been able to talk normally. Hell, even Natsuki and I don¡¯t talk like this. ¡°I don¡¯t have a cell phone.¡± And with those words, from where I stood on cloud nine, suddenly, I was forcefully dragged back down to hell, made to face reality. ¡°Of course, she doesn¡¯t have a phone number, what am I, stupid? I should¡¯ve seen this coming. I mean, look at her, she¡¯s not really the type of person who would have friends to talk to over the pho- no¡­ wait a minute, she probably does have a phone and she¡¯s just sparing me feelings, I swear if she¡¯s just taking pity on me I¡¯ll-¡° ¡°I have a house phone, though.¡± ¡°Oh. I see. So, will that work for you then?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I am a complete, and utter fool.¡± I gave her an extra piece of paper that had been in my blazer pocket for weeks so that she could write down her number. We made our way back down the stairs, I took notice of a radiator, not knowing whether it was on or not, I quickly jabbed it with my finger. ¡°Hey, come here for a second.¡± Aika¡¯s ear twitched with curiosity as she followed me back up the stairs. ¡°This radiator¡¯s on, we could probably dry off our blazers faster this way.¡± We both agreed, placing our blazers and our backs towards the warm radiator, any hotter though and it would¡¯ve left a burn on my back. From where I sat laid a peaceful silence shared between the both of us. ¡°So, Yamaguchi, why¡¯d you transfer over here? I mean, you seem like the academic type, and this place is meant for underachievers, like yours truly.¡± She pondered that question for a few seconds, and her response was, ¡°It¡¯s closer to home than my last school.¡± ¡°Oh, I see.¡± ¡°So, why were you following me up these stairs?¡± If that question was any blunter, it would¡¯ve slit my neck open. I didn¡¯t really know how to answer that question. I¡¯m not a good liar either so getting out of this one would be trouble. A white lie was the only other option I had left. ¡°I, think I¡¯ve seen you around before, so I was curious.¡± Nailed it. That should take care of any suspicion she had. ¡°Oh? Where have you seen me?¡± Well I kinda dug my own grave with that response. ¡°Y-you know, about..¡± ¡°Oh, I see.¡± Yep, she fucking knew, and was only indulging me in my own lies for fun, what a pitiful sight to see. After that we walked back to our class, I still hadn¡¯t eaten and was starving. A piece of cold toast can only do so much for you in the morning. This girl that I had met today, is still a mystery to me. Most of the time I can¡¯t tell what she¡¯s thinking. I sat down at my desk, got out my lunch and dug in. At the time I was just making conversation with Natsuki whilst Aika was silent throughout the entire conversation. Aika, being the new transfer student, had a crowd around her, but like I said, she was completely silent. ¡°Look at her go, she¡¯s basically a celebrity.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so, maybe it¡¯s more like someone who has social anxiety? But got mistaken for a celebrity.¡± Natsuki replied. ¡°Hilariously tragic,¡± I said. ¡°She didn¡¯t have social anxiety, I can tell you that much, I would know. I know what it is, it¡¯s sadness. Well masked sadness at that.¡± That look of discontent never left her face. Throughout the rest of that lunch break, I didn¡¯t feel good about myself. I didn¡¯t feel good about that entire situation. Nothing felt right for the entire day. Chapter 2: Motherly Work Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Chapter 3: Wings This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Chapter 4: Spy The cries stopped, I halted my breathing to vomit all over the muddy grass ground, my mind rushing around in circles attempting to rationalize what I had just seen, but I couldn¡¯t. It was a murder that I was an accomplice in, and as the tears rolled on down my face like a river, Aika was at my side, despite everything, she was attempting to comfort me, it was enough to make me forget what I had just seen, but in that very moment, the thing that I needed the most was someone to tell me it was alright. ¡°It¡¯s alright.¡± She said with a tranquil tone. She put her arms around me, her face was one of shame. ¡°T-those people¡­ they¡¯re al-l dead¡­ I don¡¯t understand¡­ why? Why?¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± Her voice was quiet, yet distinct. She seemed ashamed of ever doing such a thing, like it was something she never wanted to show to anyone. ¡°I had to do it though, those¡­ ¡®people¡¯ are knowingly or unknowingly the enemies in this situation, who are using you.¡± As I cried on her shoulder, I reflected on myself, noting how much of a pitiful sight this must be. I couldn¡¯t show weakness, especially not to her, but I couldn¡¯t just force myself to stop crying. I think in that very moment, I became more dependent on Aika than anyone else in this godforsaken world. This person¡­ well, I had to put all my trust in her¡­ I mean, what else was I supposed to do? She spoke to me, ¡°I will not lie to you, Yuuki Hayashida, things will get worse before they get better, but don¡¯t think there is nothing in it for you¡­¡± She glared into my soul with those crimson eyes and told me about a proposition. ¡°Hayashida, how would you like to meet your dad?¡± My tears halted. In confusion, I looked at Aika with a puzzled face, for you see, my dad was dead, or to be more precise, I had never met him since he died before my birth. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°What I mean is¡­¡± Her glare became even more scintillating. ¡°You can meet your dad, who you never met.¡± A few minutes passed, I thought about her offer. I had never seen death before. Well, not any people dying. But how easily she pulled the trigger scared me. Absolutely no hesitation, whatsoever. These people, however, I don¡¯t know what to think anymore. Aika opened the brown envelope, it contained what seemed to be all ranking personal starting from lowest rank to highest rank. Clearly, there must be higher ranks, as the ranks go from A1, the smallest rank, to F3, the highest rank. However, this ¡®Jacob Barron¡¯ character was only in the ¡®B2¡¯ category. ¡°Yuuki, do you think you can pick up any sort of intel from here and put it into the duffle bag?¡± ¡°Oh yeah, sure thing.¡± My nerves had calmed down. After first seeing real death for the first time, I had quickly become desensitized to it, something I never thought I would say. Or maybe it¡¯s just my brain not fully comprehending what had occurred. Honestly, I have no idea and to be quite frank, I would rather keep this state of mind than go back to how I was earlier. I looked around the dim yellow-orangey-lit room, searching for anything, absolutely anything that could be of use to us. But to be truthful, the only reason why I was being so active was to try and forget what I had seen. I sat at the console, analysing the many buttons and switches that were all rowed up neatly. On top of the console, was a bunch of files. These files were some of what Yamaguchi didn¡¯t decide to look at, I picked one up. It was in English so I couldn¡¯t read it. However, I could pick up a few key phrases, some names, and places, but most of the text had been redacted. A picture of a man may be in his late twenties or early thirties, accompanied by a picture of said man. I put all the files in the duffle bag and moved on with my investigation. Moving around the room I had noticed a few things, some sort of recording device, I didn¡¯t know if it worked though, so in an attempt to switch it on, a voice came out of it. It appeared to be an audio log of sorts. ¡°Day 1, our previous attempts to translate the number-letter sequences have been¡­ unsuccessful, to put it lightly, test subject [REDACTED] has failed to translate the required number-letter sequence, test subject [REDACTED] is now being used to translate the sequence, awaiting further instructions.¡± It ended abruptly, confused, I listened to it again, and again, and again. I grew tired of listening to it, but I felt like there was something crucial missing, so I kept listening, I memorised the entire speech. It was like an itch I couldn¡¯t reach. Was it the redacted parts? ¡®failed to translate the required number-letter sequence¡­¡¯ I couldn¡¯t tell you what I thought, because I didn¡¯t know what to think. I put it in the duffle bag, making sure it was intact. ¡°Hey, Yamaguchi, I think that¡¯s about everything!¡± She zipped up the duffle bag and put it over her shoulders. ¡°Ah, thank you for that, Hayashida, daylight will come soon, I think it¡¯s best if we get going now.¡± ¡°O-oh yeah, sure, but¡­ what do we do now? You know¡­¡± I lowered my gaze and put my hand on my shoulder. ¡°About the body¡¯s¡­¡± ¡°You needn¡¯t worry about that. If I were you, I¡¯d... well forget about it¡­ but I know that¡¯s a pretty tall order, considering. But once more, foolish. Get used to it, Yuuki, it¡¯s the only thing you can do. Because what you saw tonight was only scratching the surface of the depravity, sickness, and horror you will have the pleasure of witnessing, and taking part in once you¡¯re so far gone into the rabbit hole. But believe me, it gets easier, it doesn¡¯t go away; that sense of terror, but it gets easier. It does¡­¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± it hurt me to be told that, but I was grateful to her. ¡°So, what will we do now?¡± ¡°You go back to my apartment, overlook the balcony at around 5:30¡± ¡°W-why¡¯s that then¡­¡± Yep, I could definitely sense some sort of dangerous activity involving this broadcast station¡­ ¡°Call it¡­ a firework show.¡± She¡­ she was being serious, wasn¡¯t she? I also remembered something else being at the very bottom of the duffle bag¡­ could that have been¡­? ¡°But wait, I-I don¡¯t even know the way back to your apartment, how am I supposed to get there?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I have that covered.¡± She handed me a poorly written guide on how to get back to her apartment that was scribbled on as ¡®My Headquarters.¡¯ ¡°How cute¡­¡± She also handed me her keys, she told me which key was for what, and when I got in, to lock the door behind me. Apparently, she also owned a car, which was also one of the keys on the chain. God knows how she hasn¡¯t been pulled over for underage driving¡­ wait, didn¡¯t she say she¡¯s immortal? So then, how old is she exactly? ¡°Good luck, Mr. Hayashida.¡± ¡°What¡¯s with that? Kinda cute though¡­¡± So I set off on my journey back to the apartment, feeling like a ninja, sneaking around in the crack of daylight, I pulled off some awesome ninja moves since no one was around, then realizing I was ¡®pulling off¡¯ these aforementioned ninja moves, I stopped doing them seeing as how pathetic I looked whilst doing it and immediately felt sad again knowing that compared to someone who literally has no qualms about killing, stealing highly classified government information, committing arson, and apparently driving underage¡­ above many other things, I was just some kid being dragged along for the ride. I was a spectator, who so happened to be at the epicentre of it all. Someone who will probably be used by everyone, and someone who will get in the way of everyone who is trying to protect me. ¡°I wish I could have some cool power¡­¡± I arrived at Aika¡¯s apartment, pushing the key into the slot then turning it, the door opened without any problems. I was relieved to say the least. If she had given me the wrong key, then I would have to sit out here for god knows how long¡­ I checked my cell phone, it read 5 o¡¯clock. Not too shabby, thirty minutes to wait for the ¡®firework show¡¯, as she calls it. Thirty minutes had passed. I was now overlooking the radio tower; I felt the calm breeze hit against my face. A couple more minutes passed and, nothing¡­ ¡°She did say 5:30 ri-¡± An explosion, starting from the bottom of the tower, worked its way up to the top as its fiery blaze engulfed the entire building. In perfect symmetry with the rising of the sun, the bright blaze burned throughout the new morning sky. Seconds later, the aftershock almost threw me to the ground. Windows shattered all throughout the neighbourhood, the sounds of the birds tweeting were rudely interrupted by the sound of car alarms going off and the loud barks of dogs far and wide. It was like all the animals in the surrounding area sang in unison against the loud boom. You could hear their melodic screeches for miles on end, and it was beautiful. And as I punched against the wind in excitement, I found myself believing I was crazy, and as I laughed manically on the floor, with tears streaming from my eyes, I realized, fully now, what had transpired today, and that I was completely involved within it, no turning back. How I miss when I could wake up each morning knowing what was going to happen, and how secure I felt about¡­ well everything in life, and to have it all stripped away must have made me laugh a little, well¡­ more than a little, I was bawling on the floor in complete euphoria. I stood up, regained my balance, and looked upon the shadowy blaze, basking in its glory, and despair. ¡°Aika! Look at you go! What a sight to behold! Goddamn it, this¡­ th-th-this is¡­ amazing!¡± Three more cheers jumped out of my throat and bellowed into the air, cheering on the fiery magic of the explosion. It settled down. From my view, I got to see the rest of the building crumble away as the massive wave of dust particles collected underneath the rubble. Everything grew much more silent minutes later. My euphoria turned into mundaneness, like the feeling I had been experiencing for 15 years of my life, and then eventually, turned into sadness. A frown found its way on my face. ¡°What now?¡± I thought to myself, but this was truly the first time I had even considered how we would go forward from here. I can only let Aika lead me to her eventual demise. I was tired, very tired, I needed sleep, I walked over-, well¡­ no, more like I shuffled over, knocking over nearby accessories on tables and chairs until I steadily made my way over to Aika¡¯s bed and fell into a deep sleep. Many hours had passed, lying in the same uncomfortable spot I had been lying in for the last hour. I had no dreams that entire time. When I woke up, I found myself being stared down upon by the one and only, ¡®Aika Yamaguchi¡¯ with what appeared to be an unnatural grin on her face, like she was an alien practicing human emotion. Two flickering sounds of a low-quality sounding camera shutter and a flash assaulted my senses. ¡°No, no, no, no¡­ no God no, please¡­ she isn¡¯t doing what I think she¡¯s doing, is she¡­?¡± Yep, no doubt about it, that was definitely my picture being taken in... whatever ungodly pose I was in when I fell asleep¡­ I had realized I tend to do this when I fall asleep, especially when in a deep sleep, I mean hell, I ended up on the floor at one point. ¡°Oi, oi! You better not-¡± It was too late, with a little twirl from Aika, and me attempting to grab MY PHONE from her hands, it was too late¡­ I fell to the ground in defeat. Still in my uniform, I attempted to stand up, this time succeeding in this medial task. After regaining my footing, Aika handed me my phone. ¡°Not cool¡­¡± still proceeding to grin, opened the bedroom door, waving at me to signify that we are leaving, where we are going, I have no clue, one can only assume school but¡­ well, that seems like a distant dream now. ¡°You¡¯re still in your school uniform, good. Well then, we shall wait at the bus stop.¡± She grabbed her keys and left the apartment, she signalled for me to follow, so I did. Locking the door behind us, we called the elevator. The sun had risen, it was another beautiful June morning, 7 o¡¯clock on the dot, we could probably be at school in the next hour if there wasn¡¯t any traffic. We reached the bottom floor and the elevator doors slid open with a creak. As we were walking to the bus stop, it felt like I was constantly being watched. Faces, faces, faces¡­ all these faces looking at me. It was at this moment a terrible thought came to my mind. ¡°Do they know? About everything? About what had happened this morning? That¡­ I was involved in it¡­ just maybe¡­ they¡¯re here for us?¡± Everyone was on high alert, and rightfully so. Police cars passed by on our way, their sirens blaring out in the early morning breeze.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Head up, Yuuki. You look suspicious.¡± ¡°Oh yeah¡­ I guess you¡¯re right. Thanks for that.¡± But really though, having her warn me was like a guide I never knew I would¡¯ve needed. I don¡¯t want to be too reliant on her, but just knowing I¡¯m not in it alone is good enough. The bus stop had plenty of people, waiting. Some people all dressed up in suits, some old, some young with their parents, and some looking like they are commuting to school. I noted one of the uniforms. ¡°Wait¡­ that¡¯s our uniform. She probably goes to our school then.¡± I didn¡¯t think anyone besides Aika would be crazy enough to attend school that far away from their house. I saw the bus coming on the other side of the road. We were the first ones to get on. We sat right at the back. Everyone looked gloomy on that bus, even the bus driver, but that was to be expected. I didn¡¯t try to make eye contact with most people on the bus, just looking out the window as the bus drove on by, noting all the nearby buildings. ¡°So, you didn¡¯t really say where we were going.¡± ¡°School, like everyone else.¡± ¡°Of course¡­ say, you don¡¯t intend to destroy the entire school this time, huh?¡± ¡°I kinda hope she does though, that would be nice.¡± ¡°Hayashida, I understand we are at the back of the bus, but spewing off such comments isn¡¯t going to help us, you know¡­¡± Thanks for remembering my idiocy so I don¡¯t have to¡­ God, why am I always like this¡­ ¡°Well, in any case, I wouldn¡¯t recommend saying anything unnecessary that can hurt us. When we arrive at school, go about your day as usual. Maybe¡­ I don¡¯t know, talk to that odd friend of yours, what was his name again¡­ Yabumi¡­?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ ahaha~, Natsuki Yabumi actually.¡± ¡°Say, how long have you two known each other?¡± ¡°Roughly since elementary school.¡± ¡°So you have a pretty rich history with each other then?¡± ¡°Ahh¡­ I mean I wouldn¡¯t say that¡­¡± My face was getting a bit red but thinking back to those simpler days made me smile, when me and Nastuki would always hang out at the park, not really doing much¡­ just hanging out. ¡°Really? I thought you were closer than that¡­ disappointing¡­¡± ¡°Disappointing, you say¡­ in what way¡­¡± She is not taking this where I think she is, is she? ¡°Oh, you know¡­¡± Her words hung on a thread. ¡°I thought you two were¡­ closer¡­¡± ¡°Well, sorry to ruin your next manuscript but we¡¯re not like that, my God¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I am simply ¡®pulling your leg.¡¯¡± ¡°Was there really a need to air quote that? Seriously¡­ it¡¯s like dealing with a kid¡­¡± I looked around the bus, and then looked back at Aika. ¡°Are you sure we aren¡¯t being followed?¡± ¡°Probably.¡± ¡°W-wait what, what? Are you kidding me?¡± I tried to keep my voice down as not to attract attention. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me? w-what the hell are we gonna do now, huh? W-we¡¯re fucked! Just absolutely fucked!¡± ¡°Calm down there, it¡¯s not like they can do anything, only observe, plus I¡¯m here so that would be a definite no-no.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I have, let¡¯s say¡­ a bit of history with these people, a lot of history, if you will.¡± ¡°Say, Yuuki¡­ wanna have a game of spot the spy?¡± I was a bit shocked by her calmness about the whole situation, and even more shocked at how she managed to make up a game about it. Impressive, Yamaguchi¡­ ¡°Sure¡­ I guess, how exactly are you supposed to spot the spy?¡± ¡°With deduction, of course. So, who do you think is the spy?¡± ¡°Well let¡¯s see¡­¡± I scanned the bus, looking for potential candidates. I spotted a man in a trench coat reading a newspaper, he was also foreign. ¡°Pretty big giveaway if you ask me¡­ this is what you call an inconspicuous disguise?¡± ¡°If I were to guess, I would assume it¡¯s that guy over there in the trench coat.¡± ¡°Really? Interesting guess¡­ but that wouldn¡¯t have been my first pick¡­ look over there¡­¡± She pointed over to the front of the middle of the bus, a girl was sitting there. I remembered that it was the same girl who was wearing our uniform. ¡°Why do you think her? She looks normal to me.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not really about normality, although if you couldn¡¯t tell already, she has an earpiece hidden by her hair in her right ear.¡± I did a doublecheck, looking over to the girl. ¡°I can¡¯t see it, wait a minute¡­¡± I could see something reflecting off the side of her head from the sun, it was shiny. ¡°Jesus Christ, you¡¯re right¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s not the only thing though, her mere presence on this bus is reason to be suspicious, her uniform I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve already noticed, is one of our own, and considering how far out we are to the school, means the likelihood of her spying on us goes up considerably.¡± ¡°That means that there could be more at our school, right?¡± ¡°Whether they would risk that or not, is up for debate.¡± ¡°What do you think, Yuuki? Do you think they have more?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ after what you said, it does seem less likely. But I¡¯d say maybe.¡± ¡°Damn, I didn¡¯t know I had it in me to be a detective!¡± I laughed in my head at the thought. An hour had passed, there didn¡¯t seem to be much traffic on this hot summer¡¯s day, however, many people were out and about on the streets, that was the case, but we were reaching the countryside. The numbers dipped the further out we went, we were entering the boonies, the place I was most familiar with. When the bus stopped, the only people left on the bus were me, Aika, and that girl that got on with us. The bus took off. It was around 8 o¡¯clock now. We made our way to the school in the blazing June heat. Aika and I both had our blazers around our waists. The news said that today was going to be the hottest day of the year, they weren¡¯t kidding. The sun hit my neck hard as if it was trying to get through my skin by piercing it open, sunray by sunray it tore at my skin. ¡°Damn it, this won¡¯t leave a good mark¡­¡± I saw the school now coming into view, I could see Aika increasing in speed, so I followed suit. Entering the school, I could see everyone walking about hastily, some people relaxing, sitting under the tall birch trees, and some making their way to class. If this was me a couple weeks ago, being in such heat, walking to school, and sitting in a classroom for 6 hours each day would make me sick to the stomach, but something about today made me a bit happier. Suddenly, I saw the sun as a kind of hope, rather than something I disdain. Walking up the stairs didn¡¯t become a chore, but something I enjoyed doing. Everything I thought I disliked became something I had no qualms about doing. We reached the classroom; half of the class was empty. You see, we were a bit early today, and I felt a lot more refreshed. Aika and I sat at our desks. Natsuki came rushing from the sliding doors in shock. ¡°Y-you¡¯re earlier than me¡­? No way¡­¡± ¡°Yeah? Well¡­ read em¡¯ and weep!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t believe this¡­ how far I have fallen¡­¡± we joked around for a bit, taking in the leisure before class began. If there was one thing I missed when summer left, it was this. The summers for me and Natsuki are always really cheerful, it always has been. Whenever the start of the summer vacation began, we would always hang out at his house and goof off for the rest of the day, playing video games and such. The teacher had walked through the classroom, the same old stern look on his face. He was wearing an old jumper and had round oval glasses. I couldn¡¯t blame him for looking like that. Imagine having to teach 30 students on a hot summer¡¯s day, absolute hell. ¡°Okay everyone, take your seats.¡± And so the routine began, we stared at the chalkboard we had grown so fond of throughout these few months. Eventually, lunch rolled around. Everyone moved about in quick paces, leaving the room and heading off to the cafeteria or their clubs, whilst me, Aika and Natsuki stayed put. ¡°What are we doing then?¡± Natsuki asked in curiosity. ¡°Yeah¡­ what are we gonna do?¡± I looked at Aika specifically. I guess Natsuki picked up on this as we were now both looking at her. ¡°I¡¯m going to need time to think about it.¡± ¡°We could always stay here for lunch, right?¡± Natsuki pointed out, although Natsuki didn¡¯t really know the full intent behind what me and Aika were saying. ¡°Well, anyways, I¡¯m going to the cafeteria. Do you guys have lunches?¡± ¡°Well I do, but I don¡¯t know about¡­¡± I looked towards Aika. ¡°¡­Aika?¡± ¡°I do.¡± ¡°Alright then! I¡¯ll meet you both back here in a bit. Oh, and Yuuki¡­¡± he leaned towards me with a grin. ¡°You seem to be getting along with Aika, alright¡­¡± I almost choked on my own spit. ¡°Oh¡­ I don¡¯t know what you could possibly mean by that¡­ maybe you should be on your way to the cafeteria by now¡­ huh?¡± My words did nothing to get that grin off his face. He dashed off to the cafeteria. ¡°It seems like you two are closer than I originally thought...¡± ¡°T-that¡­ look, I¡¯m not like that¡­ I like girls, damnit! Why should I be punished for the situations he puts me in!? A-anyway¡­ it¡¯s not like that¡­ I mean we have known each other for a long time, but¡­¡± My words stumbled over my tongue as I tried to weasel my way out of Aika¡¯s death trap. ¡°Well¡­? Do you know what we¡¯re gonna do now? You know, about that¡­¡± ¡°Very subtle¡­¡± ¡°E-enough of that! Look, we could be in serious danger¡­¡± I tried lowering my voice. Honestly, I felt pretty cool, like I was on the run from the government. Oh, wait. ¡°Seriously¡­ I know you¡¯re supposedly ¡®immortal¡¯.¡± ¡°Yes, I am.¡± She interjected. ¡°Anyways, I¡¯m not, so I could be in serious danger! So¡­ what are we going to do?¡± ¡°After you left to go back to the apartment, I did a little more snooping around in there. In a nearby closet, I found some more stuff, most importantly, a computer.¡± ¡°If she found something like a computer in there, who knows what the contents on that thing could contain¡­¡± ¡°Knowing that, I tried connecting it to a wall socket, it turned on, but¡­¡± She seemed hesitant to talk. ¡°It was password protected.¡± ¡°Well of course it was¡­ that¡¯s like military-grade stuff, y¡¯know?¡± ¡°I brought it home with me, obviously. But I still haven¡¯t managed to crack the password.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t you pay people to do this stuff? I¡¯m pretty sure they have shops all over Akihabara that can do this kind of stuff.¡± ¡°You must be kidding¡­ it can¡¯t be that easy¡­¡± she said in a short breath. ¡°Well, it¡¯d cost you though.¡± ¡°How much?¡± Her eyes glimmered in curiosity. ¡°I-I don¡¯t know¡­ how long is a piece of string?¡± ¡°What a stupid question¡­¡± She murmured under her breath with a dissatisfied tone. ¡°Exactly!¡± ¡°What? Anyways, I¡¯ll just add it to my places to go list¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯re joking¡­ right?¡± Of course, I knew she wasn¡¯t joking, but by any chance she was, I wanted to cling onto that thought. ¡°What about that other guy? Jacob Barron¡­ was his name?¡± ¡°He will have all the info we need.¡± ¡°How do you know?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s just say I¡¯ve had my fair share of experiences with him.¡± I didn¡¯t want to pressure Aika anymore than I had to, it seemed I nearly stepped on a landmine. Natsuki had returned with his food. He grabbed his seat and sat down. ¡°So, what were you two love-birds talking about whilst I was gone?¡± He seriously just said that. I expect nothing less of the great Natsuki¡­ ¡°Natsuki, I swear to god¡­¡± I placed my palm against my forehead. ¡°Just kidding just kidding¡­ seriously though, what¡¯re we gonna do?¡± ¡°It¡¯s nice and sunny outside, I guess that wouldn¡¯t be a bad idea, right Yamaguchi?¡± ¡°I suppose.¡± We left the classroom. I and Natsuki were in good spirits, however, Aika seemed to be keeping a close watch of her surroundings. I couldn¡¯t blame her. Her paranoia of the students became much more apparent as we went outside, with everyone walking, running about. Some people taking sports equipment into sheds. Some sitting on benches, minding their own businesses. Some lying under the birch trees, and some teachers walking by. Her wariness also catched Natsuki¡¯s eye. ¡°Hey, Yamaguchi, are you doing alright? You don¡¯t seem to be doing too good, is it the heat?¡± ¡°N-no, no¡­ I¡¯m fine. You may be right, it is quite the hot day, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Well if you want, we can always go back insi-¡± ¡°Oh no, don¡¯t worry about me, let¡¯s just go somewhere with shade.¡± Those big birch trees seemed to be the only places with an adequate amount of shade. The one over in the far side corner didn¡¯t have any people near or under it. ¡°Oi, Natsuki, didn¡¯t you say you were gonna tan this summer?¡± ¡°Well¡­ yeah¡­ I don¡¯t know, it sounded like a good idea at first, but I¡¯m not so sure now¡­¡± ¡°I wonder where all that confidence went¡­¡± For the remainder of lunch, we were exhausted. I could tell Aika hadn¡¯t gotten any sleep either as she was fast asleep the minute she laid down. Committing several crimes, including but not limited to blowing up an entire radio tower, does tend to take some energy out of you. ¡°Natsuki, I need your opinion on something.¡± ¡°Uh- what is it?¡± ¡°You see, I¡¯ve got this laptop, right? And I kinda forgot my login¡­ how would you go about unlocking it?¡± ¡°Eh? Umm¡­ I¡¯d probably take it to a shop to do it for me.¡± ¡°Figures¡­ there aren¡¯t any shops that do that around here, at least.¡± ¡°Then, where would you go to get it unlocked?¡± ¡°Dunno, it¡¯s not like there are any places out here, is there?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ anyway, I¡¯m way too tired to be still awake.¡± Like that my head hit the hard grass floor. ¡°God damnit!¡± Natsuki laughed at me in mockery. I fell into a deep sleep underneath a shady birch tree, before I fell asleep, I wondered what was going through Aika¡¯s mind when she killed all of those people back at the broadcast station. It still made me question Aika¡¯s integrity. What is Aika? That part was still unclear to me. I heard a lite tap on my shoulder, it was Natsuki waking me up from my slumber. ¡°It¡¯s a good thing I didn¡¯t fall asleep either, or we would still be out here until final period¡­¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ sorry, maybe falling asleep wasn¡¯t the smartest thing to do¡­¡± ¡°Well, don¡¯t sweat it, you might wanna wake Yamaguchi up as well.¡± Oh yeah, she looked like she completely passed out. Looks like even immortals need to catch up on their sleep. ¡°Oi, Yamaguchi¡­¡± I lightly tapped her shoulder, one eye opened. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s just you, what can I help you with?¡± Seems like she¡¯s back to normal again. ¡°Ugh¡­ Natsuki¡­ class¡­ go¡­¡± A random assortment of words left my mouth as I tried to formulate a coherent sentence from my half-functioning brain. She got the gist of it and sluggishly rose from the sun-heated grass. ¡°Let¡¯s go then.¡± And off we went back to class in the scorching hot sun. Aika led us back to the classroom as me and Natsuki trailed behind. We reached the classroom. As I wiped the sweat off my forehead, I slid open the door and sat down in my place. For the remainder of the lesson, it was bliss. I began writing down some things on a piece of paper. On a more important note, the content of which I was writing was ideas; ideas for how we were going to get a hold of someone to help us crack the password on the computer. As I jotted down my ideas, I realized how far off we were from moving forward. And that¡¯s a second thing, where are we going? It was like I was in a long tunnel, but I could only see so far in front of me before all light was cut off. Natsuki was bliss, Aika was contemplative, and I was¡­ well¡­ me, I guess. As I sat there, gazing out the window, thinking of more things to jot down. ¡°Nothing, absolutely nothing¡­¡± An abundance of nothing, if you will. I was completely lost in thought, one thought bounced to another rapidly as I tried to organize my mind. Could you blame me, though? "Like seriously¡­ what the fuck even is this situation that I¡¯m in? Can I say that? Am I allowed to let my thoughts out? Because this situation I¡¯m in is seriously fucked up, no matter how you slice it." I once again longed for a much quieter life, a life I could know for certain what was going to happen, and I could make arrangements for the future. Now what? For the first time in my life, I am uncertain about my future, and I don¡¯t know what to do. Chapter 5: Mao Nakamura Part 1 I stumbled into my room and onto my bed, the wind from the closing door pushing me further into the sheets. I looked over at my clock, it was still pretty early to be going to bed, but despite that, my body shut down as I became limp. Trying to recalibrate what had just happened put me into a nervous breakdown. I guess I should start from the beginning, just after lunch. I had noticed Aika¡¯s smooth, calm demeanour gradually become more aware of her surroundings with her eyes becoming more sporadic, constantly going back and forward. No, no¡­ it was even before that, when we were walking back to class, she kept moving her head side to side, occasionally looking back and forward, as if she was looking for someone. Every moment perfectly thought out so she would have the upper hand when the time was right to strike, like that person could jump out at any moment. But she wouldn¡¯t have to be worried about herself, since she is an immortal being, whether she has any spectacular powers or anything is yet to be seen, however, one cool thing she has is, obviously, wings, exactly like the ones I saw on that figure in the other world. After class ended, she stood up from her seat, and just¡­ stood there. Still. ¡°Yuuki.¡± She called out my name, looked to her left, and signalled me to follow her with a head nod. Natsuki was stunned, to him, this was just one of the many weird occurrences I¡¯ve had with Aika, however, to me this was just a normal day as I think to myself, ¡°Oh, I wonder what we¡¯re gonna do today?¡± I stood up from my seat and followed her through the door. ¡°So, what¡¯s happening this evening? Committing high treason, or going for ice cream?¡± ¡°We¡¯re going to investigate a student at this school, Mao Nakamura, do you know her by any chance?¡± ¡°No¡­ why do you ask?¡± ¡°Thought so, she quite the shy girl, if you get what I mean, keeps to herself and all that stuff. Why I ask however is because she was the same girl on the bus this morning.¡± ¡°Wait¡­ you mean the one that was spying on us?¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± ¡°Hold on, we can¡¯t be completely sure she was spying on us, right?¡± Even I had my doubts about her, I mean, a secret agent spy masquerading as a high school girl? It sounds like something out of a poorly written fanfiction. ¡°I-I mean, there could be many reasons why she had an earpiece in, and how do you know they weren¡¯t just earphones?¡± ¡°I just know¡­¡± Her demeanor became more serious, her head tilted down, but her eyes were firmly set up. She was pissed, I could tell that much. As we walked down the hallways, I tilted my head into each classroom looking for the girl on the bus this morning, per-instructed by Aika, but in all honesty, I couldn¡¯t even remember what she looked like. I tried to reach into the very depths of my brain to see if I could extrapolate any memories of her face, but none came to materialize. Aika took the lead and headed on down the halls until she stumbled outside, her face all red and out of breath. ¡°Hey, if you need a breather, I¡¯m fine to wait for you, or¡­¡± ¡°N-no¡­ I¡¯m fine, don¡¯t trouble yo-ursel-¡± She choked mid-sentence as she tried to catch her breath. With her hands against the cold brick wall, we waited in the shadowy spot cast by a nearby building. ¡°Let¡¯s just¡­ wait, for a moment¡­¡± her breath began to come back to her. ¡°Maybe we shouldn¡¯t do this after all¡­¡± ¡°No¡­¡± She was quick to cut me off, it looks like she¡¯s serious about doing whatever she intends to do when she finds Nakamura. ¡°Yuuki¡­¡± Her wording made it so I could hear her words very clearly, ¡°Look around the school campus for blind spots in the CCTV, regroup back here when you¡¯ve found any...¡± Her orders were clear and precise, leaving no room for interpretation, I followed those orders given to me, knowing full well of the consequences if I were to fail this straightforward task. ¡°Look around the school for blind spots in the CCTV.¡± Such simple orders, even so, I was shaking with fear and adrenalin. ¡°If we¡¯re lucky, the person(s) tailing us may not be of such high rank that they know of my existence, meaning they don¡¯t know of my true nature, my immortality, and other trivial things attributed to my being.¡± Even though she said that with such confidence, her face said otherwise. The biting of her lip, the lack of eye contact. God damn¡­ I forget how much she was staking as well, even though she may be immortal, she¡¯s still a regular girl. The only power she has besides her immortality is those wings, and those can only do her so good. ¡°No¡­¡± A more confident Aika came into being. ¡°No! We¡¯ll be fine, won¡¯t we Yuuki?¡± Looking at me for a positive answer, I could only nod with a smile. ¡°I highly doubt they would send anyone here who knows about my existence.¡± That could just be her way of calming herself down, either way, we can¡¯t afford to lose now. Waving her off, I sprinted around the school, looking for any points of interest that wouldn¡¯t have CCTV, no matter where I looked though, the place was littered with tiny little cameras placed on top of every school building and their surrounding areas. I hadn¡¯t noticed up until now how heavily monitored the school was, and it wouldn¡¯t be a stretch to assume whatever organization that¡¯s using me would also be monitoring my school. Hell¡­ t-they could even have my house wired up with radios and god knows what else¡­ I hadn¡¯t been very careful, but now I realize I must take this seriously, for the both of us. As I frantically rushed around the school, eyes glaring at me from all directions, a thought came to my head, something I had oversighted whilst I was in a panicking frenzy. ¡°The school shed!¡± Like that my whole body did a 180, almost twisting my foot whilst doing so. I rushed like mad. Halfway there, I remembered. ¡°Regroup back here when you¡¯ve found any¡­¡± Damnit, I was too worked up with energy. A pitiful walk back to the middle of the school, I found Aika waiting for me. ¡°Did you find any?¡± ¡°I know of one place where there are no CCTV cameras, a place barely anyone goes, even during school hours¡­¡± ¡°Y-¡­ you do?¡± ¡°Yeah, the old shed on the back of the school field track.¡± We had made it, no one was there, it was the perfect place. ¡°Yuuki, you¡¯re a genius!¡± That was the first compliment I had ever received from Aika, it felt good, not only that, but it was the first compliment I had ever received from an immortal, so it felt even better. ¡°Not only are there no cameras, but no one¡¯s out here either! It¡¯s perfect! And if someone does decide to approach it, we¡¯ll know why!¡± We entered the shed, the summer heat still somehow crept its way into the old, red, worn-out wooden storing unit. Aika slightly opened the door to the shed, peeping outside, looking for anyone at all who looked suspicious, out of place, someone who didn¡¯t belong. ¡°No one¡­¡± She disclosed. ¡°We might be waiting here for a while, Aika, wanna play a game or somethin¡¯?¡± ¡°A game?¡± ¡°Yeah, a game.¡± ¡°Like what?¡± ¡°Well, I always bring a deck of cards with me to school. When I¡¯m bored on my lunches, me and Natsuki sometimes play.¡± ¡°What type of games do you play with the cards?¡± ¡°Ever heard of the game crazy eights?¡± ¡°Nope¡­ I don¡¯t think I have.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a little variation of that game. I¡¯ll explain the rules to you as we go on.¡± I shuffled the deck expertly, something that my mom taught me to do at a very young age, Aika looked upon in awe. I laid out two sets of eight cards, one for me and one for Aika. ¡°We both start with eight cards, the first one to withdraw all their cards wins.¡± ¡°It sounds pretty simple to me¡­¡± She said with smuggish snark. ¡°It gets a little bit more complicated than that, trust me. This game can be called a predecessor to Uno if you will.¡± ¡°U-uno¡­?¡± Of course she doesn¡¯t know Uno¡­ ¡°E-e¡­ never mind¡­ anyways, I must place down a card that corresponds either with its number or with its suit, clubs, spades, hearts, or diamonds. We both have one go each.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t call it the most intellectual game ever, but¡­¡± With a grin surrounding her face, ¡°it sounds like fun¡­!¡± I had realized, this is definitely the happiest I have ever seen Aika, so cheerful, so carefree, I had completely forgotten all of the shit I had we had to deal with back ¨C then¡­ ¡°There is one card though that has a special ability, if you manage to pick up a number eight, that card allows you to change it to whatever suit you would like, however, you must follow suit.¡± ¡°Gotcha.¡± ¡°Finally¡­ if you can¡¯t play, you must keep drawing until you find a card you can place down.¡± ¡°Really¡­?¡± The grin she had on her face washed away after the terrible realization that she could¡­ pick up more cards! The game had begun, like the seasoned veteran I am, I let Aika play the first card. The card she would have to match was the Jack of Diamonds. Scrolling through her cards from left to right, then right to left... ¡°Ehhh¡­? This can¡¯t be right¡­¡± By the look on her face, I could already tell¡­ on her first go¡­ she couldn¡¯t place down anything! Blundered at the very beginning! A sigh came out of Aika¡¯s mouth as she went to pick up a card from the deck, luckily, the first card she picked up was one that matched both suit, diamonds, the nine of diamonds to be precise. I then went after, looking through my options, I placed down the nine of spades, good for me though as my deck mainly consisted of spades. As it turned out, so did Aika, one after the other, I prepared to lay down my cards. Finally, with two left in my deck, and Aika with three, I was prepared to win this game! Aika got one in on me, forcing me to pick up, once again being very lucky and only having to draw one before quickly putting it down. Queen of clubs, and by the look on Aika¡¯s face, it seemed like she had a chance of winning, but I wouldn¡¯t let that happen. She placed down her Ace of clubs; two cards left between the two of us. ¡°Aika¡­ please forgive me for what I am about to do¡­¡± Judging from her reaction, I could make a solid guess her last two cards were clubs. Unfortunately for her, I just so happened to have an eight up my sleeves. ¡°However¡­ that smile she has on her face¡­ she could also have an eight¡­ play it at the right time and she could have this game, this is bad¡­¡± I dropped down my eight of clubs, hoping for the best outcome¡­ ¡°I change to hearts.¡± my only eight better have been a worthy sacrifice¡­ A glimmer shined within her eyes, as her hand lowered, the view of an Eight of Spades came into view. ¡°Noooo!¡± Her very next sentence could decide the fate of this game! ¡°I change to¡­¡± The words hung on her lips, ready to fall out at any moment¡­ this was it, the decider, the endgame! ¡°Diamonds!¡± And like that, the game was already won ¨C by me¡­ An evil smirk made its way across my face as if it was saying, ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have done that¡­¡± as I placed my hand upon the table not yet revealing the card, only Aika¡¯s anguish and despair remained¡­ Hahaha! This is it! Thank you Aika for this beautiful victory! The card, Ten of Diamonds, appeared in front of Aika¡¯s eyes. ¡°H-how¡­ did this happen¡­? The victory was right in front of my eyes!¡± ¡°That¡¯s how it goes, I guess there were a few things I didn¡¯t tell you when entering this game¡­ One is to always check how many cards your opponent has¡­ Two, hide and conceal your cards from your opponent¡­ three, you are able to bluff your way through the game if you so desire¡­ meaning you can pick up cards even if you have a card you can play¡­ or keep picking up cards even if you previously picked up a card you could¡¯ve played¡­ and finally¡­ work on your poker face!¡± ¡°Hey, you didn¡¯t tell me about those tricks!¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t in the rules, so¡­ but hey, this is like a learning experience! I¡¯ve never actually taught anyone card games before, you¡¯re the first, and¡­ it was kinda fun teaching you how to play and all.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Aika laughed with glee, ¡°it was kinda fu-¡± She stopped. Her pupils constricted. Her head imminently looked towards the door, she bit her lip, so, so hard¡­ a quick burst of blood made its way down Aika¡¯s chin and neck. ¡°Shadow.¡± She said. ¡°Shadow¡­ wait, could that mean¡­!¡± Aika began to shuffle in my direction, still facing the door. She spotted a window above ground, it was too high for anyone to reach, but if someone had a ladder, they could¡­ Aika¡¯s head swung towards the window, her hands now outwards as if to guard me. Her breathing became erratic, taking deep and short breaths before scouring the room once again. I was petrified, not able to move a single muscle, literally. Frozen cold, I could only watch as Aika began to search the room. This feeling¡­ of being petrified¡­ it feels all too familiar. ¡°Yuuki, stay here, okay? Don¡¯t move from this spot, I¡¯ll be back in a minute, so don¡¯t worry¡­¡± her words began to break, and so was I. Her uncharacteristic break of ¡®coolness¡¯ started to become the norm. ¡®Stay calm, Elizabeth.¡¯ In the middle of the shed with nothing but my thoughts, I could hear the slow and methodical footsteps of Aika moving on the outwards of the shed. Her footsteps were perfectly in sync with that of a clock. Every second that passed I heard a new footprint touch the crunchy grass. A strange new light appeared to shine on the left side of my cheek. I looked to my left, in brilliant mayhem, I witnessed Aika bellowing through the side of the shed, pieces of wood colliding into me, splintering me in the process. This girl that Aika had in her grasp had been thrown onto the floor. ¡°Jesus, is she the one from¡­¡± That¡¯s right, she was on the bus this morning, I remember her now. Blonde neatly tied up hair in a ponytail. She was the one wearing that earpiece. The so-called ¡®spy¡¯ Aika referred to, well¡­ not very ¡®so-called¡¯ anymore, as Aika appeared to be right. ¡°Yuuki! Get away from us!¡± She screamed as she was punching her to the ground, the girl doing the same thing, completely ruining each other¡¯s faces into a bloody messy pulp. ¡°Die!!¡± She kept repeating. Now with no other option, the girl grabbed something from her blazer, ¡°a needle?¡± She was going for her jugular, attempting to stick the needle straight through her neck. No luck, Aika had her pinned down on the floor. Moments passed, she had stopped resisting, I could see the back of her head was bleeding, and Aika¡¯s eyes had blood pouring out of them from the splinters, the cuts were that deep yet her composure was confident. She grabbed the needle and stuck it in her neck, this girl now on the floor, completely immobile. Her breaths were loud as she let out a loud scream. This pain she was feeling¡­ my fears where confirmed, she did feel pain. She kept all that in so she wouldn¡¯t compromise her confidence. She was on the floor shaking. I rushed over, adrenaline-filled, legs shaking, I did not blink, not for a second, I was way too alert. I didn¡¯t know what to do, I flipped Aika over, attempting to see the wound in her eye whilst she screamed out in utter agony. I couldn¡¯t cope, I too lost composure and stared at her screaming, trying to figure out what to do. I had no band-aids with me, no antibiotics, nothing. I felt useless, just like back there, at the radio station. But her eyes began to heal, her eyes began to shape and turn, the blood stopped pouring. The sharp pieces of splinter began popping right out of her eyes, making room for the new lens. She stopped screaming as I fell to the ground, completely exhausted. I tried to move but the shock from what I had just witnessed had me paralyzed. I could now feel all of the splinters that had entered my body. Dozens of little splinters were now all of my face and dug their way into my arms. I screamed out at the top of my lungs, so loud it reverberated around the entire shed, deafening me in the process, but I couldn¡¯t stop. Something I hadn¡¯t noticed when I ran towards Aika, was the medium-sized piece of wood stuck between my leg. ¡°Oh¡­ that must have been from when Aika went through the shed¡­ I see¡­¡± My thoughts were simple as I tried to make sense of the situation. As I quieted down, I began to blackout, I felt extremely tired. ¡°I just¡­ really want to go to sleep, I just needed a lie-down, then I will be awake in five or ten minutes, not long at all¡­ just¡­ a little rest.¡± I heard a voice calling out to me beyond the realm of sleep, and a face to go along with it, I could feel it tugging at me tightly, but I couldn¡¯t make out who it was, just that the person was there. My vision was blurry, throat groggy, as I had just woke up. My mind was all jumbled but I soon regained my memories. It seemed like my head was lying against a bag of sorts and I had a blazer on top of me. As far as I could tell, and if my senses weren¡¯t lying to me, it appeared to still by daylight. I rubbed my eyes and looked over to the far side of the shed, where the hole lied, and where I found Aika and that girl. She was lying on the floor, bound and gagged. ¡°What the hell has she done to her?¡± Not that I blame her though. In fact, I should probably be happy the only thing she has done was only that and nothing more. Awaking to this was much better than the latter. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.¡°Speak.¡± Aika ripped the gag from her mouth, I don¡¯t think she noticed I was awake yet. ¡°Who are you? Why have you got Hayashida with you? Tell me who you are now!¡± She sounded scared yet frighteningly so, like she had nothing left to lose so she tossed all reason aside to try and get out of the situation. Aika threw some sort of document at her. ¡°Here contains a list of people who are involved in the project formally known as G-1945, your name was on the list of employees.¡± She said in a cold, calculating and calm demeanour. ¡°H-h-how did you¡­ get that¡­?¡± I had seen that look before, back at the radio station, that look of complete and utter terror in her eyes spoke volumes. I stood up, well¡­ tried too. Even though the pain had gone, most likely because Aika had removed all the splinters out of my face and arms. My leg¡­ the piece of wood that laid dormant there was now gone¡­ this¡­ this took me by surprise, Aika¡­ she¡­ must have taken it out herself. What was in place of the wooden shrapnel was a band-aid and some heavy coating of cotton balls that was dripped in some kind of antibiotic cream. I kinda knew where this situation was going so I wanted to ¡°step¡± in before things got, well¡­ like they did before. ¡°Do you want to tell her, Aika?¡± I said, as I shuffled over towards Aika¡¯s side. ¡°Yuuki, you¡¯re awake?¡± she asked with concern. ¡°Yeah, just now I woke up, feel like shit¡­¡± I sighed, looking around the shed for a more clear context of the situation. ¡°Yep, we¡¯re definitely still at school.¡± ¡°Ugh¡­¡± A groan, something that took even me by surprise, I can¡¯t help but feel like this is the result of me hanging around with Aika for too long¡­ ¡°Nakamura, look, I kinda know everything. Well, not everything¡­ like basically a general understanding of what the fucks being going on for the past god knows how long, and the radio towers you guys use to¡­ wait, what do you guys do with it?¡± ¡°Yuuki, we¡¯ve been over this right? Ugh, I¡¯ll give you a more in-depth explanation later on, but for now, let''s just ask her some questions. So, Nakamura, can I ask you how to go about getting in touch with a certain Jacob Barron?¡± ¡°Jacob Barron¡­¡± ¡°Yes, do you know him?¡± ¡°Of course, he¡¯s my boss.¡± ¡°Oh goodie, then you could probably get us to meet him? Do you know where we could find him? After we ransacked the radio building that you guys use, the people who I killed gave me a bunch of documents with all kinds of employee¡¯s names, you wouldn¡¯t believe it! However, unfortunately, I guess you could say I got tricked¡­ the documents they gave me did contain a file about Jacob Barron, but sadly no information on his whereabouts, I assume he is in Japan, after all, he is your boss.¡± She had an iron will, the silence became the only thing between Aika and getting to this ¡°Jacob Barron¡± character. ¡°I¡­¡± She was about to say something¡­ ¡°I- don¡¯t even care anymore¡­ I can take you to him¡­ it doesn¡¯t matter for me anyway, it¡¯s over, the test subject knows¡­ it¡¯s all over.¡± ¡°Decades of hard work, all in vain.¡± ¡°Good¡­¡± I saw something on Aika¡¯s face, a smile I had never seen before. It was evil. Like she had everything in the grasp of her hand. ¡°I¡¯ll take you to him under a few conditions.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­?¡± ¡°You have to promise me, once this is all over, and you got what you need out of Barron, promise me¡­ destroy any records of me, any trace I was ever an employee, so they can¡¯t find me¡­ I don¡¯t want to be associated with them anymore. A plane ticket out of Japan, £¤30,000,000, a new passport, and you¡­ you can¡¯t let me die, okay? Can you do that?¡± ¡°Now this, I like.¡± She snickered for a brief moment. ¡°Okay then! Miss Nakamura, I Aika Yamaguchi, solemnly swear to your promise, to erase any trace of your existence, meaning your employment status and any other records you may have, it¡¯ll be like you never existed! A plane ticket out of Japan, £¤30,000,000 with a new passport attached, and of course¡­ to protect your existence¡­¡± Aika extended her hand towards Nakamura. She looked at her as if she was stupid. ¡°I¡¯m all tied up, y¡¯know¡­¡± ¡°R-right¡­ sorry about that¡­¡± She untied her as an awkward silence gloomed over the entire room. ¡°Now then¡­ do we have a deal, Mao Nakamura?¡± ¡°Yes¡­¡± ¡°Well then¡­ I look forward to working with you¡­¡± Rumours spread the following day, about a bunch of hooligans who entered the school grounds and made a hole through the wall of the shed. Some theorized a fight had happened on school grounds. All of these rumours were false. ¡°Nakamura¡­ how do I know you won¡¯t betray me?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t, but that isn¡¯t any of my concern anymore¡­ I want to make our relationship clear though¡­ I am not your friend, nor am I your ally, we are merely co-conspirators. You get something out of it, I get something out of it. You follow up on your end of the deal, I¡¯ll follow up on my end...¡± As we left the shed, Aika and Nakamura both had me over their shoulders. Thinking to myself, ¡°I really need crutches¡­¡± ¡°So, Nakamura, how did you get involved in this entire thing?¡± Aika asked out of curiosity. ¡°Why should I tell you?¡± ¡°Come on¡­ what do you have to lose?¡± ¡°True enough¡­ I, well, long story short, I was approached by a certain organisation, I didn¡¯t know they¡¯re name or anything, but that they had connections to the police, I¡¯ve always wanted to be a police officer and they said this will give you the required training early on and will put me on that path.¡± ¡°And you believed them?¡± Aika looked at her dumbfoundedly. ¡°Looking back on it, it did sound too good to be true, but on the first day, they had taught me combat¡­ like military. That should have been my first warning sign. The further I went I realized that they weren¡¯t hiring police officers, but training me to protect their secret. My first operation was to analyse you, Yuuki.¡± ¡°M-me? Analyse?¡± ¡°They told me to look for any unusual behavioural patterns within your daily routine¡­ we even have a memoir on your sleep schedule, what time you go to school, what you eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.¡± She went into scarily accurate detail about almost every detail of my life, it was like my existence was presented right in front of me. ¡°Alright, Jesus¡­ I get the idea.¡± ¡°Wow, interesting¡­ very interesting¡­¡± Aika replied with a grin on her face. ¡°What the hell are you smiling about¡­¡± ¡°Oh, nothing¡­ nothing at all¡­¡± You know I can still see that grin getting wider, right? ¡°Oh by the way,¡± I looked at Nakamura. ¡°You took quite the beating back there, you sure you¡¯re okay?¡± ¡°Oh, me? Don¡¯t worry about me, your friend somehow found it in her cold, dead heart to fix me up with some antibiotics and band-aids, so I should be fine.¡± She said with a smile, like she had gone through this exact same thing in the past. As I was being guided along by these two, I had realized that we were going back into the school building. ¡°A-Aika¡­ where are we going¡­?¡± I asked pre-emptively with asked with concern. ¡°W-where? Where do you think? The nurse¡¯s room! Look at your leg! There¡¯s no way we can leave it like that.¡± ¡°You treated it, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Yes, but¡­ I want to see if they have any crutches, the chances are you won¡¯t be on your feet again for a couple of months or so¡­ we need that leg healed fast.¡± Something that felt akin to an ounce of genuine concern, was all I needed to be reassured of Aika¡¯s plan. As we approached the door, I thought to myself¡­ ¡°How the hell are we going to explain this to the nurse¡­¡± Without a second thought from Aika, she immediately knocked on the door three times. No answer. We opened the door, and to our surprise, no one came into view. A window was left open, leaving the cool breeze of the summer evening¡¯s air to swoop in and catch my nose. I breathed in every ounce of fresh air I could, because the room itself smelt like an actual hospital. Its pungent and nostalgic smell almost made me gag if it wasn¡¯t for the fresh breeze courtesy of the open window. ¡°Yuuki, you just sit on the bed for a minute.¡± ¡°Right¡­¡± I tried looking around the room myself, looking for anything that resembled crutches, I didn¡¯t want to be walking around with an old man''s walking stick, so this was the next best thing. ¡°Over here, I think I¡¯ve found some.¡± ¡°Thanks, Nakamura.¡± ¡°Yeah, don¡¯t mention it, I¡¯m don¡¯t consider myself an ally of the state anymore.¡± ¡°Hehe¡­ right¡­¡± An awkward bit of laughter escaped my mouth as I tried to formulate a rebuttal to that sentence. My God, just what the fuck was she doing? Like, seriously? Enemy of the state? You¡¯re joking, right!? Just how deep into the rabbit hole was she? How much did she know? ¡°Well then, here yeah go! You¡¯ll have to put up with this for the next couple or so months so I¡¯d get used to it.¡± Nakamura said, waving over to Aika signalling that it was time to go. Yeah, it probably is time to go, we stayed at school far longer than I expected. Getting up and down these stairs is gonna be a real pain for me as well. That reminds me of back then¡­ the amount of force Aika would¡¯ve had to use to pierce such a large piece of wood through my leg¡­ she gave it her all, is all I can say. ¡°How are we gonna cover this up?¡± I asked with a worried look on my face. I knew if we didn¡¯t come up with some sort of alibi, we would dig ourselves deeper into the lies we were already telling. ¡°How about we tell people that you broke your leg during soccer practice?¡± What sounded like a mocking remark came out in such a serious way, I didn¡¯t know if she was genuine or just taking the piss. Either way, I know that wouldn¡¯t fly well with the teachers, especially Natsuki, I mean he knows how much I hate soccer¡­ and how I try to fake an injury to get out of practice¡­ ¡°That won¡¯t work.¡± ¡°Well, Yuuki, you¡¯ve gotta have a suggestion, right? What kind of activity would you do that would result in your breaking your leg?¡± ¡°Let me think¡­¡± I thought about that question for a moment. Honestly, I couldn¡¯t think up an answer, nothing I usually ever do ends up with me breaking my leg, well, except when hanging around with Aika, of course¡­ ¡°What if we say¡­ now, bear with me¡­ I got accidentally pushed down the stairs by Aika?¡± ¡°Wait, why me exactly?!¡± ¡°Well because¡­ I can¡¯t say Nakamura accidentally pushed me down the stairs, can I? But if it were you, we could make a testimony! We could go up to my mom after school and just explain to her what happened! I¡¯ll just say I wasn¡¯t looking where I was going, mom will give me the usual scolding, and then I¡¯ll say I bumped into you and fell down the stairs!¡± ¡°Wow, Yuuki, give yourself some room to breathe before you use up your last braincell, ey?¡± ¡°R-right, yeah sorry¡­¡± It was if my below-average brain suddenly went into maximum overdrive to come up with that completely elaborate plan, despite the fact it was quite simple. ¡°I get your point, but it¡¯s the school faculty we want to convince, not your mother¡­¡± Nakamura added. ¡°My mothers the one who¡¯s going to be contacting the school about it, hell, I might even get some time off because of it. God¡­ time off, such beautiful words¡­ w-w-what do you think, Aika?¡± I said in exasperation. ¡°Do you think I could pull it off?¡± ¡°We need you in school, if you¡¯re off we can¡¯t proceed with plans.¡± ¡°What plans? I haven¡¯t heard a single ¡®plan¡¯ on how we¡¯re even gonna meet this guy anyway, a-and why do you wanna even meet him?¡± I may have tripped on that metaphorical ¡®landmine¡¯, she went dead silent, it even spooked Nakamura. ¡°A lot of reasons.¡± Quick. Very quick. Her tone was that of sharpness, it dug straight through me I didn¡¯t want to pressure her about her relationship with this guy, nor do I wanna know. ¡°Look, I am¡­ sorry, I shouldn¡¯t¡¯ve pressured you. If you don¡¯t wanna talk about it, obviously, you don¡¯t have to. That should be a given.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s not your fault¡­ in all honesty, I don¡¯t have a plan, I was kinda hoping you would have one, Nakamura¡­¡± ¡°W-what, me? Why me?! This is your gripe with him, now you want me to do all of the planning for you, too? What kind of sick joke is this!? I¡¯m already dead as things stand now if this entire thing blows up in our faces. YOU¡¯RE the perpetrator here, you want him I can take you to him, that¡¯s it, how you wanna go about doing it is up to YOU, Yamaguchi.¡± ¡°Enough¡­ look, I don¡¯t wanna stay here any longer than I have to, I¡¯ve got a massive bottle of cola lying in my bedroom, probably boiling hot now that needs to be consumed.¡± ¡°I thought you only drank cola on Monday nights?¡± ¡°Okay, seriously that¡¯s really fucking with me now, how the hell do you know that, do you seriously have cameras crawling around my house or something¡­?¡± ¡°No, that would be too risky¡­ anyway, that¡¯s what it says in the report.¡± ¡°Report¡­what report?! Anyway, why would you need to know when I drink cola¡­?¡± ¡°Anything helps us, medial or not, general habits of a subject are always nice to have handy with you, from that you can deduce what type of behavioural patterns they might exhibit in the future.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what you can deduce about me from when I decide to drink cola¡­¡± I walked around the room, trying to get used to these two sticks I would have to use for the next couple of months. I was getting a little better, I suppose. I wouldn¡¯t say I¡¯m the best at the game of, ¡®Try to Stay Upright on Crutches¡¯ or anything, but I wouldn¡¯t say I¡¯m bad at it, either. I could see Nakamura and Aika chatting off in the middle of the doorway, I couldn¡¯t hear what they were saying, but I ignored them, instead, focusing on getting used to the crutches. The only problem I could see with them was getting up and down the stairs, other than that, I was basically set. ¡°If you¡¯re done chit-chatting, I would like to get going now¡­ we don¡¯t know when the nurse will get back and we¡¯ve basically stolen the school¡¯s equipment¡­¡± That thought had only crossed my mind in that very instance¡­ I don¡¯t know how well school faculty will respond to us stealing from the nurse¡¯s office, but either way I¡¯m not going home limping like a dog. We arrived at the school gates. ¡°Yuuki, I will walk you back to your house, from there we will explain to your mother what had ¡®occurred¡¯ and how it wasn¡¯t ¡®technically¡¯ your fault.¡± ¡°Yep, sounds good to me!¡± ¡°Of course¡­ listen though, I will be calling you around 11, so pick up your phone and don¡¯t leave it hanging.¡± ¡°That late? What if they-¡± ¡°They won¡¯t, without all broadcast stations in operation, they won¡¯t have any luck with the operation.¡± Nakamura interjected. ¡°Whatever you two need to talk about over the phone, I can guarantee you by Hayashida randomly passing out mid-call.¡± After we had left the school, we had sworn a secrecy to each other, one that would make sure that the only souls that knew about our plans were us and us alone. No one else can hear about this. As such, Nakamura went her separate ways for the time being, we pretended that this conversation never came to be. ¡°All we need to do now is to explain this all to your mother. That will be the spark that lights up our path into the next phase of the operation.¡± ¡°I see you¡¯re still as dramatic as ever¡­ look, when we get to my house, my mother probably won¡¯t be home for another few hours¡­¡± ¡°She won¡¯t?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, whatever phone call you wanted to make with me, we can just discuss it over at my house.¡± ¡°A-are you sure about this¡­? I hope I won¡¯t be intruding, would I?¡± ¡°What? Are you kidding me? Of course not! If anything¡­ look, my mom¡¯s been telling me for ages now that if I don¡¯t think seriously about the future, I¡¯ll end up without anybody¡­¡± She looked at me with a disgruntled face. ¡°H-hey, don¡¯t get the wrong idea now¡­ if you¡¯re there, she¡¯ll lay off of me for the time being.¡± ¡°I see¡­ if I didn¡¯t know any better, I would assume this was an unprecedented confession of love, Yuuki Hayashida¡­¡± ¡°Yes¡­ it¡¯s a complete and utter shame¡­ now, can we get back on topic? When we get there, if you want I¡¯ll heat some food up for you, I have absolutely no idea to cook so that¡¯s the next best thing from yours truly¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯d rather starve if I could¡­¡± She said coldly. ¡°How cruel¡­!¡± Chapter 6: A Blissfully Unaware Couple of Idiots As I steadily made my way back home, with the assistance of Aika, we chatted a bit, making idle small talk. However, the topic of Mao Nakamura came up. We couldn¡¯t agree on one problem in particular, that being, what we would do with her. She did say that she had no reason to hurt us, that if she were to turn tail and run, or turn us in, that she would only be hurting herself. ¡°I don¡¯t think we can trust her.¡± She said, with sharpness in her eyes. Sharp enough that it could cut me right open. One slice was all it would take. The sturdiness in her voice made it all too clear how little trust she had in Nakamura. In a situation like this, I couldn¡¯t help but sympathize with her distrust. For whatever reason, I felt like she had a justification for why she wouldn¡¯t trust her. I don¡¯t know anything about what she went through, why this ¡®Jacob Barron¡¯ is so important to find, nothing. To me, though, Mao Nakamura is just someone who got tangled up in all of this mess. Her wanting to be a police officer, to her now being a part of a government conspiracy. Agreeing with one single party would be unfair to the opposite party. I wanted to side with both of them, but I know that indecisiveness won¡¯t get me anywhere. ¡°In my opinion, I trust her, Aika, I do. From what she¡¯s told us, it looks like even herself didn¡¯t want anything more to do with them.¡± Aika looked at me, her sharp eyelashes piercing down at me. ¡°Oh, really?¡± Her tone became much more lowered, her mannerisms that of someone who just got told off by a teacher in grade school, or that of someone who was deeply insulted. I didn¡¯t make eye contact with her, waiting it out until that terrifying gaze melted away and she was back to her normal self. ¡°I-I¡­ I know this entire premise may seem suspicious; I do¡­¡± ¡°Then why do you indulge her, then? Why indulge someone who will backstab us?¡± ¡°Look, here¡¯s my opinion. If they wanted to take us both out, they would¡¯ve done so already, right? You¡¯ve been off their radar for years now, right? You told me that some time ago, I can¡¯t remember when, but I remember you saying that.¡± ¡°What? I never told you tha- well, never mind¡­ but, you¡¯re right¡­ for about four decades, if I remember correctly¡­¡± ¡°And it wouldn¡¯t be hard for them to capture you, right?¡± ¡°Yes, it would be incredibly easy if they had my location.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why I think we should trust her, if nothing else, we should at least let her talk.¡± I don¡¯t know if this would help, but I don¡¯t want to see her life crumble away, she seemed like a genuinely good person, and if she can help us get to him, then that¡¯s just even better. ¡°Fine¡­ but,¡± I could see this coming from a mile away, the catch that would decide her fate. ¡°At the first sign of insubordination, she dies. End of story.¡± I knew the conditions before she even stated them, her way to solve any problem was usually the quickest, the little squeeze of a trigger. ¡°Is that how you always solve your problems, huh? What even counts as ¡®insubordination¡¯ anyway?¡± ¡°If I think she¡¯s conspiring against me, then I suppose that would be a nice prerequisite to any bullet holes I would like to see punctured through her.¡± ¡°You¡­¡± I desperately wanted to finish my sentence, but her words had a grasp on my heart as if it were being choked out. Escalating this any further might reveal an Aika I would never want to meet. ¡°Are we done, yet?¡± ¡°I-¡­ guess.¡± ¡°Then if we¡¯d all had our say, then I suppose we now open the door.¡± We had arrived at my house, I tried to pull out my key from my blazer pocket, awkwardly reaching in, I got it out and inserted it into the keyhole. ¡°Make yourself at home, then.¡± As I turned the hole with the key, the door opened. Stepping inside, I took off my shoes, Aika following afterward. Aika pondered around my house like a cat who had made its way into someone else¡¯s house by accident, to say this exact same situation was any different would be a lie, only Aika was not a cat, but pertained the curiosity of one. Making her way around the house, doing loops starting counter clockwise, she circled the building, looking at every subtle detail of the kitchen, to the living room, passing the toilets, and eventually making her way back to the hall. Even though she was moving in rapid paces, one thing, in particular, grabbed her attention enough where she came to a complete stop. A painting hung up on the wall, it was of me as a baby. She stared at it intently. ¡°Is¡­ this you?¡± She asked in a tone filled with curiosity. ¡°Yes, baby pictures, not the number one thing I¡¯d like hung up in the hallway.¡± She kept staring, although it did make me a bit uncomfortable, someone whom I¡¯ve only known for a short period of time, looking into something so personal. ¡°And who is this?¡± She pointed at the female in the picture that was next to me holding my hand. ¡°Oh her, she was my aunt.¡± ¡°Was?¡± ¡°She died shortly after I turned two, I don¡¯t really remember anything about her, the only memory I have of her was in this very photo.¡± ¡°You remember that far back?¡± Aika exclaimed in stunned shock and awe. ¡°Nothing further back than that, though. Even then, that was the only memory I have from when I was two, after that, I can''t remember anything up until I was six years old. ¡± She was silent for a good minute. I was gonna ask her what she wanted to do next but the way she was lost in thought, transfixed on the image, I couldn¡¯t pull her out. The way she looked at the image, was not one of someone admiring a piece of art, for obvious reasons, nor was it a look of relaxation, where the viewer felt contempt staring at the image, no. The way she stared at it, no, examined it, was one of pure intent. ¡°I-, well¡­¡± I hesitated for a moment, trying to break her out of her trance. ¡°Aika?¡± ¡°Oh, yes, sorry about that.¡± ¡°What was the problem?¡± ¡°I guess you could say I was intrigued by your aunt. You say the only memory of her was in this image? Meaning you could remember back from when you were two?¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right.¡± It even baffles me, how I have such short term memory, but the one thing I can remember before I was six was this very moment in particular, that being when my aunt and I was staying over at my grandma and grandpa¡¯s house for the winter. ¡°I see.¡± ¡°I still haven¡¯t asked you though, Aika, besides telling my mom about what happened here, didn¡¯t you say you wanted to talk to me about something over the phone?¡± ¡°You are very right, Hayashida. There is. I suppose now would be a good time to talk about it, if you will.¡± We went upstairs into my room, I had cleaned it up a few days ago, not to any sort of good standards, but to my standards, which are pretty low at that, but it was at an acceptable standard for our guest to not want to call the police on me straight after entering my room, after mistaking it for a slaves cage. ¡°Here we are, don¡¯t step on any of the wires on the floor.¡± I gave her a forewarning. I sat down on my chair and placed the crutches against the desk, waiting for Aika to tell me what she had wanted to over the phone. ¡°If I can, I would like to make this as short as possible. When all of this is over, I was going to tell you about what our next course of action would be, the next phase of our operation¡­¡± She said in such a serious tone as if we were in some sort of military position and we were carrying out our next mission. ¡°You may have questions, questions about how you might meet your father.¡± ¡°Oh right, you never mentioned how we would get to him, is he with that Jacob Barron guy?¡± ¡°No, not technically, you see¡­ your father is dead.¡± Hearing that made me less enthusiastic, to say the least. ¡°Then, what¡¯s the point? Are we going to his grave or something¡­?¡± ¡°No, but I see there is no easier roundabout way of telling you this, so, I¡¯ll tell you exactly what we¡¯re doing and you will have to accept it wholeheartedly. Yuuki, we will be travelling to the past.¡± ¡°Woh, woh, woh¡­ you mean like Back To The Future? What the hell are you talking about, have y¡¯ got a screw loose or something? I get you¡¯re some sort of immortal being, but even for you, this is insane. Where¡¯d you get the power to time travel, anyway?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not exactly my power we will be using, we will be borrowing somebody else¡¯s.¡± I don¡¯t know what scares me more, the fact that we¡¯re supposed to rely on this mysterious person Aika¡¯s just now brought up, or the fact that somebody else in this vast universe, debatably holds an even greater power than Aika does. ¡°How are we supposed to trust this person, anyway?¡± ¡°This person is one of my mutual acquaintances, I suppose that would be a fitting term.¡± ¡°Mutual? Acquaintance? If I had to guess, I¡¯d assume it was someone who was like Aika, someone who also was an anomaly within this world.¡± Maybe I was being too presumptuous. I tugged at my collar; the sun was setting yet the heat seemed to increase in temperature. I wish it was the sun, I really do. But the truth is, that was just my sweat, the sweat accumulated by that short discussion I had with Aika. ¡°Time travel, huh¡­? I didn¡¯t even think it was possible.¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t for a long time in the universe, time wasn¡¯t even a concept before humans invented it. Everything happened in a bubble, with things changing, trying to explain that concept to a human is impossible, because trying to imagine anything besides what you perceive is impossible, but then at one point in time, a God or God''s ruled a new order, the invention of time.¡± ¡°Aika, what¡­ are you, exactly? No seriously¡­ how do you know all of this¡­ and God''s?¡± ¡°What am I, indeed. I assume you have a few questions, then?¡± ¡°Nope.¡± ¡°R-really?¡± ¡°If I asked any questions, we would be here for too long, although¡­¡± Something I desperately wanted to know about Aika was, ¡°What are you, exactly?¡± ¡°The remnants of Satan¡¯s daughter, the Anti-Christ, I suppose one might call me, although I was left to die on earth. He clearly wasn¡¯t happy, as he wanted a male vessel.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not quite sure how I am supposed to react to that, in all honesty.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I have no intention of causing you bodily harm, if that is a concern of yours.¡± ¡°That¡¯s wasn¡¯t even in my top ten concerns after hearing that¡­¡± Aika, sitting on the bed across from me, raised her finger to her forehead, a faint outline, so faint in fact, that even looking up close, you couldn¡¯t get a clear view of it, but as she grabbed my hand up to her forehead, she told me to point out my index finger, she guided me across her forehead. I could feel something, the faintest outline of the number six was formed. ¡°When I said I was the anti-Christ, I wasn¡¯t exactly lying, but the key word here is was. That title was taken at birth. All that remains is this. When you asked who I was, I was serious, I couldn¡¯t tell you who I actually am, because I don¡¯t know what I am anymore. I don¡¯t know if I am human, or demon, or both.¡± She grasped both my hands within her palm. ¡°What do you think I am, Yuuki?¡± She stared at me with eyes that were looking for answers. ¡°To me¡­ you¡¯re no different from any person I¡¯ve ever met... well at least on the surface. ¡± ¡°Only difference is you seem to have immortality and a cool set of wings if I do say so myself.¡± I joked in some strange way trying to comfort her. Her eyes glistened for a moment, I couldn¡¯t tell if that was the answer she was looking for, but in that moment, I only saw the Aika that was in front of me, not some demonic creature or something as terrifying as the anti-Christ, no. Only her. Hours passed, Aika laid still on my bed, I was sat by my desk, flipping my pen up and down into the air, trying to catch it as it made its way back to the ground. This boredom couldn¡¯t last another minute, it was getting late, it had already passed 10 o¡¯clock but mom still wasn¡¯t home. Another minute went by, yet another minute I spent looking up at my ceiling, slowly drifting in and out of consciousness. Tick, tock, went the clock, another minute passed. ¡°When is she gonna get back, already¡­ this awkwardness¡­ please, I can¡¯t bare it anymore¡­¡± ¡°Aika, listen, if you¡¯ve still got that computer at your house, we can probably get it looked at by someone in Akihabara, if you want¡­¡± No response to my question, better yet, no movement was shown on her at this time. ¡°Oi, Aika! You awake? I think we might be able to get the computer¡¯s password cracked.¡± I heard a slight yawn coming from the bed, a slow awakening of a very tired Aika Yamaguchi was placed before my very eyes, completely wrecked to the skin, eyes half-open, bags drooping down from her eyelids, messy hair dangled down in complete disarray, Aika having slept. She knows she can¡¯t reveal herself to my mom like this, right? ¡°Fix yourself, my mom will be home any minute.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­¡± a monotone, half-baked acknowledgement of my request was spoken uncourteously through her mouth. She blew out the piece of hair she had stuck in her mouth whilst asleep, pressing her hand against her forehead shortly before saying ¡°headache¡­¡± in the most sheepish way possible. ¡°Right¡­¡± On instinct I got up from the chair, well¡­ at the best of my abilities in my current state, and headed out my room. ¡°I¡¯ll be back in a sec, I¡¯ll go get some medicine.¡± I was still getting used to going up and down stairs, but I was making steady progress. What surprised me was the fact that she was able to receive headaches. But more importantly, how she experienced them, I don¡¯t know if headaches for someone like her might be absolutely nothing or like a million migraines all at once. I rushed downstairs and into the kitchen where we stored all the medical supplies. I just grabbed anything I could, some headache medicine and a glass of water. Before I could return upstairs, I heard the front doorknob turn, ¡°It¡¯s probably mom¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m back.¡± Earlier than last time, I suppose. Her usual calm demeanour was clouded with this new part of my mother I had rarely seen. My mother was a calm, level-headed person, one you could always rely on in messy situations, but seeing her like this made me feel uneasy. I wanted to approach her and ask her what was wrong, but before I got the chance to, she sat at the dining table, her hand against her face in a rather solemn position. She was not still though, her hands were trembling as she placed her palm against her face, her legs were spiritic, jumping up and down like a jackhammer. ¡°A-¡­¡± I tried to get a word out, but failed¡­ of course I did¡­ guess I¡¯ll try again ¡°A-are you feeling alright.¡± It was the least I could do, I could easily let her sit there whilst I went back upstairs, but that wouldn¡¯t sit right in my stomach. ¡°Yuuki¡­ yes, yes, don¡¯t worry about me.¡± ¡°Well¡­ I just wanted to tell you that we have a guest.¡± ¡°A-¡­ guest?¡± ¡°Yeah, well, you see ¨C she¡¯s one of my friends from school.¡± ¡°Oh, a friend, that¡¯s okay, what¡¯s her name?¡± ¡°Aika Yamaguchi.¡± I noticed that mom hadn¡¯t noticed these crutches I was balancing on. With her head still down, looking like she had taken a thrashing beating to the ground, worn out and exhausted. Springing the fact on her that I wouldn¡¯t be able to walk for some time right now wouldn¡¯t be right of me, it looks like she¡¯s been through a lot today, guess I¡¯ll wait for things to settle down when she¡¯s in a good mood. ¡°I¡¯ll just be heading upstairs right now¡­¡± My dejected response and my incapability to comfort my mom in a time like this made me more angry at myself. Going up the stairs, I thought to myself about all of the possibilities, all the things I could¡¯ve said, could¡¯ve done to cheer her up, to makes things right, but I bitched out, cowardly limping up the stairs. If I really cared about what was happening with my mother, I would¡¯ve done something about it, but I didn¡¯t. Maybe it¡¯s because I haven¡¯t been close with her for a long time and we¡¯ve just grown apart, one might call that ¡°growing up¡± but to me it just seems like an excuse, an excuse to not act. I opened the door, revealing a certain person scattered on my bed, completely messing up all of my covers, my pillows, and my sheets. But that was the least of my concerns. ¡°Sit up for a sec.¡± I instructed Aika, she sloppily rose from the sheets, groggily speaking incoherently, ¡°Yuuki, that you¡­ there?¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s me.¡± I had the water and medicine in hand, ready to go, I was about to drop it inside of the glass, before Aika suddenly reached out to me, tugging at my sleeve. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.¡°I can¡¯t¡­¡± ¡°Can¡¯t what¡­ exactly?¡± ¡°I can''t swallow them ¡®pills¡¯ you people put in your mouths... it¡¯s frankly disgusting how people can swallow them things whole¡­¡± Is she serious right now¡­? ¡°Well how else are you supposed to eat it?!¡± ¡°You could crush it up.¡± I have never come across such a stubborn person in my entire life¡­ ¡°Guess I have no choice¡­¡± I took the medicine and tried to crush it in my hand. ¡°Huh? Huh? W-what¡¯s going on here¡­huh?¡± I tried to crush it in my hand but¡­ to no avail. Aika looked on in disappointment and embarrassment. ¡°N-no, don¡¯t¡­ why are you looking at me with such a pitiful face¡­? Do you know how hard it is to crush something so tiny in your hand nevertheless?!¡± No¡­ this measly little tic-tac shaped pill won¡¯t defeat me, I¡­ will¡­ PREVAIL! Seconds turned into minutes, no luck. I was probably doing more harm than good here, Aika¡¯s headache looked like it was getting worse. In sheer defeat, I handed it over to Aika, who then promptly managed to crush it with ease, putting all of my effort to shame. I lowered my head in comedic shame, grasping onto any pride I had left. ¡°I don¡¯t know about you, but that wasn¡¯t so hard, y¡¯know?¡± ¡°I-it¡¯s only because I tried so hard to crush it that it broke so easily¡­¡± That¡¯s right! My effort didn¡¯t go to waste! ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s how it works, though.¡± Please¡­ let me have this one! ¡°I heard the door open downstairs, is your mother back yet?¡± ¡°Oh yeah, she just came in about five minutes ago.¡± ¡°Then¡­ how do you want to go about telling her?¡± ¡°I think¡­ we shouldn¡¯t tell her right now¡­¡± ¡°W-¡­ why not? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re getting cold feet.¡± ¡°It ain''t like that! It¡¯s just¡­ well, she seems like she¡¯s in a rough spot at the minute¡­¡± ¡°Rough spot¡­?¡± She asked curiously. ¡°Yeah, like if I were to tell her all of this at once, she might snap, that kind of rough spot.¡± ¡°Why do you think that is?¡± ¡°It might be work¡­ I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on in her life, I don¡¯t ask and she doesn¡¯t tell¡­¡± ¡°Maybe¡­ you should.¡± ¡°I know¡­ I should, but¡­¡± ¡°But you¡¯re afraid of her response?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that¡­ I¡­ I don¡¯t know why I don¡¯t ask. Maybe it¡¯s because it¡¯s hard for me to ask.¡± ¡°What should we do then? We must ask at some point or another.¡± ¡°I know that¡­¡± At that point, I heard a knock at the door. ¡°Yuuki, I¡¯m coming in, is that alright with you and your friend?¡± ¡°Eh¡­? Oh sure, yeah¡­ come on in.¡± The door handle turned, instead of her dilapidated state from before, she aired an aura of calm and collectedness, the antithesis of how she was when she first came in through the front door. Her head that was held so low was now held so high. She looked over at Aika, that motherly intent in her eyes. ¡°Nice to meet you, I am Yuuki¡¯s mother, Ainu Yamaguchi, thank you for getting along so well with my son.¡± She said with the most pleasant smile, she must¡¯ve been putting it on for Aika, she didn¡¯t want her to see her like this. ¡°It¡¯s nice to meet you, and it¡¯s no problem at all.¡± ¡°So then, Yuuki, mind explaining why you¡¯re in such a decrepit state?¡± ¡°Oh- I was just¡­ I fell down the stairs.¡± Way to put it bluntly, idiot! What about our plan? Why did I have to go on run my stupid fucking mouth once again¡­ ¡°Yuuki¡­ how is it whenever you recover from any injury, you end up getting a new one? Only a month ago, you had that accident near the post office!¡± ¡°Accident¡­?¡± Aika enquired. ¡°A motorcyclist ran a red light whilst he was crossing the road. Yuuki being Yuuki, his instinct wasn¡¯t to get out of the way, but instead be right in the motorcyclist''s blind idiocy¡­ I didn¡¯t know who the bigger idiot was!¡± Aika stifled a giggle, probably at the thought of me being runover¡­ damnit¡­ ¡°It wasn¡¯t that bad of an injury though, but just bad enough that he didn¡¯t have to go to school, the poor thing! Anyway¡­ it looks like you might have to stay off¡­ as far as injuries go, this looks like a pretty bad one¡­¡± My faith has returned! Thank you, almighty one! No school¡­ this dreamy silky feeling I have¡­ could this be¡­ heaven¡­? Aika had a sort of relieved look on her face, it seemed like an ordinary school life didn¡¯t suit her that well, now she doesn¡¯t have to go to school either. It seemed like I didn¡¯t put on a good poker face tough, as mom looked at me when my eyes were filled with glee after being told I don¡¯t have to go to school. The dark covered the entire area, Aika had said that had to get going. Nearly, almost there, out the door, when my mom stopped her and said, ¡°Are you sure you¡¯ll be able to make it home tonight? If you¡¯d like, you could stay the night and have some dinner with us.¡± Smiling politely back at my mother, Aika signalled that she was¡­ you know, ¡°Oh, e- don¡¯t worry about me¡­ ha-ha¡­¡± But of course, my mother was persistent, how could you say no to that smile? The smile that loured Aika back into our humble abode. We sat, awkwardly in the living room, legs wrapped in the kotatsu, as mom cooked some sort of delicious meal. And I won¡¯t lie ¨C it smelt absolutely gorgeous, possibly the best of my mother¡¯s works, but our taste buds would be the final decider. Hopes were high for this meal, Aika in particular looked like she couldn¡¯t wait for whatever she was preparing. ¡°S-say, Yuuki¡­ how long do you suppose we will wait for the feast?¡± She echoed every few minutes. ¡°H-h-¡­how long now¡­?¡± ¡°H-h-¡­how long now¡­?¡± Was my mother¡¯s cooking seriously this good though? It was enough to get Aika riled up, I didn¡¯t even know what she was cooking, but by the smell, it smelt like ¨C no, definitely was curry, that scent I could never forget. ¡°Almost ready!¡± It was almost time¡­ yes¡­ my mother¡¯s best dish¡­ curry! The scent wafted into me and Aika¡¯s noses, it was like we were being lifted off the ground by the steam radiating from the curry itself. Three plates were set on the table. ¡°Thanks for the meal!¡± Digging in straight awa-¡­ holy shit¡­ she¡¯s just going right in for it, isn¡¯t she¡­? No time to waste, I guess you could say that was her moto, as within a few minutes, nothing remained on the plate. Scattered bits of rice were all that remained on her face. Wiping it off then eating it, she didn¡¯t leave a single survivor, no mercy for mom¡¯s home cooking! It was getting extremely late, just past 12, nothing to me, but we had a guest round so it was rude to keep her up. We packed everything away, me and Aika helping out to do the dishes, despite the fact that I was still on crutches, my mom figured that it would be ¡®good rehabilitation¡¯ to try and stand on my own two feet again, despite the fact I was as useful as a washboard¡­ ¡°Well¡­ you certainly enjoyed that¡­ I suppose that you¡¯d want to eat it again, right?¡± Aika cleared her throat, explaining that, yes, it was indeed very enjoyable. ¡°Look, you can¡¯t act all mature like after that display you put on.¡± ¡°Well anyway, it¡¯s best if we hurry up with the dishes, otherwise mom¡¯s gonna give me a scolding¡­¡± We finished up washing. We were getting left behind by the hours, so we decided to get some sleep. Aika borrowed some of my mother¡¯s pyjamas. Me being me, I was gracious enough to let her sleep on my bed, whilst I slept on the floor. If you¡¯re feeling sorry for me, which I¡¯m sure you¡¯re not¡­ don¡¯t be. Sleeping is no challenge for me, I have been able to sit through alarms in some of the most uncomfortable positions known to humanity. When my eyes close, the only thing that awaits me is a night of deep sleep. I looked over to Aika, ¡°Already asleep, I guess.¡± I guess you could say that¡¯s what food does to you, either that or she is just as talented as me at sleeping. Either way, it was getting late, thinking definitely wasn¡¯t getting me anywhere. Five minutes later¡­ ¡°Huh¡­? Still not asleep? Well then¡­ I¡¯ll just have to sleep faster!¡± Fifteen minutes later¡­ ¡°Okay seriously, what¡¯s going on.¡± Thirty minutes later¡­ ¡°Somethings wrong! Somethings definitely wrong! Come on¡­ think you idiot! Wait¡­ don¡¯t think, that¡¯s exactly why you can¡¯t get any sleep, idiot! But why¡­ why can¡¯t I get to sleep¡­? I have never, in my 15 years, been unable to fall asleep, so why¡­¡± I looked over at Aika. ¡°Iiiii think I understand now¡­¡± ¡°That damn Aika¡­ first she takes my bed, now she takes my sleep! Fine, have it your way¡­¡± I grabbed my crutches and approached the door, turning the handle. ¡°This is risky, I haven¡¯t gotten even halfway through turning the handle, any sudden creaks could jeopardise this entire operation!¡± The creaks in the floor, the handle turn, the fucking wind created by the motion of moving my leg, everything I had accounted for, except for one thing¡­ ¡°Why wont the damn door open?!¡± I don¡¯t remember installing OUTSIDE LOCKS on my door, I only had them on the inside, so this conundrum I was in could only lead to one solution¡­ ¡°That women¡­¡± She must have somehow brute forced the door shut from the outside! Shameful defeat, I wallowed back into my blanket, tears streaming down my face. Such a cruel mistress. It may have been two¡­ no¡ªthree o¡¯clock before I managed to fall asleep, constant shuffles and turns I made throughout the night didn¡¯t wake Aika, however, I¡¯ve seen how she sleeps, and if that girl wanted to, she could sleep through an earthquake. Despite getting little sleep, I woke up early at 7:00, only four hours of sleep under my belt. ¡°My¡­ head, it hurts¡­¡± An agony that felt all too familiar, the pain however, wouldn¡¯t last long. With a hearty yawn, I slowly arose from the ground, I instinctually tried to stand up, failing at it miserably. ¡°Oh yeah, that¡¯s right¡­ all that happened, and that means-¡­¡± I shot my fists in the air in pure euphoria. ¡°No school! No school! No school!¡± I chanted in my mind. I looked over at Aika, an oddly familiar scene, she slept sound asleep, not a word, not a peep. A soft, muffled snore was the only thing audible, ¡°I¡¯m not sure if I should wake her or not¡­¡± Not too long after though, the silence was broken by the sound of Aika shuffling from her position, her eyes flinched, attempting to open her eyelids, her hair fell down as she rose from the bed, with little strands of hair standing up on their own as if it were magic. ¡°Oh, good morning.¡± She said with a slobbish tone. ¡°You don¡¯t look too great there, Yuuki, are you sure you haven¡¯t stuffed your head inside of a washing machine this morning?¡± ¡°You¡¯re one to talk¡­¡± Wait¡­ washing machine? I looked over to the mirror, what reflected was a me I too was also familiar with, the morning bedhead I would always wake up to, completely stuck up, along with the dripping sweat I felt pour down my face, made it look like, as Aika put it, ¡®I had stuffed my head inside of a washing machine.¡¯ I grunted at my washed-up appearance. I didn¡¯t have the energy to beat myself up over it, either. So I just stared, and kept staring at the reflection that was presented to me, hypnotized by the way the light from the window reflected onto the side of my face, and I wondered to myself, just who was that-that stared back at me? Another wasted moment has come to pass. Aika had left for school. (For some reason.) ¡°Oh yeah¡­ she did say something about ¡®keeping the status quo¡¯ with all of her pears at school.¡± From my perspective, I would¡¯ve taken the opportunity and ran with it, any excuse not to go to school is good in my opinion, maybe a family member''s funeral, or a fever, anything that would pass as an excuse I¡¯d take wholeheartedly. But today, for some reason, I felt like I wanted to go, maybe because there¡¯s truly nothing you can do besides sit inside your room all day, the computer that I have, alongside my TV, the two forms of entertainment that I can use. Today for some reason, I don¡¯t even have any energy to use. Sitting at my desk is a hassle, using my hands to move some plastic mouse over a table, then clicking the mouse, using some buttons on a keyboard to type, just a lazier version of writing, having the bright screen blind my eyes, no thank you¡­ and then turning on the TV, flicking through the channels, deciding what to watch, and if the thing you want to watch isn¡¯t on, well too bad, hassle. Before me and mom saw Aika off, my mom being the sweetheart she is had already prepared a lunch for her to take. We saw her off, waved our goodbye¡¯s, and closed the door behind us. I don¡¯t know whether she was going to school or not, but if she did, I hope she gets to know more people, I hope she can make friends with people there, form meaningful connections that will last a lifetime. It was idealistic thinking, knowing this would never come to be, and never can, but I still believe she has the ability to. No matter how much shit happened to her in her life, I believe she can look forward to the future, I think, I hope. With mom gone, I was left with only my thoughts, so I thought a little¡­ ¡°Ugh¡­ this is a pain¡­ when¡¯s Aika gonna come back?¡± I threw myself to the bed, ¡°Ugh¡­ why¡­¡± I took out some manga. ¡°Hmm, yes¡­ interesting¡­ interesti- wait- this is fucking boring!¡± I was far from reading any of the text or looking at any of the images, blankly skimming through everything. I didn¡¯t even remember the title, and I did look at it! This patheticness can¡¯t last any longer¡­ lounging around¡­ I thought because of all that¡¯s happened¡­ that I wouldn¡¯t go back to this routine¡­ but here I am, stuck in my room, rotting away, time passing by without me. ¡°I won¡¯t do that.¡± I picked up my crutches, headed out the door into a brightly scorched morning. The area I lived in was far from being densely populated, no exaggeration, only a small row of houses, facing the houses was a large cornfield, with a path cutting into the fields separated by the hedges, making way for vehicles, this path lead to the school, along this path, if you looked to your right, you might remember a certain farm, a farm that once had all kind of animals, now all dead on their sides, the cow carcasses still not fully dissolved into the land, the chicken''s feathers still scattered about the land, one can only say it was the work of the neighbourhood cat, the sheep skinned alive, their fur no more. The worms fed off them for food. A fly would come along to desecrate on their unsightly grave every now and then. And over in the distance, stud a girl. A girl who was surrounded by birds, ravens to be precise, I know they¡¯re ravens even from this distance. What was odd though¡­ was that not a single raven would dare approach that girl, they formed a circle, an oddly coordinated circle. ¡°She just moved.¡± The birds were not spooked, instead, they adapted to her movement, following her, forming the exact same circle as she guided them into the barn. So familiar yet so distant, d¨¦j¨¤ vu? It was like when you recall a moment in time, but you can¡¯t remember whether it was real or just a dream. In dazed confusion, I steadily trampled over the bushes, my legs getting trapped within the branches. With only one leg working, this further exacerbated things, but with luck, I somehow managed to reach the other side, I was on the field now, and in my dazed confusion, I saw all of the birds scatter outwards, no girl remained, only the scattered flock of ravens that now engulfed the entire field itself. I made my way through the mud and the waste, the faecal matter that was left behind by the cows, their stomachs ripped open, either from decomposition or¡­ something else¡­ as I approached the barn, the stench of rotting corpses had only gotten worse, but an even stronger, muskier scent, however, I couldn¡¯t put my finger on it. I reached the barn door, closed off as it was, it wasn¡¯t locked. I slid open the barn doors with careful and methodical sensitivity, ensuring myself it was safe to enter. As the doors opened, small bright streams of sunlight caressed a ground that had not been touched in god knows how many years, however, the stench only grew, even more powerful, my mind immediately rushed to the worst-case scenario¡­ But before I could even see what was inside, I woke up. ¡°Of course it was a dream¡­ how would I have been able to climb over them hedges with crutches on?!¡± Dreams are like that though, what seems like completely normal in a dream, once you wake up from it, you realize just how preposterous it really is. I sat laying down on the couch, I woke up dazed from exhaustion. It looked like I was about to read a book before I passed out, as one was sitting there on my lap. The title read: 101 Cooking Recipes. Chapter 7: Mao Nakamura Part 2 A month had passed since my injury, it was now summer break. As I looked out my window to view the nearby trees sway in the cool summer breeze, the screeching of the cicadas wasn¡¯t the only thing that broke my usually mannered temper to a grinding halt. What lay next to me, with sheets thrown in haphazardly, threaded in between her feet and waist was a certain Aika Yamaguchi, who was now a regular at the Hayashida household. Because of ¡°circumstances¡± as she likes to call it, Aika has a lot of free time now. For the past month, we have been talking, strategizing, and planning our next move. If all turns out well, we will be able to move forward with our plan. My leg has¡­ for the most part, healed. With Nakamura now on our side, moving forward with the plan should be a breeze. But that¡¯s easier said than done¡­ there¡¯s so much we still don¡¯t know, and Nakamura¡¯s knowledge is limited. There¡¯s that cm height added to the hurdle that could lead to us tripping up and fucking up any chance of success in our mission. ¡°We use Nakamura¡¯s fob to gain access to the main building, from there we use the layout of the building Nakamura gave us to find Jacob Barron''s office.¡± The plan, this incredibly convoluted, hard to follow plan, left me feeling confused. I read it over and over in my mind. There was so much my mind had omitted due to how longwinded and thought-crushingly painful it was to remember. It was only now when my agoraphobia was fully realized, that any tiny fuckup within the plan would spell disaster for all of us. As for a plan B, if things do go wrong¡­ well, she¡¯s still thinking about that. Whilst the rainy weeks had passed, it was now replaced with the heat and torture of the midsummer blues, that feeling of being completely paralyzed by the sun''s unmatched temperature. This feeling of fatigue, this feeling I know all too well¡­ I hate it. ¡°I feel like I¡¯m gonna be-¡± Audible gasps of air were heard from the toilet as the vomit hit the side of the toilet bowl. I was in such a rushed panic that my aim was a tad off when forcefully projectile vomiting into the toilet bowl. This was the worst pain of my entire life. This feeling was pain encapsulated. I had no control over my own stomach, and I just saw Aika staring at me with a confused look in her eyes. W-w-why are you just looking at me like that?! Get a doctor or something! I''m literally dying from pain! After a couple of seconds, it stopped. ¡°Ooohhh¡­ Goooood!¡± I was bawling in angry tears, why now all of a sudden? What the hell caused this? What? After a month of relative peace, it hit me like a train when I found myself lying on the floor with vomit dripping from my mouth, I got to get a better look at Aika¡¯s face, it wasn¡¯t that she was confused, more like she didn¡¯t even know what she had to do in that situation, like she had never had experienced this before in her life. I don¡¯t blame her, though. I¡¯m sorry that you had to see such a pathetic side of me. I don¡¯t take pride in it, myself. Please understand this is not something I plan to show you often¡­ so don¡¯t think you¡¯ll have to get used to it. She approached me slowly, gently laying at my side and put her hand on my back and said, ¡°Are you okay?¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m okay, I¡¯m okay~¡± ¡°Maybe we should tell your mother?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t bother, she¡¯ll be down my neck all day about this, speaking of which¡­ what are we gonna do about this?¡± This was a spectacle to behold. ¡°Grab a sponge and cloth.¡± Aika said walking off. I stared at her dumbfoundedly. ¡°There¡¯s no helping it¡­¡± This task would be utterly disgusting and yet¡­ Aika had a straight face the entire time. With any luck we could make a game out of how much of my vomit we can manage to clean up amongst ourselves, otherwise the two of us aren¡¯t going to see eye to eye anymore. August was rearing its ugly head, meaning more heat, more humidity, and that feeling of wanting to do nothing being ever-so-present. But it also meant that this term was coming to an end, we were set to journey to Akihabara, I wasn¡¯t excited to go really, I mainly used it as an excuse to look at hardware and novelty items, but besides that, there isn¡¯t really anything else you can do in Akihabara. ¡°So where did you say we were going, again?¡± ¡°Do you know of that cafe near the school?¡± ¡°Oh yeah, I know that one, that¡¯s the one my mom used to always take me to, what about it?¡± ¡°I want to go there.¡± ¡°L-like right now? Why?¡± ¡°I just want to.¡± I sighed begrudgingly, ¡°You¡¯re the boss.¡± "Besides, it might be nice to take your mind off of things." She made an excellent point, I haven''t been to that cafe in some time, I wonder if anything has changed since the last time I visited? ¡°Welcome in!¡± We sat down at a nearby table, Aika sitting opposite of me. ¡°Are you just having a drink?¡± I asked. ¡°No, I think I will have something to eat as well, something light.¡± ¡°What did you have in mind?¡± ¡°Maybe something like¡­ a sandwich¡­ maybe~¡± ¡°I think they have those on the menu, and for drinks?¡± ¡°Some milk tea will do.¡± She took a sip from the hot cup of tea, her elegancy was only bottlenecked by the shaggy looking clothes she wore, clothes that hadn¡¯t been washed in nearly a month, apparently she has no idea how to use a washing machine, my mother even offered to do it for her but she respectfully declined, saying she ¡®didn¡¯t want to be a bother.¡¯ ¡°Are you feeling better, after this morning?¡± ¡°Oh, yeah, I guess getting all that out of my system had some positive effects on me.¡± She lightly smiled, ¡°That¡¯s good to hear, but.." she stared at me deadpan in the eye. "About this morning... this incident, if you will. I suspect that it was not a random incident. Whether or not it was a side effect of all the tests them people did on you, or some external trigger, is yet to be seen." "This morning... huh~" I thought back to the moment I was sick, that shit really was a disgusting sight to see, Aika was so calm too. Even though I tried to put up a strong font, I was terrified out of my mind. I''ve never thrown up before, that was my first time, and my entire body was shaking from the shock. Yeah... it was horrible but weirdly different from what I imagined it would be like. Not horrible in the sense that I didn''t feel well, or my stomach was upset, but because of this fear of mine, it felt like it had been lying dormant inside of me for so long, not knowing what it was exactly, but I knew it was there nonetheless, and me throwing up was the catalyst for that fear to be finally realized. "It was fear, I think." "Fear?" "Yeah, I was scared when I threw up." Aika looked me dead in the eyes, the same eyes from before. "What do you mean?" Aika... them eyes... the other customers are looking at us. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences."Well... it''s like I said... I felt really scared when I started to vomit, I don''t know, I just couldn''t control it and..." She gave me this dejected sigh, maybe discussing it now wasn''t a good time, we came to this cafe to get our minds off of the ''incident'' that happened this morning. "Welcome in!" The doorbell dinged, Aika pierced right behind my shoulder, glaring at the person who had just come through the door. "Ha?! W-what the hell are you doing here?!" "I should be the one asking that question! What are you doing here?" Nakamura scuffled over to me and Aika with that ''annoyed'' face, as if she was saying, ''you two are the last people I want to see today.'' "You two..." Oh god, here it comes. "Is it your goal to try and get me in shit? If we''re seen together in public, that''ll put me in hot water." Aika was glaring off into the distance, hand on cheek, ignorant to Nakamura''s combative speech. "I would expect this from someone like Yamaguchi, but you too?" W-wait... me? Why me? What have I done? And why does it feel like I haven''t been able to live up to someone''s expectations all of a sudden? "Would you mind silencing yourself? God, you''re annoying..." Aaaaiiiiikkkkkaaaaaaaa~~~! For fuuuucks saaaaakee~~~! "Come again?" Right now everyone in the cafe was looking at us. "If I didn''t make myself clear the first time, I''ll say it again more slowly this time; I guess there''s no helping it though... be - quiet." Ironically enough, Nakamura''s declaration to us both that she and we shouldn''t be seen in public together, also meant that they had to draw as much attention to each other as possible through snarky jabs thrown each others way, so much for all that secrecy, I guess. Nakamura gritted her teeth and took a deep breath. She put on a new face and smiled back at me and Aika. "Do you guys mind if I join you?" I guess we''re starting fresh then... anyway, Aika did let her at the table, both letting their guard down. That entire time I had to bury my head in shame, there was this elderly lady that was just looking, not at them, but at me, the entire damn time... the entire... damn... Time. Wait. What. I slowly lift my gaze upwards, slowly looking past my shoulder. She took a sip from her coffee. Whilst Aika and Nakamura were still talking, I felt singled out by this women''s gaze. "Aika, please hear me out." "Eh? Oh, what is it, Yuuki?" "We need to go, now." "What do you mean, now? We only just got here?" "Just listen to me, on my right shoulder..." Her pupils began to dilate. "Let''s get going." "What? Yamaguchi! Oi! We''re not done talking!" Aika grabbed me by the arm and dragged Nakamura by the hair out of the cafe. Were they looking because of what happened with Aika and Nakamura, or... "What was all that about suddenly? Dragging me out of there like that... you hurt my goddamn head!" "It seems your utter stupidity in joining us here today has finally caught up with you, Nakamura." "Ha? The hells that supposed to mean, huh?" "Was I being too paranoid? Was that really the right call to make?" No, I''m sure it was, that elderly lady was staring right at me. Looking back at it, it seemed like everyone in that cafe was uneasy, even before Aika and Nakamura made that scene in front of everyone. If this was the case, and my assumption was right, then... what would that mean for us? "Oi, yer'' goddamn brats! Thinkin'' you can order from us and walk off without payin'', huh?" "Oh crap, it''s that weird-looking bitch with the wonky eye from when I came in!" Aika exasperated mockingly. "H-...Huh?!~" She stood there, unable to move. Knees weak, she fell to the ground. "My eye..." "IS NOT WONKY!!!" "Aika!? What the hell that was so mean!" "What are you talking about, Yuuki? It worked, did it not? She has been rendered immobile without a doubt thanks to my elaborate wording." "W-w-w-what are you two doing! Run! both of you!" "Ooohh~ right!" "My eye..." She clenched her fists into the air, "it isn''t wonky..." "Thank goodness... that was a close one... Oi, Aika! If you hadn''t dragged me out of the cafe like that, we wouldn''t be in this position right now! What was all that about anyway...? You both looked really spooked." "So I''m assuming you didn''t see it, perhaps if you weren''t caught up in your own arrogance, you would''ve noticed that the elderly person behind Yuuki, seemed to be one of your goons... ''seemed to be a tad fixated on our Yuuki here..." "Hold on a sec... you didn''t even notice her until Yuuki pointed her out!" "Ehem-... t-that''s beside the point. Look, it doesn''t matter who looked at who first, let''s just be glad we made it out of there unscathed." "And without the cops being called on us... thanks for that one, you two..." "But weren''t you just saying a minute ago tha-" She put her finger next to Nakamura''s lip. "Shh shh shh... quiet now. We might have gotten away but we don''t know whether or not they''re still following us or not... quite the predicament we''re in if I do say so myself..." For crying out loud... "I actually did my hair this morning to... and then you..." Blood welled up within Nakamura''s face. "You went and ruined it!" It actually looked like she was ready to bawl out into tears. "Aika!" I couldn''t think of an adequate response, and I''m not best suited or equipped to deal with these types of situations. Fumbling over my words, I managed to let out an, "Are you okay?" "Damnit! Just leave me alone!" What else am I supposed to do? Shit... I stared at Aika for answers but all she left me with was this befuddled face. "What''s the point? In any of this? The three of us are just gonna die anyway... they know... THEY KNOW! Everything...! My life... might as well be over at this point... even if I did get some stupid fake ID and moved to a different country, they''d still be able to find me, they''re smart like that... I''ve seen what they''re experimenting with... if they have the power to do all that then they''ll know how to track me..." So this was what she was worried about, all this time and I never noticed... why am I always like this? Why can''t I ever read the room? How many times has this happened before? Nakamura, no, Mao... "I''m sorry, for not knowing up until now. It was selfish of us to make you do all of this for us, and now... we''ve put your life on the line." "That''s not-..." "Nakamura." Aika lifted out a hand to Mao. "Whatever it takes, I will get you to that plane, and you will not have to live out the burden of forever being on the run.¡± ¡°You promise?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± They shook each other''s hand, I guess you could say that they had some sort of solidarity with each other through their situation. Aika, who wanted nothing more than to die, and Mao, who wanted nothing more than to live. Chapter 8: Days of Bliss Maybe I had fallen into a certain routine, but for the past week or so; I, Aika, Mao, and Natsuki had been gathering at Aika''s apartment so we could plan out our trip to Akihabara. Why Natsuki of all people is coming with us is... well... "No way! You guys are going to Tokyo?" "Well... yeah, but it''s not just for goofing off, stuff... things we have to do- Akihabara- yes." A weak attempt at concealing the truth, to be sure, but a valiant one for what it''s worth. "Ehhhh...? So then... you wouldn''t mind if I came along, right, Aika?" "I have no objections." Not helping! "Ugh... there''s no helping it." I leaned towards Aika. "What''re you thinking bringing along Natsuki on this trip? How did this seem like a good idea; we''ve got enough to deal with as it is! Plus... I don''t wanna wrap him up in all of this too..." "With Natsuki with us, the less suspicious we are. I suspect the enemy already knows of Nakamura''s betrayal, having Natsuki with us may act as a deterrent." "What''re you two whispering about?" Natsuki curiously interjected in on our conversation. "O-oh, it''s nothing." Without a doubt, I had my qualms about bringing Natsuki along with us, I mean... he is my friend, after all. I do not want to lose him. If he gets any more caught up in our business, I do not know what will happen to him when me and Aika return to the past. When we... finally go... will I... ever see him again? The one and only friend I have had my entire life. When we return to the future, things will have changed... Will Natsuki even know who I am? Will he have ever even existed? The day of the trip was finally upon us. And with that, I had taken all the money I had been saving up for over a year for this special occasion. And by special occasion, I mean going round Akihabara in search of someone who can decrypt a useless password off of a useless computer, so that means I have no fucking money left! ¡°QUESTION!¡± I raise my hand in complete frustration. ¡°Oh, Yuuki. What is it you want to ask?¡± Aika, in her usual condescending attitude, allowed me to speak. ¡°What am I gonna do for money? You¡¯re stealing all of mine and I have no way of getting home! We¡¯re getting the train there and back, aren¡¯t we? If we don¡¯t have enough money to get back, we¡¯ll have to stay the night wandering the streets and that really isn¡¯t my idea of fun¡­¡± Wait. - Hold on a second¡­ ¡°Aika, don¡¯t you drive a car?¡± ¡°Yes, what of it?¡± ¡°What of it? Well for one, we wouldn¡¯t have to destroy my wallet with the journey.¡± ¡°Hmmm¡­ you certainly bring up a good point, I¡¯ll be sure to take that into consideration.¡± What kind of consideration would you be taking that into, I wonder¡­? The kind where it enters one ear and leaves the other, maybe? ¡°Wait, you drive a car?!¡± Both Mao and Natsuki said in unison ¡°I am not spending any more money¡­ we use your car to get there and back.¡± ¡°Fine, fine¡­ we¡¯ll use my car then. Oh- that¡¯s right, I forgot to mention, I own a car.¡± ¡°There are SO many things wrong with that¡­ where¡¯d you even learn how to drive a car at your age? And you knew, Hayashida?¡± ¡°Yeah, she mentioned it a little while ago¡± A little while ago, huh¡­? If I remember correctly, it was around last month when we broke into that broadcasting station, the same one they used to make me see that ¡®other world¡¯ Aika was talking about. Mao Nakamura plunged her fist to the table. ¡°It¡¯s settled then, we¡¯re taking Aika¡¯s car!¡± My wallet has been saved! Eh¡­ but not by much¡­ I felt kinda relieved we were taking Aika¡¯s car instead of getting on the train, to be completely honest. Knowing me, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if I got lost when arriving at the train station, or I would do something extraordinarily stupid, like forgetting my rail pass. This may sound like I¡¯m talking from experience, but in reality, it¡¯s because I¡¯ve never experienced things like getting on a train. I wouldn¡¯t have the slightest clue what to do when I got there. It¡¯s a little embarrassing really, this lack of basic real-world experience could come back to bite me one of these days¡­ Natsuki looked really excited to be going on this trip, he had a glimmer in his eyes that reminded me of back then. It made me feel all nostalgic, I think... At the very least, I was very glad to see it again, this time with new people I had made friends with. The sun gazed at us from under the horizon as we set off into the blazing August heat. We were a ways off before we even reached Tokyo. Me and Aika were in the front, Mao and Natsuki in the back. ¡°Oi, Aika! y'' mind turning up the AC? I feel like I¡¯m about to die of heatstroke back here!!¡± ¡°Not possible, have to save as much fuel as possible. Open up a window.¡± ¡°Oi¡­ do you think I haven¡¯t tried that? But your goddamn window won¡¯t open!¡± ¡°Oh, is that so? Unfortunate.¡± ¡°WHAT? Then open yours!¡± ¡°I can¡¯t, it distracts me whilst driving.¡± ¡°Please¡­ I¡¯m begging you¡­ it¡¯s been over an hour now¡­ I can¡¯t reach the water because it¡¯s in the trunk¡­¡± Aika sighed, rolling down her window. Mao¡¯s eyes began to well up in joy as she angled her head towards the right side of Aika¡¯s chair. ¡°So, how long left do we have to go?¡± I asked. I really wanted to get there as soon as possible. Buses, trains, and airplanes I can handle, but cars¡­ their tightly packed spaces ¨C claustrophobia encapsulated. To be frank, cars made me feel extraordinarily ill. ¡°I¡¯m not quite sure, actually. But if I had to estimate, I would say around 5 or 6 more hours.¡± 6 hours, huh¡­? Guess there¡¯s no helping it, what to do to pass the time, I wonder? We didn¡¯t bring anything with us to entertain ourselves with. You see, we didn¡¯t exactly come on this trip as a holiday. Far from it. What we came here to do was to find out what¡¯s on that laptop. Speaking of which, Aika made sure that the laptop was with us. Constantly looking to and fro making sure it was still in her sight. I suppose you could call this another one of Aika¡¯s quirks, an almost terrifying case of disposophobia. I could hear Natsuki and Mao talking about something in the back seat. It was too early in the morning to be gossiping anyway, so I tried my best to fall back asleep. I could see Aika had her eyes focused entirely on the road, perhaps she was a nervous driver? Reminded me of an old lady driving¡­ ahaha¡­ I fell into a slumber. But I didn¡¯t have any bad dreams, only nice ones. That was until I was rudely awoken by a sudden urge. ¡°Aika¡­ ca- can you stop the car for a second¡­?¡± She pulled over by the side of the motorway. A sudden urge brought about by a headache. ¡°Oi, you feeling alright, Yuuki? You don¡¯t look too great if I¡¯m being honest¡­ is it carsickness?¡± Natsuki, always as considerate. ¡°Yeah¡­ yeah, I¡¯m fine. You might be right; I think it is carsickness.¡± At least I hoped it was that. Given the circumstances it did seem the most likely, though¡­ the other explanation cannot be ruled out. Natsuki put an arm round me. ¡°Heh heh¡­ thanks for that, man.¡± ¡°No problemo!¡± Natsuki tendered to my needs, Aika snickered at me from afar. Typical¡­ We got back on the road; a great journey was ahead of us all. We knew it was many miles off, but we remained steadfast in our resolve... I know this may seem a little too dramatic for a car journey, but trust me, you would¡¯ve thought differently if you had been there, trust me on that one. Witnessing Aika and Mao argue back and forth with each other for six hours straight was, to put it bluntly, hell on earth. All the while Natsuki seemed to be enjoying it a bit too much. ¡°AIKA! Do you even realize how close your seat is to me? I¡¯m getting knee cramp!!¡± Mao protested. ¡°I¡¯m surprised you¡¯re even able to touch the pedals considering how short yo-¡± Aika proceeded to ram her seat further into Mao¡¯s legs. ¡°Oh, my bad.¡± ¡°AARGH! Bitch! I-I can¡¯t believe you! You¡­ are paying for that when we get out¡­ I promise you that¡­¡± ¡°Oops, seems as if I mistakenly went backward instead of forwards, forgive me.¡± ¡°Yeah? Well maybe if you weren¡¯t such an idiot you would know you¡¯re front from your back¡­¡± Throughout the rest of our journey, we didn¡¯t encounter that many hiccups. Of course, Aika being Aika, forgot to top up her tank before we left, meaning we were stranded in the middle of an outstretching motorway that went on for miles. ¡°Aika¡­ you are a complete ditz¡­¡± Most of our issues had been resolved. It was 1 in the afternoon. ¡°We made it¡­!¡± I grasped my fists and punched to the air, releasing a well-deserved sigh of relief that we made it here in one piece. Aika is a surprisingly good driver. Her cool-tempered manner and somewhat reliable social skills probably paid a part in getting us here safely. She couldn¡¯t have been driving for that long, right? Or¡­ I was reminded about the nature of Aika. This girl who was immortal, how old is she really? ¡°What if she¡¯s thousands of years old¡­ the amount of knowledge and wisdom she would¡¯ve acquired within that time, the amount of lived experiences she might have had. It wouldn¡¯t surprise me considering how confident she is in doing things like driving.¡± It dawned on me how different me and Aika are. She, the more responsible and ¡°mature¡± type. ¡°Mature¡± with massive quotation marks. And me, the sheltered type who has barely any real-world experience.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Mao spoke up, ¡°So, what are we gonna be doing, now that we''re here?¡± ¡°Well, the only things that are within Akihabara are really only based entirely within electronics, so I would say it wouldn¡¯t be that far of a stretch to assume there¡¯s a place we can go to that might be able to help us crack a simple computer password.¡± Simple¡­ huh¡­? Well, I guess on the surface it might seem that way, but this is government property. They could¡¯ve encrypted it with all kinds of countermeasures to ensure some rando can¡¯t simply take it to a shop and ask a guy to crack its password¡­ ¡°The documents that we found at th-.¡± I put my hand over Aika¡¯s mouth ¡°What the hell do you think you¡¯re doing?!¡± I tried my best to stifle her and my voice. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right.¡± You¡¯re now just getting it??!! Natsuki and Mao looked at us both with worrying smiles. ¡°This isn¡¯t what it looks like.¡± ¡°A lover¡¯s quarrel, huh?¡± ¡°Wrong.¡± ¡°Yuuki and Nakamura will attempt to find any shops willing to take in the laptop, me and Natsuki shall¡­ let¡¯s say help out with recon.¡± ¡°Recon?¡± Natsuki enquired. ¡°Yes, think of it as a game.¡± ¡°A game¡­ what type of game?¡± ¡°A game in which we perform recon upon Yuuki and Nakamura.¡± ¡°That¡¯s cool and all, but that doesn¡¯t really answer my que-.¡± ¡°Enough chitter-chatter, we have some scouting to do. Now then, let us make haste!¡± Like that we set off on our little adventure around the bustling streets of Akihabara. In weather like this, it¡¯s hard not to notice every minute detail, anything to take your mind off the heat, I suppose. ¡°Hey, Hayashida.¡± ¡°Huh¡­ yeah?¡± ¡°Who is Aika?¡± ¡°What do you mean exactly?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t play dumb, how did she know about you? About the entire operation?¡± ¡°Huh¡­?¡± What was this girl saying? I thought she would¡¯ve already known. Wasn¡¯t Aika at the centre of whatever was going on within the organization Mao was a part of? ¡°Come on, stop playing around, you don¡¯t know? She¡¯s what your organization was after at one point, her immortality.¡± ¡°Stop making a fool of me, Hayashida¡­¡± ¡°Hah?¡± I was baffled, it seemed like she genuinely didn¡¯t know about Aika¡¯s true nature. This doesn¡¯t make sense; you think they¡¯d tell her something so important. ¡°Wasn¡¯t it your mission to observe me? Why do you think they were doing that? Some random high school kid no less. Did you not think for a second why they were doing that?¡± ¡°I never asked, I just did. That is the way it should be.¡± ¡°But don¡¯t you regret that now?¡± ¡°Perhaps¡­ in retrospect. However, if I were to be duped once again, I would still follow the chain of command.¡± ¡°But¡­ why?¡± ¡°Because if you don¡¯t, everything becomes blurred. Things become up to interpretation. Rules, law. Disregarding these things would also mean the people who are ranked below me would follow suit.¡± ¡°But they are threatening this planet with what they¡¯re experimenting with. You know that right? You should know first-hand the potential destructivity of what they¡¯re doing.¡± ¡°Still, I mustn¡¯t.¡± ¡°Yet here you are disobeying their orders¡­¡± ¡°Yes, well I¡¯m not given much of a choice now, am I? My life will always come first, the rule of law second.¡± We continued to walk through the deafening crowds, the place we were walking to would be densely populated with people, especially at this time of day. However, we thought we might not be far off in finding a shop to help us crack the laptop''s password, but getting from point A to point B with so many people about would prove to be a challenge. ¡°Look at that.¡± She pointed towards a shop not too far away. A computer repairs shop that also retrieved forgotten passwords. Like that, our search had ended. We entered the shop with bated breath. ¡°It¡¯s entirely possible that the laptop we stole from the broadcast station could be so protected that we would need some supercomputer to crack the code. Or¡­ my worst fear, that this entire trip was pointless, that even if we do manage to crack the password, nothing of significance would be on it.¡± ¡°Excuse me.¡± The guy at the makeshift desk in front of us sported a plain black t-shirt with ripped jeans, and a ponytail, his hair was so long actually that even with the ponytail, it came all the way down to his waist. ¡°You two ¨C pay together?¡± Broken¡­ and straight to the point. ¡°Uhh yeah¡­ wait- no!¡± His accent and lack of communication ability caught me off guard. Yep, I was sorely reminded that I was the one with the bill attached to me. ¡°Ok then. What service?¡± Nakamura interjected. ¡°Listen, we ¨C want ¨C password ¨C cracked ¨C okay?¡± ¡°Nakamura¡­ he¡¯s trying his best, ok?! Lay off him!¡± ¡°Ohhhhh¡­¡± He paused for a moment and went into what appeared to be the backroom. A couple of seconds later, he returned. ¡°Ok, laptop? Computer?¡± ¡°Laptop.¡± ¡°Ok, hand me.¡± I took the laptop out of the bag and passed it over the desk to him. He told us to come through with him. ¡°So how long will this take then?¡± Nakamura asked, she seemed genuinely curious. ¡°8 character, 5 ¨C 6 hour. 9 character, 5 day or more. 10 or more character¡­ a lot more.¡± When we entered the backroom, what we saw were many, many rectangle looking things that were all kept within one big rectangle. Wires leading from one place to another. The dominating red, white and blue stripes converged on my eyes. ¡°This is what would be cracking the password?¡± It looked kinda like a server farm, something that I read in a magazine once that said that it could store tons and tons of data. Except this was a lot smaller than the pictures in the magazine which led me to believe this, in fact, wasn¡¯t a server farm. Then, what was it exactly? From there, he said that we were extremely lucky it was an 8-character password. He said that we could come and collect it at around closing time which was at 8 o¡¯clock. We called Aika and told her that we had given the computer in. I asked her where we could meet up and she said: ¡°Meet us at these coordinates¡­¡± Eh¡­? Is she serious? However, Mao was¡­ ¡°Understood.¡± Eh? Eh? Eh? Eh? Eh? Eeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhh?? Is she for real? Wait, why am I surprised? Of course she knows a random assortment of numbers and what they mean! ¡°Yuuki, what¡¯s with that stare?¡± ¡°Oh¡­ nothing in particular¡­¡± What a nutcase she is! As the streets started to settle down in numbers, Mao¡¯s blonde hair stud out even more. It was like she was some sort of Goddess. I read in a history book during school that having blonde hair and blue eyes meant that you were ¡°special¡±, whatever that meant. Along with that, history books stated a lot about the end of World War 2, which reminds me¡­ I completely botched my history test¡­ *sigh* the little amount of things I do remember from the tiny amounts of studying I had done was that, around 60 years ago, on May 2nd, Russia finally surrendered to Germany at the stairs of the Reichstag. This created somewhat of a domino effect all around the west and the east. A significant morale boost amongst the axis, and a significant morale decrease among the allies. This, and various other things spelt the downfall of the allies, which was spearheaded by three men, Benito Mussolini, Emperor Hirohito, and one more man by the name of Adolf Hitler. History books called them all ¡°great men¡±. On the day of Tuesday, 19th December 1944, the Axis powers won, leaving Europe in a state of disarray. Like that, the two major superpowers, America and Russia, came to an abrupt, but sudden end. A distant memory of its former glory was all that remained in today''s modern age of 2002. Rumours of a bomb, a bomb so massive that it could wipe out an entire city had been circulating around the end of WW2, but no such thing was ever observed. Discussions on message boards about this subject were still talked about ad nauseam to this very day. This was, at least, until thread discussions on the matter were heavily regulated and restricted by moderators. Nobody knew why exactly they were doing this. But deep down, everyone knew why. People were still looking. She seemed displeased. Very displeased. ¡°Why are people like this¡­¡± ¡°Is something wrong?¡± ¡°Y¡¯know, Yuuki, you were the only one who didn¡¯t comment on my hair and eyes. I was a little surprised, but it also made me happy¡­ that maybe you weren¡¯t like the rest of them.¡± ¡°Like the rest of who?¡± ¡°I-it doesn¡¯t matter¡­ don¡¯t worry about it, forget I said anything.¡± It made her happy that I didn¡¯t notice her hair? Is she self-conscious about it or something? No matter, I won¡¯t press her on the issue. We turned a corner, as soon as we did, we saw Aika and Natsuki standing there before us. ¡°Well, hello there Yuuki.¡± Aika said as straightforwardly as ever. ¡°Y-yo¡­ you, what did you two do whilst we were doing rounders for you around Akihabara?!¡± Natsuki had a cherry coloured, blushed-up face, maybe it was because of the heat, but I couldn¡¯t help but notice that he was carrying the sum of 5 different bags, presumably all belonging to Aika. ¡°You two enjoyed your shopping spree, I take it¡­?¡± ¡°Yep! And Yamaguchi let me carry her bags!¡± I was right on the money then¡­ Natsuki, you damned masochist¡­ ¡°The guy said that it would take at least 5 hours to crack the password, apparently we got lucky with it only being an 8-character password.¡± ¡°Then my hunch was correct then¡­¡± ¡°Your hunch?¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± ¡°Sure¡­¡± Aika¡­ are you supposing that nothing will be on the laptop? Honestly, I¡¯m not even sure myself anymore. It is seeming like that laptop might just be a personal one that one of the people in that Broadcast Station brought along with them. Regardless¡­ we must see this through to the end, we must see what is on that laptop. Don¡¯t get your hopes down now. ¡°What do we do in the meantime, then?¡± I really wanted to do something¡­ today was a hassle for several reasons. I felt like I was gonna have a stroke wandering these streets, I could¡¯ve sworn the soles of my shoes were actually melting in the sun. It was at this moment that Natsuki interjected, ¡°The beach¡­ The beach! Of course, it¡¯s so simple. Where¡¯s the best beach that¡¯s also near Tokyo?¡± ¡°I think that, in my opinion at least¡­ it is in Zushi. But the beach, huh? Never even thought about that when going to Tokyo.¡± Mao affirmed. ¡°How long of a journey is that exactly?¡± ¡°Ehehe¡­ 2 hours, it seems¡­ if we factor in traffic.¡± ¡°2 hou-!?¡± I shouted before being cut off by Aika. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± A long pause occurred when she proclaimed as such. ¡°Wait, are you serious?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see why not, the guy said 5 or more hours, right? We get there in 2 hours, stay for one, then another 2-hour trip back, most likely less than that if traffic settles down.¡± I think it was a subconscious agreement that we all had, to go to the beach, that is. It¡¯s like we all synchronized with each other and just said, ¡°Well, this is what we¡¯re doing, I suppose.¡± And everyone would just follow along. What was even weirder was that this was the first time I ever felt something like this. We came to a crossing, the four of us stood side by side, waiting for the traffics lights to sound. The crowd around us grew even less in numbers as the day was drawing to an end. We crossed the road. The sun wasn¡¯t as mean as it once was this morning, but its presence could still be felt. We walked to the carpark where we had left Aika¡¯s car. The day seemed to have gone by quickly. The sun, however, still seemed to rear its ugly head over the horizon. That¡¯s right, the day is yet to be over. Summer, the time of year I hate the most. Mostly because of how hot it is. Winter, however ¨C I absolutely love. Cold mornings where you can see your own breath. Early twilights, meaning by the time I had gotten home, it had already gone dark, perfect for moonlight binge drinking and watching television. The juxtaposition between the cold outside and the warm inside is quite nice. Summer still has its merits however, if only it lasted for a few days instead of a few months, a little treat for you amongst the coldest of days. But unfortunately, that¡¯s just not how the seasons work. ¡°Then what are we waiting for guys? The beach is waiting for us!¡± Natsuki shouted. ¡°Natsuki,¡± Natsuki raised his ear to Aika. ¡°Can you stop with the cliched lines, please?¡± ¡°B-b-b-bu-¡± ¡°Yeah, I kinda agree with Aika on this one, buddy.¡± ¡°Not you too, Yuuki!¡± ¡°Come on, Aika! Get the keys in the ignition already!¡± A short little side-journey awaited us, and so to the beach we went. I placed my head against the window, looking at people going about their day. Some had families, others had friends with them. All of these accumulated experiences, I wondered how exactly they were able to keep such an abundance of relationships. I couldn¡¯t imagine starting a family. For nearly all of my life I¡¯ve only had my mother and Natsuki, the only two people I have properly interacted with. Teachers and classmates come and go, (not like I talked to any of them to begin with, no¡­) An hour or so later, I saw it, the beach. Very little, if anyone even, was on that beach. That was very strange for this time of year. Many people would gather at this beach especially on summer weekends. Many, many beach umbrellas would cover the length of the entire beach, making the sand barely visible, one could say that the beach itself was transformed. Facing the ocean, to the left of you, you could see the curve of the beach, as well as the large hills that were covered in trees. ¡°Alright then, we¡¯ll park here.¡± We made our way to the beach. Not a single body was on that beach, we had the entire beach to ourselves. Natsuki rushed to the sea, not having the foresight that all of us didn¡¯t have any swimwear. We were basically just spitballing it. ¡°Oh, what the hell!¡± Mao jumped into the fray, chasing after Natsuki. ¡°You¡¯re not going to join in?¡± ¡°I¡¯d prefer to watch the two little idiots have their fun while it lasts.¡± ¡°Not much of the social type, then?¡± ¡°You should know already by now, Yuuki.¡± ¡°Of course. My bad, it seems I¡¯d forgotten.¡± Barefooted, we touched the sand. It still being very warm. I could see the visible irritation in Aika¡¯s face. ¡°Sure you don¡¯t wanna wear shoes?¡± ¡°This is fine¡­ totally fine¡­¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ I¡¯m not buying that one¡­¡± Aika slightly laughed, almost like she was trying to hold it in, but couldn¡¯t help it. ¡°Y¡¯know, I wouldn¡¯t even have thought I¡¯d be doing something like this, actually having fun at the beach. It seemed so foreign to me, but actually experiencing it, taking the first step into this sand, it made me realise ¨C realise that this is happiness in the making. I don¡¯t truly know what nostalgia is, but maybe with this, I¡¯ll find out.¡± Aika gave me a solemn look, like she wanted to tell me something, but that face shortly turned into a smile. ¡°Thank you, Yuuki.¡± ¡°Eh? For what?¡± ¡°For today, I had fun. The car ride here, the shopping, and now the beach. All of these are invaluable memories, with different people, all with a common goal.¡± I looked up to the sky, ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right.¡± A common goal¡­ I could see Mao and Natsuki kicking water at each other in the distance. Soaking wet¡­ Aika isn¡¯t gonna like that when we get back to the car, I can just imagine her face¡­ I faced the ocean, the ocean faced back at me. Just over the horizon was a great sun. So big, it consumed my vision. The light reflecting off the sea, it gave the water a more defined surface. ¡°Aika, is this a send-off?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Our last time¡­ to be with everyone, I mean.¡± ¡°Yuuki¡­¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if we¡¯ll be able to do this again, not for a while, anyway. Not until our mission is accomplished.¡± We both looked upon a sea, the horizon, however, we could not see over. Swimming over the horizon would be a difficult task. Ha¡­ what am I thinking¡­ Aika grabbed my hand. I looked at her, however, she just stared off into the sun, I followed after, we both stared at its sheer size, its sheer mass. I never thought I would find myself appreciating the sun. It appeared that these days of blissful ignorance were slowly drawing to an end. Chapter 9: Nichijou Chapter 9, I Can¡¯t Swim I woke up the same time I always do, 5:35AM. I got out of bed, brushed my teeth, had a shower, got dressed, and dried my hair. At 6:00AM, I had my morning toast and coffee. Today I would be driving to one of our headquarters near the mountains of Nishikatsura. At around 6:10AM, I headed out the door of my studio apartment and into my car. Driving to Nishikatsura is only a 20-minute drive, so I¡¯d be typically arriving there at half past. I reached the gate of the entrance. The place is discrete. The hillside of a mountain, what appears to be a little car park, and a Japanese woman guarding the entrance near the barrier. Just on the inside of that mountain, is a little door that separates the inside from the outside. The inside is where my cargo would be waiting. I park my car just near the entrance of the car park. I flash my FOB at the door ¨C it opens. Regular greetings from colleagues. Formalities, facades. It was a common understanding amongst us that all off-the-clock interactions were forbidden. This understanding was felt much more firmly to me than any other day because today would be my last day working for this organisation. The cargo I would be delivering today was from Nishikatsura to Izunokuni. The load size for today is around 932.08 pounds, a little on the lighter side for typical morning deliveries. The contents of the load, however, are certainly not unusual. Pure, unadulterated barrelled Maorian, a chemical compound discovered in the 30s. It is also completely unheard of outside of our organisation. Today would be a normal day if it weren¡¯t for one key aspect. Just past my destination, there is a coastal town not far off called Numazu. There is where I¡¯ll be dumping the contents of one of these barrels off. This is not part of standard protocol. I could very well be fired for what I am doing, in a very literal sense. You see, when deliveries are made, the inspector does what is called a ¡°weight check¡±, to ensure that the contents of the delivery are the same as when they departed. Two weight checks are performed. One before departure, and one after arrival. There is also something called an item inspection. Usually, this consists of opening and inspecting all of the packages delivered. The catch, however, is that due to the chemical that¡¯s inside these barrels, it is forbidden to open these in the open air. Exposure to carbon dioxide is fatal and can ruin the product. This is why they are opened in climate-controlled environments. For whatever reason, the opening procedure states that a minimum of 48 hours after delivery must be adhered to before opening anything that uses Maorian chemicals in them. I suppose, like a banana, they must be ripened before they can be metaphorically eaten. This brings me to my next point. The emptying of the barrel. With the emptying of the barrel, another barrel will be needed in its place that has the exact amount of weight as the previous one. Getting technical doesn¡¯t even begin to describe how fucking painful this was to figure out logistically. So bear with me on this one¡­ kay? You see¡­ our organisation uses barrels produced by Japan¡¯s largest and most popular manufacturer. And as it turns out, a little-known hardware store in a certain coastal town in Japan happens to sell these exact same barrels at their store. Then it¡¯s just a matter of putting enough random shit in it for the weight to read the same as it was before. That could take a little trial and error. They read it to the nearest two decimal places, so it shouldn¡¯t take that long to get right, but still¡­ I approached Izukuni and took the next route to Numazu. Entering the town, it was about as much as I expected. Pretty much a ghost town, as was every coastal town in Japan. Their main source of economic growth was their fishing. Of course, due to heavy polluting after WW2, most fish died off. Their habitat put under heavy strain due to huge amounts of drilling. There was no crime in throwing highly deadly chemicals into the sea. At least no moral crime. And so, I did just that. The rest of the day proceeded as normal. I had asked a senior manager for some additional guest FOBS. I explained it was for some other delivery that I had planned for today. He agreed with a smile on his face. it seemed that I was his favourite and always looked forward to when I was en route to their facility. How nice. That was my cue to leave. The additional barrel, the one that was bought at the hardware store, that would be the dummy barrel, the one hidden all the way at the back of the truck, and the last to be unloaded. Because the dummy barrel won¡¯t be even looked at for another 48 hours, that¡¯ll give me some time. My next delivery is for tomorrow. The reason why I needed the real barrel was because the load I would be delivering tomorrow would already be okay to open by the time delivery is due. Meaning they¡¯ll be opened onsite. It is for that reason, that we use our trojan horse duo. The duo being of course¡­ ¡­ For the foreseeable future ¨C my life was not foreseeable. That was how I had viewed it from the start of the summer of 2002. Now, however, it wasn¡¯t so much that I didn¡¯t know what the future was holding for me, per se, but that I didn¡¯t particularly like where it was heading to begin with. That late evening, after I, Aika, Natsuki, and Mao had driven home from Akihabara, Aika decided to stay with me. We were in my bedroom looking down upon a laptop. The very same laptop we had spent the afternoon in Akihabara with. The very same laptop that we stole from the broadcast station. ¡°We did a lot to get this, Yuuki. We should be proud of what we have accomplished.¡± She must have seen my face of unease whilst looking at it. Even when she reassured me, that unease never left me. ¡°Then ¨C we should open it, right¡­ right?¡± We looked at each other, both sharing an intense gaze of worry. This laid its weight on Aika the most, however. What Aika was hoping to find within this laptop ¨C was something of importance to her. She had told me this, back in July, about a friend she once knew in America. He too was subject to this organisations various tests. Perhaps¡­ just maybe ¨C a sort of closure might be found regarding his whereabouts on this laptop. She realized it was a stretch, the man she knew would definitely be dead by now anyway ¨C a one-in-a-million chance to even find any sort of information about a guy who disappeared more than 40 years ago, but even knowing that there is a chance at hope, she said she doesn¡¯t mind clinging to such an idea. ¡°We¡­¡± Aika hung on those words, and a sort of discontent lingered in the air. If there was an appropriate time for deliberation on such a subject, now would be the time. To open the laptop, or to not open the laptop? In a sense, it was akin to that of Pandora¡¯s Box. No ¨C wait, I guess we don¡¯t really know for sure that this laptop contains anything worthwhile, it WAS at the end of the day something Aika managed to theft from a broadcast station, a broadcast station whose main application is using radio waves as a means to send a letter and number combination directly to your hippocampus as a decryption method. That was the means to a terrible end. ¡°I don¡¯t want to ¨C or I suppose I should say, not now.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ I agree with you on that.¡± Maybe it was for the best, at least that¡¯s the way I think Aika justified it in her mind. Knowing to Aika, what was on the hard drive of that laptop ¨C was like Pandora¡¯s Box. We stored it underneath my bed. Out of sight and out of mind, that was the philosophy we decided to go by. In this circumstance, however, I nor Aika knew whether just ignoring it completely was the right call. By that point, though, the overwhelming urge to pretend that the laptop simply didn¡¯t exist took over. I had known Aika for a few months now, so I have a somewhat feasible grasp of what her personality is. She can be incredibly rash, not thinking properly before she heads in just like at the broadcast station. Then a switch turns, and all of a sudden, she tends to become a lot more methodical and calculated. This was one of those moments. Her na?ve, quick-to-act nature is nowhere to be found. I wish I could say this is a lot better than her usual outgoing self, but in reality, it means I¡¯m just as clueless as her, which doesn¡¯t inspire confidence. ¡°After we¡¯re done.¡± I looked over to Aika as she made that proclamation. ¡°Only after we¡¯re done, then we see what¡¯s on it.¡± That was the promise she made to herself, and to me. ¡°What¡¯s with the serious tone all-a-sudden?¡± I asked curiously. ¡°Serious¡­ tone? W-what are you rambling on about all of a sudden¡­ this is how my default speech pattern is!¡± ¡°Sure¡­ well, whatever that is, it doesn¡¯t suit you. I liked it when you were completely cold in your mannerisms.¡±Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Well, I¡¯m sorry I don¡¯t live up to your lavish expectations.¡± Aika said in the coldest, most deathly tone she has ever produced. We laughed at each other in a sly manner. That night, and for the foreseeable future, we didn¡¯t mention that laptop again. It was for the best, I thought as much at least. And so, the laptop we had spent so much time trying to crack, was closed off from our minds as if it never existed. Yes, it was for the best. I forgot to mention, my sister is coming home for the summer break soon. My relationship with my sister throughout my life has been, jumpy, to put it politely. She is the older one in the brother/sister hierarchy and as such, has historically abused her power as the older sibling to gain a footing over me. Metaphorically and quite literally. Expectedly, as the flow of time runs its course, we did average out our heights and are currently more or less the same height as each other. Whilst I stopped growing during my final years in middle school, my sister didn¡¯t stop growing up until the end of high school, putting her at a steady 5¡¯7. But I digress. My annoying sister is sure to be nothing but a pain during the following weeks. Having her friends over whilst mom is gone and then her friends make strange gestures to me, taunting me. Very annoying, and very routine as this seems to be the trend every single summer break. Kimiko, the one that bleached her hair blonde, and the one who also coincidentally got expelled from her old high school, supposedly for doing just that, bleaching her hair blonde. Akari, the biggest gyaru of the group, yet the one I seem to have the least problems with. There are still problems, however¡­ and then there¡¯s Aika. No, not that Aika, the same Aika who has taken me to hell and back on her wild adventures to radio buildings and murdering of not-so-state officials. No, this Aika is far worse than anything the Aika Yamaguchi I know could think up. As well as being one of my sister¡¯s closest friends, she¡¯s also one of her oldest friends, meaning I¡¯ve had the pleasure of having ¡°known¡± her, or to be franker, known of her existence, for the better part of 15 years now. Yes, ever since I was a baby, although I don¡¯t remember anything about her before the age of 7, just that she was around when I was very young. So then, why exactly does she annoy me the most? To start off with, she is mean, like deadly mean. Not tease mean, like downright plain mean. There are no other implications to her meanness, she is just that ¨C mean. There is no hint of a joke, no other foolery at play here, just straight-up awful behaviour. Maybe ¡°mean¡± isn¡¯t as strong a word I¡¯d preferably like to use to describe a person such as herself after all¡­ But that aside, we closed the lid on it. When I awoke the next morning, Aika was nowhere to be seen. She said last night that she was going to school, despite it still being holiday break. Club activities were ongoing, but Aika, obviously, wasn¡¯t a member of any of these clubs. Either way, I called Natsuki to see what he was up to. ¡°School, huh¡­? Why?¡± He questioned dejectedly, his words barely making it out of his mouth. Metaphorical drool. I had no other reply to that other than, ¡°Aika¡±. Yeah, that was the whole reason why I woke up so early today. ¡°A-Aika, you say¡­¡± I didn¡¯t need to see his face to understand why those four words excited him. ¡°Well, I guess I have no choice! I mean, if it¡¯s Aika we¡¯re talking about, of course.¡± Never change, Natsuki. We arrived at the school grounds 9AM sharp. Looking for Aika would be a pain in the ass. One, she has no phone, and two, her mysteriousness seems to find her in very obscure places, like for example¡­ the school rooftop. This may take some time¡­ But no, actually. Instead of making us go on a wild goose chase, she was at the front gates, waiting for us. ¡°I didn¡¯t know you were waiting for us; did you know we would be coming?¡± ¡°I had a hunch, seeing as you¡¯re completely inept whenever I¡¯m not around you.¡± I gave her dead eyes in response to her harsh, yet at this point, fair, critique. ¡°O-ho-ho, lovely day we¡¯re having for weather. Wouldn¡¯t you agree, Aika?¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Why is he here?¡± Aika was a master of giving out blows to people¡¯s self-esteem, I knew it all too well¡­ hang in there, Natsuki! ¡°Eh?¡° Even though it was just the three of us, Aika and I knew there was a third party watching, that being Mao. Even when we¡¯re not in direct communication with her, we know that she is always spectating on the sidelines. If she¡¯s gonna reveal herself, now would be the time to do it, but instead, she continues her overwatch of our actions. It was at this moment that I heard a buzzing in my pocket. I flipped my phone to see who it was. Mao¡­? ¡°H-hello?¡± ¡°Yuuki, is that you?¡± She asked with a semi-panicked voice ¡°Who else would it be?¡± ¡°Oh, good. Well look, Aika said you¡¯d be with her, since she doesn¡¯t have a cellphone, you¡¯re the only way I can get through to her. Can you put her on for a minute?¡± ¡°Oh yeah, sure.¡± I pass on the phone to Aika. She looks at me with a muddled face before kinda realizing what it is I want her to do. She takes the phone and puts it to her ear. ¡°Who is this?¡± She asked with a straight face. ¡°You know who it is, asshole. Why don¡¯t you get a phone like a normal person? I¡¯m having to use a middleman just to reach you, how is that gonna help if there¡¯s ever a situation?¡± ¡°Middle who now?¡± ¡°You know what-¡± ¡°Sorry, sorry, go ahead¡­ what is it you wanted to tell me.¡± ¡°You know that conversation we had, the schematics?¡± ¡°Hmmm¡­ I believe that does ring a bell, yes.¡± She said mockingly. ¡°Don¡¯t waste my time. We¡¯re not on a secure line so don¡¯t say anything stupid.¡± She said it again with more clarity this time. ¡°Schematics, the cards. We have them now. Any and all codes to your mother''s back garden.¡± ¡°Mother''s back garden?¡± Aika seemed confused at the sentence. ¡°Oooh, ohoho. Ok, yep. I get you now.¡± ¡°I¡¯m already in hot water as it is. I should be keeping an eye on you right now, but instead, I¡¯m playing Russian roulette with my life for your sake. Don¡¯t forget what you promised me Aika. ¡°I understand. Nothing¡¯s changed.¡± There was a short pause when Aika gave her that reassurance. ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°Anyway, I¡¯ll be there shortly. And Aika?¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°When we go through with it, and if something goes wrong¡­¡± She stopped mid-sentence. ¡°It¡¯s nothing. Look, I¡¯ll give you another call when I get there, actually BE there, don¡¯t decide 10 minutes later that you¡¯re going home.¡± ¡°Sure sure, whatever ok bye.¡± ¡°No, wha-?¡± *Beep* She flipped the phone and handed it back to me. ¡°Good talk, I presume?¡± ¡°We¡¯ve got the floor plans to the base and the FOBS. That means we¡¯re almost ready to act.¡± ¡°Floor¡­ plans¡­?¡± Natsuki looked directly at us. Oh shit oh shit oh shit. ¡°To the treehouse in the back garden, of course¡­ r-right, Aika¡­?¡± ¡°I dunno.¡± For fucks sake Aika. ¡°She means yes.¡± We strolled around the school; the building was pretty much vacant. One club, the light music club, seemed to be in session. A club of around 20 members. They do big band stuff. Everyone in there is actually pretty talented at their respected instrument. Then there was the swimming club. They were practicing their strokes, I think? From where I was standing, it looked that way. I wouldn¡¯t know either way because, well, I can¡¯t swim. Then the last club that I passed by was the drama club. Their ¡°leader¡± so to speak, was Etsuko. Hasegawa Etsuko. She came strolling out of the club room just as we were walking past with chopsticks tied to her hair, cloaked in what appeared to be some sort of mishmash between a ningyo and a nurse¡¯s outfit. She was definitely trying to get into trouble wearing an outfit like that. ¡°Well, looky here! Fancy seeing you three in school during the summer break!¡± ¡°Oh, you didn¡¯t know? The three of us are more academically inclined than you give us credit for¡± Natsuki retorted. ¡°I¡¯ll believe you when you stop failing at everything you do, Natsuki!¡± ¡°W-what¡­?¡± Natsuki completely downtrodden by her scathing remark. I suppose there is some explanation to be made as to why this seemingly random girl just destroyed Natsuki¡¯s self-esteem. He and Etsuko go way back, nearly as long as I¡¯ve known him. According to Natsuki, she was always the smarter one of the bunch, but not nearly as sociable. It wasn¡¯t until the start of high school she had a massive turnaround, and all of a sudden ¨C poof ¨C like an entirely new person had sprouted from that shy shell of a human she used to be. Natsuki couldn¡¯t say what exactly made her change so drastically. He, for one, didn¡¯t know whether he liked it or not. He was happy for her that the shy and timid girl that he used to know had sprung forth and made new friends. However, something nostalgic was lost in the process. Her personality had switched so drastically that when I said she was like an entirely new person, I meant it. Her hairstyle, her manner, and even her dialect had slightly changed. She completely reinvented herself. Maybe Natsuki thought that she might have lost herself somewhere along the way, her true self ¨C whatever that even means. ¡°Aika! I barely talk to you! But I see you and Hayashida hanging out all the time! How¡¯re you enjoying school life here?¡± Aika thought about that question for a moment before responding. ¡°Good.¡± She needed a whole three seconds to respond with a single word. Like always, you have someone who has a lot to say, and someone who doesn¡¯t even want to talk to the other. ¡°Well¡­ that sounds good!¡± Yikes¡­ a conversation like this makes you wonder how someone like Aika even managed to talk her way into a school like this¡­ speaking of which, how did Aika even apply for this school anyway? A voice could be heard from inside one of the classrooms. ¡°Etsuko, we¡¯re back on in a minute!¡± ¡°Coming!¡± She faintly looked at Aika before giving her a warm smile and turned back into the classroom. ¡°Drama club, huh?¡± Aika scoffed. ¡°I assume then she¡¯s only been doing this for a couple of months then?¡± ¡°Hey, how¡¯d ya know that?!¡± Natsuki exasperated. ¡°She was trying too hard.¡± Me and Natsuki looked confused but decided to drop her speculation. A couple of minutes later, Natsuki had to go off somewhere, something to do with his club. It was me and Aika. We walked to towards the school gate. The sun was starting to rear its ugly head. ¡°Look who decided to show up.¡± Aika spat out the words in a scrutinizing manner. ¡°Go fuck yourself, Aika. You¡¯re lucky I don¡¯t have you tied neck by noose on the end of a gutter. Any moment and I could call them and they would send everyone to your location without a second thought.¡± ¡°But we both know that wouldn¡¯t be beneficial for either of us now, would it?¡± A staring contest ensued between the two of them whilst I just watched the two bicker on. ¡°Jesus, can you get the fuck along already? It¡¯s boring now watching these hollow threats.¡± ¡­ ¡°When did you get a mouth on you?¡± ¨C ¡°Yeah! Get fucked, Yuuki!¡± the pair were more fired up than before to berate the living shit out of me, somehow combining their dislike of each other and channelling it all onto me seemed to be extremely effective! ¡°Hey! Fuck you, too!¡±