Hiro stepped out of the red curtains and noted the time on his phone:
01:02:11:56
01:02:11:55
01:02:11:54
“Yo, what’s in there?” came a voice. “Holy shit! Is that your fuggin’ dog?”
Hiro peered past the phantom people standing in line to see two Survivors, both in big puffy jackets that had been modified with armored duct tape. Demon Hachiko took off, the dog tracking something.
“I’m not the main character,” Hiro said, his hand instantly going to the hilt of his katana.
“Us neither,” the same voice told him. He was a larger black man, his head shaved, tattoos scrawled under his eyes and across his cheeks. Definitely a New York native judging by his accent. He was joined by another much smaller guy, who wore a mask with small devil horns on it.
“You got a mask too?” the second guy asked Hiro.
“Yeah,” Hiro said, still distracted with where Demon Hachiko had run off to. Does the dog just do what he wants? Will he follow me? he wondered as the two men sized him up.
“What’s your mask do?” the second man asked. “Mine can scare an enemy. Shit doesn’t always work, but when it does, it gets them good.”
“Mine makes people laugh.” Hiro motioned to the curtains. “As to what’s in there, I don’t know if the Doom System will repeat what it just did to me, but it was fucked.”
“Yeah?” the bigger of the two asked. He started to laugh. “All this shit is fucked.”
“The Doom System had me fight my ex-girlfriend,” Hiro told them, instantly noticing how the word felt strange to him. They had never really gone with titles, Monica and him. They had just stayed together until it became too difficult for both of them.
She gave in and got a superpower, at least that was what he’d heard. That meant that now, she was dead.
“Shit, you fought your ex?” the second man asked. “My ex would have whooped my ass.”
The larger man laughed. “Hell yeah, she would have. Tiff had weight on you, dog.”
“Fuck yeah, she was thick.” The second man’s smile faded. “Anyway, so that’s what’s in there? Fight our exes?”
“As far as I know,” Hiro told them. “It could change, but that’s what happened to me.”
Barking rang out somewhere in the distance.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Your dog done lost his shit,” the second man said.
“I just got him.”
“From the Doom System?”
“You couldn’t tell?”
“Heh. He did seem a little batshit. Wish the Doom System would give me a dog.”
“Which gate will you all go to?” Hiro asked as he heard more barking.
“The one in Harlem,” the first man said. “We got people around there. You?”
“Downtown. In the Financial District.”
“Fuck yeah.” The second man looked Hiro over. “In that case, good luck.”
“Same to you all. I’m Hiro, by the way.”
“Michael,” the larger man said. “Big Mike.”
“Derrick.” The second man pushed his mask off his face so Hiro could get a good look at him. “As for this challenge, shit, I don’t know. Spectators are coming.”
Hiro glanced up at the red boats hovering in the sky above. “I have no idea what to expect.”
Big Mike shrugged, which was clearly a coping mechanism. “For real, man. But that’s just what we got to deal with. Good luck, though. Maybe we’ll see you. If you see us getting into some wild shit, feel free to join.”
“Same.”
“And good luck finding your dog,” Derrick said.
“If he runs off, he runs off. I’m not about to be chasing him.” After a bit more conversation, Hiro bounced to the nearest rooftop. He looked down at the two, both of whom started laughing at his sudden jump. Big Mike threw him the peace sign and turned back to the Doom Sample Sale.
Hiro shifted in the direction of the Financial District when he heard barking, louder this time. Technically, I still have two hours left, Hiro thought as he considered his next move. I told Valeria and them I’d meet around this time, but…
The thought of adhering to a schedule brought a smirk to his face as he moved to the opposite side of the rooftop, where he bounced again to an even higher location.
He’d grown up as a military brat in certain ways. Being on time was in his blood. Hiro couldn’t help but be on time, even if it pained him to do so. Be it a date in which he arrived at the restaurant twenty minutes early—twenty minutes, what was he supposed to do then? Thank God for cell phones—or a job interview, which always made him look like he had his shit together when he maybe didn’t.
So there was that. This feeling that he was about to be late and that people would be waiting for him produced a strange kind of anxiety that came coupled with living in the modern era, especially in a time where an alien and very misguided system had taken over the world.
Why had it done this? This was another one of those right questions, the ones his dad liked. Coupled with how and Hiro would actually know what the Doom System was. Valeria thinks it is a hallucinating AI. But how could an AI do anything like this?
He came to the edge of a roof and looked down to see Demon Hachiko tracking something.
“Is that the toilet mimic?” Hiro said as he naturally drew his sword. He jumped down to street level and hit the mimic with {Blade Whirlwind}. The toilet leaped into the air and Demon Hachiko went for it, the dog batted away by a big tongue that came out of the toilet bowl.
Before Hiro could try anything else, be it {Kiss or Slap}, {Thoughts and Prayers}, or something like {Kore Nani Neko}, the toilet mimic vanished.
Hiro lowered his katana. “You all right, Hachi?” he asked the dog, which he knew had been the real Hachiko’s nickname. Hiro had seen the statue in Tokyo’s Shibuya Station on a shopping trip with his mom. He had even waited there for a minute while she spoke to a friend.
Hachi scrambled off the ground, an embarrassed look tracing across his face.
“It’s fine,” Hiro told the dog. “You did your best. I’d try to pet you and praise you for chasing the, um, toilet mimic, but…” He raised his hand to Hachi and the dog started to growl. “But maybe next time.”