Chapter 2 -

“Ughhhh.” Naota groaned as he woke up.

He rolled over and Static flared in his head making him wince.

“Shitty eyebrows.” He said looking down at his pillow where one of the eyebrows, the left one, hade stuck to his pillow.

Great. This is going to be a daily thing, isn’t it.

He pealed it off and snapped it back onto his forehead. The static disappeared gradually in a few seconds.

“At least they work.” He said dragging himself out of bed.

Time to start the day. My first day or work.

He stared at the empty guitar stand in the corner by the window for a minute. Then he got dressed.

My first day of community service. Its not paid but it’s still more work then dad and granpa do.

-

Naota stepped out of the house.

Normal parents or guardians would pack their kid a lunch. They would make sure they had their homework, or hug them and send them out the door. An abnormal parent would do all those things and pack a spicy lunch.

Canti did those things. Haruko pretended to care like that, but it was Canti that actually cared.

Naota packed his own lunch and got out the door on time.

“Heading out for my community service now.” Naota called into the other room.

His father waved over his shoulder without turning away from the TV.

“Have a great day Nao!” He said.

“Alright. Here goes nothing.” He said and took off down the street to the buss stop.

The sky was clear, birds chirped in the trees. Naota passed a small flower growing from a patch of grass in the sidewalk.

I don’t think I’ve seen a sunny day like this ever.

An agent in a suit peeled themselves off the hood of their car. They followed Naota from across the street.

This idiot . Does he think I can’t see him?

“I don’t need a baby sitter!” Naota yelled at the agent. “I’m in middle school already!”

The agent ducked behind a lamp post that was too thin to hide them and spoke into his ear-piece. He stayed ‘hidden’ there until Naota turned to continue on to the buss stop.

There was another agent sitting on the bench when he arrived. Naota scoffed and walked right past them to check the buss schedule.

Mabase Public Transit Summer Reconstruction Schedule.

The first buss will arrive at 5:55 am every Monday & Friday. Buses will depart 4 minutes after their arrival time. Buses will arrive every 38 minutes until the last bus arrives at 6:05 pm.

The first buss will arrive at 6 am every Tuesday & Wednesday. Buses will depart 4 minutes after their arrival time. Buses will arrive every 38 minutes until the last bus arrives at 6 pm.

The first buss will arrive at 5:45 am every Thursday. Buses will depart 4 minutes after their arrival time. Buses will arrive every 38 minutes until the last bus arrives at 6:30 pm.

Weekend schedules are unchanged.

What idiot wrote this schedule? Why does it have to be purposely obtuse? Just make it the same every day!

“Stupid adults.” Naota grumbled.

He walked over to look at the other two people that were waiting for the buss. One was an older lady. Her eyes were closed and she was hunched over like a frog, leaning over her cane.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

The other person was a corporate type, young man that looked like he was on his way to an interview with a major corporation. Neither of them looked Naota’s direction.

“Hey. Do you know what time it is?” Naota asked the agent.

The man stared directly at Naota without speaking. His large black sunglasses hid a third of his face. He was not wearing any eyebrows.

When Naota did not look away, the man lifted up his wrist to speak into his sleeve.

“Subject has noticed me. I’m withdrawing to point Alpha. I repeat, point Alpha. Send reinforcements.”

What’s his problem?

The agent stood and marched away briskly. Leaving Naota alone with the other two people waiting for the buss.

Mamimi was right to get out of town. Why couldn’t our family leave too?

Another agent posted up across the street and pretended to read a newspaper with two eye holes cut out of it.

“Stupid adults.” Naota grumbled.

-

Naota stepped onto the buss. He paid using his transit pass and walked down the length of the buss to an empty seat. The first passenger he noticed was a young woman with a dog in her purse.

Is she some kind of movie star?

He looked past her, the back of the buss was full of people that could only be other volunteers. There were seven middle aged men and women all wearing hardhats, and reflective vests. A couple of them even had leather gloves.

None of them had eyebrows on.

He lifted his hand to touch the pointy corner of his eyebrow.

I am going to see these people all day. They look like cliche Mabase bland side characters.

Naota had taken a seat near the middle of the buss. He watched out the window as the city crept sleepily past.

Its too early for most people. Especially with so many business closed. Of course people are going to sleep in.

The buss passed Mashashi’s family’s store and for a moment he watched Masashi and Gaku loading deliveries up on to a pair bicycles.

What happened to their truck? I haven’t talked to them since before things went sideways with that giant robot.

The buss passed by an on-ramp for the highway and joined the traffic heading downtown.

The highways are busted and broken down too. There was a whole story about it on the news. It’s going t take all day just to get around.

The buss crested a hill at 15 miles an hour and traffic slowed.

The city skyline looks like a delinquent’s front teeth. So many of the sky scrapers are busted and broken down.

Naota scratched at his eyebrows.

If I had the Pirate King’s powers, could I fix the city?

The buss honked at a bicyclist that was weaving in and out of traffic, cycling against the flow of cars.

As she passed by Naota’s window he noticed Ninamori’s purple hair billowing out from under her helmet. He turned around in his seat to watch her weave her way out of sight through the traffic.

A good kid like her, of course she wouldn't have volunteer work like me. I’m just a delinquent.

He sat down heavily in his seat and peeked into his lunch box. There was an orange juice, two mochi cookies, and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with the crusts cut off. He closed the bag forcefully and looked out the window. The traffic was not moving.

Why did I pack a damn kids lunch. I’m not on my way to school. Its basically prison labor. It’s juviee. I should have packed goulash and a spork.

Naota raised his fist at the injustice and then let it drop back to his lap.

The buss lurched forwards again and came to a stop against the curb. They picked up three more people.

The first was a cute high school girl in her atsumari clothes. She had her hair cut to bounce just below her ears, and a tasteful amount of extra makeup on to look more grownup. She carried a reflective vest over one arm. She had two portly boys in their school uniforms tailing closely behind her.

A kawaii senpai. Is she a volunteer too? Looks like those guys are wearing the same school uniforms as Mamimi.

She directed the two boys to sit in the second row and she sat in the first row in front of them.

-

The buss stopped at their construction site 25 minutes later. The three high schoolers left the bus first and walked right up to the gate skipping the line.

Naota joined the line of people arriving for work. An agent stood near the front gate. This one wasn’t just watching Naota, he was watching everyone.

This is the building Haruko destroyed fighting Detective Rifle Mecha. That’s when we pulled Atamsk’s guitar out of Canti’s head.

The line moved forwards quickly as the people in the front signed in. They each received a hardhat and vest and gloves if they did not already have some.

It was suddenly Naota’s turn to sign in and he looked up at the kawaii senpai. She adjusted a red armband that was pinned to her sleeve.

Is she working here? She’s got an official arm band.

She smiled at him and handed him some gloves and a vest from the pile on the table.

“Naota Nandaba, age 12.” She said checking her clipboard. “Go break down rubble with that group over there. They will give you a basket and a hammer.”

“What?” Naota asked. The group she pointed to was all elderly grandmas and grandpas.

There were other groups already working. Men using chainsaws to cut through concrete slabs, women using welding torches to cut through I-beams.

Yeah some power tools, give me one of those!

She leaned down so she could look directly into his eyes.

“Go break rocks. Thats the lightest job we have for little kids.” She said.

Screw that.

“Give me something else.” He said. “I can handle it.”

“Shut up kid.” She replied and picked up a hard hat from a box of them beside her.

“And wear this hard hat at all times when in the construction site.”

“My head is hollow oneesan,” Naota said. “I don’t need a hard hat.”

The older girl sneered down at him. She fixed her face and gave him a pretty smile.

“Suit you self brat.” She said and threw the hard hat at his feet. “Get out of the way, there’s a whole line of people behind you.”

Naota picked up the helmet.

While her back was turned he stuck out his tongue and made a rude face. Static flared quietly in his mind.

Better watch myself. Can’t let her get me worked up.

He shook off his mood and stomped over to where volunteers were waiting.

“Just because she is kinda cute, she thinks she can boss people around.” Naota grumbled to himself.

The girl leaned over to talk to her portly friend.

“Did you see that kid’s eyebrows? What a weirdo.” She said before calling the next person in line forward.