“HUH!?” Baru’s eyes lit up with astonishment, then blinked confusedly. “What’s a Monster Barrier?”
His father looked side to side, almost as if he were paranoid that anyone was listening. Getting up from the breakfast table, Kenzo closed the blinds of the windows, making the room abruptly grow disconsolate and dark. Before the blinds were closed, Baru caught sight of rain clouds ominously covering the sun, almost in unison with the mysterious information his father was revealing to them. Turning on the chandelier lights, Kenzo took his seat, sighing with anxiety.
“Let’s start at the beginning,” he glanced at them before starting. “Ten years ago, when this village could barely be considered one, your mother and I got married and moved into a cheap and flimsy shack we now call home. Monster attacks were far more frequent back then, and terrifying if I may add. We were always anxious, barely having any rest at night, fearing those evil creatures would eventually attack us in our sleep.”
Kenzo’s words made his wife shudder uneasily, reminiscing their terrifying history. However, regardless of her fear, their mother nodded and added to the story.
“I remember when I was giving birth to you, Baru,” Aoi started, “I heard violent grunts outside of our house, only to see monsters pillaging our neighbors and eating the little livestock they had left to support themselves. Your father knew this was going to happen eventually, so he planned ahead of time...” Aoi made eye contact with her husband, signaling him to continue the story. Clearing his throat with a grunt, Kenzo sustained.
“That’s right, I built a basement underground, just in case there was an emergency. And it's easy to recognize that if we stayed in our house for much longer, we would be as good as dead. While your mother was in labor, I carried her into the secret basement under our staircase, where she finally gave birth to you.” Kenzo gave him a soft smile as his wife patted his head affectionately. Baru turned red with embarrassment.
“After surviving the chaos of the monster raid, we began rebuilding our house, along with my secret basement—”
“Why is it called a secret basement anyway,” little Ami interjected, who was now engaged in their story.
“That’s a fair question, which I’m going to answer after I explain how everything began.”
Ami puffed her cheeks condescendingly, waiting until they finally answered her question.
“I was searching the forest for wood to rebuild our home until I discovered a large claw sticking out from the ground. Honestly, it was a mission for me to even get it out, but I eventually did it. It was a large claw, maybe the size of my whole arm, and I was confused about which monster it belonged to because I had never heard of a monster wielding such large claws before. But my realization came sooner than I thought…” his expression grew grim as he recalled. “Carrying that same claw with me, I took it back home to examine it. I work as a tech engineer but also studied monsters on the side, so my curiosity was a given. However, on my way home to examine the claw, I encountered a pack of silver-ranked monsters…”
Baru and his sister widened their eyes with shock, holding their breath with anticipation.
“I don’t remember which type they were; I just remembered dread and guilt that I was going to die and leave you and your mother alone– Ami wasn’t born yet. Closing my eyes, I just waited for death, swinging the monster claw I had in my hands as a last resort, but…” his voice trailed away, “f-for some reason, the monster didn’t attack me. I soon realized they would cower before me in fear when I aimed the claw at them, as if I were the alpha.”
“Woah, that means they were terrified of you? I didn’t know you were that strong!” Baru’s eyes shined.
“No, dingus, it was because of the claw,” Ami snorted.
“Well, sorry, Mrs. Smartass, I didn’t know that.”
“HEY, WHO’R CALLING SMARTASS?”
“THAT SHOULD BE A COMPLIMENT, SMARTASS!” Baru retorted.
“Oi, that’s enough, you two. Let your father finish the story!” Their mother scowled at them.
Giving each other a death stare, they smugly looked away with a puff.
“As I was saying…” Kenzo shook his head with a sigh, “I ended up coming home unscathed. It truly was a miracle. But as I began studying the monster claw in my basement, I soon realized that it was no miracle to begin with; the truth lay within the claw itself.”
“But how was the claw enough to make those monsters cower in fear? It's just a claw, after all,” Ami inquired with skepticism.
CRACKLE!
Moments after Ami questioned her father, a loud boom sounded outside their house, making them jerk up with surprise. Getting up from his seat once again, Kenzo stalked up to the window blinds and opened them yet again. Gloomy grey light from outside brightened the room while thunder and rain poured outside viciously. Baru frowned at the sudden change of weather. It was just sunny a couple of moments ago…
“The White Tiger monster,” Kenzo murmured, still facing the downpour of rain.
“Huh?” Both Ami and Baru tilted their heads with confusion.
“The king of the monsters…” Kenzo reached his hand to the window with a distanced expression.
“The king of the monsters…” Baru breathed his father's words. “What do you mean?”
“After WW3, the government discovered a powerful monster. It went by the name of– The White Tiger. A devil born from the depths of human sins... It is said to be able to control monsters at will; Its sole purpose simply to eradicate humans from the face of the earth and create a world where monsters controlled and dominated everything." Kenzo’s words made Baru's heart shudder in terror.
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“Fear……. It sucks the fear out of a creature and becomes more powerful from it, leaving whoever is in contact weak and shriveled up.” Kenzo shivered just thinking about it. “And yet, the Japanese government somehow successfully captured it and began conducting experiments. But it was too much for the monster to handle, no matter how powerful it really was. It soon died within their possession…”
“So that means…” Ami started, looking at their father as he turned around to face them again.
“Yes, you’re right. I don’t know how or when, but the claw I found that day was from the white tiger monster,” Kenzo replied.
Thunder crackled once again, and the sound of rain trickling down their roof soon followed. Baru could only look at his father with astonishment and disbelief. He wasn’t sure if he could believe a monster being that powerful, only to die at the hands of the government. It sounded unrealistic to him.
“These past ten years, I've been using that claw as the fundamental building block for a new device that will help humanity,” Kenzo finally revealed. “I used a monster to save us from monsters…”
Ami furrowed her brow. “So that claw is what’s stopping Monsters from coming to our village? They’re scared of The White Tiger that much?”
“Well, it's partly true. It in itself won't be enough to stop Monsters altogether, but I figured out a way to enhance it with a new device,” Kenzo explained.
“Isn't this awesome? Why didn’t you tell anyone yet? You could be a hero!”
A shadow fell across his face. “No… The White Tiger Monster is a closely kept secret within the government. If they find out I have the knowledge that I do, plus that I'm working on a project that utilizes it, I’m not sure what’ll happen to me... or better yet, all of you.”
Baru didn’t understand his father's logic. Why would the government come and hurt him? Wouldn’t he be a hero that the public would admire? Wouldn’t he save millions of people by telling the government about his device? Baru caught himself doubting how true his father's words were. Maybe it was just a convenient lie to explain why their town rarely got monster attacks. Maybe he never even made the device to begin with.
Baru was still an immature and rebellious child; he only believed in things he saw, not what he was told. The same went for the dangers or monsters. Baru didn’t comprehend what his parents got out of lying, but he just couldn’t bring himself to believe everything they said.
I want to see it for myself…
“Dad,” Ami raised her hand, “I have a question about this White Tiger.”
“Go ahead, dear, I’m all ears,” Kenzo nodded his head.
Ami glowered at her plate, unable to make eye contact as her voice quivered. “I-If that monster was truly that powerful and could control monsters before dying in the hands of the government, why did it never try destroying humanity before?”
Baru eyed his sister anxiously. That’s true. Wouldn’t it have destroyed humanity by then?
“Hmm,” Kenzo ran his fingers down on his unkempt beard, “you’re not wrong, but you’re also not right, dear. The White Tiger is an evolutionary phenomenon. It wasn’t the first monster to appear after the meteor crash: the earliest sighting was only a couple of decades ago, after WW3." he explained. “So it could very well mean it simply didn't have enough time to kill humans, or it wasn't powerful enough to do–"
“Fear…” Ami cut off her father's sentence with hollow eyes, almost piecing together all the hints. “It didn’t have enough fear…” Ami murmured as if she had seen some ghost.
Remaining completely silent, Kenzo eyed her before–
“Knock! Knock! Knock!”
The silence that gripped the table ended with three rhythmic knocks being made by their front door. Their father looked through the breakfast window in hopes of catching a small glimpse of the strangers. Upon realizing who it was, Kenzo made a silent curse to himself.
“F*ck me, out of all the times?” His silent curse ended up being heard by his family.
“What’s wrong, dear?” Aoi asked, noticing his clenched fists as if he were ready to fight.
“It's them…” he gritted his teeth and returned to his two kids. “Whatever happens, do not tell anyone about this… including them.”
Ami and Baru gulped nervously with a nod, unsure what the situation was. Kenzo left the living room and placed his hand on the front door, sighing while fixing his posture. Finally getting the courage to open the front door, Kenzo was met with three tall individuals drenched with rain.
They all wore the same long black dress coat with a badge on the left of their uniform. It was safe to assume they weren’t in the best mood, judging by their annoyed expressions, the only outlier who smiled being the one in the middle.
Accompanying their threatening aura, they had a Sense Gun strapped to their waist. It was clear these people worked for the AOK.
Baru hid behind the wall, eyeing the strangers as his father greeted them.
“Oi! Good to see you, Larry,” Kenzo put on a fake smile and greeted the man in the middle. The stranger took off the drenched fedora that hid his features and returned Kenzo’s welcoming gesture with a handshake. Baru couldn’t help but notice the skin color of the man.
I've never seen a black man before. Maybe there are more in the cities, but out here... I don't even know if there's a single one. Baru gawked at the stranger in awe.
“Hahaha, good to see you, Mr. Jura,” the man said in surprisingly fluent Japanese, with just a slight accent being noticeable in his speech.
“Please call me Kenzo,” he replied, a drop of sweat slowly coming down his face. “Say, what brings you to my house this early in the morning? Hopefully, the rain didn’t bother you.”
The man named Larry shrugged while saying, “Meh, I do say it was quite surprising seeing such a drastic change of weather. Some might even call it abnormal, maybe it's done by a monster who knows.”
Baru couldn’t contain his gasp. Done by a monster? Can a monster even change the weather like that? Maybe it's not too surprising, considering what Dad said about The White Tiger is true. Just how powerful can monsters get?
Larry’s ears were sharp. He swiftly heard his inaudible gasp and pinpointed where Baru was, glaring at him with his cold, amber eyes. Upon meeting the man's gaze, Baru froze with fright.
Thud… Thud…
Baru’s heart thumped in fear while slowly reeling backward to hide his presence. Only when the conversation with his father continued was Baru daring enough to peek at them again.
“Hmph,” Larry murmured, meeting eyes with the father once again. “Anyway, I apologize for showing up unannounced, but you probably recognized why we're here, Mr. Kenzo.”
His father tried his best to look unflustered and composed, but even Baru could tell he was apprehensive when speaking.
“Yes, I’m fully aware, Larry, but is it okay if we do this some other time? I was just having breakfast with my family–”
“No,” Larry denied. “You do understand you’re the only household we didn’t investigate in this village. We simply can't hold it off any longer. Trust me, today is a weekend; I want to go back home and unwind, too. I just need to give my boss the final report on this matter. The quicker we do this, the faster it’ll be over with.”
“Bu–”
“Kenzo,” Larry’s voice grew grimmer, “carefully plan your next words. Look around you; you’re in no position to turn us down.” He crooked his head at Baru, signaling to Kenzo what he meant.
Gritting his teeth with resentment, Kenzo could only face Larry without a word. Baru thought momentarily that his father would throw a punch, breaking the awkward silence after Larry’s blunt threat, but to his surprise, Kenzo let out a sigh and shrugged his shoulder as if nothing ever bothered him to begin with. His father was good at hiding how he was feeling.
“Of course, feel free to come inside,” he smiled, resentment hiding in his auburn eyes. The three individuals—who Baru guessed were private investigators—nodded apprehensively before entering their house, their boots sodden from the rain, making a puddle of water at the entrance.
Only after the investigators invaded their privacy did Baru fully understand the situation. “The government keeps a close eye on us in hopes of figuring out why this place, out of thousands of villages, has been void of monster attacks for the past ten years,” he echoed his father’s words. Does this mean what Dad said is true?