"I'm sorry that it took me some time to arrive here. Aunt Senna, Uncle Amano, good morning to you. And we've briefly met when I visited Gin at some point but it's good to see you again, Mrs. Akanami."
A day before the present time, Kuroko was called and rushed to Mykes Hospital, arriving with a very parched throat, borderline to a burn from the cold, as it seemed that he desperately fought through the snowfall just shy of a storm.
In the same sterile hospital room, he met with Gin's parents, Rin's mother, and Akira at the back preparing something warm for Kuroko to drink.
They, friends and family, made sure that Rin would be accompanied at all times so as to not make her feel lonely. The hospital has made the decision to allow visitations as the disease has not been deemed contagious even with the small data the world has about it.
Yet despite all efforts, her condition was steadily worsening.
"You didn't bring your sister with you?" Akira asked as he handed a tray of lukewarm water and black tea to Kuroko.
"She's not able too. Truthfully, she feels very scared."
"And I'm sure Ringo knows that too."
"By the way, how is Ringo currently?" Kuroko asked and prompted to look at the patient.
One thing known between the concept of coincidental existences is that apart from the first time tapping to the memories of those they coincided with is that they have the free will to accept or reject their consciousness and memories at any given time. In this case, Reina, when Rin let go of her restraints that prevented leakage of her memories, accepted her thoughts, memories, and feelings. In a sense, even if not entirely, she felt the pain Rin is battling almost physically.
As Kuroko took a deeper look at Rin, he immediately pieced together why he was called.
"Thankfully, there are no signs of her entering a vegetative state, so she's just asleep right now," Sumi answered.
"We're in a hospital full of world class doctors here, so I wish to make sure that this is just consulting an external opinion?"
They all nodded.
"If that's the case, this is a bit of a problem since I know no one who have experienced this but me…"
He looked back at Rin, and focused on her hair. From the hair closest to the scalp, there were evidence of white hair beginning grow from it. He confirmed that the whiteness was growing in the same pace and length, so he started.
"Well… I'm not really sure if it's entirely the same, since my hair turned like this rapidly without it growing out. It was like the blackness flaked away or something, it completely changed from black to white in a matter of one month. After that, this has been how my hair has appeared until now. I also don't think it would have any relation to Gin's case, and even then, we don't really know the cause of our situation.
But perhaps it's still related to the mental toll BEF is giving her. As far as I know, this didn't happen to the other cases, but it's likely she's very stressed.
I wish Rei would tell me something about Ringo, but ultimately, I can't force her to say anything."
"No, thank you for telling us."
"Any way I can help, Mrs. Akanami.
But while I'm already here, can I borrow the back room since I ha-"
As Kuroko was lifting his bag to his shoulders, the room heard a very faint knock from the door. It slowly opened and the image of a man with grayed hair and beard, glasses over his eyes, and a doctor's coat completed the silhouette.
"I am very sorry for my absence until now…" the man started sheepishly.
Kuroko lost grip and his bag fell. As though reluctant to turn his head, his face stiffened as he met eyes with the doctor.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Rishou Kagetora."
Kuroko sarcastically greeted, as he failed to stash away the rage and frustration clearly sculpted on his face. At the gaze towards the angered crimson eyes, the doctor shuddered.
"Did you enjoy your leave, Doc? Or better yet, did you have fun with your cowardice from facing this situation and running away when you promised 027 that you will aid him from now on?"
The air became very tense, and all the people that are inside the hospital room fell to extreme shock with the unexpected rant of Kuroko.
He may have coincided with Gin's existence, but it didn't mean he was as forgiving as him.
In observance to the heavy air and in consideration to preserve Rin's remaining well-being, he pulled on Rishou's tie and dragged him out of the room.
As expected, the doctor was puzzled and was about to let out from his throat as he watched Kuroko catch his breath after leading him to the hospital's courtyard.
"I know you have a lot of questions, but don't expect me to answer them. It's not like you are going to understand them in the first place. Just know that I am aware of the Medical Children Program and that 027 and 086 are the only survivors.
And no, I didn't ask Gin or anyone about any of this. It's up to him if he'll tell you or not."
He let out a heavy sigh and continued as his shoulders dropped.
"So, did I guess correctly earlier?"
The doctor frowned and slowly turned his head away, as if already giving his answer.
"If only you knew how the children truly felt back then…
Please tell the others that I will be leaving now. And still, regardless of how I feel about you and your past, I'm thankful you still returned for those two."
"W-Wait…!" as Kuroko turned around to gesture him leaving, he was halted by the doctor's voice. "Are you… Are you also-"
"No," even before letting the doctor finish his inquiry, Kuroko already gave a straight and honest answer. He then brought out a business card that he handed to the doctor.
"Perhaps your family would enjoy the plays I wrote."
▪ ▪ ▪
“Woah, there! I've told you many times but you must handle these artworks with utmost care! I can't imagine what's going to happen to us if we damaged this piece, especially since people really like this…”
“I'm very sorry.”
The museum within Capital's cultural center has closed. Routinely, the museum changes their showcases, and today was the day when they changed the art displays up.
“Still, I'm quite amazed that this has been put to display for its sixth time now.”
“It just shows the value of this artwork. It's probably worth than how much we'll earn in our lifetime.”
“Right… But actually, I've only been working here for a few months and I've never actually asked what the title of this piece.”
“Ah, it's named ‘Vigor.’”
“Vigor… Not to criticize the artist but I feel like ‘Vigor’ is too understated for this piece. For me, the art itself feels way wilder. I only read that the artist was going through extreme hardships when they painted this so that's the feeling I got from it.”
“Hm, you got some perspective, but we better wrap things up here before we run to some issues.”
“Yes, sir.”
▪ ▪ ▪
Present—the sundown after Gin's disappearance.
The Exiles hastily began their search, as they failed to put measures on ways to easily locate him, especially that the incident happened very unexpectedly.
Hiroomi and Sean entrusted the closing of the restaurant to his staff led by Yuzuri Yugare, and pulled Jean and Yuna with them towards Gin's house.
Before he could even insert a spare key to the door, it swiftly opened from the inside, with a figure bumping to Sean with force.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
It was unfortunately not Gin.
The dark gray hair flowed revealing the distressed blue eyes of the young man. It was Haku, in his form as a human. He then proceeded to descend the small stairs and stopped before walking beyond the walls of the residence, catching his shortened breaths. With a closer look even under the faint light of the house's outdoor light, it was clear enough that the cat, now human, was wearing a black coat.
"I didn't see him at all. I just felt that he came back and the second I went upstairs, Aruji's already gone.
And worse, I found this on his room."
From the pocket of the black armor coat, Haku pulled out a white cloth. A cloth, or rather the mask that symbolized the Exiles' presence.
"I don't have much time to explain anything to you so I'll have to lea-"
"And where will you even begin to search for him?"
Hiroomi scolded treating Haku more as a person in this situation. As he had expected, the latter would probably look for his companion aimlessly, gestured by him tensing and bending his head down.
"I say that, but do you have a good grasp of Cotona, or at least Ginga?"
"I was not a stray for nothing back then."
"That's a relief," with a small sigh Hiroomi placed his fingers to his right ear.
"Makoto, I know you're on the road, but can you hear me out for a sec? I'm not sure if you really know Haku but go communicate with him in this channel instead of me. I have an extra one with me.
Please be safe."
With it, he removed the earpiece from his ear and handed it out to Haku.
"We use this communicator so that we'd easily rendezvous in the event we find Gin," he explained as Haku pressed the earbud to his ear. But even before putting down his arm, he received a tight embrace and a few slaps to his back.
"Ringo's condition is uncertain as it is already. We can't afford to also lose you, Haku," somewhat pained, Hiroomi let out. He did not want Haku to enter the front lines, but it was already too late to stop him, so he put his trust on his abilities instead.
"Be extra careful. Please."
Haku pulled away from the embrace and he nodded. Not wasting a mere second, he leaped up and disappeared into the dark.
"I'll leave you two in here to watch over the house while Yuna and I will be heading to Mykes. Frankly, we can't do anything anymore in this situation since we can't give the ones out there the intensive support they need.
Still, I really hate that the only thing we can do now is wish for the best."
▪ ▪ ▪
Around 22:00, the same night.
There was a clear and strange sense of deja vu. It was very dark and quiet, there were no winds, but the air seemed very dry as it had long gotten colder, as expected in a winter night.
The only thing aiding Gin's eyes was the faint illumination of street lights. But it was about to fade if he decides to step inside an abandoned building he gave his glance at.
From his pockets, he took out his shivering hands and raised them so as to pull up the hood of his armor garment. With the small clutches of his consciousness, he realized that he felt colder than the already freezing weather, even if devoid of snow. Upon reaching a conclusion, his legs began to stagger.
Of all the times, it was most inconvenient now that he got his incredibly searing fever, rendering him very weak, but he had arrived in his destination and has accepted the invitation.
Indeed, an invitation delivered to him with provocation, sent from a bullet that shot him within the confines of Giotto's. Regardless of his sudden weakening, he couldn't simply abandon the threat against him as he does not know what dangers would befall not only to him but also to those close to him.
Setting aside his muscles wanting to give up, he entered the pitch darkness of the abandoned building.
There was the absence of sound, not including his own footsteps. But once he was deep enough in the darkness, he sensed a knife speeding towards his face. He crouched and the blade passed by over his head, but he felt a slash on his side from his behind, cancelled by the AMM's shield. Even before recovering however, six gunshots from all directions flashed towards him, which he evaded this time.
"Nifty tricks, that kid had."
The voice was all too familiar. But he did not expect most the first strike that caught him off his guard. The voice should not know about it, but the knife that failed to stab him was attached to a thread that can be pulled back.
Suddenly, he heard of a loud grating sound approaching him. Now up with his guard while still panting, he flinched as an object touched his leg. A light only enough to see his own self then shone from the ceiling of the ground floor and found that the sound he heard was a chair.
"Sit down."
As the voice spoke, another faint light shone, now directly above the man at least seven meters away from him, revealing the person that has put the entire country in red alert.
Gin immediately noticed some things as he tracked back from just what happened moments ago.
"You wretched…"
It was poetic, and in the worst ways. He sensed some parallels from a few years ago—the stringed blade, the presence of a building, and the man comfortably sitting in front of him.
Joseph Horach pulled all the stops. Gin did not know how he knew of such specific situations. He had talked to Ryota, and he did not utter a word to his biological father in his encounter.
"Information travels in soooo many ways. Rest assured, no one has betrayed you. It's just that I am too good at gaining information. I don't need to probe at the people you know. I just need the right people to painstakingly gather the right information for me, and bam! I have an index that I need here in my head.
And also, you all are too confident with yourselves. 'The underworld is gone and all'? What a load of bull you convinced yourselves!"
Horach's shouts resonated around the abandoned building. They were not shrieks of anger, but of amusement instead.
"Gin Sakato, you truly are spectacular! You are Code 027 of the Medical Children Program, became an Exile that immobilized me, and even befriended Ban Tobei of the painfully elusive spy organization!
You really are something, man! I am so proud of you, much more than I do for my own damn son!"
Horach's reactions aside from the mention of his son when he was still in prison did not feel like he held or wanted to hold any connection with Ryota Mizuno. It was surmised that this sudden invitation was not because of grudge.
Finally, Gin spoke.
"Why did you call me here."
"Has anyone told you your voice is lovely? It's deep, I wish I have yours. Too bad it's not as easy as gouging it out and swapping my throat. Not really plug and play," he finally stood up, flailing around playfully uncharacteristic of his age.
"Anyway, to answer your question… I'm here to strike when the soul is weak.
I just want to see something. I just want to see an unprecedented monster created by unknown variables… and then satisfy myself when I take you down."
Gin was reminded that the man in front of him is insane. His persona—HRCH could be said to be a spawn of chaos. Someone that takes enjoyment over the loss of others.
"That's pretty much it. I like to talk, but not this time. I want you to be done with it, so that I can savor you as the main course, so to speak.
I will be watching! Let's see how long you can last," his final words, as he disappeared to the dark.
After moments of silence, it began raining bullets from above. Gin's high-speed step coupled with the armor aided him in this survival test. Bullets are deflected, and he maneuvered around, relying on the instant flashes of gun flares to look around.
However, it only took Gin three minutes before he took a hit.
It was not that he was severely hurt per se, but the fever has made him falter many times until he completely lost his footing. As he fell on his knees, his back was then showered with deflected bullets, still unharmed.
"Stop."
With a single word, the building once again fell to silence. Dozens of armed men suddenly appeared from the dark, dropping their firearms, and eased up their limbs doubled the volume of Gin's.
"Aww, what happened? I thought you were better than this. Where's the vigor? This is turning boring, you know?"
As Gin struggled to get up, his hood was picked up by one of the men, revealing his visage. Right then and there, he received a concussive kick on his head.
…
I'm trying my best here. Please don't give up now.
‹Kuro, huh.›
The strike on Gin's head has put him to his cognitive realm, represented by the Room of Reality. Only that it is pitch black and in the verge of collapse as the outline of Kuro just stood inside.
You know the things both of us are holding back. You're only going to hurt yourself more if you give in.
‹Yes, I know. This is far from the worst that we've went through. We're going to get out of this surely.›
Huh. How can I even trust myself if you are so distraught? Please go back out there while I keep yourself in check, and I'm begging you to also do your part. We can't go down here now, especially for Rin's sake…
And we don't want to have a repeat of our forsaken past.
…
It was only for a few seconds that he lost consciousness. He woke up only to be kicked again and was drove towards a wall as he sat helplessly on the ground. The faint lights began to flicker in and out at random intervals as Horach finally bridged his distance from Gin. But as he inched closer to him, he heard a gun being cocked from behind him and he felt a muzzle at the back of his head.
One of many armed men under Horach has raised a gun towards him.
"Strawman speaking, I take it you've confirmed the location."
"Oregano here. We're on the way."
"'A diamond can only break a diamond…'
Joseph Horach, you're far too dangerous than we expected… We can't let anyone as much of a threat as you who knows the spy organization just slip by our grasp.
Chariot, please rest easy as they're coming here."
"…"
"Hey, sure, I didn't expect a spy to infiltrate us…" Horach chuckled. "But did you forget what I said earlier? I have an index here in my head."
He turned around, and gave the spy a horrifying grin as he let the muzzle kiss his forehead.
"You know, little Gin… It's probably too late now, but I'll ask you this anyway…
I wonder how your beloved Ringo Akanami is doing at Mykes Hospital right now?"
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0000000000000000000000000000000000000
We are going
to
reap what we
will
sow.
0000000000
000
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0
RXZlciB3b25kZXJlZCB3aGF0IGEgbmlnaHRtYXJlIHJlYWxseSBmZWVscyBsaWtlPw==RXZlciB3b25kZXJlZCB3aGF0IGEgbmlnaHRtYXJlIHJlYWxseSBmZWVscyBsaWtlPw==RXZlciB3b25kZXJlZCB3aGF0IGEgbmlnaHRtYXJlIHJlYWxseSBmZWVscyBsaWtlPw==
…
Gin slowly stood while still surrounded by Horach’s men, frantically ruffling his hair, staggering, until he was on his two feet, and took a small breath.
He then raised his head, with eyes giving a thousand-kilometer stare, barely seen in the dark and behind the messed-up hair.
Gin smiled.
:D
Gin smiled.
:D
Gin smiled.
:D
Gin smiled.
:D
Gin smiled.
:D
Gin smiled.
:D
Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled. Gin smiled.
Gin smiled.
“Hahahaha…”