On the top floor of the Infinite Prison lay a hallway with two rooms. One of them was a temporary office meant for the final procedures needed for the prisoners’ freedom, not that it was ever put into use except for Zain’s case. The other was in fact a door leading to the warden’s rest house – a floor to call their own, for themselves to indulge in whatever desire they wished for.
After the latest wave of prisoner pardoning, there was no reason for the wardens to be around anymore. That was until Yusei and his partners came to the prison. Now, it had been turned into a hideout of the sort, for them to return and discuss matters that were unsafe in the privy eyes of Aoba Academy.
After his scuffle with Bruce, Yusei took the elevator back to his quarters, and once he returned, immediately threw away his disguise wig onto the tea table and threw himself on the couch placed right at the entrance. His action didn’t go unnoticed, however, as a young girl with the same kind of crimson hair sitting by another bed nearby sounded:
“It’s rare to see you this tired, Young Lord,” said Hanabi, though her eyes remained fixated on the documents in her hands. “Did something happen?”
“Against that idiot, what didn’t happen?” Yusei let out a sigh, covering his eyes with his arm in the hope of some peace and quiet.
“Did you mean Officer Bruce, or…”
“No. The boy is no threat. I’ve told you this.”
“… Yes, Young Lord. But…”
“Are you questioning my decisions, Hanabi?”
“As a Fuuma shinobi, I can’t bear the thought to disobey you, Young Lord.” Hanabi dropped her papers for a second and gave a bow, crossing her arm across her chest. “And as a subordinate, I have no authority to go against you, even if I wanted to.”
“Does that mean you are against it, after all?” Yusei raised his eyebrows in doubt.
“… As your childhood friend, I can’t agree with your decision, Yusei.” In the end, Hanabi let out a sigh. “It was a miracle already that we managed to cut S.T. off, but why bother bringing that boy along with us?”
“I told you before, didn’t I? The Lord himself specifically required his presence. This is a training ground for him to grow into the asset we need.”
None of those words were lies. It was indeed what Yusei’s Lord asked of him. Only the detail that the Lord he spoke of was no longer the Lord in Hanabi’s mind was omitted. And so, the girl could do nothing but wonder:
“Even so, why here in this place? Surely, he would have received better training in an officer’s academy, right?”
Looking down at his hands, Yusei clenched his fists and answered:
“In order to beat that monster birthed from this prison, we need another one to be born.”
“Wait… You don’t mean…”
“It might be hard to receive permission, but yes.” Yusei nodded before Hanabi could finish her sentence. “I’m restarting the Red-Black Course.”
“But the Lord himself has ordered us to stop that project!” The girl stood up in shock. “Since he deemed that prisoners weren’t easy to control, the Course has been labeled as a failure! And furthermore…”
“… I know how you feel,” Yusei let out a sigh. “Both you, and Mirai. I assume she’s still in that room?”
“… She’s still at the back. Like always.”
“This is what I’m talking about,” continued Yusei. “I’m doing this for all of us to move forward. Me, you, and her. And besides, Lewis is no prisoner. There is not a chance that he goes out of our control.”
“But, considering that boy… would he even take the Course?”
“Don’t worry, he will.” Yusei nodded. “I’m sure of it.”
As the words left his mouth, the young man stood up from his seat as well and made his way to the back of the room.
“You’re seeing Mirai?” asked Hanabi.
“You wanna come?”
“No. I was just there a moment ago.”
“I see. I’ll be off then.”
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
With a final wave of goodbye, Yusei creaked open the door and headed inside.
The first reaction his body showed as he took the first step was to shiver uncontrollably due to the frigid air. Even if Japan wasn’t such a tropical nation, and he had received ample training from his days in the Fuuma clan, Yusei could still not hold a candle to this mind-numbing cold.
No matter how many times I’ve been here, it still feels like a morgue rather than a recovery room, thought the young man as he grabbed the fur coat hanging right by the door – a safety measure for anyone who dared to enter the room.
Along the way was a long hall, with ice forming on its walls like a natural crystal mirror. But sightseeing wasn’t Yusei’s objective when he came here, though he couldn’t deny being intrigued by the way his reflections scatter across the hall. After a good while of walking, he finally reached his destination.
A large room, filled with tubes and wiring of all shapes and sizes one could think of. A layer of snow covered the floor, and yet on the surface of the single desk in the room, heat could be felt. There was no heater or anything of the sort – the desk only held a single computer, the main power to the entire room’s various mechanisms, all hooked to the center, largest tube in the room.
Inside the tube, a liquid of some sort filled, and submerged within that liquid was a woman in her twenties. Even if she had been inside the strange contraption for a long time, her body still grew, namely the bob-cut hair had turned as long as her back. Though, the same couldn’t be said for the rest of her body, as her limbs all looked as if being torn off, leaving a trail of metallic bits covering the wounded spot. Her eyes, meanwhile, remained peacefully closed in a blissful dream.
In front of the tube was a figure kneeling down in a praying position.
Approaching the figure, Yusei lightly touched their shaking shoulder. “Mirai, it’s time to head back.”
“… Please, let me stay for a little while, Yu-nii.” The girl answered, tiny frozen tears rolling down her face.
“Ai-san, she’s…”
“She’ll get better soon; I just know it.”
“Even so, it’s not healthy for you to stay here for so long,” continued Yusei. “You wouldn’t want to get sick when she wakes up, right?”
“But… I want to see her smile again. To have her pat me on the head, praising me like before…”
“I know it’s hard, Mirai. But we can’t rush her treatment. The Lord had said that she would need at least another year in the recovery solution, and her body has to be compatible with our regenerative nanobots too.”
Yusei felt as if his gut was sliced a hundred times over with each word he uttered. He knew that the chances were essentially zero; both the World President and the greatest mind in the world had confirmed that to him in secret. But he couldn’t bear to tell the girl the truth. For one, in her current state of grief, she would never believe such words. She needed to be the one to discover the truth on her own. It would be painful, but it was something that had to be done.
And so, for now, he would continue to lie. For the girl that was like his precious little sister to grow and make her own choice, he would continue to walk the darkness alone. Even if it involved deceiving them. Even if it involved betraying them both. Even if it involved destroying their only hope in this world.
But for now, he would still wear a smile on his face.
“Let’s head back.” Yusei patted Mirai on the back again. “I have some things to discuss with you.”
----------------------------------------
When Lewis woke up, all that greeted him was an empty room once more. The pain of the punches was still fresh in his memory, making his stomach contort and a pile of vomit escape his mouth.
“Ugh…” Lewis groaned, having been tortured in any and all places in his body he could imagine. Thankfully, the blood on his face had already dried out, or he would have been unable to see as well. Though it was a miracle in itself that he wasn’t blinded by any of Yusei’s hits.
It was not his natural reflex, but Lewis had been through enough already to immediately continue looking for an escape. He might still haven’t known anything about the prison he was in, but all that he needed to know was that if he ran into Yusei again, there was a good chance that he would be dead.
And so, dragging away his injured body, Lewis gritted his teeth and continued his search. Once again venturing into the hallway, the boy breathed a sigh of relief as light had finally returned to this pit of abyss. Silently thanking whatever benevolent God that helped him, Lewis trudged forward.
Now, with light on his side, the boy could actually get a decent look at the hallway where he was. Its walls were the same as the ones in the cafeteria – old and broken, littered with cracks everywhere he saw. And it did seemingly stretch to no end, with twists and turns no matter where he looked. However, unlike when he had to feel things in the darkness, Lewis this time was handed a clue more valuable than gold.
A large neon sign hanging on the ceiling. Its light had long died out, but the tiny bulbs that formed the letters and arrow signal themselves were still there and perfectly legible.
To the infirmary, the sign pointed, along with a left arrow.
As his body was nowhere near the condition to continue exploring, Lewis took the sign’s advice and turned at the left crossroad.
At this part of the hallway, he knew that he had made the right choice. His heart pumped in joy as the smell of the signature hospital chlorine invaded his nostrils as if cleansing himself from all fatigue he carried. Soon enough, a large door appeared in front of Lewis. He would run there as fast as he could had he had the ability to, but the boy could only make do with trudging there slightly faster than a snail’s pace.
Lewis knocked on the infirmary’s door, but there was no response.
That’s weird, thought the boy. There’s chlorine, so that’s a sign of someone working in here. But where could they be?
After a second, he decided to ignore the basic etiquettes and creaked open the door himself.
Inside the room, there was nothing aside from the standard medical equipment – some beds, various medical tools, a cabinet assumingly filled with all sorts of medicine, and a computer (at this time and age, Lewis doubted that there would be a facility without one). But other than those, there was nothing, and more importantly, no one else.
Or so he thought.
As he was about to turn around and head back, a metal ball on one of the beds that he assumed was just junk moved. And before he could even utter a word of surprise, the ball had flashed its singular red eye and floated towards the boy, uttering in a voice as surprised as any other human would:
“Oh, goodness me, I didn’t expect them to open this place again! Kid, what’s your name?”