Tick Tick
“There are only so many excuses one can accept, number 1.” Rikina stared at the city below her castle of glass and metal, before glancing at her reflection in the window of her courtroom,“Bombings.” She looked at the general and clasped her hands together, “bombings near the borders.” Her voice made even the stoic hero cower his head in shame, “and even my army is incapable of dealing with villagers armed with pointy sticks! I feel humiliated, Bayu.” She wore a golden halo crown with strings of pearls drooping around the extensions.
“Madam… it seems like the villagers are outsmarting our strategies. Someone is teaching them how to fight, and they fight excellently.” General Bayu reasoned. The queen's eye twitched and both men crumbled to the ground shrieking in pain. “Look at both of you, screaming like little girls.” She narrowed her eyes in disapproval, “I want your men to figure it out for my patience is wearing thin, it’s already been 12 years since these shenanigans have started and I have been merciful if anything.” The empty courtroom was now filled with the grunts and screams of the two most powerful men of Juvia.
“The children who escaped all those years ago, they are still alive and are managing to hide all the villagers. We need to find out where, and I need those reports by one year.” She held out a slim finger, “one year Bayu. Understood?”
Bayu heaved and coughed, shaking as he touched his throat, “y-yes, your majesty.”
.
Hiroto gripped the hood around his face.
“Your woman’s a hard one to find… ‘Raya’ is not even a registered citizen of Juvia in the common database.” A man in a leather jacket stared at Hiroto who himself was under disguise, pulling the mask further up his face. “There are, however, ‘mysterious bombings’ of all sorts everywhere around the borders in chaotic yet calculated attacks. There was no reported evidence of who did it, just vague descriptions of people in masks wearing something red by surviving soldiers who escaped these incidents. All possibly working under the same organization, maybe that fits your description hm?” The man then stared at Hiroto, “you’re diving into danger kid, the queen’s going to come after you for any shady business…”
“I’m well aware”, Hiroto softly glared, contemplating the information before taking out a small cheque from his jacket’s inner breast pocket and giving it to the man, “for further information.” The man smiled and snatched the paper, giving Hiroto a USB of deleted government files, “you speak my language.” Hiroto hesitantly took it, “where did you get this?” He gripped it harder within his hands, when he looked up the man was gone. Ah, so that’s how. Hiroto looked up at the deformed motion sensitive CCTV camera he had melted down earlier along with the wires it used to alert nearby heroes of criminals.
He examined the USB and flipped it around to detect any visible faults, but he couldn’t find any.
He disabled the hologram of his disguise, reverting his hair back to its original white, melting the camera’s joints just enough to bend it upwards and enlarge its blind spot just enough to escape from the corner without triggering its alarms too quickly. He ran past the crowds of people, some half-robotic and most human as ever. Drones flew in front of him immediately, “halt, citizen. Enforcement number 67109 states ‘no citizen shall wear a mask without online documentation and other terms.’ Please remove your mask for facial identification.” A cheery robotic voice with one sharp tong extending from the bottom of its cylindrical body whirred in front of him.
“I am Hiroto Takahashi, nobility ID 459.02.” He replied with the same unenthusiastic voice. He revealed his ring, permanently welded into his finger. Encrusted mark of nobility. The robot used scanning features to check its legitimacy, “Hiroto Takahashi! Thank you for your patience! Please take these routes to avoid public crowds and further inspection due to your confidentiality.”
THUD
A book flung towards a chaotic desk. Hiroto trembled. Forgotten maps and books splayed out on his desk, aggressive red marks encircled certain locations on a map. The ink bled into the rest of the site and he sulked back into his bed lazily. He had tried to find more research on Raya, but there was nothing. He downloaded the usb into a one time hologram presenter, there were documentaries… he scrolled through the vast selection stretching his lips into a thin line and clicked on one. It whirred into a man staring at the camera, wide eyed and trembling. He spoke Ichodenishayn which was rare in the capitals, many parents forgot to teach their children the traditional folk languages in favor of English and a very distant native version of Japanese.
Which is why this man confused Hiroto, he slowly zoomed into the mark on his cheek. It seemed ancient. Tattoos were banned in Juvia, hiroto quickly traced the tattoo for later research.
“S-shaolev 7180… shayo firay elweleryam-tsh-ingh. Ghoen Elweleryam-onel. Donel minaysh’c paopel-ich’n ay rind shomintagh.”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Soldier 7180 saw everything burn, everyone gone. There were people in masks and something red.” Hiroto translated using a device, he was getting better at understanding the language but there were just some words he couldn’t translate clearly. Moreover, the man’s Ichodenishayn was so broken it just wasn’t making any sense to Hiroto. Masked people wearing something red? It was the same thing the mole told him.
“ghowerl.” A girl? Hiroto was intrigued. “Ghowerl v-venilogherin s-shaol-lev e-elenel’mee. Ghowerl-l c-crinshatels hshand’sh. Hemishayl raygho-in, raygho-in Pricorin ay Valeinshac borindayrsha.”
The girl led the enemy soldiers, the girl had crystal hands and unimaginable power. Attacks on stationed heroes and soldiers in the Hemishla region, the Pricorian region, and the capital Valeshik’s borders. There was no definite pattern of time in the attacks. Hiroto sighed deeply, cursing himself before melting the USB. He couldn’t trust the woman. She was dangerous and had materialized in front of him using a letter system, meaning she had bypassed extreme security measures in his building.
And yet, It was because of this woman Hiroto had discovered that people were grouped outside the borders.
“I see you’re troubled.”
Hiroto sharply looked at his brother who smirked at him, playing innocent and miserably failing, “must you appear into the room all of a sudden? It is distracting.” He furrowed his eyebrows closer and shook his head, “please consider knocking.” Hiroto pleaded with the most exasperation he could convey in his tone. It sounded rather too desperate, which made him wince as he took a hologram which displayed an incomplete weapon blueprint he was working on.
“Tell me what’s going on.” Sylvester pursed his lips, “You’ve been trying to hide something you little rat, it's not working. Spit it out already, the suspense here’s killing me.” He dragged the chair out to lean on it and glare at the younger one, it creaked under his arms.
“It is nothing. Even if it was something which it is not, I couldn’t tell you because of the oaths.” Hiroto trembled, a welded barcode humming around his wrist. Hiroto was immune to hot temperatures, so they had freezed the metal into unbearably cold conditions to weld that into his skin instead. It clicked on recognition and activated conversation recording automatically.
He had figured out how to disable the thing long ago.
He didn’t tell Sylvester to keep him out of his work area. It was risky and posed danger on him in case anyone ever found out. Hiroto simply ignored him and continued marking out errors of the weapon in the hologram. Sylvester shook his head in disappointment and pinched his nose bridge, “You won’t tell me what happened after I left Juvia and now you won’t tell me what is happening, Beyond frustrating is what it is!” Sylvester outstretched his hands outwards and raised his eyebrows pointedly, Hiroto simply stared seeming bored before working on some tweaks again. Sylvester stomped towards Hiroto’s side and stood in front of the hologram, forcing his brother to look up at him.
“Hiroto, I see the house burning down again.”
Pause.
His fingers twitched slightly as he processed the information, looking at his brother in confusion before he lowered his hands to the desk, gripping the edge, “I don’t believe in the visions, it was coincidental the first time and it will be now. I’m tired, I don’t want to fight.” He simply stated. Sylvester closed his eyes in frustration, eyebrows twitching together, “why must you always dismiss my concerns like this?? I do not want any secrets between us, I don't want a repeat of what was.” he angrily pushed the hologram away, “Hiroto!”
Hiroto jerked violently at the shout and Sylvester sulked, “I’m sorry. You know you can talk to me right… What will I do if something goes wrong?” He shrugged. Hiroto gave a loud sigh through his nose and softly held Sylvester’s forearm, “I’ll be fine. I need to work, Sapy.”
“Augh! That nickname’s god awful, when will you let it go already!?” He dramatically rolled his eyes and flipped his hair towards his back. Hiroto smiled softly, shooing Sylvester out of the office room and immediately sliding his back down the door. Falling with a thud and his back towards the metal frame in relief.
He was going wasn’t he? there was an invisible string digging into his skin and shoving him towards that woman’s invitation. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t curious. Then there was his father’s death.
A two year old Hiroto squeezed his stuffed bunny, eyes widening in wonder at the image of his father fighting enemies in a vlog dedicated to him after his death. “Look! It’s dadddd…” he drawed out the last word, and his cheeks warmed in excitement, jumping up and down at the sight of Hidetsugu. Sylvester typed out words on his mobile, blatantly ignoring Hiroto’s admirations. Xui smiled and fluffed up some cushions, “yes, it is Hidetsugu.” He softly muttered. “Why didn’t he stay?” Hiroto looked at Xui in curiosity and the man didn’t waver, “the gods called him home.”
.
“2:27 A.M. 市民夜間 सभी रहना禁止 भीतर”
“Night curfew in order; all citizens should remain indoors.”
Kill on sight wasn’t something mentioned, but was understood. The streets were barren, no cars present on the highways that swirled around the commercial buildings, just the eerie buzzing of warnings around the city. The bright red lights stung his eyes, it made him more aware of his situation; the exact thing the warnings told him not to. He slowly plugged in some headphones into his ears and teared his eyes away from the horrifying atmosphere of the city at night. Not a bird moved, not even the sound of crickets survived here.
He checked the address on the card again, and fed the coordinates into his barcode system, “location, ready.”
It was time to get answers.