Hiroto sighed and the furrow in his brow deepened. It was understood that on the weekend shifts he did not take any requests, Hiroto had broken the legacy of his family alongside his brother, even if they didn’t have any say in it. He became a very successful mechanical engineer of this era; taking requests from weapons to new gadgets.
Annoyance barely concealed in the empty room of his office, the crackling from an artificial campfire hologram in the sidewalls, face covered in pink lights from the various late night shows. He settled his coffee cup down and hesitantly reached for the rather old-fashioned letter. These mechanical letters were usually government documents for secret gadgets to be combusted later; unhackable, and convenient, solely a correspondence between the sender and the receiver…
“When will you be free?”
Hiroto jumped, shocked, he whipped his head around and sulked at the sight of his elder brother. Sylvester raised an eyebrow, leaning on the wall, his nose and jaw shapes were sharper than Hiroto’s, he had a barely taller but much muscular silhouette, He also had wavier hair and clearer eyes to reveal the blood red underneath. Hiroto huffed, blowing a hair strand out of his face. For a man in his twenties Hiroto’s arms were weak and body lean from malnourishment… but not poverty? Hiroto shook his head, “I will be there in a minute, let me sort out one more request.”
Drones lifted themselves to the office wall’s windows and Sylvester scoffed and lowered the blinds for Hiroto’s privacy from the cameras that harassed them, “idiots.” He lifted and flipped his hair in the wind of the air conditioning. Hiroto smiled at his antics, “please… not now.”
“Fine, fine.” Sylvester laughed and flashed his tongue over his teeth at the drones that flew away the moment they stopped receiving footage from the one way blinds before leaving the room, “you better come out in a few minutes, i’m starving!”
Hiroto took the small device and nestled it on a book, crushing it with the leather cover. The device released gas spreading into the room, a fiber mask generated over his mouth and he frowned as an unfamiliar silhouette generated in front of him, the queen never revealed herself to unimportant commoners…
“Good day, Takahashi Hiroto.”
A sinister smile formed on the body as the CCTV cameras fused and burned down, Hiroto’s hair melted down and glowed orange, “is this a threat?” His flair was to control lava, in a show his hair turned into lava as they were made up of growing metal fibers themselves, the woman laughed as red diamonds formed on the protective microphones placed in the room. Picture frames shook and some bookshelves collapsed, books splaying out on the ground as the wood crushed them.
“I am not here to hurt you.”
“Who are you?”
“I am Raya Hinode.” She walked towards Hiroto with a few documents forming in her hand, “I am here to invite you to the Crystal Rebellion.”
“The… crystal-…?” He frowned and turned to her as she looked around, “you are mistaken if you think i’ll join some reckless teenage band.” Hiroto slowly backed up to his desk and Raya’s illusion uttered words that simply froze him to the core.
“The weapons you build for the government are the same weapons they use to kill hundreds of innocent lives every single day beyond the walls.” She tutted, turning her head sideways, “I want you to put that talent to good use, I understand you deserve to hold grudges against people. Do you want to know how your father died?” Hiroto simply stared as the mist spoke, the moonlight alternatively leaking through the windows.
“He wasn’t a man I knew.”
“Yet a man you were attached to. Who wouldn’t be? You don’t have to personally know someone to be inspired by them.”
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Hiroto knew Sylvester wouldn’t be back in a while now that he had nagged him once. Curiosity took over his senses…
“Speak.”
.
“SPEAK!!!”
A few years ago, Sylvester clenched his teenage brother’s hand, “please.” He could never forget the day ambulances flashed red and blues around his burning down, he could barely breathe as he hazily saw his traumatized mother’s body wrapped in heavy blankets and soot being put in cuffs, she screamed in agony and despite her nagging was stuffed inside the police car.
Moments later he woke up with machines attached to his wrists to monitor his heart and brain waves. A blinding light and whirring of the IV’s as he flinched under the medical light before it was closed. Hiroto gasped in confusion and shot up before being pushed back down by Sylvester, “you can’t move right now.”
“Where is mother? Why are you here?” The trembling Hiroto couldn’t decipher who Sylvester was immediately, they had been separated for years since they were children. “Being detained.” Sylvester shook his head, “she did you wrong. Tell me what happened. What did Masato do to you?” Hidden rage boiled behind Sylvester’s face and Hiroto couldn’t be more than confused in Sylvester’s care.
The news of Hidetsugu Takahashi’s family manor burning down kept feeding the media for days after Hiroto had entered the coma that day from the carbon dioxide emissions. It was labeled as an accident, a body burnt to char had been retrieved from the rubble, unidentifiable but assumed to be Masato Mikan’s. A famous media personality.
No one knew what happened, no one but Hiroto.
As a child he was taught to close his eyes to the oppression of the world, even his own, he simply lowered his head and obeyed.
Raya was a woman of keen sights who’s rebellion only sneaked through gossip, not much information regarding the ready army was with the public, the media has successfully diverted the attention from the mysterious attacks and disappearances of soldiers in the outlands beyond the walls and protests were snubbed quietly. The chess players for the throne moved quietly on both sides.
She knew things about Hiroto that he didn’t yet discover about himself. It was terrifying. It was the most thrill he’s had in years… but he wasn’t a risky man.
This was dangerous.
Talking to an outsider, much less the chief of them, was dangerous.
He didn’t know her well at all.
“I will tell you all you need to know at these bunkers here. My men will be there to escort you through the tunnels, You will be seated in an area with my followers… and I will introduce you and our new village recruits to the motives of the crystal rebellion.” Her face flickered, “It is time Juvia knew what kind of a person their queen is.”
Hiroto’s mouth was agape in confusion as the device fizzed into thin air and Raya disappeared. Immediately, Sylvester shot through the door, “are you coming or not!?” It didn’t give time for Hiroto to process anything that happened.
“Yes- yes. I am-” stroking his fingers through his braid, Hiroto sighed to calm himself. He looked at the device one last time before heading out. His father might have disapproved of this, Xui Lingwen was a man who was the closest father figure he and Sylvester ever had.
It was odd of him to remember Xui in this situation. It had been so long since he had last seen the man. He took care of them till Hiroto was 10 after Hidetsugu’s death, and then one night without waking up either of them, he wore his cloak and left the mansion, never to come back again.
The night the news was announced, Xui had screamed, sobbing. Xui had just soothed Sylvester to sleep before that, Sylvester not being able to sleep that night saw this horrifying image of their caretaker bowing deeply in a puddle of tears before the portrait, describing it to Hiroto as if it was painful hiccuping.
What would Xui say if he had seen Hiroto interacting with such brash people.
Sylvester looked at Hiroto and patted his head, “you seem troubled.”
“It’s nothing.”
Uncomfortable, Sylvester nodded, “whatever you say.”
Hiroto let his thoughts wander back to his childhood…
Hiroto let his thoughts wander back to the encounter. The location saved on his desk computer as he had saw it flash. He would take the risk and venture there tomorrow without informing Sylvester.