The group were gathered in a board room in his father’s company ENERGY-PLEX where they had finished swapping information as to what they had learned from their separate adventures.
‘And so judging from what we’ve gathered including recent events, my father’s friend Yamato under the influence of Akira was the one who shot Mr Tetsuo.’ Said Kioshi.
‘Alright. What now?’ Asked Kouji.
‘We take the fight to him.’
‘You all can fuck yourselves.’ Said Hido, glaring across the room.
Ayumi glared with equal intensity.
Kouji slammed his fist down on the long table placed in the centre of the room. ‘We don’t need you anymore, so you can go back to your father and ruin more people’s lives!’
‘Kouji,’ Kioshi bit his lip.
‘He’s only saying what all of us are thinking, Kioshi.’ Hido claimed.
Kioshi, Kouji and Hido all exchanged mixed looks.
‘I can’t bare to be in the same room as her.’ Then looking at Ayumi Kouji continued to say to Kioshi, ‘She got in my head, manipulated my emotions. I don’t know who I am anymore, Kioshi! I don’t know what feelings are mine and which ones are inspired by her. I want to kill my brother! And I can’t remember if that’s how I feel or if she has done this to me! My brain won’t let me figure it out!’ He then began to mumble to himself. ‘That can’t be me can it?’
‘I–’ Ayumi began.
‘Don’t...’ Interrupted Hido, ‘say anything... Just don’t...’ He shook his head disapprovingly. ‘I can’t – I won’t forgive you!’ He announced poisonously. ‘What you did to Miyako!’ Hido stopped himself, pacing the boardroom only to dash at Ayumi.
Without thinking, Kioshi slid across the table placed in the centre of the room, the highly polished surface giving him plenty of speed and bumped into Hido as he met the edge,grab him and pinning him against the table.
The truth was that Kioshi as well couldn’t bring himself to look at Ayumi and didn’t want to acknowledge her either. However, he continued to feel his friendly nature try to undermine him; make him want to talk to her, befriend her. He as well as the others had seen the worst that she could offer but he was the only one who had an insight into what drove her to be the girl she was. All Ayumi wanted was redemption and Kioshi couldn’t help but think that even though it was justified, the way they were treating her were the ways of the people in a society the group wanted to change.
‘Get off me, Kioshi, or I’m going to kick your ass.’
‘I can pin you down and you’ll try kick my ass or I can let you go and you’ll try to kick my ass.’
‘You’re siding with her! After what she did to Miyako! She made her gouge her eyes out with a fucking pencil! And you’re siding with her!?’
‘We need her! And I need you too! I can’t do this alone!’
The door opened and Aki entered the room wearing her traditional sailor suit school uniform with a hard look in her eyes stopping after taking a few steps into the room where she looked from one person to another, eyes landing lastly on Kouji after he had closed the door and returned to where he was last standing.
‘Aki?’ Kioshi asked.
‘Who else do you think?’ She said, folding her arms under her breasts.
‘Easy Aki.’ Kouji explained. ‘Kioshi is... Well...’
Hido threw Kioshi off, fuming. He extended a hand, helping Kioshi up.
Kioshi placed a hand on Hido’s shoulder as he passed, feeling his way with his feet to Aki.
‘What are you doing?’ She raised an eyebrow, holding out her arms to stop Kioshi who was on the verge of bumping into her.
‘He can’t see, Aki.’ Ayumi said bluntly, arms too folded but had enough courage to look Aki in the eyes. ‘Kioshi and I fought and... I took his eyes. That’s all there is to it.’ She looked away, finding an interest in her shoes.’
‘You can say that so causally and still have the nerve to sit here. Bastard.’ Kouji spat.
‘Hey!’ Ayumi wheeled around to face him. ‘Don’t go acting as if your his friend! We both know that you’re not!’
‘I’m friends with anyone who I have respect for! If Kioshi can still go through with all this and even be in the same room as you after what you did then he has my respect. And I can at least stand here.’
Meanwhile Aki was stunned as she looked Kioshi up and down. ‘She’s lying right? Kioshi?’ She placed a hand gingerly on his face.
‘It turns out that I’m a Key and my ability healed my eyes see,’ Kioshi showed Aki his peculiar, grey-out eyes. ‘When I use my ability I can see but when I’m not I’m blind.’
‘Her heart racing, Aki began to exhale audibly. ‘How can you bare to be in the same room as her?’ Her hand grew tense on Kioshi’s cheek as an animalistic anger bloomed within her. ‘How can you resist the urge to kill her!?’
‘Aki, that’s not the way.’ Kioshi assured her.
Her hand dragged across his cheek, leaving behind a trail of blood in their wake. Kioshi flinched and the pain lit him up, activating his ability so that Kioshi stared at her with glowing, purple eyes. ‘You’re wrong Kioshi, it is the way.’ She smiled. ‘You know it and you feel it just as I do.
‘Aki, I know what’s wrong with you, you have the same power as me, the power over the Xero Xone.’
‘Oh? So right now you feel the same thing that I feel? The undeniable urge to kill?’ Aki smiled. ‘Just looking at her, Kioshi! It makes my heart race! My blood feel like its on ecstasy!’ She said seductively. Her eyes too were changing colour except they were turning black while her pupils were red.’
‘It’s not the Xero Xone...’ Kioshi grabbed Aki’s shoulders in a panic. ‘Aki! Snap out of it! Don’t surrender to the darkness in your heart! Don’t let it control you!’
‘Look at you being all high and mighty when you are just as miserable as I am. Darkness is all I have.’
‘You’re wrong! When all this started I was sad. I was lonely and miserable. I had no friends and nothing to look forward too. When I decided that I wanted to fight against society, I didn’t know what I was doing, I wasn’t sure of myself and I got people hurt. However, after experiencing the things I did, I’ve decided that I could let these things knock me down; I could cry and give in to the darkness in my heart or I could continue to fight and carve my own future even when things look uncertain.
‘In the end I might not have any friends and I might die but at least if I die I’ll die fighting for something important and for something I believed in. That’s better than giving up and dying with no-one knowing what you died for.’
‘Oh Kioshi,’ Aki stroked Kioshi’s unharmed cheek. ‘You’ve always been better than us. Your heart is warm and kind and has the strength to ward off the darkness. I’m not strong and I don’t want to be. I’ve been through too much. I’ve felt too much and this hatred is easier to live with than it is living fighting against. Does that make me a coward?’
Tearfully, Kioshi shook his head. ‘No... To accept your feelings makes you strong. To know who you are makes you strong.’
Aki nodded, tears forming in her now normal eyes. ‘Hatred and pain is all I know, all I understand. I will find my own answers and perhaps one day you shall see me again.’
‘Aki, you don’t have to leave. Please, don’t.’
‘I want you to come with me. But you have to stay here for the sake of what you’ve started. I’m going to look for my family; my mother and my sister. Perhaps they will ease the pain in my heart. She walked away though, each step she took, winding Kioshi. Aki froze in the doorway, turning her head slightly almost to look over her shoulder. ‘Goodbye Kioshi.’
And just like that Aki was out of Kioshi’s life.
SEVERAL WEEKS LATER
When she thought about it, Ayumi realised that there was little difference between Shibuya above ground and the Shibuya lost underground as both were dark places somehow secluded from the rest of the world eithe
r literally or figuratively.
Why did I decide to take this mission? What do I hope to accomplish by returning here?
She had volunteered to venture underground to scout the area with Yamato, Junichi and a boy they recruited who liked to be called Radar because he had the ability to see through wall and could determine how many people were around him and where they were.
Underground Shibuya’s wonder was obscured by the lack of light – only given out by the lamp posts lining the streets as one would expect. To this day no-one knew how the lights had remained on for all of these years but while the lights on the stores had remained off.
On many of the roads there were cars that hadn’t been used in years. Seeing them empty was nothing new to Ayumi however, she had gotten a glimpse of what the streets should have looked like when she was teleported above ground by Yamato, occupied by people and in motion.
Teleporting had felt like her body had filled with electricity before discharging through her pores. It didn’t hurt but it was a very uncomfortable sensation. The boy named Radar and the man she didn’t know seemed to feel the same thing as the two of them shivered when they took their first few steps just like she did.
Ayumi had forgotten to ask Kioshi who this man was who had chosen to accompany them; a man perhaps in his late thirties with dark-brown hair and skin that reminded her or aged leather – a face that showed that it had experienced a lot within a short time. Then there was the eye-patch Fucking pirate.
Junichi caught Ayumi staring at him which startled her, causing her quickly throw her head in another direction.
Meanwhile, Radar was scanning the area.
‘Do you know where we are?’ Junichi, stopped by Yamato, resting the assault rifle he had kept and maintained since he was a teenager on his shoulder.
‘Yeah. We’re not far from my home. Finally I can get this helmet fixed.’ He turned to look at Junichi. Yamato could still see however, walking around with the helmet was like driving around in a car that had crashed. ‘It’s funny, that’s twice in a lifetime that my face gets messed up right?’ Yamato’s voice still projected itself clearly enough.
Junichi couldn’t help but laugh. ‘We should get off the street, stick to the allies. We don’t know what’s going on down here.
‘Does this scenario feel familiar to you?’
‘Yeah... Only, you’re full conscious.’
Yamato thought how Junichi and Izumi had carried him and tried their best to bring him to Eiko. Izumi was a different woman then. The woman she was before Akira’s takeover aided her descent into madness sure was something. ‘Damn...’
‘What is it?’ Junichi asked.
‘Izumi, she was a good girl wasn’t she?’
Junichi lowered his rifle, looking down at the ground. ‘Yeah. I often wonder what my life would have been like if were alive and the same woman she was when I fell in love with her; head-strong, passionate, affectionate. If it weren’t for all this crap then the Xero Xone wouldn’t have activated and she’d still be with me. It didn’t just taint her mind, Yamato,’ Junichi looked at his best friend, ‘it poisoned her body. That power broke her body down until her hair started to break, her nails fell off and her skin couldn’t keep itself together.’
‘That kind of power, it’s not meant for Humans.’
‘No, and now my son has it.’
They began to walk.
Yamato could help but remember that it had only been a few short weeks ago that Akira had ordered himself and Ayumi to go to the surface and purge the streets of any trace of rebellion. He had murdered an aggressor; a school teacher and many others like him but he soon caught on to an even greater target; a boy named Kioshi who turned out was the son of his old friend. He had somehow bested Ayumi and so the task of killing Kioshi fell to him. Akira once again got inside my head. Just like when we went to stop him all those years ago.
The man who was invincible and immortal suddenly felt very vulnerable.
The four were at the edge of the area where the buildings were fused with the rock. In some cased the alleys were limited so at times they had no choice but to risk themselves by going out into the open.
‘This is what Zone One should look like?’ Radar wondered. ‘It’s... Weird. So much detail.’
‘Akira must have created the first black towers at the sight of this area’s disappearance. Or at least, got a Key to do the work. From there he or she changed the architecture throughout all of Japan to match it.’ Junichi said.
‘I never understood all of the black.’ Radar added.
‘It’s a demoralising tactic. A precaution. Take the windows for example, to be able to look outside may inspire hope which is something my father doesn’t want.’ Said Ayumi.
‘Yes, your father.’ Junichi kept up his pace alongside Yamato.
Ayumi kept the remark in mind.
‘And where are all the people?’ Radar looked around.
‘I thought that’s why I brought you along.’ Yamato pointed out.
‘You did, and I already scanned the area when we arrived.’
‘I know that Eclipsed are invisible to sensory-based abilities.’ Said Ayumi.
‘Is that so?’ Yamato looked over his shoulder.
‘They’re the one... sub-species of Human that aren’t affected by any form of mind-control because their mind is linked to the Nightmares and Nightmares can’t be controlled by Humans.’
‘And myself. That’s why you can’t get in my head. Right, Yamamoto?’
Ayumi paused so did Junichi who turned to look down at her, not shifting his weapon from his shoulder. ‘Who said I want to get inside you head?’
‘Cut the bullshit, girl.’
‘Who are you?’ She asked, narrowing her eyes with suspicion. The bad feeling she was having about Junichi was becoming ever greater.
‘I am the father to the boy whose eyes you stole.’
Ayumi lowered her head will maintaining eye-contact, taking a slow step backwards.
‘And I am also the man who nearly killed your father before you were even born.’ Junichi continued. ‘It seems like all Yamamoto’s are good for are ruining people’s lives.’ He took a step forward. ‘Tell me, Yamamoto, do you still feel his blood on his hands? His eyes broken up in your hands? Do you remember his screams?’
‘You... You came here to... Kill me?’
Junichi swiftly brought his rifle down from his shoulder, pointing it between Ayumi’s eyes. ‘Because of you my girlfriend is dead! Who am I to say that we’re married!? That dream never came true! Because of you my son has suffered! I don’t trust you Yamamoto, even if my son does. If you betray us I won’t hesitate to put a bullet in your skull.’
‘Noted...’ Ayumi stated, eyeing the weapon fearlessly. That look in his eyes, that’s three people who have given me that look. A drop of sweat slid down her right temple. My father, Aki and now this man... Scary.
Junichi brought the weapon over his shoulder again.
‘I know you two have issues and all but I didn’t get to finish what I was saying.’ Radar said.
With one last look that gave Ayumi goosebumps, Junichi walked on ahead with Yamato continuing to lead the way. ‘I get it, you look at her and you can’t help but think about Izumi and what her father has done. It’s easy to kill someone with the blood of who you hate flowing through their veins. But, remember that she’s not your enemy – your son’s if he so chooses it, but not yours.’ Yamato whispered.
Junichi scowled. ‘I hate logic.’ He grumbled.
‘You don’t seem to have matured much, Junichi.’ Yamato joked.
‘What can I say? You bring out the worst in me. Still, looking back at how I raised Kioshi, I took out my frustrations on him and raised him wrongly. Izumi would be ashamed.’
‘I’m surprised that the two of you even conceived to be honest.’
Junichi chuckled. ‘What can I say? She always wanted a child. During th
e periods when she was lucid, Kioshi always seemed to make her feel like the bad things going on in her head weren’t real. Almost like salvation.’
‘S-Sorry to interrupt but I think this is important!’ Radar fought to get himself heard. ‘As I was saying, I already scanned the area – the whole area and I could only find two, maybe three signs of life.’
Yamato was now the one to stop, wheeling around to face Radar. ‘Three? When I left there were hundreds of people left!’ He took a step almost in a threatening manner. ‘That must mean...’ He looked away, staring ahead dreamily and saying to himself, ‘That must mean that more of the population have grown Eclipsed.’
‘Whoa there!’ Junichi grabbed Yamato by the shoulder and turned him. ‘There are Eclipsed down here? More than just Eiko?’
‘Akira is old. His power isn’t what it once was. He sealed himself away at the Shibuya Grand Hotel and has diverted all of his power to above ground. One or two people might have turned every now and then but... I don’t understand.’
‘I was in charge of overseeing the people down here.’ Ayumi claimed.
Yamato looked at Ayumi. ‘You?’
‘Like you said, my father is old. He’s grown weak. When my skill as a Key reached the level that it is at now, my father entrusted me to keep everyone down here sedated – as many as I could. Those who I couldn’t reach turned into Eclipse. When he sent us above ground there was no-one left to protect these people.’
‘Us...’ Yamato muttered.
‘Yamato, this isn’t the time to start doubting yourself!’ Junichi interrupted. ‘We have a large chunk of Shibuya who are Eclipsed. We are dangerously outnumbered. We need to find who ever is still Human and get the hell out of here!’
‘What about the plan!?’ Radar, threw his arms out in disbelief.
‘The plan, kid, was to come down here, assess the situation and get Yamamoto’s helmet fixed. We knew beforehand that Akira is in the Shinjuku Grand Hotel but now we know that this place is infested with monsters!’ Looking back at Yamato, ‘Yamato, we have to go. Now!’