by T L Brevis
Chapter 15
“Oh, are those flyers? Well what would you two be selling?” asked the woman cheerfully.
“O-Oh, well they are for a new dishwasher by our company, we would appreciate it if you took a look, ma’am,” replied Hiroshi, re-composing himself immediately. He always was good at adapting to situations quickly.
“Oh! I was meaning to get one, I'll definitely follow you up on that! Could I have one of those flyers?”
“Of course ma’am!” said Hiroshi, while granting her request promptly.
Was this the wrong address? Was the Noromi wrong? Who was this woman? Was she truly Hakku Noroi’s mother? If so, was her kind and warm attitude a facade? Why else would she allow her son to be carrying out these criminal acts? All of these questions and more raced through Hiroshi’s mind in an instant. If this was indeed Hakku Noroi’s apartment and this was his mother, he could feel their opportunity slipping away.
“Oh, and one more thing you two, how old are you?” asked the woman, her friendly tone remaining as consistent as ever.
What were this woman’s intentions? Was her behavior truly all an act, much like theirs? Hiroshi’s suspicions were starting to flare up further.
“We’ll both be 12 in a few months,” answered Makoto immediately.
Hiroshi’s eyes widened slightly. What were Makoto’s intentions here? Then, Hiroshi caught on. He wanted to remain there for as long of a time as possible to, at the very least, get more information on Hakku Noroi’s family if this truly was his mother. If it was a mistake, there would be no harm done, and if it was not, he trusted Kaito enough to not make a mistake as severe as leaking their ages. Makoto trusted Kaito. Hiroshi smiled in relief and gratitude towards Makoto and as a message to express that, kept up Makoto’s act.
“Yup, that's true,” Hiroshi could see Makoto’s smile widen in his peripheral vision and knew he was correct.
“Oh, my son’s 15, and he’s an only child, and if I'm being honest with you two, he doesn’t have many friends. I’ve tried to get him some before, but out of everyone, you boys seem like the most polite and easygoing. I think you could really feel like little brothers to him and I think he’d really need that. Would you like to meet him?” she asked, with a slight sadness in her tone.
Hiroshi’s smile widened even further. That perfectly fit the description of Hakku Noroi. This boy had more than likely been burdening such a kind woman like this. He would pay for that as well. She had given them the opening they needed.
“Of course! We’ve been wanting some friends too, especially older ones. I always admire the older kids from far away and want to learn things from them, but they never want to be friends with me,” said Makoto.
Makoto was on the same wavelength as him. This was coming together even more perfectly than in their original plan. His mother would trust them now as well.
“Glad to hear it! Come in, come in, please.”
“Sure!” both of them answered in unison.
The woman widened the door to its limit and stepped back inside, Hiroshi and Makoto following close behind her, keeping pace. It was an average home. Some decorative pieces, beige walls and overall neat and tidy. A perfectly average home.
When they entered, they were met with a living room and a dining room beyond it, and when they made their way to the edge of those two, they reached a short corridor on their right leading to two doors, one at the end of the corridor and one directly to the left of that door. Hiroshi assumed that the one on the left was a bathroom and the one straight on was Hakku Noroi’s room. His heart rate once again quickened.
They kept up the same pace as they had been for the last few seconds and finally, they were standing directly behind the woman, who was centimeters from the door herself. They were presumably only a few meters away from their target. This made even geniuses like them feel anxious. Being in such close proximity to a target would never get easier no matter how many times it was done.
“Hakku, I have some people I want you to meet,” said the woman while knocking on the door lightly, but just enough to be heard decently.
The two’s heart rates increased. It was most definitely Hakku Noroi. There was not a shadow of a doubt in their minds any longer.
There was no answer from inside the room.
“Hakku, I'm coming in okay?”
With that, she turned the doorknob slowly and cracked the door open. The room was engulfed by pitch darkness, with one single light source, that of a desktop monitor directly parallel to the door at the end of the room. A portion of the light was being blocked out by two things, however. An office chair and a figure, who could only be seen by their elbows and their head peeking out from the chair’s back-view. All that could be heard were fervent, never-ending taps of keyboard keys.
The woman stepped forward after about a second of remaining at the doorway. She glanced to her right and on cue, her arm followed, then a moment later, a single click could be heard before light finally poured into the room from above.
“Honestly, you’ll ruin your eyesight Hakku! How many times do I have to tell you to turn on these lights?” said the woman in the angriest tone she could muster despite her naturally kind and warm voice.
The boy did not respond or even flinch for that matter. The sound of the keyboard simply continued, as if nothing had ever changed from before they had entered the room.
The woman began stepping forward again, so Hiroshi and Makoto followed suit. She paused when she was standing directly behind the chair, then stepped to the right, then forward and faced left to presumably look at the boy directly in the face.
“I brought two young boys to meet you Hakku. I hope you’ll be able to get along with them well,” she said, warmly as ever.
“Their names ar- oh right, I never did ask for them, what were your names you two?” she asked after turning to face them.
“Uh, oh, I'm Makoto, and he’s Hiroshi. Nice to meet you Hakku,” responded Makoto, cheerfulness not wavering one bit. Hiroshi was glad that Makoto did not allow himself to be fazed by the situation, or at the very least hid it exceptionally well. He could understand the nerves of being in that situation, he was right there in the middle of it after all and had been in many like it.
The boy still did not respond, his typing speed not altering either. It was as if the three of them were not even there at all.
“Oh come on Hakku. They're being so polite, at least give them a chance,” she said in a frustrated tone.
“Why would I? Interacting with these children would be a waste of my time,” Hakku responded harshly, in a pitch sounding far too deep for a 15-year-old.
“That is so rude, apologize Hakku!” said the woman, raising her tone now, although it still barely reached an average person’s normal speaking volume.
“No. Leave me alone children, you too mom. How many times do I have to tell you I don’t need anyone, only you?”
“I think if you’d at least give us a chance we can be great friends,” said Hiroshi. He was trying to agitate this boy to his limits to get an opportunity for eye contact. The boy was certainly rude, but Hiroshi could tell he was nowhere near his breaking point.
“Stay out of this. Do as I say and get out. You wouldn’t want me as a friend, we would be wasting both of our times.”
“Please give us a chance!” exclaimed Makoto immediately after Hakku had finished, followed by a bow reaching down to his waist.
Hiroshi was pleased that they were once again on the same wavelength but was still shocked that someone with his personality could execute such a polite gesture. Well, he was forced to act like a shy and polite child for a good amount of years, so it was to be expected Hiroshi supposed, but he had just gotten so used to the annoyance he really was in the past months that the polite boy from before was unrecognizable.
Without letting even a second go by after Makoto’s words, Hiroshi bowed in the same way.
“I really do
hate children, especially your type. How on earth are you still this unrealistic despite being only a few years younger than me? It's insane!” exclaimed the boy, much louder than Makoto was during his previous sentence.
Hiroshi could not stop himself from smiling. He had been correct about this boy’s intolerance for childish behavior. He knew that juvenile persistence, especially guided by such childish motives was sure to get under his skin. Hiroshi had deduced this boy was a genius in programming and hacking but caught up in his efforts, he did not bother with much else. That would be his downfall.
“Calm down Hakku! I only wanted to help you get some friends. All you ever do is stay cooped up here in your room!” cried out his mother, louder and more emotional than ever.
“Yea, that's right! If we were your friends, we could go out and do fun stuff!” exclaimed Hiroshi, lifting his head to face the still turned chair. He was beginning to annoy himself with his behavior, but it was very necessary for this situation.
Hakku whipped his chair around forcefully. Hiroshi was pleased. It was the spitting image of the boy they had seen that day on Hiroshi’s computer. The boy who had brought them so much confusion and doubt. It was time. Hiroshi was going to catch his eye contact and it would be over in a few seconds.
“I don’t need friends! I don’t need anyone! I just need to carry on dad’s legacy!” he exclaimed, eyes wide, staring right into Hiroshi’s own, face filled with beads of sweat with his jaw clenched.
Hiroshi froze. The boy was making eye contact with Hiroshi, he had been for about a second and was not stopping, but Hiroshi could not activate his Noromi. No, he would not. Surely this boy did not care that much about his deceased father, how could he? Was this all an act? Had he been tricking them this entire time? It had been five seconds, all the time Hiroshi needed, but he still could not do anything. He needed to know more.
Hiroshi could see Makoto face him with a shocked expression after the five seconds had elapsed. He was surely wondering why Hakku’s face had not gone blank yet.
“Stop it Hakku! These nice boys don’t need to know!”
“No, I’ll tell them! I’ll tell them everything, I think it's about time they grew up and learned a little more about life!”
Hakku was not acting. He was about to reveal something, surely thinking it would fly over the heads of the immature children before him.
“My father died. It was about a year ago. He was a professional hacker and he taught me how to hack in his free time too. He was my hero. I always wanted to be like him, so when he died, I began putting everything he taught me and more into hacking. I used every moment I could on it, even now, seconds before you disturbed me. It’s the only thing I can do and want to do,” the emotions could be heard loud and clear as tears began to form in Hakku’s eyes.
“Um, who do you do it for? Are they good guys?” asked Hiroshi innocently.
“I work for businessmen, okay? I make money from hacking into their competition and selling the information. I do it so my mom doesn’t have to work. I don’t want her to have any trouble. Every person in this world is untrustworthy but her. That’s why the only arguments we have is when she tries to match me up with brats like you,” His tears dripped down his face and kept pouring out.
His mother lunged at him and took him into an embrace.
“It’s okay Hakku. I can go back to work if you’d like. The last thing I want is for this to make you unhappy.”
This was genuine. Hiroshi could feel it, the same way he felt it with Makoto. Could it be possible he did not know the consequences of his actions? Hiroshi would test it. He would bet everything on it if it meant he could turn this boy’s life around and give him a better one.
“Do you know what happens as a result of your careless actions?” Hiroshi said.
He could feel Makoto’s gaze on him intensify and heard a faint gasp from him.
“W-What? How would you possibly know anything about that?” he asked, looking back up, tears ceasing their gush and his eyes grown bigger. He left his mother's embrace to stand directly in front of Hiroshi, coming up to about half a foot taller than him.
“Countless people have lost their jobs, have been left homeless and even have been left dead because of your recklessness,” said Hiroshi bluntly.
“W-Wait, no. How could a kid like you know? Wait a minute. That company’s information I sold. Wait, they went bankrupt a year later...”
Hakku stumbled back. He bumped into his chair and fell to the ground then put his hands on his face and buried his head in between his legs folded upwards.
“N-No. I c-can’t belie-” He was cut off by his own tears beginning to stream again. “N-No. I never wanted to hurt anyone! All I ever wanted was for my mom’s life to be more convenient.”
“Well, you did. I can’t tell if you’re being genuine or not, but if you are, we wish to help you have a better and more honest life with your mother,” said Hiroshi while walking forwards to stand directly above the shaken Hakku.
“Yes, it is not too late. You can turn your life around and truly be happy,” added Makoto, moving forward to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Hiroshi.
“Who are you kids? You’re obviously not normal. What in the hell? You just did a complete 180 on your personalities,” said Hakku, sounding more confused than ever before. “Who are you?!” demanded Hakku, anger rising in his tone. “Who in the hell are you two?!”
“Well, I severely doubt this is an act from you now. We’ll tell you,” said Makoto.
“Yes, please tell us! I don’t know what’s going on right now but please tell us!” exclaimed Hakku’s mother suddenly.
“Alright. Makoto and I are not what we seem. We are two genius children who kill criminals in the hopes that we will be able to improve the world. We both have our own motives, but we joined forces and now are going to be working together for every mission in the foreseeable future.
“Recently, we have been taking it rather slow in order to have more, if not all of these missions become successes. Crime cannot be ended completely. Anyone who thinks so is foolish and naive. A utopia is impossible. However, crime can be limited, severely at that, if enough resources and dedication are expended. Makoto and I are willing to forfeit normal lives in order to accomplish this. Originally, we came here to kill you Hakku Noroi, as we would do with any other criminal, but you are special, I can tell.
“I think you are destined for more than just a redeemed life. I think you should join us in our crusade. You would be valuable to us,” said Hiroshi, slowly and dramatically, enunciating every syllable to ensure everything would be understood.
“W-What. You were both faking this whole time? Y-You came to k-kill me,” said Hakku, sounding defeated. “Why am I surprised? I deserve it after all. I left people homeless and jobless. I deserve to be dead. You shouldn’t pity me. Go on, do I-”
Hakku was interrupted by his mother once again lunging forward toward him, this time slapping him clean across the right side of his face, to the point where his head was completely snapped to the left.
“Stop it with that nonsense! Even now, these boys are being kind to you. Just accept it! Even though I don’t completely understand it, I give my permission! Join them. Make the world better! That's the best way you could help me have a better life!” exclaimed Hakku’s mother, tears in her eyes now, looking straight into Hakku’s own.
Hiroshi and Makoto both let out sighs of relief and smiled.
“We’ll take good care of your son ma’am, along with Hiroshi’s teacher Kaito. If he’s with us, nothing bad will happen to your son,” said Makoto.
“Thank goodness. You boys coming here was a godsend. I’ll let you take him, but first, I need to explain something,” she said with a smile, eyes still full of tears.
She welcomed all of them into the living room and they sat on two opposing couches, Hiroshi and Makoto on one and Hakku along with his mother on the other.
“
I never told you about who your father worked for. Until now, I thought you were taking normal computing jobs, but now I know I should have told you sooner so that you would have been more careful. Hiroshi and Makoto, since you will be my son’s companions from now on, you have a right to know as well,” Hakku’s mother began after a few seconds of silence.
“You see, your father made the same mistake as you, Hakku. He unknowingly worked for a terrible organization working to embezzle money from other, more legitimate companies in the same field. They forged documents that ‘proved’ their partial ownership of their targeted companies. They then presented it to your father, and that was enough for him to hack into those companies and sell off their information, well, to him, it was just his compensation for time, at least that was what he was led to believe.