by TIME, S. O.
“One of ‘em noticed an’ tried t’get me, so I had to get ‘im firs’.” The man stands up and puts his fists up as if simulating the fight. “I ran up to it an’ punched it straight in its ugly mug.” He jumps in the air and throws a punch. “I barely even dented its hide, my energy was so low. It shot it’s spiky tail at me and slashed me face b’fore landing on me shoulder. Man, you don’ wanna dance with one of them massive beasts without full energy.”
The others in the room laugh, and the one who went to get the weights gets up. “You got that right,” he says, lifting his shirt to show a large, circular scar on his abdomen. There are red marks that outline the scar, possibly from a burn of some kind. It looks like it would still hurt if someone touched it. He turns to look at Hitori with a smile on his face.
“If it weren’t for your father, this mark on my stomach would be much more than a scar. I don’t think I’d be here talking to you right now.”
Hitori looks at him, and I sense her energy bubbling up, inflating with every word she hears.
“Can you tell me more…about his time in the war?” she asks, timidly. "Our lessons only cover the major events."
The man lets out a large, excited laugh.
“Of course! Anything for you.”
He lets go of his shirt and takes a few steps closer to them.
“We’d all overclocked our condensers and were on our last legs, but we were almost done with those damned things. We couldn’t back out. I was swarmed by four of them, and they came after me with their tails, stabbing me and releasing their poison. It burned so intensely, I felt like I’d fallen into the sun.”
He takes a seat on the floor where everyone is now gathered.
“I thought for sure I was a dead man. That’s when the Commander showed up. He was veiled by a red aura so powerful that I forgot all about my pain. I didn’t know it then, but I’m sure it was because he wanted revenge.”
“Revenge?” Hitori asks impulsively.
“Yeah,” the man says as his energy quickly cools. “He’d just lost your mother to the attack. He took out the ones that were on me in seconds and ran into what was left of them like he didn't even care what happened to himself, fueled by pure hate for those damn monsters.”
“That’s when he—”
“Now, now, McCoy, try not to scare my daughter with such stories of violence.”
The voice rings out from the main entrance. Everyone in the room turns to see a man in dark, rich clothing walk into the room. His open-front robe and long, burgundy tunic are elegantly tailored with a heaviness to the fabric that suggests they were made for more than mere appearances. His fitted trousers disappear into dark, sturdy boots that rise to mid-calf, and he holds two stuffed backpacks in his hands. His pale grey eyes survey the room from under dark, arched brows. Old smile lines around his mouth suggest a man who was once less hardened than the one before us now. The man's confident posture and militaristic stride nearly distract me from recognizing him—but when I note the official patches on his shoulders, I realize this is the desperate, uncontrolled man from the forest. The man who’d attacked them really was Hitori’s own father. He gives the man who had been speaking to Hitori and Kou a faintly reproachful smile.
“You know I’m not a fan of bringing up the past,” he continues.
“Th-thorry, Commander Ithao,” McCoy replies with a grin on his face as he salutes.
Isao and most of the other veterans laugh at McCoy’s deliberate lisp, while the man with the scar on his head scowls in amused indignation.
“Ye gotta let that go. T’was only that one time—sorry fer stumblin’ on me words while puttin’ Stanley’s leg back on, ya apes,” he protests.
Isao smiles at their foolishness. “Lunch is ready, go get your fill. If you’ll excuse us, I need to have a word with Kou and Hitori,” he says.
I sense a similar dread from before rising in Kou and Hitori. They had been staring at the backpacks in Isao’s hands since he entered, but now their gazes find each other as their energies twist and turn with anxiety. Oblivious to the teenagers’ uneasiness, the veterans shove and yell their way out of the room. After the door closes behind them, the smile on Isao’s face fades and a scowl takes its place.
“What is the meaning of this?” he exclaims as he throws the bags in front of Kou and Hitori, causing several miscellaneous toiletries and trinkets to fall out of them. Hitori flinches at the sound of the bags hitting the ground, her gaze dropping to the floor. Kou jerks his head to stare at the mirrored wall, jaw clenched. The energy of the room grows strained as the silence stretches.
“Well!?” Isao shouts, clenching his fists.
Hitori winces and takes Kou’s hand, holding it tightly. Still, they say nothing.
“I will not—”
“We’re leaving!” Kou shouts, interrupting whatever Isao was about to say. He holds Hitori’s hand more firmly as he steps closer to Isao, fighting to hold the man’s unrelenting glare.
Isao falls quiet for a moment and everyone remains frozen in place. He peers at Hitori, looking past Kou, and manages to make eye contact with her.
“Is this true?” he asks.
“Yes, we’re leaving!” Kou shouts.
“Where are you going to go? Where will you live? Don't you understand that wherever you go, I'll find you? I can have my men on your tail for as long as you live. You're not going anywhere.”
Hitori looks away once more and says nothing, but after a few moments she turns back to him. She takes in a short breath before speaking.
“I’ve noticed,” she says.
“Noticed?” Isao asks as he raises his eyebrows. His energy dips in activity.
“There’s nothing here. She’s nowhere for anyone to see,” Hitori continues.
“You’re not making any sense, who?”
“Mom!” Hitori shouts, closing her eyes as she shudders. Isao lowers his brows and clenches his fists.
“What was that?”
“Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about,” Hitori retorts. “This house is huge, yet all of the walls are filled with videologs of the veterans, the staff, and their families. There are none of you, me, or mom.”
“Hitori—”
Her eyebrows crease as she steps forward out of Kou’s shadow. “No! I’m tired of it. It’s like we don’t exist! You’ve been ignoring me more and more, pretending you have all of this work to do, but the war is over.”
“If not me, then who else will keep these people safe? Who will keep you safe? I will not apologize for dedicating my time to this purpose.”
“Is that supposed to excuse your absence? My neglect? Or was it all just an attempt to forget me and mom altogether?”
Shocked by her outburst, Kou stares at Hitori with a mixture of admiration and horror in his eyes.
Equally stunned, Isao hesitates. A second later, he is swept back up by his anger, all of his attention focused on Hitori.
“I will not accept such insolence! Can’t you see that everything I do is for you?”
“Don’t you dare say that to my face and expect me to believe it!” Hitori replies.
“Is that why you hit her,” Kou retorts as he releases his energy, “for her sake?”
Isao’s energy spikes. “D-Don’t lecture me on how I raise my daughter. I do what I do for her safety. You want to take her so bad? The day you beat me in a fight will be the day I let her go.”
“So be it,” Kou says.
Isao strides toward them. He raises his hand the way he did when he struck Hitori in the forest. Kou notices and completely lets his energy free as a tremendous and chaotic red aura surrounds his body like a fiery tornado, toppling the equipment and cracking the reflective glass that lines the wall. With the red aura roaring around him, Kou launches toward Isao with such speed at such a close proximity that Isao has no time to react as Kou punches him in the stomach. Isao arches forward from the force of the punch—Kou shifts his body to the side and kick
s out, launching Isao against a wall, cracking it as his back makes contact. Kou races toward him for another attack, but Isao activates his own condenser. Outlined by a controlled red aura, he catches Kou’s punch with one hand. Isao spins while holding Kou’s fist and slams him against the same wall, then throws him into the center of the room.
“Is that all you’ve got, boy?” Isao yells at Kou tauntingly as he waves at him to get off the floor.
Without responding, Kou jumps to his feet and shouts as he charges at Isao once more. Reading his movements, Isao catches Kou’s next punch and knocks his feet off balance, watching as Kou stumbles and hits the ground hard.
“How will you protect her when you can’t even protect yourself?” Isao demands.
Kou’s red energy wavers as he struggles to keep his crystal activated, sweat dripping from his forehead to the floor as his body shakes slightly with the strain.
Isao’s energy, though active and alert, remains steady—there’s not an ounce of doubt in his form. Kou comes off the floor slowly while panting heavily, but this time, his aura becomes too difficult for him to hold, and it dissipates as his crystal deactivates. He drops to one knee and holds the other with his hand. Isao deactivates his own crystal.
“Stay down. That’s quite enough.”
“...No. I can’t,” Kou replies as he tries to force himself back up.
“Please, stay down!” Hitori shouts.
Heedless of her words, Kou stands and forces his crystal to activate again, releasing a storm of scarlet energy even more violent than before.
The force of the activation cracks the floor beneath him, creating a palpable heat that causes his whole condenser to glow red. Kou coughs, drops of blood spattering from his mouth.
“Kou, stop!” Hitori begs.
Kou pushes toward Isao once more, but this time, Isao also releases a larger amount of his energy as he reactivates his red crystal. Kou gets no more than a few centimeters to Isao before being struck twice in quick succession by Isao’s fists. The force of the punches hurls him across the room.
Kou lands hard and doesn’t move, blood trickling from his mouth. Hitori screams his name and races after him.
Chapter Four
H itori moves in to heal Kou but his energy continues to fade. With a stoney expression, Isao enters commands into a device on his forearm. Less than a minute later, three people in white coats hurry into the room carrying an oval gravity pod and lay it next to Kou.
“Help him!” Hitori pleads.
One of them touches the side of the pod and it opens up like a clam. They carefully place Kou inside and activate the condenser on it, making it hover. Two of the responders rush Kou out of the room with Hitori following behind them.
Only Isao and the third man in a white coat remain. The man has a white crystal in his condenser, but unlike the two medics that took Kou away, his coat bears the same patches as Isao’s uniform. He appears older than Isao and has a long, well-groomed mustache. Despite witnessing the damage to Kou’s body, the doctor’s energy is steady. In a raspy, low tone he speaks.
“Isao, that boy is not a nymian. You nearly killed him.”
I expect Isao to respond harshly, but he doesn’t. He stands there without speaking a word.
The man continues. “I understand your concern for Hitori, but this isn’t the way. You must talk to her.”
“She won't listen to me. Not after today. All I can do is make sure she stays here, where she’s safe.”
“Do you think she feels safe? After you put her friend in critical condition?” the doctor asks mildly.
“What do you expect me to do?” Isao snaps. “That idiot boy is intent on taking her away. He has no plan, and not nearly the strength needed to face whatever they might meet out there. The damn kid would probably run them right to the Fall. No. I won’t allow it. I won’t risk losing her.”
“There’s more than one way to lose someone, Isao.” The doctor's tone is patient, but his gaze is heavy with disapproval. “It's time you tell them what happened. You should show her the Fall yourself. After losing contact with them, it might do some good to try and reestablish communications—make sure they’re alright. She could better understand you and it can give you an opportunity to connect with her.”
“No. She is never going anywhere near the Fall.” Isao’s energy immediately swells with activity. “They chose isolation. Besides, there’s no telling what might happen there.”
“The war was tragic,” the doctor says, his voice gentling. “But your grief doesn't excuse your behavior. Kao—”
“Don’t,” Isao interrupts.
“She,” the doctor corrects himself, “wouldn’t want to see you like this—and she never would have tolerated the violence you’ve shown the children.”
“I’ve heard enough. You should go check on Kou to make sure his wounds heal quickly.”
The doctor is quiet for a moment, but then nods, resigned. “I’ll inform doctor Patel of the situation so she can prepare,” he says.
Isao turns his back on the doctor, who shakes his head and leaves. Isao remains, not making a sound. His energy ripples off many levels of pain. I can't even begin to unravel its intertwined layers.
Disturbed, I leave him to his melancholy, and join Kou and Hitori in the hospital ward. There is no point thinking about what happened in his past. I can’t go back to it anyway. I can only continue forward with these two.
#
After several hours, Kou finally wakes up in the infirmary. His energy ripples out in anxious waves.
“What is this place?” he asks as he adjusts his eyes to the light.
Hitori rises from where she’d been sitting near the window and rushes to his side.
“Kou! Stay in bed, try not to move, I’m here.”
In a flash, I remember Kou falling from the tree all those years ago. I see the memory in his eyes as well. Aiming for humor, he asks the same question he had on that occasion.
“What happened? Did I die?”
Overwhelmed and relieved that he’s finally awake, Hitori’s energy flows through her like whitewater rapids racing through a canyon.
“I thought he’d killed you!” She lowers her eyes. “…Two punches were all it took. He tore through you like it was nothing…”
I feel a painful tightening in my chest at the fear in her voice, as if my heart was being crushed by it.
“Idiot, idiot, idiot...”
Without a word, Kou moves forward and places a hand on Hitori’s cheek. She stares at him as her energy spikes, but she doesn’t move away. Kou leans in slowly and kisses her, ignoring the obvious pain he feels from his wounds. Surprised, Hitori jumps, but doesn’t push him away. In fact, she stops shaking altogether. Closing her eyes, she kisses him back as their energies settle and are now concentrated on the single point where their lips meet. They part with a soft sigh, but neither moves away. Gently Hitori touches Kou’s forehead with hers.
“Why now?” she asks.
“I needed to calm you down…and well, that’s all I could think about doing since I woke up.”
Hitori smiles and they stay quiet for a brief moment. Kou then lowers his head and turns to the window.
“How long have I been out?”
“Seven hours…”
Her tone darkens. She inches closer and wraps her arms around him, hugging him as tightly as she can without harming him further.
“You were hit and…I tried to heal you, but the wounds were too deep. I didn't know what to do. I thought I was losing you.” She struggles to catch her breath as she recalls the event. “Father called for our medics. It took two of them just to keep you alive.”
Kou returns Hitori's embrace, and as he does, her energy relaxes and all of the emotions she's been keeping inside rush out as she cries on his shoulder. I see Kou wince from the pain caused by her movements, though Hitori doesn’t notice.
Through the discomfort, Kou holds her close. As he looks around the room, I real
ize that the look of agony on his face is not from mere physical discomfort. It is from the recognition that, despite all his efforts, Hitori is still in the mansion—still trapped with the same man who had put him in this hospital bed.
And Hitori is no closer to being free.
It’s then that Kou’s black crystal begins to glow again, absorbing the sadness that hangs over Hitori.
“I’m sorry,” he murmurs. “Again…” He closes his eyes. “I failed you… I—”
“No, don’t do this to yourself, Kou.” Hitori says as she lets go of Kou and sits up.
“But it’s true! I failed to take you away from here.” His jaw tightens as the weight of his failure bears down on him.
“In the end I couldn’t even protect myself.”
“Kou…” Hitori whispers.
“I didn’t even last through two punches. How pathetic can I be?”
As Kou glares down at the sheets, no longer able to meet Hitori's gaze, I sense an all too familiar energy at the door.
“I thought it was a rather honest attempt,” Isao says as he stands at the doorway.
“Have you decided to come finish me off?” Kou replies, not hesitating to meet his eyes.
“I’ve come to make sure you’re healing on schedule.”
Kou scoffs. “You’re the reason I’m here in the first place.”
“You only have yourself to blame for that.”
Isao snaps his fingers and a middle-aged woman walks through the door after him. She’s wearing the same white uniform as the other nurses and doctors, but with the Matsuo seal emblazoned on the front of her tunic.
“Hello Mr. Kurosawa, Miss Matsuo,” she says with a polite bow, before stepping up to the bed and holding both hands lightly over Kou’s chest. “With your permission, Mr. Kurosawa,” she says. Kou looks at Hitori, uncertain.
Hitori’s energy fluctuates nervously as she looks at Isao.
“Dr. Patel has recently perfected a new healing technique. A way to ‘burst’ the energy through the patient’s entire body rather than focusing on a single wound. You’ll have the opportunity to learn the skill yourself at Mirai,” Isao says to Hitori. She appears only slightly mollified and looks away, turning her attention back to Kou.