Rentaro shook his head. “Very well. I will definitely tell Kisara of your determination.”
He found Enju snoring on the futon to his right as his consciousness came back to him. The silence hurt his ears. The sound of the clock’s second hand ticking away seemed louder than usual in his ears.
“Big Brother, are you awake?” He heard a voice that sounded like the buzz of a mosquito. It was Tina.
Rentaro tried to sound as calm as he could. “You can’t sleep?”
“Yeah.”
It wasn’t surprising. With the nocturnal animal factor in her, this was when she would have been the most active.
“Will you talk to me for a little bit?” she asked.
“Yeah, sure.”
“I thought it over, and I was thinking of taking sleeping pills at night to change my sleep cycle so I can wake up in the morning.”
“You don’t have to force yourself.”
“No, I want to. Because I want to live in the same time as you, Enju, and President Tendo.”
After hearing her say that, it would be unfair to stop her.
She continued. “I said so during dinner, as well, but I am grateful to you, Rentaro. The Tendo Civil Security Agency is warm and comfortable, and I want to stay here forever. I’m the happiest I have ever been in my life.”
Tina’s words were becoming more and more passionate. Rentaro hesitated, but he opened his mouth slowly. “Tina, there’s just one thing I think I should tell you. This life will probably not continue for long.”
“Is it about Aldebaran? Then, you don’t have to worry.”
“That’s not it.” Wind blew outside, and the window shook. Then the wind was completely gone, and there was the sound of leaves rustling against each other.
“Is it about…Enju’s body’s corrosion rate…?”
Rentaro looked sideways at the girl in question. She had kicked off her blanket and was sleeping with her underwear displayed for all to see. She made a small sound and turned a little. “There’s that, too,” he said.
“Is there something else, as well?”
Rentaro put both hands behind his head and looked at the ceiling. “That’s right, Tina, this concerns you now, too. Tina, why do you think Kisara and I started the Tendo Civil Security Agency in the first place?”
Tina didn’t seem to understand where the question was going, and he could almost see a question mark appear on top of her head. “To defeat Gastrea and protect the peace of the citizens, right?”
“In other words, you’re saying it was in the spirit of justice? Unfortunately, that’s not the case. We became civil officers purely for revenge. My arm, leg, and eye were eaten by Gastrea, and Kisara’s parents were killed by them, too. That’s why we started the agency: with hatred, and the desire to get revenge by annihilating all the Gastrea in the world. Like most of the rest of the Stolen Generation, I also hated the Cursed Children, so I really didn’t want to partner up with an Initiator, and if that Initiator had done something strange, I would have shot and killed her on the spot. But the one who came was Enju, who had been betrayed by humans many times before, and she had even colder eyes than we did.”
In the darkness, he could hear Tina holding her breath. She probably couldn’t believe that the Tendo Civil Security Agency now was the same as the bloodthirsty Tendo Civil Security Agency back then. “You were able to reach the state you’re in now just a year after that?” she asked.
“That’s right. First, Enju and I changed. And then that spread to Kisara. But that’s all it is.”
Tina responded with silence, thinking in the darkness. “I would like to hear more about that. May I ask President Tendo about it, too?”
“No.” Before he knew it, he had thrown off his covers and gotten close to Tina. Surprised, he put his hand to his mouth and shook his head slowly. “I’m sorry… But don’t touch Kisara’s past.”
As he looked at Tina, who was tilting her head, he saw panic in her eyes. “Tina, what’s the Kisara you know like?”
“She’s…kind, of course, good at her job, broad-minded, and cool.”
“Then you should definitely not talk to her about the past.”
“Why not?”
“Because she’ll turn into a different Kisara than the one you know.”
“What?”
Rentaro exhaled slowly through his nose and closed his eyes. His sleepiness was mostly gone.
“Tina, the three of us each have our own goals. I want to know the truth about my parents’ deaths, Enju Aihara is looking for her birth parents—and Kisara Tendo lives to kill the people who killed her family.”
Tina trembled and pulled her blanket up to her shoulders. “No way… President Tendo is…”
“Tina, I’ll tell you more later. As much as I remember about my parents. Why Enju’s last name is Aihara. Kisara’s regret. But go to sleep for today.” Rentaro put his hand on top of Tina’s head.
Tina was silent for a while, but then finally lifted her gaze. “Then, please let me use your arm as a pillow.”
“What?!” He had no idea why that warranted a “Then.”
Without Rentaro’s consent, Tina crawled into his blankets. When he reluctantly offered his left arm as a pillow, Tina happily put her head on it and started sniffing his sleeve. Wondering what she was doing with a bitter smile, he let his gaze return to the ceiling. He wouldn’t be able to fall asleep for a while, anyway. That’s what he thought, but strangely, the warmth of a body next to him was comforting. His eyelids grew heavy, and he finally went under.
Light flickered behind his eyes. A gentle breeze, filled with the fresh scent of morning air, blew over the back of his neck and his shoulders. Something swayed in the wind, causing a fluttering sound. Opening his eyes slightly, Rentaro lifted his head. The wind came in from a crack in the window, which was blowing the curtains, which in turn was causing the light to flicker. But it looked like it would be a nice day, along with yesterday. Getting up and looking at the clock, he saw that it was 6 a.m.
Enju, a morning person, was already out of bed. When she noticed Rentaro, she raised a hand as she swung her pigtails. “Are you awake, Rentaro?! I’m making the morning coffee.”
Just then, as if Enju’s words had given a signal, the teapot whistled, and the TV announced that it was six o’clock with up-tempo music as a new program started. The morning became noisy all at once.
“Hey, Satomi? I’m coming in.” Just as he heard the voice outside the door, there was the sound of the spare key being inserted roughly into the lock, and Kisara appeared in her black sailor school uniform, looking angry with a hand on her hip. “All right, I’ll have you return Tina now.”
Rentaro pleaded as he smoothed the stray hairs from his bedhead. “What do you mean, ‘return’? It’s not like I stole her.”
“You might as well have. Yesterday, I was lonely sleeping by myself. Recently, I haven’t been able to sleep without cuddling Tina. So return her immediately. Besides, I’m worried that you’ll do something weird to her.”
“I wouldn’t do anything like that.”
“By the way, where is Tina?” Enju asked.
At the question, Rentaro and Kisara looked around, but they saw no sign of the girl anywhere in the eight-tatami-mat room. Just then, something shifted in Rentaro’s blankets near his groin. Rentaro looked up at the ceiling and prayed. No way, give me a break here.
But his prayer was in vain, and Tina crawled out from under his blankets, rubbing her eyes sleepily. The sweatpants she had been wearing had come off along with her underwear, and all she wore was the dress shirt he had lent her as pajamas.
Not noticing Enju and Kisara, who had been stunned speechless, Tina looked at Rentaro’s face and tried earnestly to smile with her sleepy eyes. “Good morning, Big Brother. Last night was fun. You were so desperate, and there were scary parts, too, but I’m glad you taught me a lot of different things.”
Kisara paled and looked at Rentaro, pulling out her cell pho
ne with shaking hands. “I-I’m going to report you…to the police…”
“Wait! Wait a minute! I just talked to the night version of Tina! That’s all!” Rentaro said.
“What do you mean, ‘night version of Tina,’ you perv! You’re the worst! I can’t believe you! Tina is only ten years old!”
Enju screamed, looking like she was about to cry. “Tina got ahead of me!”
Kisara pushed some buttons on her cell phone and yelled, “Oh, hello? Is this the police?”
Just as it seemed like Rentaro was about to start a life on the run, from behind them they heard someone say with a sigh, “The Cursed Children have finally started even this, huh?” and everyone stopped in their tracks.
Behind them was the TV that had been left on. But because his senses were honed to expect biased news about the Cursed Children based on what was regularly broadcast, it was almost animal instinct that told Rentaro the news would not be good.
Looking back fearfully, he saw on the TV that a reporter at the scene was talking with a commentator in the studio. The reporter held the mike with both hands and seemed to look right at Rentaro. The caption in the upper right corner of the screen said in harsh brush strokes, VIOLENT ACT BY ONE OF THE CURSED CHILDREN! ACTIVIST MURDERED!!!
The room froze, and Rentaro’s temple pulsed with burning pain. Tensions had already mounted to the point where there was no doubt about who the perpetrator was.
According to the reporter, the Tokyo Area branch chief of a secret anti-Children organization with almost one hundred thousand members in Japan was found dead in a park a few kilometers north of his home in Tokyo Area District 2. The park was a gathering spot for young delinquents, so at first, it was thought to be their doing, but that was not the case. According to the eyewitness report, the man was attacked by a group of children who looked like they were from the Outer District, and in the heat of the fight, he hit his head on the handrail near the stairs. His skull was cracked, and he died at the hospital he was brought to due to a cerebral contusion. Before he died, he was also confirmed to have traumatic cuts.
The Pureblood Japan Association was a large organization said to have many politicians and influential people from different Areas. The chairman was subsequently reported as harshly denouncing the savagery and brutality of the case.
The female reporter was polite. She kept to the broadcast codes and continued speaking respectfully. However, the words she used dripped with contempt for the Cursed Children.
Rentaro shook his head softly. “Kisara!”
Kisara had turned pale with her eyes open wide and was hugging his body. “This is bad, Satomi… This will greatly change public opinion.”
Kisara’s misgivings soon turned to reality. The Seitenshi’s measure that was going through the House of Councillors that would respect the basic human rights of the Cursed Children, the New Gastrea Law, was rejected. In its place, a newly prepared measure on “the reevaluation of the danger of transmission of the Gastrea virus from the Children to humans and countermeasures against it” was efficiently submitted and passed through the lower house of the Diet.
This measure was popularly known as the Family Register Revocation Law, and the moment this measure went into effect, Enju and the others had their family registration and citizenship taken away, losing all protection under the Japanese Constitution. It was an extremely cruel law.
4
“I see, then there aren’t any particular problems there, huh? ……Yeah, I know. Sorry for the trouble. I owe you one…… Yeah, okay, I’m hanging up.” Rentaro pushed the END CALL button and sighed, moving off the wall he was leaning on.
“All right!” he yelled, lifting his head and looking with gloomy eyes at the field the soccer and baseball clubs were sharing as they ran around cheerfully. Rentaro was in front of the sports field of Magata High School. There were only four days left until the Monolith would be destroyed. That news still had not been made public, and Tokyo Area maintained a temporary peace. But when that was made public, this peaceful scene…
Rentaro stuffed his hands into his pockets, hunched his shoulders, and walked out of the shadows of the school building. When he did, the scorching sun shone down on him, and he longed for the shade of the trees. He pulled at his uniform to send some cool air to his chest, but the sweat pouring out of him showed no sign of stopping. He couldn’t believe they could do club activities under this blazing sun.
As he neared the statue in front of the school, he noticed a small crowd of people there and stopped in surprise for a moment, but as he got closer, he realized that it was nothing he needed to worry about.
“It’s a foreigner!”
“Her hair’s so smooth and pretty!”
“I want to touch it!”
“Her eyes are blue!”
“She’s like a doll!”
When Rentaro forcibly slipped through the opening in the crowd with difficulty and got to the front, he saw an uncomfortable Tina standing in the middle of the curious stares.
“Oh, do you want some candy?” and then more slowly, “Do you eat candy?” A group of three girls nervously offered Tina wrapped candies, representing the group.
“I do not want any.”
“She talked!” they exclaimed.
Of course she can talk. “Sorry I’m late,” Rentaro said aloud, using a loud voice on purpose, waving his hand as he got closer.
“Big Brother!” Tina rushed over to him and hugged him around the waist with both arms.
“Big Brother?” the three girls exclaimed in unison. Looking at the little chorus, Rentaro thought he had seen them before somewhere and then suddenly realized that they were his classmates. He couldn’t remember their names, though.
“Satomi, don’t you keep another young girl at home, too? Did you get another one?”
“I don’t keep her, she’s a freeloader!”
“Hey, introduce me to this girl.”
Everyone in the crowd around them seemed to be murmuring the same thing. Everyone wanted to meet Tina.
Rentaro sighed. He couldn’t stay here. “Tina, let’s go.” Without waiting for a response, he pulled Tina’s hand and ignored the cries of, “Hey, wait!” from the female students trying to stop them. He escaped with haste.
“They were interesting.”
“Sorry I was late. How was school?”
“Today was fun, too.” Tina looked shyly at Rentaro. “Did you call Mr. Matsuzaki?”
He glanced at Tina, who was walking next to him. Thinking there was no use hiding it, he nodded. “Yeah, I did.”
A few days had passed since the news report, but rather than calming down, the situation had turned into an even bigger deal. The Stolen Generation finally had a target for their anger, and their actions were quick, and their grudges deep. There was criticism against the Seitenshi, a supporter of the Children, and demonstrations at the Seitenshi’s palace. The news gathered fervor, and groups that had been dying down—like the anti-Children citizens group and ones even more extreme—instead increased their activities.
There were even groups that started interfering with the Outer District, which had been left alone by silent agreement before, so Rentaro could not just stand by quietly. And so, whenever he had a free moment, he would call Matsuzaki to ask about the conditions in the Outer District, because based on the report, it could directly affect the safety of Enju and Tina, who were going to school out there.
Rentaro and Tina went to Magata Station together, and Rentaro inserted coins into the ticket machine and bought two tickets. In the short time before the change and tickets were spit out, Rentaro glanced at Tina, who gazed at the train map as if everything she looked at was strange.
Tina had started addressing her nocturnal sleep cycle the day after sleeping over at Rentaro’s house. Even though it was the middle of the day, she did not seem sleepy at all, so she must have achieved some success.
Rentaro asked himself if he should tell her. Earlier, when he saw T
ina surrounded by a crowd of people at the statue in front of the school, his heart almost stopped for a moment with worry.
In the past, he had seen a similar sight. Back then, it was Enju who had been surrounded, and it was because she had been exposed as one of the Children with the Gastrea virus inside her and was about to be expelled from school.
Rentaro did not know how Initiators were treated in America, but he knew they were not worshipped as gods. Which meant that even Tina must understand that she needed to hide her red eyes. It wasn’t something worth mentioning specifically, but because of the current situation, he couldn’t help but feel anxious.
“Rentaro, what is the matter?” Before he knew it, Tina was looking up at him with a wondering look on her face.
“Oh, it’s nothing,” he said.
The train going into the city wasn’t especially crowded or empty. Letting Tina have the seat he got, Rentaro grabbed the strap in front of it. His body swayed a little from the inertia of the train as the departure bell rang noisily. He allowed his body to move with the slight vibrations from the train tracks.
He raised his eyes casually, only to feel uncomfortable. A train ad with the caption VIOLENT ACT BY RED-EYES!!! ARE THESE GIRLS TURNING INTO GASTREA INSIDE TOWN LIMITS?! came into view. Rentaro quietly slipped his body sideways so that the ad would not enter Tina’s line of sight. If only the world could become a place where he didn’t have to do something like this, sooner rather than later…
“By the way, where are we going now?” Tina asked.
As they got off the train and walked into the throng of people in the city, Rentaro lifted his face from the GPS on his cell phone and looked at Tina next to him. “Didn’t I tell you? We’re going to invite some civil officers.”
“Invite?”
“I think I told you about this before, but adjuvants fight in teams. That’s why we need to gather people who will team up with us first.” Rentaro felt around in his pocket and pulled out the slip of paper Kisara had given him. On it was a list of names and addresses, and the top fifteen had already been crossed out. This was the list of possible adjuvants that Rentaro and Kisara had put their knowledge together to come up with.
The Destruction of the World by Fire Page 4