#sorry its so late technically i still have 30 minutes until its tomorrow
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Found
Soy Luna Fic Week: Day 6
“Take my hand.” –“No.” “Look I’m not trying to ask you to marry me, I’m trying to save your life.”
Luna pushed some coffee in front of Ambar. They sat in the bus station waiting for the next bus to their destination. Simon and Matteo had never contacted them back and the girls kept thinking of the worst possible situations. “I got something for you,” Luna smiled. She had huge eye bags which were almost as bad as Ambar’s. Taking out a small plush macaw. Around its neck was a pink ribbon. “Something to keep your mind off things.”
Ambar smiled, pulling Luna into a short hug. “Thank you.”
The bus arrived at the station and the ticket lady was starting to ask for tickets and pass out people’s choices of drinks. The girls nodded at each other.
“A coke for me, and a Manzanita for the short one next to me.”
.-.-.-.-.
“Mr. can't you go faster?” Simon rushed, as he looked behind him. Sharon’s minion must be close behind them. “Do you know what, I’ll pay you 200 pesos to keep driving if anyone is following.” The taxi man agreed and both teens left the car as quickly as possible. The bus station was still a half mile away.
“We have ten minutes,” Matteo reminded him.
“Looks like we will have to run.”
.-.-.-.-.
Running through the bus station Simon searched for the bus 14 that would soon be leaving. He guessed he would have no time to get the usual snack, but that was okay with him, because he would know Amber is safe. He needed Ambar to be safe.
Pushing through the crowd he could hear Matteo yell. They both jumped over rows of waiting chairs and dodged the dozens of people who were unfortunate to be traveling at 4 in the morning. Simon finally caught sight of the bus, and Ambar, staring at him, eyes wide open and smiling.
“Young man, you are very very lucky I am in a good mood or I would not let you into that bus.” The older woman sighed, “it seems like the young ladies on board are happy to see you, so take this as a warning. Next time the bus will leave you.”
Simon thanked her a dozen times, and Matteo passed her their tickets.
Running into the Bus, Simon ran into Ambar’s eyes. And then there, after a week of worry and fear for her, they both cried.
“Don’t ever leave me like that again.”
“I promise.”
.-.-.-.
The ride is quiet. At first it was tears and a hurried explanation of where they had been, then it was a bit of low voiced yelling out of confusion.
“Where did you even go?” Luna asked in a low whisper. “I was sure that when Rey followed you over the bridge you were goners. Ambar assured me that she had seen you escape into town. And we got an okay confirmation code on Felicity for now, but then you both disappeared for days.”
She sat on the other side of the row, and basically sat on top of matteo, hugging him so hard Simon thought it might hurt. Ambar was also cuddling next to him, their hands were intertwined. He missed Ambar’s warmth, and smile. “You worried me to death,” Ambar said seriously. Both of their faces were still wet from tears. Ambar pulled him closer.
Simon kissed her on the head, “I am here now, and we are all safe. We won't be separating again.”
Matteo nodded, “never ever again, I don't think I can deal with being alone with Simon for that long again.” Luna and Simon laughed. “How were things with you two.”
Luna and Ambar looked at each other, and Simon could not help but smile. There was a sense of understanding, or even solidarity between them. “We were good,” Ambar smiled. “Turns out we can get along.”
Matteo tilted his head sideways, “oh yeah? What changed?”
Ambar looked up at Simon, and pulled him into a kiss. “I miss you so much, you know that?” Ambar turned to the other couple, “Luna made me realize that us four we are… we are family now. The four of us, we are our family.”
The four of them beamed at each other. Simon kissed her again, “aww, see that's the sofie we all know you really are.
Ambar rolled her eyes, “oh shut it.”
They all laughed.
.-.-.-.-.
“So where did you go when we separated,” Ambar asked a half hour later. Luna and Matteo were curled up together sleeping.
“I know an old friend who lived in the city. We laid low for a day or two and then he dropped us off here a day ago. We took all the shortcuts and no stops. But Sharon’s minion did manage to find us, this bus will help us lose their trace.”
“And what if they are following us right now?” Ambar said sternly. The worry in her voice and face hurt Simon. He hoped this would all be over and then he would never have to see Ambar this tired and spooked again.
“They won’t”
“Okay, I trust you.” Ambar leaned in for a kiss.
.-.-.-.-.
“Simon!” Simon!” Ambar shook Simon, and he quickly woke up. “They stopped the bus, it's Sharon’s men.”
Simon looked around and scanned his surroundings. On the right side of the bus was a black car, a guy walked out, probably to talk to the driver. They were now in a new city, not one he knew.
Simon played with the window and searched for any way to open it. I clicked open, with just enough space to go through. “Come on let's go.”
Ambar looked at him in shock, “Simon, no. You can't be serious” But Simon was already standing on the seat and slipping out of the bus. Landing would be tricky, the window was at least a meter and half from the ground, but he landed well on his feet.
He stretched out his hand,
“Take my hand.”
“No.”
“Look I’m not trying to ask you to marry me, I’m trying to save your life.” Ambar hesitated, and then climbed out. Simon caught her bridal style, and slightly put her on the ground.
Next came out Matteo, and he helped Luna out. Simon and Ambar were already running into a busy coffee shop and trying to blend in.
The four of them sat in the coffee shop, waiting until both vehicles left. Luna bought them all coffee and then they huddled behind a large crowd.
“Simon you promised they didn't follow,” Ambar hissed.
“I'm so sorry” Simon apologized as he pulled her in for another hug.
“Hey guys, guess what? We are in the right city. I guess we were almost to the station.”
Luna's eyes lit up, “my uncle! She pulled out her phone and dialed. “Hey, Uncle Eduardo. We're here. But we were followed. Luna nods, her face falls, and the lights up again. “Sound perfect, bye!”
“We made it to the city, he will take care of the rest. He will be here in 15 minutes”
.-.-.-.-.
It’s been two weeks since they reunited with girls. Luna’s uncle drove them out to a small town, where they have been safe. The rules are that they must leave in pairs and that they cannot be in contact with the media. Turns out he lives on a major ranch, and it’s so isolated that to find it you need certain skill in the wilderness. It’s also far away from any city they had traveled.
Tomorrow they will all drive back to Cancun. Ana, Monica and Alferdo were able to attach Sharon to her various crimes, and her ongoing illegal art dealings. The next year will be difficult, Simon had to admit, but together they would survive.
Sitting in the sun, they all packed their few belongings. A dozen photos, a couple train tickets, and a stuffed macaw. Once they got to Argentina no one would be going anywhere for a long while, and they were okay with that. Together they were home.
#simbar#found family#soy luna fic week#a bit rushed but it at least gives some conclusion#lutteo#soy luna#soy luna ficweek#sorry its so late technically i still have 30 minutes until its tomorrow
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Finding the Time to Study Fic 2 [Day 18]
Here is my starting post for today’s study break stories session. See this post for more details and feel free to send me asks to keep me going! It’s been a lot of fun so far! I will reblog this post with the story as I write them today. I’ll be constantly looking for ideas of times and places for Janus to have missions, so feel free to send in any you can think of at any point!
If you are a new follower or just don’t want all of these posts clogging your dash, please feel free to block the tag “study break stories” as all posts and voting about it will go there. You can still see the finished product of the story even if you are blocking that tag as I will not tag the edited chapters with “study break stories” but with the tag “folds in paper.” See edited chapters below. Chapters 3-8 and what I have of Chapter 9 are under the cut.
My Masterpost Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
I also have a playlist on youtube (because Spotify didn’t have one of the songs I wanted). It’s short, and not really for serious listening, but I had fun with it.
I have homework due tomorrow, so let’s go.
Arc I: Finding Cinderella
Chapter 4
Janus was frozen in surprise for a few long moments after Pat disappeared. Which had been, admittedly, his mistake, because, while their window had technically been until 11:17pm and it was only 11:10, the loud crack that whatever Pat had been using for time travel made, garnered the attention of someone else.
“Uh oh,” Remus said, likely hearing footsteps. “Hide.”
That snapped Janus into action, but instead of hiding immediately like a sensible human being, he chose to go for the only link to the man who’d just stolen time travel tech and waltzed away, the mask.
Which was why he ended up getting arrested.
Remy tsked the moment they were all alone in the police car having come to ‘transfer Lee to another facility.’ Remus was already waiting in the front seat, and flashed Janus a smug smile. If Janus wasn’t still handcuffed, he’d slap him.
“Well,” Remy said. “At least you didn’t shoot anybody like I asked. I was joking by the way. I didn’t really want to pick you up from a 1920s police station period.”
“It wasn’t my fault.”
“Mmm, nah, ‘cause Remus managed to not get arrested this time, so you defiantly screwed something up.”
“Oh, he defiantly wanted to screw something all right,” Remus said joyfully.
“Remus,” Janus hissed.
“What?” he asked. “I’m not the horny one for once. Well, no, that’s a lie, but it didn’t affect the job this time.”
Janus groaned and leaned his head back against the seat.
Remy pulled into a seemingly random garage around 20 minutes later. “Alright,” he said. “Here we are.” He got out of the car and then helped Janus out before uncuffing him. “Here’s your ‘watch,’” Remy handed him the timepiece that had been confiscated when he’d been arrested.
Janus put it on and activated it. “Shit,” he said.
“What?” Remus asked.
“An appointment with cultural outreach has already been downloaded to my calendar for once we get out of decon.”
“Oof. Going to baby jail,” Remy laughed. Remus was cackling.
“This,” Janus said, “was not a cultural faux pas. I did nothing that indicated that I was not from this time. I am not some rookie.”
“Don’t forget cell phones don’t exist in the 1920s,” Remus sang.
“The real question is whether or not my foot exists in your…” Remus disappeared before he could finish, a smirk on his face. Janus growled. “By Remy,” he gritted out. He selected the decontamination chamber from his queue, ignoring the appointment that came after it for now.
He knew exactly where Remus would be standing when he landed, which was why he stepped forward on reentry to ram into him.
He yelped in surprise. “Sorry,” Janus said pleasantly. “I must have also forgotten landing procedures.
Remus laughed good naturally. “Aw, come on Jay,” he said, bumping Janus back, albeit much gentler than Janus had been. “It’s not a big deal. You just go talk with some crusty old college professor who is far too interested in spoons and then everything’s fine.”
“It’s the principle of the thing,” he growled. “They’re treating me like I’m an idiot who accidently invented disco in the 1920s when I was conned by some free agent time traveler.”
“‘Conned,’ Remus said. Is that what they’re calling it now?”
“I know where and when you live Remus,” Janus said.
Remus gave him a dopey smile as the decontamination cycle finished and the door unlocked. Janus’s wrist buzzed telling him that the coordinates to the cultural outreach office were now unlocked. Instead of pulling them up, Janus walked to the door.
“Um,” Remus said, following him. “Aren’t you supposed to be going to your appointment?” Janus just kept walking towards their office. “Uh… Jan?”
“It’s absolutely ridiculous that I have to go to cultural outreach,” Janus said. “In fact, no one can make me. If they want me to go have a discussion about the definition of ‘bushwa,’ they’re going to have to have me dragged there.”
“Mmm, I feel like The Boss won’t be too happy about that, and I have a feeling she’d be 100% down to dragging you there herself.”
“Well, then, let her,” Janus said, stalking through the door to his office. “I’m not going to…”
“Ah, Agent Picani,” the woman standing next to his desk, clearly waiting for him, said when he came through the door. “Dr. Picani was informed that there were complications with your last mission and wishes to have a conversation with you and asks that you meet him in his office at the AMO.”
“Oh, um,” Janus said, stumbling a bit before plastering on a regretful half smile. “Unfortunately, I actually have an appointment right now at Cultural Outreach. It’s mandatory and very important, and I have to go now. So, I’ll have to take a raincheck on that.”
“But-” she started, frowning.
“Remus, work on the report!” Janus said quickly as he waved his hand to bring up his timepiece display and jammed his finger at the glowing appointment card in his queue. A few moments later, Janus was at Cultural Outreach.
Cultural Outreach was not part of the TPI, though it often worked very closely with them. It was a collaboration between the government and multiple universities to help government workers, politicians, and other citizens understand and bridge cultural gaps. It had existed before time travel was invented but had expanded to also teach people who needed to time travel how to behave in unfamiliar times and cultures.
After it had to be expanded to provide for the TPI, it had been moved to Silver Mountains University. The building had once just been a museum, but it had been thoroughly renovated and there had been add-ons for office space and some classrooms. It was still a museum, however, its purpose had expanded greatly and there were many areas that were off limits to the general public.
One of these areas was the fourth floor, where Janus’s timepiece had dumped him. This was the floor that was almost exclusively for TPI agents and staff of Cultural Outreach who worked with them.
He immediately turned away from the reception area, hoping that he could escape and go sit on the university’s quad or something of the like for the next hour or so in hopes the woman his brother sent to fetch him would give up and go back to the AMO. Yet, the receptionist apparently saw him.
“Janus Picani?” he asked.
Janus grimaced and turned back towards him. “Yes,” he said.
“Is something wrong?” he asked. “You’re 5 minutes late for your appointment and seem disoriented.
“Nothing’s wrong.”
“Is your timepiece malfunctioning?”
“No.”
“Uh… okay. Well, if you sign in here, I can take you to your appointment.”
“…Fine.”
He begrudgingly stepped forward and touched the screen he’d gestured to sign with his fingerprint, and then let the man lead him down the hall.
The door they stopped at was propped open slightly, but he still paused and knocked. “Professor Eran? Your 2:30 is here.”
Janus had just a moment upon hearing the name to think that maybe there was actually some sort of intelligent design of the universe and whatever being of ultimate power had crafted it was a dick.
The door opened and Virgil Eran’s eyes immediately narrowed on him. “Janus.”
“Virgil.”
“I see you’re still late for everything.”
“I see you’re still a bastard.”
Janus saw the receptionist slowly back away in the direction they’d come.
“Why don’t you come in?” Virgil said faux pleasantly.
Janus did, because he really didn’t have much of a choice at this point unless he wanted to jump out of a window… or push someone out of a window.
Virgil turned back into his office and took a seat behind his desk. Janus unhappily followed him in and sat across from him.
He took his time pulling up whatever the TPI sent him and reading it over. “So, I see you failed your recovery mission and were arrested in 1923.”
“It wasn’t like that,” Janus said. “I shouldn’t be here.”
Virgil gave him that same suspicious look he used to give Janus whenever Janus claimed to have not eaten his hot pockets out of the freezer in the middle of the night. He’d only been lying 80% of the time. Virgil had a tendency to forget what he’d eaten in a half-conscious state at 3 o’clock in the morning.
“I shouldn’t,” Janus snapped defensively. “Nothing went wrong with anyone from the time period. An illegal time traveler screwed up the mission details.”
“Well, it is still protocol to make sure nothing slipped when agents go off script. You weren’t prepared to be in a jail cell, and it is possible that you screwed something up.”
“I didn’t screw anything up,” Janus growled.
“Alright,” Virgil said pulling up a document on his desk. “The mission started on July 27th, 1923 at 9:58pm, correct?”
“Oh, god, we’re not really going to fill out a time sheet. I don’t have time for that today.”
“It is protocol and best that the information is documented when it is still fresh in your mind. Besides, your schedule has been cleared for the rest of the workday.” The bastard was enjoying this. He knew how much Janus hated this stuff.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Janus said, “it was the damned illicit time traveler.”
“And I will be the judge of that,” Virgil said. Janus should have just bit the bullet and had coffee with his brother. “If you truly did nothing wrong, your supervisor will see that when I send this to her.”
Yet, despite the fact that Virgil clearly relished in his suffering, he was charitable enough to do most of the actual filling out of the forms. He’d read out the questions and write down what Janus said instead of making him do it himself. Janus really only had to do a quick quality check and sign it at the end.
He still was an asshole about the details, but really he’d been like that about stupid thing like the settings for the dish washer and how the pantry was organized during their college days before they’d had their falling out, so Janus wasn’t particularly surprised. When they were finally done, Virgil sent it off to get filed by the TPI.
Then, they were left staring at each other with nothing between them but almost a decade of radio silence and a whole lot of awkwardness.
“I should go,” Janus finally said, standing up.
Virgil tilted his head slightly to the side and gave him a half smile. “Don’t lock the door behind you,” he said. “Not that I’d expect you too.”
Janus took it for the clear attempt at a joke it was intended to be and puffed out a breath of amusement with a head shake. “No risk of that,” he said. Then, he turned and walked out of the office.
Chapter 5
Janus stepped back into the reception area and booted up his time piece. Instinct said to go back to the office despite the fact that it was late enough that most people had gone home, but he hesitated. Surely Emile had given up by now, but considering he’d sent someone to ambush him in his office, Janus wasn’t sure if he should trust that. He could just go home, but he already knew his mind was racing too much to sleep tonight so he’d probably just end up staring at the lake for the next 6 hours. So, he decided on the only other legitimate option he had. He pulled up Remus’s home coordinates and selected.
The home that Remus had chosen (after his long line of rejected requests) managed to somehow make no and absolute sense simultaneously to anyone who knew him. It was a small farm in the United States just west of the Mississippi in 1842 in what would be ratified as the state of Iowa in a few years. When asked why he would choose that time and place, Remus always responded with “I thought it was funny,” whatever that meant.
Unlike most time agents who simply used the identities assigned to them by the AMO as a cover, Remus actually lived his part time.
Janus was… fairly certain he was cheating a bit to get everything done, but he maintained his small farm all on his own, growing most of his own food. The neighbors he had lived very far away, but he still spoke with them far more than Janus did his own.
Janus appeared inside the small home, his eyes already shut. “Are you hear and dressed?” Janus called. Something bumped lightly into his legs.
“I’m in the kitchen!”
Janus peaked his eyes open and squatted to pet the cat at his feet. “That doesn’t answer my question!” he called back to Remus.
“It’s a surprise!” Remus said.
“Remus.” Diesel Fuel the cat flopped to her side on the ground as Janus continued to pet her ears. He heard Remus’s footsteps, and saw cloth covering his legs, so risked looking up. He was currently not only dressed, but wearing an apron that Janus was fairly sure was not time appropriate judging by the fabric and cat pawprint design. He had a bit of flour on his hands, and it may have been a bit too white for the time and place, but Janus couldn’t be completely sure.
“What’re you doing here?” Remus asked.
“My day has been an endless series of frustrations,” Janus said. “So, I have come to see the only tolerable being in the history of the universe.”
Remus snorted. “Since I know that isn’t me, I’ll assume you’re talking about the cat.”
“I still don’t understand why you tolerate this creature,” Janus addressed Diesel Fuel. She blinked slowly up at him. “To be fair, he was assigned as my partner. I didn’t have much of a choice in it. You could go always run away and become feral in the woods if you’d like.”
“So could you, technically,” Remus pointed out.
“I’m thinking about it after today.”
“Would you like some bread?” Remus asked. “That’s all I’ve been making this afternoon. Some fresh should be coming out of the oven in a few minutes.”
“Do you have anything stronger made out of wheat?”
“Ew, no, but I do have vodka.”
“Vodka works.”
“Want me to mix it with something?”
“No.”
“One of those night then,” Remus said, easily. “Let me finish up the bread, so I don’t burn the kitchen down. You can go get the alcohol from the cellar while you wait if you want, or you can just flop down on the couch.”
He was going to just flop down on the couch.
He did just that as Remus disappeared back into his kitchen. The cat hopped onto his stomach, proceeding to purr loudly and kneed at chest. Janus petted the cat and listened to the noise of Remus moving around in the other room, letting his mind drift. His mind drifted to Virgil for a bit and he steadfastly did not allow it to drift to his brother. Yet, the thing that most was on his mind was the strange man who had flirted and charmed Janus all night before mercilessly screwing him over. ‘Pat’ he’d said his name was, but surely that was not his real name.
Janus sighed and scratched the cat’s ear. “He certainly wasn’t an amateur,” Janus mused to the cat. “With that amount of precision to get in before we did, he must have someone not on the ground feeding him information. Perhaps more than one.” He was part of a group of time traveling thieves perhaps or something worse. “I didn’t get a good look at his face since he was wearing a mask,” Janus said, “but I spent a lot of time with him, and I’m sure Remy swiped the mask from the police since it had been on me when I was arrested. It’s a good lead.”
He continued to pet Diesel Fuel. Eventually, Remus came back in, noticed Janus hadn’t bothered to get the alcohol and went outside to the cellar. “I’m going to find him,” Janus told Diesel Fuel. “I’ll stop whatever it is he’s doing, and I’ll bring him in.” Diesel Fuel mewed her support, and Janus patted her on top of the head.
Remus came back in with the bottle of vodka and handed it to him without a word. He sat down on the couch near Janus’s feet and patted his lap so Diesel Fuel would come over to him and allow Janus to sit up.
The bastard waited until he was approximately 3 shots in (he didn’t have a shot glass and was just taking drinks from the bottle) to ask the questions Janus really didn’t want to answer. “Are you mad at Emile?” Remus asked.
Janus groaned, trying to wash out the bitter taste of shame and grief with the sharp sting of vodka. It didn’t work. “No,” he said to Remus.
“Then why have you been avoiding him?”
“Shit, I’m here because I didn’t want to think about it. Can’t we just not.”
“Don’t want to think about what?
“It’s none of your business, Remus.”
He could feel Remus frowning at him, but Janus stared resolutely ahead. At least, he did until a foot poked his face. He slapped it away, but it did the job of getting Janus to look at Remus.
“It is my business,” Remus said, foot still in the air. “I’m your partner and your friend.”
“If I’m your friend, you’ll drop it.”
“So, you’re not mad at Emile,” Remus continued, contemplatively. “Did you do something to him, then?” Janus bit his lip and looked away. “What?” Remus asked. Janus didn’t respond. “Look, I’m sure he’ll forgive you for whatever it is. He’s a good guy. Just talk to him about it.”
“I can’t,” Janus said.
“Whatever it is, it’s probably been long enough that he forgives you. You literally just have to have a conversation, say you’re sorry, and everything will be A-OK.”
“I can’t,” Janus repeated.
“Why not?”
“He doesn’t know about it.”
Remus paused. “So, as far as he knows, you just cut contact with him all of a sudden for no reason and have been avoiding him ever since?”
Janus looked at his shoes. “Yeah.”
“That…” Remus said, “is not fucking fair Janus.”
“I know.”
“Then why the hell are you doing that to him? He’s like… soft and feeling-y. He’s probably really upset.”
“I know, Remus.”
“Tell him. Whatever it is.”
“I can’t.”
“Look,” Remus said. “You tell him and he either forgives you or he doesn’t. If he does, everything’s fine. If he doesn’t… well, it’s not like it would be any different from you two never being in the same room the last few years. Either way, you can’t just do this to him. He’ll probably forgive you. He’s your brother. Brothers don’t… brothers would forgive each other.”
Janus laughed softly and met Remus’s eyes. “That’s the problem,” he said. “He’d definitely forgive me.” He turned away and opened the vodka bottle again. “Now, if you’ll shut up for a few minutes, I’m going to drink until I black out.”
Chapter 6
“Really, Khalid,” Janus said, storming into his boss’s office. “A yellow?” It had been about a week since the 1920s incident, and his incident report had finally been cleared. Sure, it wasn’t a red or a black and he wasn’t facing any reprimand, but it should have been a green.
She looked up at him, clearly unconcerned. “There was an incident,” she said. “You handled it well, but there was one. Therefore, yellow.”
“It wasn’t a time travel incident! It was a rouge time traveler.”
“Janus, you helped me make these rules,” she said impatiently.
“Which is why I know this is bullshit,” he snapped.
She rolled her eyes. “If it was anyone else, you would agree with me. While you didn’t go against protocol and had no time related incidents, the fact of the matter is, you were still distracted by this ‘rouge time traveler,’ didn’t complete your mission, and were arrested.”
“He was good,” Janus said. “You can’t fault me for that. He also could be dangerous and you’re busy handing out yellows instead of working to track him down.”
She raised an eyebrow. “We are working on tracking him down,” she said. “We have done an analysis on the mask and found fibers dating to the 2010s and some DNA. Though it isn’t exactly a high priority.”
“We have no idea who he is or what he’s planning to do. Why is that not a high priority thing?”
“At the moment?” she asked. “Because we have reports of a time bomb being activated.”
“What?” Janus asked sitting up. “When?”
“New Years Eve going into the year 3,000 in Brazil,” she said. “Which you’d know about if you’d bothered to check your integration port this morning before storming into my office.”
“It’s my mission?” Janus asked.
“The incident investigation is over and your active again despite the dreaded yellow,” she said, clearly making fun of him a bit. “So, yes, and it’s a high priority mission, so I’ll be running it.”
“Who all is going?” he asked.
“Other than the two of us, Remus, Lena, and Fred,” she told him. “We leave in three hours, so, you might want to run off to Rhi before Fred gets to her and ties her up for an hour on details.”
Janus nodded and got to his feet. He turned back at the door. “I still don’t deserve the yellow,” he hissed.
She waved him off. “I’ll see you in a few hours, Picani.”
He ground his teeth a bit about the dismissal of his worries, but his resentment was slightly soothed by the fact that she’d assigned him to go on such a high priority mission and with only senior agents.
He took the advice and grabbed Remus from the office, noting Lena hadn’t been able to wrangle Fred yet as she was still at her desk, and they both headed off to see Rhi.
A few hours later, they were all in decontamination together, decked out in truly god-awful costumes. The turn of the third millennia had been a wild event, and the best way to fit in was to look like you’d grabbed something from every century in recorded human history, dyed it in neon paint, and rolled around in a vat of glitter.
Remus had opted to stick his head in a vat of glow in the dark green paint that costuming had offered them, and it wasn’t even going to be slightly disruptive to their covertness.
In fact, costuming had frowned when Janus had insisted he not get his hair dyed and instead wore a bowler hat. They had required him to have flowers made out of glitter on it.
There were five people waiting for them when they landed 6 hours before the turn of the millennia. Three were touchdown agents, including Remy, and two were on location tech support. Usually it would be overkill to have that many people there just for support even with five agents in the field, but today the TPI needed to be cautious because they were planning on instituting a time lock.
Time bombs were dangerous things that would ripple through time if not contained. Even if it did end up going off (killing everyone in its reach), the time lock would serve to prevent most damage outside of the city and, more importantly, the year it was planted.
Janus had only been in two time locks before, and he was one of the most senior agents in the TPI, outranked only by the founder: Lia Khalid. Time locks were designed to keep all time linear in a certain fixed time and geographical area as well as prevent any time travel in and out. Once it was engaged, all forms of time travel would not work for the duration, bar the pin device. Khalid was already switching out her regular timepiece with the slightly bigger one that was designed to support the time lock.
There was a failsafe back at the TPI that could be engaged in an emergency, which was why tech support was here, but other than that, the only thing that could break the time lock was that timepiece, and it would break the moment the time lock ended.
As soon as it was on Khalid’s wrist, she looked up at them all. “Our information says the time bomb was planted in the costume of one of the ‘Millennium Birds’ who are the organizers of the different events,” she said. Janus had seen a photo of the identical costumes in the mission details. They were all robe like garments with giant fans of feathers coming from the neck that coalesced in a peak a foot above their head to hold a fake bird egg. At least they’d be easy to find. “There are 25 of them throughout the city. We need to find each of them. So, we don’t double count, you’ll need to subtly,” her eyes touched on Remus, “scan each one you find for the bomb and tag them with a tracker if it’s not on them. You can view the already tagged ones, as well as the rest of us on your timepiece even once the time lock is engaged. When you find the bomb, call it in.”
They all nodded, and Khalid looked over at one of the techies. She nodded at her and then the techie flipped a couple of switches. “Three, two, one,” the techie said. There was a slight shift in the air that most people would disregard, but Janus as a seasoned time traveler could feel the change even before his wrist buzzed. He glanced at his timepiece to see it had a big red ‘X’ across its display. He tapped it and was still able to bring up the map of the city with 10 green dots on it all clustered together in their current location.
After that, he tested the scanner on his timepiece that he would use to search for the bomb, just to make sure the time lock hadn’t messed anything up with his equipment. He glanced up to see everyone else was doing the same.
“Keep in contact,” Khalid said before everyone split up. Janus and Remus started by going North while Fredrick and Darlene were to go South. Khalid was a floater who would tag any Birds she saw but was mostly there for backup and orders.
Janus and Remus stepped into the chaos of New Years Eve before the turn of the third millennia. The streets were already swamped with people and it would only be getting worse the later it go.
“Where should we start?” Remus asked.
“Let’s go all the way North to the games area,” Janus said. “We can work our way back here.”
“Okay!” Remus said. “I wonder if they have those fun little genetically modified goldfish as prizes. I’ve always wanted to eat one and see if I end up getting whatever design was on the fish on my body.”
Janus gave him a disgusted look.
“What?! People eat fish all the time!”
Janus shook his head. “We’re not playing the games anyway. We have work to do. Important work.”
“Boo,” Remus replied. Janus chose to ignore him as he spotted one of the Millenia Birds letting people into the gaming area.
They walked over towards the entrance. Janus got in range first and moved to subtly scan the Millenia Bird, Remus doing the same the next moment. After a second, Janus’s timepiece buzzed and lit up red, meaning the bomb was within range. “Well, that was easy,” he said. “It was on the first one we found.”
“Uh…” Remus said. “Jan.” When Janus looked, he was holding up his wrist to show his green lit time piece.
“What?” Janus asked. He quickly moved to rescan the Millenia Bird, and his timepiece came up green as well. Which, meant the bomb was not in range, even though the Millenia Bird had not moved. “But…” He and Remus’s eyes met, and they quickly both started turning in a circle to look at the crowd around him. No one looked like they’d just stolen a time bomb off the Millennial Bird, but then Janus’s eyes caught on a man. He blended in perfectly to his surroundings. He was wearing the disgusting garb of the times, a large light blue piece that bubbled near his hips, and had most of his skin covered in rainbow neon paints. Yet, something about him, the curl of his hair or the way he moved, drew Janus’s eyes to him. He recognized the man immediately even in a completely different dressing style. Yet, what cinched it was the moment Janus’s eyes met his and they seemed to sparkle slightly in the afternoon sun. The next moment, the person Janus knew as Pat, turned to disappear into the crowd.
Chapter 7
“Him,” was the only thing Janus said before taking off after the figure who had just disappeared into the game area.
“What?” Remus’s voice followed after him. “Janus! What?!”
Janus did not pause, just continuing to run after Pat, hopping over two barricades as a shortcut. Janus cursed when he lost sight of the man for just a moment near the prize table filled with colorful goldfish, but he was able to spot him once again walking into one of the tents. Janus blasted into the tent. It was a game where they raced rats, and when Janus entered, Pat was cooing at one of them.
“Who’s a tiny little squishy precious baby?” he was asking one of them, wiggling his pointer finger at it.
“You,” Janus growled stepping up to him.
He turned and tilted his head at Janus with a frown. “Um, me?” he asked, pointing to his chest, all sorts of innocent, but Janus could see a spot of hidden amusement in his eyes.
“Where is it?”
His eyebrows drew together, but it was an act. It was clearly an act! “Where is what?”
“The…” he glanced around them at the people surrounding them. “Thing you just took.”
“I didn’t take anything,” Pat said with a frown.
“Oh, no,” Janus said. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fooling me twice is not an option.”
“I’m sorry sir,” Pat said. “I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Bull. Shit.”
Just then, Remus jogged into the tent. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“It’s him,” Janus said pointing. “He took it. He has it.”
“I… don’t know what you’re talking about,” Patton said. He looked over to Remus with a confused frown.
Remus looked at Janus. “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Janus said. “It’s him. It has to be him. He’s the mask guy.”
Remus squinted at Pat. “He is?”
“Whoever you think I am, I’m not. I haven’t worn a mask all night. I just did the face paint,” he pointed to his cheeks.
Remus raised his wrist and his timepiece lit up green. He looked at Janus.
“I lost sight of him for five seconds. He must have stashed it somewhere,” Janus said. He turned on Pat. “Where did you put it?”
“…Are you,” Pat asked, his eyes going back and forth between Janus and Remus, “… the police?”
“We are, actually,” Khalid said as she stepped into the tent. Remus must have called her. She inserted herself between Janus and Pat. “Agent Khalid,” she said, offering a hand with a smile. Pat looked at it in surprise and then smiled back hesitantly as he took it. “Apologizes, one of the big game prizes was stolen by someone matching your description. Would you mind coming down to security for questioning? Just to clear it up.”
“Oh,” Patton said, hesitant. Janus expected him to refuse outright, but then he said. “Uh, sure.”
“Thank you very much, Mr…”
“Jonas,” Pat told her earnestly. “Do I need to be handcuffed?”
“No,” Khalid said. Janus frowned at her, but she ignored him. “It’s just a talk for now.” She gestured to the tent entrance. “Come with us.”
He did without argument, and Remus and Janus followed behind the both of them. Khalid did not lead them back to the base, but to a little spot that said “security” near the center of the event. Remy was already there waiting for them at a desk.
“Remy, would you please take Mr. Jonas to go sit down?” she asked.
“Sure, boss,” Remy said, standing up. He led Pat away.
Khalid turned to Janus and Remus once they were out of earshot. “What is going on?”
“It’s the mask man,” Janus said, “the one from 1923, and my scanner said the time bomb was on the Millenia Bird outside the games entrance, but then it was gone the next second, and I saw him, and then he ran away.”
“So, does he have it on him?”
“No. I lost sight of him, and he must have stored it somewhere, but I know he took it.”
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“He’s the man from 1923?” she asked.
“Yes! Remus, that’s him, right? You recognize him.”
“Well,” Remus said thoughtfully. “He was in a mask, and it was dark in the room with the necklace. Other than that, I only really saw his back, and he was wearing pants. Mr. Jonas is wearing a dress, so I can’t really tell if their asses match.”
“Okay, but I was with him for hours. I swear it’s him, and I swear he took it,” Janus just about shouted.
“We’ll question him,” Khalid placated, “and Fred and Lena will keep looking in the meantime.”
“He knows where it is,” Janus insisted. “I swear.”
“Okay,” Khalid said, before leaving to follow where Remy and Pat had gone. She stopped Janus with a hand on his shoulder. “I think Remus and I will do the interrogation.” He opened his mouth to argue. “You know the most about him, so observe from the sidelines and see if he makes any mistakes that indicate you’re right.”
“That’s just to placate me and you know it.”
“Observation’s over there,” she said pointing.
He got a thumbs up from Remus as he walked by, and Janus glared at his back before walking off to the indicated location.
He watched as Remus and Khalid entered the room, and Remy left it. Remy joined him in the observation room after leaving and leaned against the wall.
Pat was sitting at a table and watched Remus and Khalid with that same rubbish placid confusion that he had before. “So,” Khalid said, “Mr. Jonas.”
“You can call me Nick,” Pat interrupted.
“Lia,” Khalid replied. He smiled at her happily. “So, are you enjoying your day?” she asked.
“I am!” he replied. “It’s a big day. You only get to see the turn of a millennia once in your life.”
“Ah, yes,” Khalid said. “Doing anything special for it?”
“Um, not really,” he said. “Other than the party. I’m going to meet up with my roommates after dinner. Kevin doesn’t like this sort of thing, and Joe couldn’t come.”
“Your roommates,” Khalid said, considering him. “Do you live around here?”
“Uh huh,” Pat replied.
“Do you have any ID?”
“I do, want me to get it?”
“If you wouldn’t mind.”
Pat unzipped one of the bubbles on his waist and handed her a chip. “Remus, would you mind going out and getting the ID scanner?” she asked, even though her timepiece would be able to read it.
“Ah, shit,” Remy said. “Props. What do those things even look like?”
As Remy scrambled to find something that would pass for an ID reader so “Nick” didn’t get suspicious of Khalid using her timepiece, Janus watched the two alone in the room like a hawk.
“I see you’re wearing a dress inspired by the 2770s,” Khalid noted, as Remus came to stand next to him.
“Yeah!” Pat replied. “Joe made it for me. He’s really good at fashion design!”
“Can I see?” she asked.
With a happy smile, he reached over the table to let her get a look of the sleeves. Janus saw her subtly scan the fabric, probably to make sure it was from the 2990s and not actually from the 2770s. Considering she didn’t mention it, Janus assumed it checked out.
Remy came back with some sort of device then and handed it to Remus who saluted and wandered back into the interrogation room. Khalid pretended to scan the ID in her hand. She handed it back to him without comment. “So, you said you live with your roommates: Joe and Kevin?” she asked.
“Yep!” he replied. “We’re practically like brothers.”
“Would you mind calling them?”
“Erm,” he titled his head like he was confused by the question. “Well, like I said, Joe is a bit busy, but I could definitely call Kevin.
“Here,” Khalid said, “use my phone.”
“I have my own,” he said with a frown.
“Humor me,” she requested.
“Uh, okay,” Pat agreed. He took the offered 2999 phone and dialed a number on it. Khalid reached over to put it on speaker.
“Hello?” a voice asked after a few seconds.
“Um, hey Kevin, it’s Nick.”
There was a sigh on the other end. “Hello Nick, is something wrong? Why are you calling me from someone else’s phone?”
“I’m fine, I think.” He looked up at Khalid. “Why am I calling him exactly?”
“Hello, I’m Officer Khalid,” Khalid said. “I just wanted to confirm that you are Nick Jonas’s roommate, and he does live in Manaus.”
“Yes, we live together with our other roommate,” the man replied flippantly. “Officer? Is something wrong?”
“I believe there was just a case of mistaken identity,” Khalid said.
“Bullshit there was!” Janus hissed, though she could not hear him.
“No need to worry,” Khalid continued.
“I’m good Kevin,” Pat said.
“Are you absolutely sure?” Kevin asked.
“Don’t be Paranoid, Kevin. I’ll see you Tonight for the New Years Celebration. You know I Live to Party.”
“I am hanging up now,” Kevin said.
“No! Comeback.” The line went dead. Pat handed the device back to Khalid.
She took it and smiled at him. “Give us just a couple of minutes,” she requested. He nodded easily, and she and Remus exited the interrogation room. “I… think we’re done here,” Khalid said.
“No, he’s lying,” Janus insisted, and got a dubious look in return. “I know he is! Remus!”
“The alibi is pretty solid…” Remus said, “and he doesn’t have the bomb on him.”
“Oh, come on,” Janus said. “You can’t say there is nothing fishy going on here.”
Khalid and Remus shared a look. “Janus,” Khalid said. “I respect your intuition. It is usually very good, but you have been a bit intense about the man from the 1920s, and I think that may be blinding you a bit...”
“I am not imagining this!” Janus said. “That’s him and he took it.”
“You only met him once while he was wearing a mask,” Khalid pointed out with a frown, “and you didn’t see him take the bomb, did you?”
“No, but he looked at me and I knew,” Janus argued. They both gave him a skeptical look. “Oh, come on!”
“You know that’s a little weak, Jan,” Remus said.
“Let me talk to him,” Janus requested. “Just give me five minutes to talk with him.”
Khalid raised one eyebrow. “Fine,” she agreed. “You have five minutes, but after that, you have to let it go. We can’t waste any more time.”
Chapter 8
Pat looked up as Janus stepped into the interrogation room. “Hi,” he said with an innocent smile that could cut steal.
Janus didn’t say a word as he took a seat; he just watched him intently. He leaned slightly over the table and steepled his fingers in front of his chin. “So, your name is Nick this time?” Janus asked.
“Nicholas Jonas,” he said. “Always has been.”
“Stop it,” Janus said.
“Stop what?”
“Cut the crap. I know.”
Pat leaned forward, mirroring Janus as he leaned closer, interlocking his fingers and laying his chin on top of his knuckles. “What did you say your name was again?” he asked, pleasantly.
“Janus,” Janus replied.
“No, I’m Jonas,” he said, pointing to his chest.
“Not Jonas,” Janus spat. “Janus.”
“Um,” Pat said, eyes alight with amusement. The bastard. “Those are the same words.”
“No, they’re not. It’s Janus. J-A-N-U.-S.”
“Well, that’s confusing,” Pat said with a frown, but his nose was crinkling. “It’s close to my name. You should go by a nickname instead.”
“What?” Janus said. “No.”
Pat hummed. “How about Love Bug?”
“What! No!” Janus sputtered, almost flipping the table, as Pat winked at him.
“BB Good?”
“What does that even mean?!”
“Mandy.”
“No!”
“Okay, okay, how about Macy Misa.”
11594
Janus stared at him for a moment. “Fine. Whatever. What was I even talking about?”
“Hmm. I Believe we were talking about my name and how you think it’s not my name.”
“Right,” Janus said. “So, Nick. That was your roommate, Kevin on the phone, right? He seemed a bit unhappy with you. Any reason?”
“Nah, we’re Cool” said Pat. “That’s Just the Way We Roll.”
“Not because you’re messing up a mission right now?”
Pat’s eyes crinkled together. “A mission?” he parroted. “I’m not messing up a mission.”
“Oh, really?” Janus growled. “Because you’ve been captured by the TPI, and I know who you are and what you’ve been doing.”
“I have no idea what the TPI is,” he claimed.
“Yes, you do!” Janus said, standing up. “You obviously do! Or you wouldn’t be playing this game!”
“Game?” Pat asked. “Macy I ask you what you’re talking about.”
“This is all just a game to you isn’t it!” Janus said, slamming his hands down on the table in front of them.
“Whoa,” Pat said, putting his hands up. “Calm down. Your face is getting all red. You must be Burnin’ Up.”
“I’m not sure what, but something about what you just said pisses me off.”
“And that is five minutes,” Khalid said, bursting into the room. He felt a tug on the back of his shirt and glared back at Remus who was putting his own body between Janus and Pat.
“There was no way that was five minutes,” Janus growled.
“It was five minutes,” Khalid gritted out. “Remus, get him out of here.”
“Come on Jay,” Remus said, dragging him back towards the door.
“Remus, I swear to god.”
“Just chill, Janus,” Remus said, slamming the door closed behind them.
Janus shrugged him off. “You chill!” he snapped. “He’s playing you all for the fool.”
“Wow, Macy,” Remy drawled like an asshole. “I’ve never seen you so fired up.”
“Oh, my gosh. No one is going to believe me, and he’s going to get away with this.”
“You’re not really helping your case, babe,” Remy said.
Remus grabbed him by the shoulders again. “Here, let’s go get some water.”
“I don’t want water,” he said even as he let Remus lead him to another room to get a glass of water.
“Look,” Remus said. “I know the Mask Guy thing really sucked, but you have to look at the facts.
“I am looking at the facts,” Janus insisted, “and the facts are, he’s fucking with me.”
“You don’t know what mask guy looks like,” Remus said. “You didn’t see Nick take the time bomb, he has an ID from this time period and a roommate in this time he called on the phone, and he legitimately seems to not know what any of us are talking about.”
“Did you even listen to our conversation?” Janus asked. “He was screwing with me the entire time!”
“Janus…” Remus said.
“What?” Janus said, narrowing his eyes at Remus’s tone.
“I know you recently had a bad experience, but not everyone who flirts with you is doing it out of evil.”
Janus’s mouth hung open for a few seconds. “That’s what you got out of our conversation?”
“He called you Love Bug.”
Janus felt his face heat a bit at the reminder. “That’s not… I. I’m stealing your cat and then never speaking to you again.”
Remus laughed. “Ah,” he said. “Young lust.”
Janus elbowed him roughly in the side. “No!”
“Yes!” he crooned, pleased.
“You are the worst partner,” Janus hissed. “When I’m right you owe me 10 loafs of your fresh bread.”
“Branching out from poptarts?” Remus asked.
Janus shook his head. He still wasn’t happy about the state of things, but he could feel himself cooling down a bit.
Khalid came out of the integration room after a few minutes, leaving Pat with Remy. “What was that?” she asked him.
“He got under my skin,” Janus said.
“We’ll talk about it later,” she said. “For now, we’re letting him go and then going back to looking for the bomb like we’re meant to be.”
“Fine,” Janus relented. “Just do me the favor of tagging him before he leaves. Just that. I beg of you.”
“Sure,” she agreed. “If it will calm you down.”
He nodded.
“Then, let’s go,” she said. When they met back up with Remy and Pat, he saw Khalid make the subtle gesture that would tag Pat like they would have for the Millennium Birds. Pat sent him what could pass as a sweet smile if Janus didn’t know better. Then, they walked him outside, leaving Remy on clean-up duty for the make-shift security office.
“So, I’m free to go?” Pat asked. His bemused expression edged far too much on the side of amused verses confused for Janus’s taste.
“You are,” Khalid said. “Have fun at the festivities.”
His hands went flapping about. “Oh, you too!” he said. “Well, I guess you’re working, but you can have fun anyway, I’m sure.”
“We’ll do our best,” she said.
He gave her a blinding smile and reached forward to shake her hand enthusiastically. Janus rolled his eyes and looked up at the heavens. “It was nice to meet you!” he said, “and you too, Remus!” He turned to meet Janus’s eyes. “Macy Misa.”
Janus pressed his lips together.
Then, Pat turned and walked away.
“Well, now that we’re done with that,” Khalid said, turning to them. “We have only a few more hours before midnight and we really need to find the time bomb.
“Oh,” Pat called. He’d paused a few yards away and turned back to them. “Thanks for letting me go so easily by the way,” he said, “and just in the Nick,” he winked, “of time too.” Janus narrowed his eyes at him. He smiled back. “Wrist check,” he said holding up his arm to show off the timepiece there. Khalid immediately looked down at her own wrist just to see that the one timepiece that could move through the time lock was no longer there. Pat made a gesture and disappeared.
All three of them stared at the spot he’d been for a long moment.
Janus was the one to speak first. “I want. The yellow. To be erased. From my record.”
Chapter 9
Khalid immediately called everyone back to base.
“What happened?” asked Fred when he and Lena arrived. The tech people were already scrambling to get through to the TPI and get the time lock broken from the outside.
“Remus, Remy, and Khalid got played by Pat or whatever his name is. It certainly isn’t Nick. He was just setting up a joke,” Janus told him.
“Stop being smug,” Remy said. “It’s not a good look for you.”
“Pat is…?” Lena asked.
“They guy who fucked me over in 1923,” Janus said, “and is currently in the middle of fucking us all over because he stole the pin timepiece, and by extrapolation, probably the time bomb too.”
“It will be fine,” said Khalid, “because what he doesn’t know is that timepiece has a tracker on it. Wherever and whenever he went, we’ll have his coordinates.”
“Speaking of,” one of the techies said. “It’s about to break. You might want to hold onto something.” Janus grabbed for a support beam next to him as the techie put a device on the ground in the center of the base. It blinked once, twice, and on the third blink the ground rumbled. There were sounds of panicked yelps outside. The fail safe for the time lock was not nearly as gentle as ending it correctly.
Everything settled after a few moments, and they all straightened themselves out. Janus’s timepiece buzzed to indicate it was now functioning normally. Khalid had returned her usual timepiece to her wrist and now used it to open a display they could all see. “The pin timepiece’s closest time/space coordinates are…” she trailed off. “Right outside?” She frowned. “That’s strange. Why would he still be here?” She turned to march outside, following the coordinates to a trash can. She pulled the pin timepiece out and stared at it. “Fuck,” she said.
“What just happened?” Remy asked.
“He ticked us,” Janus said. “Again.”
“He was stuck in the time lock,” Khalid said. “That’s why he got our attention. He couldn’t leave with the time bomb unless he had the pin timepiece or we broke the time lock. Apparently, he’s smart enough to know that if he took the pin timepiece away from here, we’d probably be able to find him, but he knew we’d break the lock as soon as the pin went missing. So, he must have stashed his own timepiece and went back in time within the time lock to grab it while we were distracted with the past version of him. As soon as the time lock went down, I imagine he left.”
“Probably with the time bomb,” Janus said.
“Probably with the time bomb,” she confirmed.
And everyone knew the only thing worse than a time bomb was a time bomb you didn’t know the location of.
They evacuated after that, of course, and time locked the location once they were out just in case they were wrong, but midnight 3000 struck without thousands of people dying in Brazil, so the time bomb had defiantly been removed from then.
The, they initiated a time travel lockdown for all nonessentials, not willing to let random history students get caught up in an explosion if Pat decided to set the thing off somewhere.
Then, it was a matter of figuring out everything they could about ‘Pat.’ First, they checked the tracker data as Khalid had tagged him with one of the Millennium Bird trackers. It wouldn’t work outside of the zone they’d set up that day, but the record would show his behavior during the time lock after he’d escaped with the pin timepiece.
There had been many little green dots on the map that day as Fred and Lena had actually been doing the job they’d set out to do, but most of those were running around in the south. There had been one green dot, however, that appeared suddenly in the game area about 10 minutes before the time bomb had been stolen.
They could see Janus’s yellow dot almost brush his when he’d been chasing the earlier Pat down, around when he’d lost him briefly. The earlier Pat must have all but handed it off to his future self.
“He doubled back,” Remus commented when they watched the recorded data. It was a ballsy move and one that most people balked at, because there were inherent dangers any time you interacted with yourself from a different point in the timestream. It was ripe for paradoxes. It made everyone at the agency even more worried, because if he was willing to risk that, then what else was he willing to do?
Because of the lockdown of all nonessential time travel, people working for the TPI were not allowed to go home for the night. They were allowed to pick up anyone or anything dependent on them for care like kids and pets if there wasn’t someone in their home time to care for them, but other than that, they were unfortunately all sleeping in their offices for the foreseeable future.
“You are the only tolerable one,” Janus told the cat who upon being let loose in the office by Remus, immediately jumped on Janus’s lap.
“I have literally done nothing to you,” Lena said, but then added. “Yet.”
“You exist. In my space.”
“Can’t we just all get along?” asked Fred. “It’s only been an hour past when we’d usually go home. I went and grabbed milk and I have my giant thing of different flavored hot chocolate under my desk. We can try them all and vote on which is better.”
“Fuck your hot chocolate, Fred,” Janus growled, having been one of the three who had chipped in to buy it for him on his last birthday.
“Don’t go after Fred, jackass,” Lena spat.
“He’s just testy because his boyfriend escaped,” Remus contributed.
Janus’s lips turned down into a frown and he cupped Diesel Fuel’s face. “We agree we’re eating him first, right?” he asked her.
She purred her agreement.
“I’d have it no other way,” Remus replied.
“There is plenty of food,” Fred said, sounding stressed. “In fact, I was thinking we should all chip in on ordering take-out soon. “What does everyone like on pizza?”
“This is not a slumber party, Fred,” Janus pointed out.
“Shut it,” Lena snapped and turned to Fred. “I’m fine with almost everything, except…”
“Bananas and tuna salad!” Remus interrupted.
“…whatever Remus is about to say.”
Janus rolled his eyes as that started a debate about whether or not fruit and/or fish belonged on pizza. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, which was when there was a knock on the door.
He froze when he heard the familiar voice. “Hello, hello,” said Emile, cheerfully. Janus looked up to see Emile standing at the open office door. Shit. Apparently, the man had decided to give up on sending lackeys to come fetch him and had decided to track him down himself when Janus couldn’t even escape without breaking a time lockdown. They met eyes briefly and Janus could see irritation if not anger in his eyes despite his otherwise cheerful expression and tone.
“Janus,” he said when he’d gotten their attention. “I’d like to have dinner with you.” The word choice told Janus everything he needed to know. Usually Emile was careful with how he said things to make sure people knew they had a choice. Typically he’d say something like, “I was wondering if you’d have time to have dinner with me tonight,” or “I’m about to go get food, would you like to come?” Today, there was no choice in the statement.
Janus still dried to dodge anyway. “Uh,” he said. “We were actually about to order pizza.”
“Go ahead,” said Fred kindly. Janus wanted to strangle him. “We can order pizza with olives if you’re not here.”
“I…” said Janus. “Guess, I’ll be going with you.”
“Great!” Emile said. “Let’s go.”
“Oh,” Janus said. “Uh, now?”
“Now,” Emile said a bit of uncharacteristic steel to his tone.
Well, Janus was screwed. He swallowed his nervousness and got to his feet, taking Diesel Fuel with him. He turned to hand her off to Remus with a plea in his eye, but he just got an eyebrow raise in return. Traitor.
Then, he followed Emile out of the office door. “What would you like to eat?” asked Emile.
“Uh,” Janus said. “I don’t know. You asked me to eat, don’t you have any ideas?”
“I don’t actually,” Emile replied. Right.
“…Noddle Bar?” Janus threw out the nearest restaurant he knew.
“The one noodle restaurant? Sure,” Emile answered simply. They walked side by side out of the front doors of the TPI building. Janus actually couldn’t remember the last time he’d taken these stairs. He usually used his timepiece to get in and out.
The noodle bar was only moderately busy at this time. They were quickly able to find a table near the back and Emile pulled his menu up in front of him. Emile hummed as he flipped through the different displays. “What are you having?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” Janus said, only then pulling up the menu himself, but still not quite looking at it.
“What about the fortune noodles,” Emile suggested.
Janus shook his head. “I don’t like those,” he said.
Emile glanced at him through the menu displays. “You used to.” Fortune noodles were a bit cheekily named. They didn’t actually indicate anything about your future. They were just supposed to taste like what you wanted from your future. A grad student might experience a feeling like they’d just aced a paper. A child that they got to stay up an hour later that night. Janus had liked the experience when he was younger, but in recent years, he’d begun to taste the underlying chemicals in the dish until that’s all he could.
“Well,” Emile said lightly, eyes on his menu. “That makes me even more worried for your mental health than I already was because of the almost three years of you avoiding talking to me.”
“No small talk, huh?” Janus asked.
“Forgive me,” Emile said, eyes now focused on Janus, and tone much darker. “How has your life been since I last saw your face 5 months ago during a business meeting and you refused to look me in the eye? Anything interesting happen? Shave your head and let it all regrow? Develop an allergy to peanuts? Join a convent and take an oath of silence that you only just broke today?”
“No,” said Janus quietly into the table.
“Great,” Emile said clipped. “Small talk over. Order your food.” Janus reached up blindly to select the first thing that came up on the food and drink menu as Emile punched something into his own and both menu displays disappeared, meaning there was nothing between their faces anymore. “You know, I was willing to give you a year,” Emile said. “I was willing to let you deal with it on your own because I thought eventually, you’d come talk to me about it, but apparently I was mistaken. The next year, I thought maybe you thought I didn’t want to talk to you, so I subtly made myself available, and you never took me up on the offer. I thought maybe I was just not being clear, and I should make my desire to talk to you more explicit, but as you have been routinely, clearly avoiding me at every single turn, I’ve decided I’ve had enough. So, let’s lay it all on the table. Is it me or do you need help?”
Janus closed his eyes. “It’s not you.”
“Then you need help,” Emile concluded.
Janus shook his head.
“Yes,” Emile snapped. “Whatever this is has gone on far too long.”
Janus stood up and slammed his hand down on the table. “And it’s going to keep going on!” he said. The food popped up at that moment. It appeared Janus had ordered lasagna and bubble tea, and Emile had ordered something with spaghetti and a fizzy drink.
“So, you’re just planning to go on being miserable then?” Emile asked, and Janus wasn’t sure if it was worse or better that he didn’t sound angry anymore.
14656
Janus slapped his hand down on the “To Go” button and his dinner was insta-wrapped by the table. “Yes,” he said.
“What exactly do you think you’re paying penance for, Janus?” Emile asked.
“You wouldn’t understand,” Janus said, paying for both of their meals with his fingerprint.
“That’s a cop out and you know it,” Emile said. “All you’d have to do is talk to me. Or even just talk to someone else. Please.”
“Just…” Janus said, grabbing his bag of food to avoid looking at him. “Just, leave me be.” He walked out of the noodle shop without another word.
Chapter 10
“And I thought Remus was going to be the most disgusting roommate in this equation,” Lena grumbled. Janus and Lena were apparently the earlier risers in the group as Fred was still curled up around a pillow and Remus was sprawled out under his desk.
Janus flipped her off.
“Protein infused Poptarts and caffeinated orange juice for breakfast?” she asked. “Just eat an energy bar and have a cup of coffee like a normal person.”
He took another pointed bite of his Poptart.
“You’re a horrible roommate. This is why they gave us different partners.”
“Yeah, well you snore, asshole,” Janus said after finishing off his meal.
“I’d tell you to go eat shit, but you already did that once this morning.”
A pillow flew across the room and somehow managed to hit the both of them. “S’op fighting,” Fred mumbled. “It’s sleep time.”
“It’s morning Fred,” Lena said.
“No,” Fred mumbled.
Janus ignored them, turning back to his integration port to continue to keep plugging in phrases of interest, but he kept getting nothing.
“What are you doing?” Lena asked after a few moments of him huffing at his screen reader.
“Trying to do anything that may change our current living arrangements.”
She puffed out an amused breath. “Can I help?”
“Can you see any connection between these words and phrases?” he asked, pulling away his screen reader and tapping at the words he’d typed out.
“Paranoid, tonight, I live to party, comeback, love Bug, BB good, Mandy, Macy Misa, I believe, cool, that’s just the way we roll, burnin’ up,” she said. “What are these?”
“They’re things Pat said when we interrogated that struck me funny,” Janus explained. “I feel like he was saying something more than what he said.”
“Hmm,” she said. “PTI for the first three?”
“Maybe,” Janus agreed, “but what about the rest of it? I feel like I’m missing something.”
15080
“Millennia,” Remus mumbled from under his desk. Janus hadn’t been aware he was awake. “He said something something about it being the only time he could see the change of the millennia.” He turned his head to look at Janus. “Considering he’s a time traveler, that’s definitely a weird thing to say.”
“Millennia,” Janus contemplated. “A different turn of the millennia. Oh no.”
“What?” Lena asked.
Janus sighed, and rubbed his temple. “I know someone who studied the 1700-2200s.”
“Isn’t that good?”
“No,” Janus groaned, “because now I have to go talk to him.” He stood with a sigh and then paused. “How do I even get to Silver Mountains University without my timepiece?”
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Me: *looks at completed homework* *looks at Jessie* *looks at homework* Now that I have my freedom your heart is in danger once again. Be warned brave friend.
Also me: JANUS!! GET YOUR BLOND HEAD OUT HERE!!! I NEED YOU AGAIN!
faintly in the distance: noooooooo
~~~~~~~~
All the sides were wearing black.
They just got home from a very sad event that day, no one wanted to say the title out loud because they couldn't accept that he was gone. Rain hit the mindscape windows, similarly, tears were streaming down all of their faces.
After the event, all the sides went to their rooms. All except a certain dark blue side.
Logan was on the couch. Black suit being crumpled by the lax sitting position. In his shaking hands was held a letter. Everyone had at least one letter. Logan had the most with five letters. Each one had a number.
Logan grabbed the letter labeled #1
It was of medium size. White envelope contrasting with the red wax used to seal it. The only thing that marked that it was for him was the blue ink used to mark his name.
Trying not to tear the paper. Logan opened the letter and started to read.
Dear Logan,
I guess if you're reading this I'm gone. To that fact, I'm truly sorry. I wish I could be there. But this is for the best.
I suppose you know what happened to the dark side by now. If you don't well.... Its gone. Wrath, Apathy and Depression were just getting too powerful, it didn't matter how much I hid them away they still got to Thomas... and I can't have them destroying Thomas's life. I need to do my job, even if it kills me. I really did enjoy your company! I hope you know that.
Often times the only thing that could get me out of the bed in the morning was being able to see your face. Or being able to debate with you. Or seeing you talk about space for hours! God Logan, I could go on for hours about how you made my horrid life better. You were my best friend.
These letters are going to be written over a period of time. I don't think I have it in me to say goodbye to the 5 people who made my life tolerable all at once. I'm going to be writing one letter a day. Till tomorrow Logan?
~Deceit Sanders
Logan let out a steady breath. He refused to cry over the first letter. He debated over reading all of the letters at once but.... Janus said tomorrow... He'll read letter #2 the following day.
The next morning was just as somber. Logan sat on his bed and gripped the second letter.
This one was the same size, but the envelope was a light baby blue. The seal black. Logan opened it with just as much care as before.
Hello Logan
Another day, another migraine? I get it... Not the time for jokes. I just finished writing Roman's second letter. I always felt so bad for everything involving Roman.
I manipulated him, I told him lies, I compared him to his brother. Kinda makes me deserve this I have a feeling he might try something. Snake instincts. Watch him for me, please? You five need to be a family, I've witnessed what happens to sides to end up hating eachother. Its not pretty. You don't want that Logan.
I guess that is what makes me have to do this. If we only acted like a family I wouldn't have to do this. I wouldn't have to do a lot of things if the darks weren't pricks.
The stupid thing is that I know you would try to talk me out of this plan. And you're right. God you're always right. Why do you have to be right all the time? I wish I was right all the time. But its ok. I'll be the side who hides the truth.
Blessings and a curses, right?
I'll write to you again tomorrow Logan
~ Janus Deceit Sanders
Logan gulped in another breath. He could read that crossed out section... Janus was right. They have to be there for eachother.
Why don't they go watch Janus' favourite movies? That sounds like a fun way to remember someone. Logan got the others.
-time skip-
It was just passed midnight. Everyone else was asleep on the couch as Coraline played on the TV. Logan stared at the third letter. It was technically the next day.... Logan grabbed the letter.
This letters envelope was a burnt tan colour. Yellow wax acted as the seal.
My dear, Logan
I never wanted to be hugged so much then I do right now. I have to barricade my door to prevent Wrath from getting inside, he's always been a loud side.
I remember when I was nothing but a child -Virgil is ten years older then me. Did you know that? I forget that sometimes- I always had blond hair. I know that you and the other lights also have lighter coloured hair. Well anyway. Wrath hates my hair, says that I don't belong. I can also only do that little silencing trick when I'm on your side of the mind. And I can only automatically heal when on the light side too. Huh. I never released how long that list was. Maybe I'm just defective... That has to be it... Right?
I always looked up to you. You could tell people how it was and not cower when things go wrong. You truly are amazing Logan. You need to show the others that. I know that the others love and care for you. You need to accept that love logan! Please. Don't fall into a similar pit of despair I fell into so long ago. I never escaped that pit. Don't fall in it too.
I know how you like to cope Logan. You seek familiar things that remind you of that person. Thats why I did something for you. Under your bed is my all time favourite book, Good Omens, My favourite snacks and an USB with my playlist on it. I hope you love them as much as I did Logan. I'll write to you tomorrow.
~Janus Sanders
Janus wasn't lying when he found the little care package. Logan wasn't crying. Absolutely not! Patton was cooking with onions. Logan never released how much he loved chocolate covered pretzels and jazz until that moment.
The next day Logan didn't even bother to get dressed. He just grabbed the next letter. A soft pastel yellow with a blue seal. Logan tore it open, eger to read what the yellow side wrote next.
Dear Bluebell,
Kinda weird calling you that. But I guess I won't be alive long enough to see your negative reaction. Bluebells were always my favourite flower. Would it be rude to keep calling you bluebell? Well, I guess it's a little too late for that.
It just came to my attention that by this time tomorrow I'm going to be...Gone. I made the poison that would get rid of them. My venom is one of the only things that can kill a side. Would be a bit ironic dying from my own venom huh? Well, I might as well tell you my plan.
Do you remember that party you and the others snuck into? The masquerade? We're having another party tomorrow. And it was always my job to serve the wine. We can't have the others being suspicious to why I didn't drink my wine. They will be dead in less then ten minutes. My venom is painful. But it'll kill them. I'll kill them 10x over, I'm not looking forward to five minutes in where the venom shuts down your lungs.
Anyway, I'm a side known for plans right? Not always the best plans but it counts. I still remember debating with you as Patton. Maybe... Maybe I could sneak over today? Pathetic last wish, but I would love to have a hug and a movie. I'm going to head over to your side soon.
Bluebell Logan when I'm gone. I need you to do something for me. Don't let them forget me...Please. That is all I want. I don't want my body to be left inside of that empty house. I don't want to die next to the people I hate the most. All I ever wanted was to see you smile. I'll see you later today.
~Bumblebee
Logan was crying. That day... Janus asked for a hug and a movie.
He only gave Janus a hug after the look of heart break was too much for him to bear. Logan didn't wait to grab the next letter.
My Beloved Bluebell
Today is the day, I never thought I would admit this but... I'm scared. Do you think that there is Heaven and Hell for sides? If there is I guess I'm going to hell. Suicide is a sin. Not like anything else I've done deserves heaven.
I don't have very long for this letter. 30 minutes. I have 30 minutes till my heart stops. God I'm terrified. This is the last letter I'm writing Logan. I finished writing Virgil's letters yesterday. All thats left is your letter. And holy fuck I'm scared.
I have to do this, I overheard Wrath making a plan to overthrow the mind. I can't let that happen. I would fail at my only job. It doesn't matter if I'm scared or not, I need to do my job. Thomas would suffer if I didn't.
20 minuites, I have ten minutes till the party. My hand is shaking. Can you tell from my writing? I hope you can still read this. If you can't the letter is pointless.
Logan, I know that this is never something you would reciprocate but...
I love you. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. I wanted to take you to the moon for a honeymoon and take you dancing among the stars. I wanted to be the tired husband that has to deal with your legionds of roommates. Logan I love you so god damn much I can't put it into words. I know you could never love me though. Its ok.
Take care of yourself for me please. Don't let your beautiful family fall apart. Don't let the despair of my death cause one of yours. Don't let one of the others blame themselves. This is no ones fault but mine.
I love you
~Janus Sanders
Logan dropped the letter and let out the most agonizing scream that could ever come out of his mouth. He cried. He cried and cried and cried. He cried until no more sound came out and his eyes burned.
He didn't notice when the other four came into the room and held him close.
All Logan did was trace the words on the page.
"I love you too, my bumblebee."
The sides could only feel the hole in their heart grow bigger.
~~~~~
I made myself sad again. I CAN'T EVEN CRY! MY PARENTS ARE IN THE ROOM! Curse my own brain ;-;
Here it is!
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First kiss Adrienette please? I’m a sucker for the love square, all sides, but I have a soft spot for their civilian selves
Edit: I made a mistake when answering my asks. This is actually the SOULMATES request. First kiss can be found right here.
*throws this at you and then runs away*
(Please keep in mind that pretty much all my Adrinette stories somehow turn into no miraculous AUs, and this one was no exception.)
***
Adrien woke with a start a 3:03 a.m. and couldn’t figure out why. His room was deathly quiet. His wide window was dark except for a smudge of moon behind a cloud. No dreams had startled him, so what was it? He sat up quietly, expecting to see something happen, and waiting for nothing. Why on earth was he awake?
Tomorrow was the first day of his second year of public school, and he needed his rest. He should go back to sleep, but instead of lying back down, he sat and listened for her.
Quiet enough to be overlooked, loud enough to be heard when he wanted tolisten, his soulmate’s heartbeat echoed distantly in his ears, steady and reassuring, a promise that she was out there waiting for him, that they would meet someday. Or had they met already? There was no way for him to tell yet.
What he did know was that she was sleeping peacefully somewhere. The steady thrum of her heart was soothing, pulling him back into his exhaustion. He was almost there, dancing along the edge of sleep, when her gentle pulse became a breakneck gallop, and Adrien blinked back awake at the sound. Her heart raced. At night, a sudden change like that could only mean one thing: a nightmare had woken her up. It had happened a few times before. He’d be up late, he’d hear her and worry, but she would go back to sleep quickly.
This time was different. After about five minutes of listening to her heart wildly thumping, he grew concerned. Shouldn’t she have gone back to sleep by now, or at least started to calm down? It must have been more serious than a simple nightmare. Was something wrong?
If they’d been together, he would have waited up with her so she didn’t have to be alone, soothed her and calmed her down. Apart, he still waited with her, though he knew it was impossible for her to feel the warmth and comfort he was trying to send her. If only he could tell her he was there for her!
But, he thought, struck by a sudden idea, maybe I can help after all. He could hear her heartbeat, and she could hear his. They were two halves of a whole. Maybe listening to her soulmate’s heartbeat was her favorite pastime, too.
Blankets were thrown onto the floor as he bounded out of bed and sprinted across his large room, tapped the opposite wall, then back, flopping on top of his covers. If she’d been listening, the short spike of his heart rate would let her know he was awake too, that he was with her. He made the dash again, then a third time, before tucking himself back into bed and taking deep breaths. That should be enough to get her attention.
Phase two of the plan was to hope she was listening and get her to calm down. Adrien breathed in slowly, held it, then breathed out even more slowly, like he’d been taught. Control the breath to control the heart and anxiety. As his racing pulse slowed, hers did too. Peace settled between them, and in a few minutes, she returned to the same steady pace she’d been at when he’d woken.
He had helped her. Even without being able to touch her or see her, without even knowing her name, he’d given her enough comfort to be able to sleep.
Not for the first time, he wondered what she would look like. He’d never tried to imagine a look for her, but he couldn’t shake the smell of cookies when he thought of her, or the feeling of his lips against her cool skin and her bangs tickling his nose as his kissed her forehead. In his mind, he gave her that kiss every night before he went to sleep, and he did it again now.
“Goodnight,” he whispered.
***
Adrien had a good feeling about this school year. Granted, it hadn’t technically started yet, but he’d gotten a seat next to Nino again, so that was a good sign. Nino spun his cap in his hands as they waited for the first bell to ring. Familiar faces filed into the classroom one at a time, distracting Adrien from the story he was trying to tell.
“And so after she woke up…” Nino prompted again.
“Sorry,” Adrien said. “I thought there had to be something I could do to calm her down. She felt so panicked! And– Oh, hey Marinette! Are you okay?”
Marinette’s eyes were glazed over with exhaustion as she trudged into the classroom, but at his question she stood up straighter and managed a tired smile and a flustered “You’re– I’m f-fine,” before tripping her way up to the spot Alya was saving for her right behind him.
“And you calmed her down how?” Nino prodded.
“Sorry,” Adrien said again. Without any more interruptions, he continued telling the story, angling himself in his seat to include Alya and Marinette. He’d hoped they’d all be impressed with his creative solution, or at least think he was some kind of romantic hero, but he was disappointed.
“I’m telling you, dude, you are the biggest sap I’ve ever met,” Nino said. “And I’ve met Marinette.”
“Hey!”
“It’s true,” Alya said. “You’re both disgusting.”
“I’m serious, though!” Adrien said. “She didn’t start calming down until after I let her know I was there. I helped.”
Alya scoffed. “She probably just fell back asleep and wasn’t even listening.”
But when he looked at Marinette, her eyes were wide. A blush crept across her face, as cute as it was familiar. She seemed to be blushing every time he looked at her, but this one was different somehow.
“You believe me?” he asked, leaning back in his chair to get a better look at her.
“How long have we known each other?” she asked.
Confused by the question, Adrien let his chair drop back to the ground. “I missed the first day of school, so a year ago tomorrow. Why?”
“I… I woke up this morning. Early. I’d had a nightmare, and then I was worried about school and couldn’t fall asleep, and–”
“What time?” Adrien asked. Without hesitation, he kneeled backward on his seat, so he was level with Marinette. They’d met almost a year ago. Was she saying… Could it be?
“Just after three,” she whispered. “I listened for his heartbeat – my soulmate’s, I mean. I do that a lot.” She pushed her bangs out of her eyes nervously. “I was worried about class today, and I couldn’t go back to sleep. And was alone, and he woke up. I listened until I fell asleep. He… he helped me.”
Alya and Nino watched them silently. Adrien found he didn’t know what to say, but when she leaned back in her seat, eyes downcast, he realized she’d been waiting for a response. “That’s… that’s good. I’m glad you were okay.”
“Um,” she said, voice very quiet. “Thanks.”
Had it been her? Was her gratitude for the sentiment, or his help last night? Her story seemed too perfectly matched to be a coincidence.
The teacher walked in and started class, and Adrien regretfully turned to the front of the room. But for the entire day, he couldn’t concentrate on what anyone (except Marinette) said, not while she was sitting just a few feet behind him.
He knew how you found out your soulmate. It was one year, down the the exact second, after you met them. If it was Marinette, he would know the love of his life’s name tomorrow. They might be together forever, starting tomorrow.
At the end of the school day, he gathered his things quickly and found Marinette standing at his elbow when he stood up to leave. She didn’t speak to him, or even look at him, but he knew why she was there. He wanted to be close to her, too.
They walked out together in easy silence. The bustle of the student body, with its yelling, and pushing, and slamming lockers reflected his own excitement. He could find out tomorrow!
Outside, they stopped at the bottom of stairs and waited for Adrien’s driver. It was only a short walk to Marinette’s home. There was no reason for her to wait with him, but wait she did. She stayed next to him, her sleeve occasionally brushing his bare arm, until the limo weaved its way through the throng of leaving students and pull up to the door.
“Well,” she finally said, and Adrien turned to listen. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Definitely,” he said. “Tomorrow.”
***
Adrien’s soulmate was up late that night. While he lay in bed, willinghimself to fall asleep, he listened to her heart racing. Would Marinette’s image be imprinted on his mind in a few hours? Was that her heartbeat he was hearing? Was it so fast because Marinette was excited about the morning? Nervous?
What if it was Marinette? What if it wasn’t? He’d never considered her before, instead always wanting to wait for his soulmate, but he had never denied what a nice person she was. Caring, creative, and courageous. He would be so lucky if it was her.
Adrien didn’t feel tired until his soulmate’s heartbeat slowed to the steady rhythm of sleep. Just before he drifted off himself, he completed his nightly ritual of kissing her forehead, but this time, it was pale skin, dark hair, and blue eyes that he imagined.
***
Adrien was wide awake the instant he woke up. He had known Marinette for 364 days and 23 hours. He had only one more hour until he knew whether or not it was her, and he couldn’t have been more nervous. Or more ready.
Rushing through his morning routine, gulping down his breakfast so fast he couldn’t remember if he even ate it, he was ready to go 30 minutes earlier than normal. Waiting for his ride was agony. There was nothing to distract him, just the pounding of her heart, which beat in time to his.
When the car finally pulled up, the ride seemed to take forever. They were stuck behind the slowest drivers and had to stop for every pedestrian in the city. The armrest was going to have holes in it if he drummed his fingers on it any harder, he was sure.
The soulmate process didn’t require him to be around her when their year was up. But he wanted to be. If Marinette was the one… he didn’t want to waste even a second.
Much to his driver’s annoyance, Adrien was opening his car door and sticking his feet out before the car had fully finished parking in front of the school. What was the time, exactly, that they had met last year? As he checked the time on his phone, he realized he couldn’t remember. It had been right before class had started, though.
Finding a spot along the wall where he could see Marinette’s bakery, the school’s front door, and everything in between, he waited for her. She was usually late, though he thought she’d been on time today. Students filed past him, and he checked every one of their faces, looking for her. With any luck, she would arrive after everyone else, and they would be the last ones outside together.
The minutes ticked on. (He knew they did. He checked the clock 18 times in the 15 minutes he waited.) Clouds rushed by overhead, going as fast as he wished Marinette would, but still she didn’t come. With only a few minutes left before the bell rang, she still hadn’t come, and Adrien had to admit defeat and go inside alone. He must have missed her.
The walk up to his classroom seemed long, even though it took him less than a minute. Lonelier than he expected, too. So many people around him were walking hand-in-hand. He grabbed his backpack straps just to hold something.
As he shuffled into the classroom, he was greeted with a very cheerful, “Good morning, Adrien.” There she was. Sitting in her usual spot, bright and shining in her excitement. “Did you just get here?” Her bouncing leg gave away the underlying anxiety. Alya put a hand on her knee under the table, but it didn’t help.
“N-no,” he said, stopping in the doorway to stare at her, like the idiot he was. “I’ve been outside. You came early?”
“Oh, yeah. Pretty much early,” she babbled. “No reason. Just happened to get here ago 30 minutes.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and glanced above the doorway, where the clock was sitting. No reason, she said. Sure.
When Kim poked him in the back, Adrien finally stumbled into the room, his knees feeling like jello. He passed Nino without even looking at him, swept past his desk without dropping his backpack, and came to stop at Marinette’s side. Still sitting, she looked up at him, and their eyes locked. Around them, the class’s usual chatter died out. Everyone watched them as the timer counted down.
When would it happen? Would it happen? What would he feel after it happened? How much longer? The seconds ticked on.
“Class,” the teacher announced, “seats.”
Adrien blinked and looked toward the front of the room, though he didn’t really see it. Class was starting? But he’d met Marinette before class a year ago.
Crushing disappointment rushed him as the truth sunk in. It wasn’t her. Marinette would have been so perfect for him, but she wasn’t the one.
A small sniff shook him from his thoughts, and he turned back to the girl in front of him. Marinette looked down at her hands as they trembled in her lap.
Another awful realization hit him, more brutal than the first. Marinette was brokenhearted. She had liked him already. How had he never noticed that?
Her chair squeaked as she stood up. “I just remembered that I don’t feel good and need to go home.”
“Marinette,” he said. He wanted to comfort her, but he wasn’t sure what he could say that wouldn’t make it worse. Seeing him would probably make it worse at this point, a reminder that they weren’t–
“Miss!” Alya called. Their teacher turned away from the board, chalk already in hand. Alya stood next to Marinette, arm around her shoulder and trying to push her back into her seat with no success. “That clock is fast. We can’t start yet.”
“I don’t think it’s–”
“Please!” the class called.
“Just a few more minutes!”
“Not yet!”
Do we really have more time?
Marinette’s eyes, still teary, found his again. For a moment, he was confused. He could swear the classroom looked suddenly different, just like last year’s. The room spun in his mind, until it fixed on Marinette’s clear face, full of anger at something he hadn’t done, but now he’d never been so happy to have someone mad at him. The flashback caused him to see her twice, expression of outrage overlaid on her current wide-eyed wonder. “What do you think you’re doing?” the memory whispered before it faded. “I was just trying to take the gum off!”
Maybe the rest of the class was staring at them. Maybe they’d already started the lesson. To Adrien, they didn’t even exist. His soulmate was standing right in front of him.
“Hi,” she whispered.
Like he had imagined doing so many times, Adrien leaned down and brushed his lips to her forehead. She grabbed his collar to keep him there a second longer.
Cookies, he thought. I guessed that right. But she was warm, though he had always imagined cold. Warm and real and right here.
“Hi,” he whispered back as he pulled away.
Instead of stepping down to his own seat, he walked around to Alya’s side of the table and grabbed the back of her chair. “May I?”
Alya scooped up her things without a word and went to sit in Adrien’s old spot.
He didn’t want to waste a single second that he had with her. Marinette echoed his sentiment. As soon as the teacher turned back to the board, she interlaced their fingers under the table. This was a brand new feeling, his soulmate’s fingertips against his, the promise of a future where they would never be alone. He loved it.
He loved her already.
***
Requests are closed, but you can check out the other ones I’ve fulfilled here.
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“ugh Sorry again for this I’d like to be spending the rest of the night with you but my work schedule is not something I have much control of.”
“It’s all right! I know how work is, don’t worry about it.”
“Yeah but hanging out with people is so better than working. “
Videl slumped onto the bed, reluctant to leave for work until who knows how early in the morning. at the very least it made Odd chuckle in amusement.
Anyways”, He began to stand , and fix up his shirt ,“ I told Liana not to bother you I don’t think she would but just in case. You know, I would prefer if you were just a little bit nicer to her but considering your condition I’ll let it slide for now”
“Sorry.. “
Videl Stepped over to Odd’s bedside and put his hand on his shoulder.
“Don’t worry about it chief I’m not angry. But yeah it’ll be tomorrow before you know it so try and get some rest all right?”
After saying goodbye he grabbed the bag from The bed frame and headed out. Although he would’ve preferred staying home, he didnt hate his part time job. Getting there though was a bit of Pain considering he lived in a quieter wooded area right outside the city And the fact he wasnt Very nocturnal but
Videl walked for about 10 minutes before he reached The edge of the neighborhood. The soft lights coming from the houses were no more But he had the moons to illuminate the way. He walked a little further to reach the carriage stop by the road. It wasn’t the most used stop considering it mainly Served the residents of the More upscale neighborhood so it cost bit more but that Really meant nothing if you live there. Videl took out A few coins from his pocket and inserted them Into the pole by the stop, Causing a faint light to glow From its lamp and Triggering the mechanism that would call his ride. He put his bag on the bench and proceeded to sit down and wait taking in the night air. Not something he often did As this was routine, But the air Was starting to become cooler as autumn Turned into winter. He was more than ready for that weather as It is most invigorating for him, Even if the amount consumed was pretty negligible he always liked not having to waste any magic keeping himself cool, also he had a new coat he wanted to show off. Oh And warm winter dates, lots of snuggling, extremely important. The thought made his heart flutter.
The sound of gallops over the stone road Could be heard from a distance, Videl Threw his bag over his shoulder and began to stand as A large Varic demon drawing A carriage drew near. He was quite familiar with her by now and Uttered a “hey” As she grabbed the key on her neck and held it towards the pole Get the money he had put in earlier and take her pay. Videl Brought out a little bit more As a tip.
“Eisthel Street, But if it’s too busy just drop me off in the Market stop As usual.”
He hopped into the carriage and the driver began running once more. He rested his eyes, Mainly to Continue indulging in the fantasies of good cuddles and kisses and dates. Akua technically is visiting every day to check on Odd, And they have been Taking advantage of whenever he is resting his room home for a little more quality time. But it’s nice?? And what else was he going to do in the next 20 minutes?
When he got to his destination which was fortunately was the one closer to his job. He thanked the driver and after watching her leave went through the back alleys, Making sure not to be seen. When he got to the door he made sure to do the special knock, three times a pause two times a pause and then four times. He heard his boss give him The all clear, and he produced a key to unlock and enter.
“I’m assuming you’re early for the coffee huh?”
“ yeah got up a little bit early today.”
Videl entered the back room kitchen, there were bottles everywhere today, Specifically dirty ones. He put his bag on a chair and unzipped it to start changing into his uniform, just the dress for now. A long black Fitted a line dress does that ends right below the knees. Long sleeves of course, just the traditional work garb, Made of fabric thats pretty good for working with less safe substances. there is a still a fair amount of coffee left in the coffee maker so he took whatever was left and mixed it with some milk and sugar began to chill it in his hand.
“ How’s the kid?” Asked Von. Attriche from the other room.
“Oh He’s been all right. Better than A few days ago but still pretty febrile. He seems pretty anxious sometimes but I can’t do much about it since he doesn’t wanna talk. Kind of why I would’ve liked staying at home but.”
“ I need someone to clean all those jars.”
“I noticed .” he said with a sigh. He washed his cup as soon as he finished drinking put on his gloves and began one by one cleaning each jar. And he had to make sure to do a good job too, any residue could be disastrous mixed with the wrong substances. It took him 30 minutes to finish. Listening carefully in case anyone might enter the shop. no one did, it is getting late after all but emergencies happen, a stressed out parents might Burst in desperately hoping they carry the right medicine already bottled and ready to be sold. Happened last week, startled them enough that they almost messed up the brew he was concocting. Once finished he checked the board for tonight‘s work. Unsurprisingly frost bane is highest priority. Winters become extremely coldAt times and a city like this has many traveling in and out. It’s can be exhausting for the user to consume too much too often but it’s always good to have a flask on the coldest of days. Having magic affinity towards ice meant that Videl is the more adept at infusing the mixture than other demon, so he wasn’t surprised to be tasked with making them. Aphrodisiacs, always in demand, and poisons for outdoor pests before harvest season end. After he Noted the days work he put on his mask and hood, secured it tightly and entered the shop.
Outside it only says apothecary just a shop that people who know go to not that it doesn’t get a fair amount of customers it’s right at the edge of the market place after all. Most of the shop is just the work place, A lot of leaves, animal remains and potion bases in jars all over the wall. The tall counter that divides the work area from the tiny customer area hides the long work desk where are most of the ingredient preparation is done, chopping crushing, measuring, extracting certain parts of it And so on. Gives a place a weird scent, that changes day by day depending on what’s being produced. Most of the work area floor is covered in cauldrons, whether They are small ones on tables, or the very large one for concocting large batches usually for base mixture. Special attention needed not to overheat or let them boil over get them on yourself especially when you are monitoring multiple. Keeping track of which cauldron needs which ingredients or what type of magic infused how fast it should be mixed what it should look like.
It’s a lot of work so late (as is tradition) that required much training, but Videl as much as he would not admit it enjoys it, especially since he can do so without anyone recognizing him. AlSo wearing a very nice black dress fashions important on physically and mentally exhausting jobs.
He grabbed a few jars set them By a medium sized cauldron and went to work.
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Between Us (Chapter 4)
Summary: It’s the night before the opening of Shino’s New York, and chef de cuisine Souma receives two very different pieces of advice.
It was just after 2:30 am when Souma made it back to his small Queens apartment. The soft opening of Shino’s New York was tomorrow—tonight, technically—and it had occurred to him ten minutes before he was supposed to go home that the tables were arranged all wrong.
He was just locking the door behind him when Megumi padded out of the bedroom, rubbing her eyes. She wore a navy blue bathrobe and fuzzy slippers, and her hair hung loose around her shoulders.
Souma grinned upon seeing her, and leaned down to kiss her forehead. “Sorry I woke you.”
“It wasn’t you,” she said, smiling a little. “The upstairs neighbors were playing dubstep.”
“Again?”
She nodded. “I climbed up the fire escape and gave them a stern talking to, so it should be okay from now on.”
Souma raised his eyebrows a bit at this. Even after three years, she still surprised him every single day. “Hope you didn’t scare ‘em too much.”
“Just enough.” Megumi giggled a bit, and then stifled a small yawn. “What kept you out so late?”
“More stuff at the restaurant,” he said, shaking his head. There was always something to attend to —the fonts on the menus, the cushions on the seats, the lighting. This was nothing like running the diner with his pops.
“Are you coming straight to bed or do you want something to eat first?” Megumi asked. “I can cook if you’re too tired.”
“Actually, I’m gonna try revising the recipes for one or two of the menu items.”
A small crease formed between Megumi’s brows. “Souma-kun.”
“I’ll only be a couple of minutes,” he assured her, “an hour tops, but you should get back to bed. Executive chef’s work is never done, right?”
Megumi shrugged a bit, as if to say she knew he was deflecting and she wasn’t having any of it.
“You and Shinomiya-senpai spent all summer working on that menu. Everything on it is world class cuisine, and I can say that because you had me taste test at every stage.”
Just then, she took his left hand in her right, drew the kanji for person with her thumb, and left a lingering kiss on the center of his palm.
Souma sighed, feeling a bit of the stress leave him. “Tadokoro—”
“It’s not like you to be so anxious, Souma-kun,” she said. “No matter what, tomorrow is going to be fine.”
With that she went back into the bedroom, leaving the door cracked behind her. It was a quiet invitation; she wouldn’t push the matter more than that.
Souma was poised to follow her in when his phone started ringing. It was an international number, the country code for which he couldn’t quite place. Thinking it was one of the restaurant’s ingredient suppliers, he decided to pick up. It’d take five minutes, ten. He’d catch Tadokoro before she fell asleep again.
“Hello?”
“I read in Food & Wine that your opening’s today.”
Of all the voices in the world, Souma hadn’t expected hers to be the one on the other line. “Nakiri?”
It had been nothing but radio silence from her since graduation, even in the group chat with Alice, Hayama, Arato, and Kurokiba.
“Just calling to remind you not to fuck up.”
“I’ll try not to.” He laughed. “Where the hell are you now anyway?”
“Abu Dhabi. At brunch.”
“Nice.” Souma could see her now, walking away from an ornate table overflowing with delicacies she knew she could have made better. He paused for a moment. “Nakiri, let me ask you something.”
She sighed into the receiver. “If you must.”
“Hypothetically, let’s say you’re opening a restaurant, and you’re considering making a last-minute change to the menu.”
“I’d say it’s generally inadvisable,” Erina replied, and he could hear her measuring her words the way she did sometimes, like she wasn’t sure how much of the answer she’d give him this time. “And wildly eccentric. It would be a huge inconvenience to the printers, the serving staff, the sommelier.”
Souma nodded a few times. “You’re right about that, but—”
“I’m not finished,” Erina said. “Doing something like that would be a huge risk and cause immeasurable trouble for all parties involved, but at the same time, I’d never put out a dish I’m not fully confident in.”
“So what you’re saying is—”
“I’m saying you don’t have time to be talking to me right now, Yukihira-kun. Now get to work. It’d bring shame upon the academy if you were to sully the reputation of Shino’s.”
Then, in classic Nakiri fashion, she hung up before he could thank her. Souma knew better than to try the number again.
He shook his head, then headed towards the kitchen. There’d be no rest if he wanted the reviews to leave his rival speechless from halfway across the globe.
“Sorry about that,” Erina said as she returned to her table. Across from her was Elaine Shiraz, a young culinary blogger she’d befriended on her travels.
“No worries,” she assured. “But did I hear you mention Shino’s just now? One of my colleagues is covering the New York opening tomorrow and I’m about to die from jealousy.”
Erina shook her head a little. “I did mention it.”
“Everyone at True Taste is freaking out because Chef Shinomiya picked a new graduate as chef de cuisine over his tried and tested sous chefs in Paris and Tokyo.”
At this, Erina smiled a bit. It wouldn’t make much sense to North American publications like True Taste Magazine. For those outside of Totsuki and its affiliate organizations, Yukihira Souma had been an unknown until this year’s BLUE. “Your fellow correspondent will understand when she tries his cooking.”
“That’s right,” Elaine said, taking a small sip of her mimosa. “You and this Chef Yukihira were schoolmates. Tell me, what kind of cook is that person?”
With a sigh, Erina polished off the second bellini she had to order to work up the nerve to call him, and then waved the waiter over to bring her a third. “What I’m about to say stays off record,” she explained, a hint of a threat in her voice.
Elaine nodded. “That goes without saying. Your friend Hisako made me sign an airtight contract after we first met in Madrid.”
Of course she had.
Even when she was working fifty hour weeks and earning a degree in Nutritional Science, Hisako still somehow found the time to mother her.
“The thing about Yukihira is he’s an impertinent upstart, and his style is woefully pedestrian, but despite all that…” She sighed. There was no easy way to put this. “In the kitchen, he’s a genius. His dishes change people, and I have to say that I had no particular love of food or passion for cooking before I met him.”
When she finished speaking, Erina downed the third bellini in one go, her face flushed beyond belief. She had never admitted all of that to anyone, not even Hisako.
“Follow up question,” Elaine said.
“Go.”
“Are you two still together? Because I was going to set you up with someone. He and my boyfriend are gonna be at the Emirates Palace later tonight.”
“Yukihira and I never dated; we never will.” At this point, Erina was contemplating a fourth drink. “And who is this person you wanted me to meet?”
“Only the son of the world’s biggest luxury aircraft supplier,” she said. “He studies business at Oxford and bankrolls a charity dedicated to stamping out hunger—not to mention the fact that he’s a huge foodie—”
“Only plebs call themselves foodies.”
“Sorry, a huge culinary enthusiast. And he can’t wait to meet you—if you’re up for it, that is.”
Erina made a face, stewing as she considered her options. The devious voice in the back of her mind, which sounded suspiciously like Alice, screamed that it was about time for her to have some fun. “What’s he look like?”
Elaine pulled up a picture on her phone, and Erina was immediately stunned by the worldly-looking gentleman in the impeccably tailored suit. This was exactly the kind of person she could have pictured herself with before that red-haired fool came along and ruined her.
She knew just by looking that she’d go through the motions with this man, allow him to court her and date him for just under a year. If upon dumping him she could convince herself to feel the slightest bit sad, she’d know that it was working, and try again with the next well-connected gentleman she’d meet through a third-tier friend.
“Attractive enough,” she said. “I’ll meet him.”
And to make sure the attraction stuck, she would be sure to ignore all her favorite culinary magazines and blogs for the next several days.
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My Euphoria
Pairing: J-hope (Hoseok) x Reader
Genre: Angst, Fluff
Word count: 2.4k
Warnings: Light swearing
Technically a part 2 to You’re My Fear but you can just read it as its own story
(a/n: so thanks to my friend who convinced me to write a fluff for Hobi so here you guys go! Feel free to tell me how to improve or drop in your requests here )
Stressed. That’s just what Hoseok was feeling. Plain stressed. With the tour coming up and all, there were a lot of preparations the boys had to make, and of course, putting spectacular performances for ARMYs is the core goal to achieve.
Early morning (or should I say late midnight) practices has clearly taken a toll on the boys, especially on Hoseok. Being the lead choreographer and dancer doesn’t really scream easy on him especially with Namjoon and Jin dancing. The same thing cycled every day, whether it was leaning a new choreography or practicing and revising current choreographies, they practiced through them all.
For the past few months when Hoseok was tired, stressed or just having a bad day, his mind wandered off to something, and without fail the first thing he pictures is your smiling face. His fans, even his members called him the sun but you, you were his shining sun. This time was no exception, the boys are currently having a mini break and his mind was immediately preoccupied with the thought of you. This time however, it was different. Smiling images of you was soon replaced with your face filled with tears.
“I have no right to think about her, not after what I’ve done to her,”
Hoseok cleared his thoughts before continuing on the choreography he had been working on, pushing all thoughts he had about you aside.
Around 10:30 pm rolled by and the boys just finished eating their dinner, and of course, it’s back to work. Not long after they started practicing on their individual/group stages, Jungkook came looking for Hoseok’s help.
“Hobi hyung ah, uhm can you help me with this part of the dance? I just can’t seem to get the footing and the timing right,”
“Uhm sure just give me a moment,”
Being the youngest, Hoseok had no problem in immediately helping Jungkook.
“So which part?”
“This part right here,”
Jungkook was preparing for a surprise performance with his solo song Euphoria, and of course the song included a dance. Jungkook turned on the video along with the music, showing Hoseok where he needed help. The instrumental played and he was concentrating on the dance, but his mind soon went back you when he heard the lyrics of the song that came after.
“You are the sun that rose again in my life”
His sun, you.
You were the only one that could light up his world with just one smile. You were the only warmth that could melt through his walls to his true self that he desperately hid from his fans.
“The second coming of my youthful dreams”
You, you made him cherish his youth.
Before he met you, all he wanted was to dance and work hard, not even giving himself a chance to rest and enjoy time. That all changed when you walked into his life. Sure, he still loved to dance but once in a while, you would make him stop and go out to have some fun. Whether it was having sleep overs or going on late night arcade dates, it made him realise that he wanted to have more fun memories of his youth, fun memories with you.
He snapped out from his thoughts after Jungkook called him, not noticing that he had paused the video some time ago. Jungkook sighed, he knew what his hyung was thinking, after all, they were roommates once.
“You miss her, don’t you?”
“What…?”
“Y/n, you miss y/n don’t you”
“I….”
No, he cannot, he has no right to, not after what he did. Looking at Jungkook, he was reminded of that night. He felt rage boiling through him again, he was furious when he saw Jungkook cuddling you, both sleeping on his bed, he was furious at how you were in someone else’s arms, but most importantly, he was furious when he saw your face filled with tears, and that he was the reason behind those tears. He was furious at himself, for making you cry. After you left that day, Jungkook told him everything and the reason why you were with him. Feeling extremely guilty, Hoseok told Jungkook the truth about the whole event that led him to hurt you.
“I do kook, but… but I can’t, not after what I did to her…”
“But hyung, you can’t do this to yourself, please, you have to talk to her,”
“No kook, I can’t, I just… I just can’t okay”
“Why not hyung? For the past two weeks you have been nothing but a moping, walking rain cloud, even the others are noticing and asking questions. Please just talk to her plea- “
“I CAN’T BECAUSE I’M A FUCKING COWARD OKAY, I can’t because whenever I see her, all I can think of is how I made her cry, how I hurt her, how I lost her. Do you think I have the right to even talk to her because I damn well think I don’t”
“Hyung, I’m sorry if you feel that way but hear me out okay? She still cares for you deeply, she doesn’t think it’s your fault cause you guys weren’t even dating. So please hyung, just talk to her please”
“Bullshit Jungkook,”
“No, hyung it’s true okay. Ugh she told me not to tell you just in case you get mad but, she still texts me just to check up on you, to make sure that you don’t overwork yourself, all of us or that matter, but mainly you. Why do you think I keep passing you snacks and water? I’m doing it on behalf of her. So please, talk to y/n.”
He just felt even more guilty. You are such an angel, you still cared for him so much, even after he deliberately hurt you, he really did not deserve you.
“I’d really want to but do you think she would even let me talk to her? Do you think she’d even wanna see me?”
“Well, that’s something you’ll have to find out for yourself hyung. But please just talk to her at least to give you some closure. I just don’t wanna see our sun be so dim, and that includes all of us”
After Jungkook’s pleas, and very little thought, he decided that he will talk to you, right now.
“Hey guys, I’m gonna call it a day, I just realised I have something on, meet you all back at the dorms okay? Bye,”
Out ran Hoseok after quickly grabbing his things, running to his car (it’s actually Jin’s but shhhhh). The others just gave a quizzical look, usually he would be the last to leave, but he was never EVER the first to leave. Finally being able to talk sense into Hoseok, he smiled to himself.
“Good luck hyung, you can do it”
The members were even more confused at this point but they just decided to question them tomorrow and continue their practice.
•
•
•
•
15 minutes later…
Hoseok pulled up beside your apartment building and he practically ran to the elevator, pressing the button to your floor. Walking up to your door, he was about to ring your doorbell when all of his doubts started running through his head. What if you don’t wanna see him? Looking nervously into his phone he just realised the time – 11:56 pm.
“Shit what if she’s asleep? You know what fuck it, here goes nothing”
Gathering up his courage, he rang the doorbell. In what felt like forever, you cautiously open the door to find a sweaty, nervous, messy and extremely sexy Hoseok in front of your door. Without hesitation, you invited him in, fearing he might catch a cold from the night breeze. The atmosphere immediately became heavily awkward right when you closed the door. Not daring to go any further than your hallway, Hoseok just leaned into your doorframe, looking at you shift awkwardly.
“Damn how does she look so beautiful even in your PJs? FOCUS HOSEOK THIS IS YOUR CHANCE YOU IDIOT MAN UP” pushing his thoughts aside, he finally spoke.
“Y/n,”
You looked up at him when he spoke your name, you tried your best not to jump and hug him, you missed him so much, even him just saying your name made you weak.
Hoseok continued, shaking you out of your thoughts.
“I am so sorry if I woke you up, I know you have work tomorrow but… But I have something important to tell you….”
“No no it’s okay uhm I was just about to make a snack so uhm yeah what brings you here Hoseok? Do you need something uhhh I don’t know how I am of help but – “
“I’m sorry”
“What?”
“I’m sorry y/n, I am very terribly sorry, for being with that girl, for making you cry, for hurting you, I am sorry” His voice cracking up at the last part.
“Hoseok ah, please don’t be sorry, you don’t have to be, we’re not even together to begin with, if anything, I should be sorry for being emotional about it”
“No, y/n, you don’t understand, I hurt you, that’s what happened. Please, don’t feel sorry, I should be the one feeling sorry okay?”
You were about to say something until he cut you off again.
“I don’t know an explanation is what you need right now but I’m gonna give you one anyways, because you deserve to know. My friends from Gwangju came to Seoul and invited me out for drinks, I initially said no because you were coming over but they told me it’ll be only for a few hours. I went any ways cause they’re my friends. I got batshit drunk and this girl was all over me, I wasn’t thinking straight and well… that’s what happened. I’m sorry y/n you must hate me even more now,”
“Hoseok, I could never hate you really, I was hurt because every time when I hinted that I wanted something more, you just, brush it off, but knowing that you had sex with her just made me feel that maybe you don’t like me anymore”
Seeing your sad smile, his heart strings pulled, not knowing you felt that way.
“You wanna know why I never want to go further than just making out? It’s because I’m in love with you y/n, I’m head over heels fucking in love with you and I just don’t wanna make you feel that I’m only with you because of the sex, because you deserve much more than that, much more than me. You don’t have to forgive me but know that I’ve been missing you like crazy for these past two weeks.”
Finally giving up on your self-control, you hugged him. You felt him jerk up from that sudden action, but soon, he melted into your arms.
“Hoseok, I forgive you. And I am so sorry for being so selfish, only thinking about myself when all you thought of was me.”
Wrapping his arms around you, he spoke again.
“Y/n, stop it please, stop apologising for things that you’ve never done wrong. You’re an angel, my angel that still checks up on me even after I made you cry, my angel that never fails to keep reminding Jungkook to take care of me. And I love you for that. So please just stop apologising.”
Pulling away embarrassed, you asked bashfully,
“So Jungkook told you huh? And you’re not mad?”
“How could I ever be mad at my angel, y/n?”
Smiling to yourself, you finally replied back the words he always wanted to hear.
“Hoseok ah, I love you too.”
Sure, he had heard you say it before, but it was full of sadness and hurt, but this time, it was filled with happiness and love.
Cupping your cheek into his palm he leaned closer to your face, finally his soft plump lips met with your own. It was a kiss filled with sorry and love, as if apologising for everything and showing you that he loves you. Pulling away slowly, you opened your eyes, just to be met with his own dark brown orbs, looking back at you.
“I love you, y/n, I really do, so please, be my girlfriend?”
“I love you too Hobi, and yes I would love too”
Smiling at the nickname that you hadn’t used in two weeks, he kissed you again, this time full of passion. Things were getting heated until you pulled away.
“What’s wrong y/n?”
Looking at him panicked, all you could do was giggle.
“Nothing Hobi, it’s just that it’s late and I have work tomorrow, not to mention you need to shower.”
“Ah shit you’re right, it’s okay I’ll go now.”
You grabbed his hand immediately, not wanting him to leave.
“No, uhm, I was actually thinking if you could just stay the night, I mean I won’t force you too, but it’s late and I have spare clothes and I was also thinking that uhm thatwecouldcuddletogethertosleepyaknow,”
Laughing at your flustered self, he took your hands to look at your cute blushing face.
“If my angel wants me to stay then I will, anything for my babygirl,”
Feeling your cheeks redden even more at the new nickname, you led him to your room where you picked out some oversized shirt and sweatpants, it might not fit him but it’s something. Handing Hoseok a towel, you gushed him into the shower.
After Hoseok was done showering, he walked into your room to find your sleeping form on the bed. Smiling to himself, he climbed onto the bed, being careful to not wake you up. He was met with your sleeping face, peacefully in a sleeping bliss. He looked at how the moonlight shone onto your face, how your long lashes casted a mini shadow on your eyes, how your mouth was slightly ajar and how steady your breathing was.
Kissing your forehead, he softly spoke his promise to you.
“You are so beautiful y/n. You have no idea how much you changed me, how happy you made me these past few months when I met you. I promise to never hurt you ever again because you deserve the world and so much more. I love you so much y/n, and you are and forever will be my euphoria.”
(a/n: I wrote most of this ard 2 am so I’m sorry if there’s any mistakes)
#bts#bts fic#bts angst#bts fluff#bts smut#jhope x reader#jhope x you#jhope fluff#jhope angst#jhope smut#hoseok angst#hoseok fluff#hoseok smut#namjoon angst#namjoon fluff#namjoon smut#suga fluff#suga angst#suga smut#jungkook angst#jungkook smut#jungkook fluff
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Your Light in the Mist - Chapter 1
The weather in Hawaii is everything they say it is…absolute perfection. I would have preferred to visit in January as opposed to June, fleeing the abysmal cold that is the norm in New York City, but as I wasn’t on the conference planning committee I hadn’t any choice in the matter. After two twelve hour days of being cooped up in a conference room at the Courtyard Marriot Kaua'i, all I wanted to do was plop my ass down on a lounge chair, stick my toes in the warm sand and think about anything other than social media marketing and implementation and…gods, please make it stop. I rolled over in the king size bed and squinted at the digital click. Nope, still a big blur. I fumbled for my glasses, shoving them roughly in place, and tried again. It read 7:23 AM.
“Well, fuck me. So much for the sunrise ceremony on the beach.” My voice echoed in the 528 square foot room, which was nearly as large as my studio apartment back home. Since it was technically a ‘free’ day for me, I had opted to not set the alarm and instead rely on my internal version to ensure I was up in time. Apparently my body clock was still off kilter from the time difference. I padded across the room and opened the louvered doors to the balcony, closing my eyes as I let the ocean breeze wash over me.
“Mmm, someone needs to remind me why I continue to live in New York, because I can’t think of a single reason right now.” Talking to myself was a lifelong habit, most likely the result of being an introvert. I spent an inordinate number of hours interacting with clients every day, pretending to be an extrovert…when I wasn’t working, all I wanted was to be alone. If I didn’t allow myself to slip into my own world whenever circumstances permitted I’d quickly become unable to function properly, often lashing out at those around me. And that’s not exactly good for business.
I raised my arms above my head, stretching to work the morning kinks out…and then I remembered that I was standing on an oceanfront balcony one story above a public beach clad only in a t-shirt. “Shit. Say aloha to my lady bits, Coconut Beach.” I retreated into the room, wondering if anyone had witnessed my R-rated maneuver. I pulled the threadbare t-shirt over my head and tossed it on the floor as I walked toward the bathroom. I opened the faucet, pushed in the shower knob and hit the temperature memory button I’d configured after checking in…what a luxurious convenience THAT was. I set my glasses as far back as possible on the counter to reduce the risk of knocking them off when I towel dried my hair. As I stepped over the tub rim, careful not to trip, I realized that I had neglected to shut the balcony doors. I face palmed and groaned, then glanced at myself in the mirror. “Congratulations, Maude. You’ll soon have no dignity left to salvage.”
****************************************************************
I frowned at the clock as I dressed, wondering if it was possible to trek 25 miles to the other side of the island to the Talk Story bookstore and be back in time for the Kauai Museum’s ‘Ōlelo Mai Nā Kūpuna Mai at 10:30. Traditional Hawaiian lore as told by a Kahuna wasn’t high on my list of ‘things I need to do in Hawaii’ but I knew lots of conference attendees would be there, providing me with a perfect opportunity to schmooze. My frown turned into a grimace at the thought of having to use my tablet as a reader all week and I decided the schmoozing could wait until Wednesday’s Hula Class, which would probably be vastly more entertaining. Despite my love for tech in all of its forms, nothing would ever compare to the feel of a book in my hands. There’s just something incredibly sensuous about the weight, the texture of the paper, the sound of the page turning…a representation of a physical connection between the author and the reader. Work led me to a multitude of locations, and for every stop that was new to me I made it a point to purchase a book I hadn’t read, inscribing the place and time inside the front cover. So much better than picking up a tacky souvenir that served no real purpose, and I loved browsing my bookshelves and knowing the exact moment when I began my journey into a particular story. I sighed, mulling over the fact that my apartment was bursting at the seams with books and what that said about the state of my affairs. Of lack thereof, as it were. I strapped on my Birkenstocks, put my unruly reddish-brown hair up in a ponytail and made for the door, giving myself a quick pat down to make sure I had my car keys, cell phone, wallet and room key tucked away in my hiking shorts. Yep, good to go. I watched the door close behind me and started toward the single flight of stairs that exited to the parking lot.
My phone rang just as I was approaching the Jeep Wrangler I had rented. It was army green, an older model…perfect, the sales rep said, for seeing the ‘real’ Kaua’i. I’ve always loved Jeeps, so he got no argument from me, though I had no intention of taking it off-roading. I could too easily envision myself getting it stuck in the mud and requiring a tow truck. Or an ambulance. “Pass”, I muttered while tapping the answer button on my phone.
“Maude Gallagher, how may I help you?’
“May I speak with Ms. Gallagher, please?” Though I did the vast majority of the work alone, my official company name was Maude Gallagher, LLC and it was a common occurrence for people to assume that someone other than me would be answering the phone.
“This is Ms. Gallagher. But please, call me Maude.” Ten seconds of silence followed.
“So sorry, Ms. Ga…Maude. I’m afraid I didn’t recognize your voice. Luke Windsor here, of Prosper PR. I attended your seminar on how to use social media to enhance client reputation Saturday. Which was wonderful, by the way. It’s something I’ve been involved with for a number of years, but you presented some exceptional ideas I plan on implementing immediately once I’m back on the home front.”
Luke Windsor…I knew the name, but couldn’t quite put my finger on any of Prosper’s clientele, and his English accent was doing little to help me focus. I made a mental note to Google him when I had a moment. “Thank you, Luke. It’s always a pleasure to know that an attendee found the information I provide to be of use. I appreciate you calling to let me know.”
“Oh, yes, very useful, and you’re quite welcome. But, actually, I was calling to see if you were free to meet at some point today or tomorrow to discuss a client of mine who’s been struggling with his social media presence lately. It’s a bit complicated as we’re close friends as well, and on this particular topic we don’t see eye to eye. At all. I think listening to a neutral party with your level of expertise may help him understand my perspective and perhaps he’ll permit me to do my job properly again.” He sighed audibly. “My apologies, Maude. That wasn’t very professional of me. I’m afraid I’m a tad…frustrated.”
“No need to apologize, Luke. Social media PR is pretty much impossible to pull off with any modicum of success when a client is unwilling to follow through, and it’s incredibly frustrating when the person who hired you is the one standing in the way of you getting the job done. I’d be happy to sit down and go over things. What day works best for you?”
“Actually, over lunch today at 2:00 PM would be ideal. Does that suit your schedule?” I closed my eyes and lowered my chin to my chest. So much for my ass in that lounge chair. But, you can’t expect to reap the benefits of being your own boss without accepting the sacrifices it demands as well.
“That will be fine, Luke. You pick the location that you’re most comfortable with and text me the address later, please.”
“I can’t thank you enough for doing this on such short notice, Maude. My client and I aren’t in the same place very often unless it’s a press event and it’s lovely of you to accommodate us. When I text the details I’ll send along the info you’ll need so you can forward me an invoice.”
“You’re very welcome. And, initial consultations are always free of charge.” Not many people in my field were willing to do anything for free, but I’d always felt that it was worth the gamble and helped me stand out of the pack. Often, the potential client would wind up paying for drinks and meals, so it wasn’t a total loss.
He paused briefly. “Well, I hope you’ll at least allow me to pick up the tab for lunch, then?” I laughed.
“If you insist. But be warned, I’m not a dainty salad and water kind of gal.” He laughed in turn. “See you at 2:00 PM, Luke. I look forward to meeting you and your client.”
“See you then, Maude. And thanks again!” I tapped the end call button and checked the time. It was 8:45 now, and after stopping at the Passion Bakery Café for breakfast it would probably be 9:30 or so. According to my directions, it would take around 45 minutes to get to Talk Story and another 45 for my return trip. I’d need to change and primp a bit when I got back to the hotel, but I’d probably be okay as long as I was out the door of the bookstore at 12:30. Two hours seemed like plenty of time to poke around, but I often got lost in such places. I set my phone alarm for 12:15, just in case. I climbed into the Jeep, intending to plug my phone into the auxiliary jack so I could shuffle some tunes for the ride. Much to my horror, not only was there no auxiliary jack, there was no stereo, period. Damn, how could I have not checked that? I pushed in the clutch and the brake, turned the key, put it in gear and made a left out of the lot towards the Passion Bakery Café. My stomach growled continuously in anticipation of my much needed breakfast. I looked down and patted my belly. “Well, it’s not Beethoven, but I guess it will have to do.”
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A Slow Moving Destiny - Returning
Content Notes: I’ve come back to the second-person pandemic story I started last January with ”Waiting” and continued it here (and added a title for the whole collection since this isn’t a standalone anymore).
There are beyond-the-natural-and-mundane elements to this storyline, but the primary focus is the internal experience of the mental state of loneliness, anxiety, time, (eventually) gender, etc. so consider that if these are tricky topics for you.
I don’t know if we’re still in tagbans hell, so I just won’t put any tags on this post. Maybe someone will find and like this story, and maybe it’ll just flutter out into the void.
I do recommend reading Waiting first. It’s only about 1.8K words.
Word Count: ~3.2K
January’s a month for depression. You’re not sorry to see it go.
Where DID it go?
It’s March—no. It’s April—no. It’s May. Yes. You check again. You’re very certain it’s May. Your phone agrees, your eyes glossing over the precise day and number, registering only the confirmation of May on the lock screen before you turn the phone back down on its face.
Calendar precision has long since stopped mattering.
You hadn’t been good with a calendar in the best of times. And this? Far, far from the best of times.
The year, now that should be easier. Twenty—you stop yourself, shake your head. No, not 2020. Twenty-one. 2021. You’re not entirely sure that time had meaning before, but it really doesn’t now.
A leak. Losing time, dripping from your attention unnoticed until you glance again at the clock—where did 5 minutes go? 10? Nearly 20 minutes now since you should have been in bed, and nothing to show for it. What were you doing? Nothing of significance. Not sure where the past 30 minutes went, but you can’t get them back now.
Could say the same of days, weeks. Years now behind you.
You should be asleep, because you have places to be at particular times tomorrow (tomorrow? Today? Todorro—it’s past midnight, and so technically today, but having not yet slept in your heart the concept feels like a tomorrow). But keeping yourself awake, even to no great end, is one of the few things you can control in this world, and so intended or not, you’ve been gambling away the health of your future to keep yourself awake in the endless now. Seconds gang up together and slip past you in clusters of minutes and hours, and your mind paces from one distraction to another. It seems like the unspoken thought is that there’s one distraction—you won’t know until you find it—that’s been the one you were looking for all along, that will feel perfect and right, will bring your soul contentment and make sense of all the lost time. But so far you haven’t found it. And though you should be sleeping, you stalk again in rapid cycle from one distraction to the next, waiting to feel tired, waiting to feel anything but an anxious unease, a vast sense of some wrong thing needing to be made right, waiting—
It’s morning. You sit up in a panicked burst. Shit. You hope it’s morning. Check your phone—realize you set all your alarms to PM instead of AM, but by whatever good fortune you feel like thanking, it is still morning by a wide margin, and you aren’t late.
You can return to the world—so they say. So they say. A part of you wants to, surely it does, but the greater part holds you back.
You hadn’t really gone out anywhere in—how long now? Months? And that had been the responsible kind, masked and measured apart in feet, outdoors in the winter chill. Six feet apart or six feet under—make your choice, so you thought, feeling terribly alone and terribly responsible.
Sleep with no rest. Days without anything done.
The day is only beginning, and you, weary, meet your own eyes in the mirror.
“I suppose I ought to describe myself”—this is what a male author of the most insidious, brazen kind would think at this point, if he were narrating your thoughts, he would force your mind into a bizarre roll call of your constituent parts, and assign value judgments to the shapes you find. But you are a person, and no one looks in the mirror and decides to describe themselves in such contrived ways. So you look in the mirror, at your own familiar face gazing back, and do not describe anything at all. And if anyone is looking in on your thoughts, hoping to glimpse you through them, they will just have to content themselves with being disappointed.
Besides, people ignore descriptions anyway, you think, poking at a spot on your chin that looks like it’s considering whether it’s worth the effort to inconvenience you by becoming a pimple. You have a little cream you could slather on it, something you bought in a fit of thinking you would start taking care of your skin in accordance with the rituals of the most influential Korean skin care blogs, years ago now. You kept up with it, for a time, but how can you really know if it’s working, or you just feel like it’s working? It’s hard to care—your skin will be what it wants to be, tucked and hidden now either behind your door, or behind a bit of fabric, glimpsed rarely if at all by anyone else.
Back to the train of thought at hand. Your appearance. Your skin. You could hand over an exact Pantone swatch of the color of your skin, describe the color of your eyes in molecular detail, and someone would still complain about whoever the studios cast as you in the direct-to-streaming recreation of your life. So why bother. Let them imagine whatever their biases want to see.
Of course there would be a recreation of your life. Why wouldn’t there be? Less entertaining stories than yours have been told. Something short, four episodes? No, they would at least fluff it out to five. A nice, psychologically satisfying number, regardless of content. They would bend it into something completely unrecognizable of course. Fold in a torrid love affair. Force you into a lot of little boxes, and ignore what can’t be buried under a neat and marketable label.
You are stalling.
These thoughts are not important.
It is a beautiful day, and you are supposed to be meeting your handler, because they think that once more, your destiny has come.
—
Traffic flows easily, the short ten minutes from your apartment to the latest little bastion of overwrought hipster charm your handler has chosen for a rendezvous. You could just as easily meet in the dirty parking lot of a Denny’s, but you have a hard time imagining Quel in that place, slid in a plastic-backed booth. Of course, you have a hard time imagining being inside of a Denny’s—or anywhere at all.
You are, you like to joke (to who? to yourself? your Twitter feed, a whispering testament to the ghosts of friendships you once had?) fully 5G compatible now; vaccinated, and vaccinated again for good measure, with a rousing day of chills, fevers, and headaches to prove it. So you are safe—as safe as someone can be, anyway,
So they say.
Doesn’t feel safe.
But look now, the strange sight of a parking lot dotted thickly with vehicles, and more importantly, people.
You haven’t seen this many people out and in one place in such a long time, everywhere the jut of noses, a slim press of lips giving way to the laugh of a dark, smiling maw—
Mouths. It’s just people, it’s just their mouths.
The sight seems unjustifiably scandalous.
You wonder if there will be classes on how to be normal again. Not unless it’s for a cutthroat profit, you think, and laugh, because that’s exactly what will spring up. You wish you were the right mix of functional and dishonest to be the one to do it.
“Dae!” Quel’s voice cuts across your thoughts, the clear and pleasing tone unimpeded now, mask dangling from their wrist as they wave at you from a wrought-iron table grouped outside of the little restaurant. Mask, mask, mask—a detail you wish you didn’t notice, but you can’t help it. You fidget with your own between your hands as you walk over, uncertain whether you ought to put it on first and then take it off and then put it on again to go in and order and then—
Again, your thoughts are cut off, this time as Quel has bounded over the last few steps to meet you and buried your smaller frame completely in a full-armed hug. Mask brushing somewhere over your right shoulder-blade.
You didn’t realize how barely held together you felt until someone else held you.
Even if that someone is quite definitely not human.
You mutter an embarrassed “Jesus” but sink into the gesture, your head tucked under a sharp chin, your own arms wrapping around Quel’s waist, mask crumpled in your fist.
“So good to see you. So good to see you,” Quel says, voice practically vibrating your skull where it’s pressed against their chest.
“Not sure you can really see me like this,” you reply, sarcasm on autopilot, words muffled by the embrace.
Quel tuts, and holds you out now at arms’ length to look you over properly. If you’d looked bad months ago, you surely haven’t gotten any better. But you’re here, and little more can be asked for at a time like this, right?
Your clothes technically aren’t pajamas, at least. Though they’d fit you much better in another lifetime… the one that had just been here, hadn’t it? and now seems impossible to ever touch again, a sense of normal suspended just past the end of your fingertips, that you should be grabbing hold of, living again...
But you can’t.
You look at Quel, their dark eyes so intently focused on you, expression so unabashedly concerned—what, for you?
“I’m fine,” you blurt. Ugh. The irresistible calling card of People Who Are Never Fine.
Quel lets it slide, giving your shoulder another squeeze before letting their hands drop and arc smoothly back up into putting their mask on. “And hopefully hungry. Come on. Let us go in and order.”
—
“That looks like my therapist,” you mumble, watching the man as you wait with Quel at the far end of the line.
“I’ll be outside,” the man says to the boy at the counter. Certainly sounds like your therapist too. But you’ve only seen Dr. Vittison in a controlled environment, exuding the soft and casual professionalism of his expensive half-button sweaters and crisp khaki pants, the fluff of his white hair neatly shaped in gentle waves around his head. This man who sounds very much like Dr. Vitty, as you called him but never to his face, looks like your brain doctor gone feral, wild hair zagging off at all angles, face half hidden behind a dark mask of no particularly interesting design, wearing such unthinkable goods as a t-shirt. Athletic shorts. Thick white socks and sneakers, rather than polished leather Oxfords with trouser socks.
Can’t be Dr. Vitty. Can it? No. Maybe? You press your hand over your mask, as if it might help obscure you further.
“Therapist?” Quel asks softly, pleased. “You did not mention that you were going to therapy. Good! Very good.”
“Err. I’m not,” you admit with a wince.
“Oh.”
“That was a long time ago. Few years, anyway. What’s to say? Most of my problems now aren’t gonna be solved short of overthrowing the selfish exploitative capitalist ruling class, and oh. Yeah. The destiny stuff that would definitely get me locked up against my will if I went into the details.”
Quel has the decency to look guilty, eyes darting up and away to seek absolution. It’s not like destiny comes with free therapy. It’s harmless to complain to your brain doctor about the sinister movements of planets being in retrograde—this is a socially acceptable delusion, shared by enough people that there’s no cost to believing such a thing. But to tell a psychological professional earnestly what happened the day you met Quel? The price would be either your freedom, or Quel’s.
—
You wouldn’t have opened the door if the sun hadn’t been up.
No, that’s not true. You wouldn’t have opened the door if you hadn’t been impatiently waiting for a package to arrive. What had it even been? The highest rated weighted blanket that free two day shipping could provide, if memory serves. See, 2020 was going to be your year. You had bought a nice planner. You had started picking your way down the wish list titled “Better Life” flush with Christmas money from relatives who meant well and didn’t know you at all. New running shoes—exercise being important for your mental health—and the weighted blanket—sleep being even more so.
The doorbell rang, and you opened the door, because you had a package marked out for delivery.
Destiny would have come for you either way, but maybe if you hadn’t answered the door, you could’ve unwittingly put it off a little longer.
You opened the door, and what you saw on the other side had not yet taken a shape fully comprehensible to the human mind. Panic began to build in your chest as your brain tried to make sense of the impossible twists of light being reported by your eyes.
“Daejuné! Be not afraid!” begged a voice from the light, trying desperately to resolve into something more visibly human. Goosebumps rampaged up your arms under the thin cotton of your long sleeved shirt, and not just from the cold. “I come in peace!”
When all else fails, there’s a certain level of sarcasm your most base-level reptilian brain still manages to revert to, while your higher-order thinking is busy trying to get its shit together and make sense of a situation. And so without thinking, you had exclaimed in a high pitched tone bordering on hysterical, “well I come shouting oh fuck fuck fuck! So what the FUCK—“ and as you spoke, the figure in front of you coalesced, light fading from warm brown skin, sparks dissipating from dark waves of perfect hair, until you stood facing a figure dressed in finely tailored winter clothes, features the most aesthetically pleasing arrangement without veering into the uncanny.
“I apologize,” said the figure, hands dancing in nervous gestures as they spoke, “but I could not, until it was you, I was not able to, that is—never mind. Not important.” The figure straightened up with a new weight of purpose. “My name is Quel. And you, Daejuné, have been chosen for a destiny.”
—
You know no more now than you did then about what exactly Quel is, or where they come from, but at some point it stopped mattering to you. There is Quel, and there are nameless others, and there are things you can’t know. Doesn’t matter now, though Quel insists there’s another destiny waiting for you, you find yourself almost indifferent to the thought, far more interested in what Quel will order, and whether it will be the other thing you wanted to try so that you can share. While the other shops in the plaza ooze with enthusiastic hipster charm, the place Quel has chosen, sandwiched between a fast-casual pizza joint and something heavily avocado-based, is an authentic Mediterranean grill, with slowly rotating and roasting meat being sliced from a spindle, free paperback Qurans neatly stacked in a table display by the door. The smell alone, savory and flavorful, tugs a quote up from your memory, “to all of us the thought of heaven is dear—why not be sure of it and make it here?” It definitely smells like they’ve managed to make heaven here.
Quel leans over the display case of sides, dithering between hummus and mujadara, hand hovering over the plexiglass before darting back to the orbit of their face, fingers not quite drumming against the fabric of their mask. You step up to the display case too and decide if you don’t take charge, you’ll both be standing here breathing salacious quantities of barely filtered shared indoor air for way longer than you’re comfortable with.
“They’ll have the mujadara. Gimme the hummus, with a chicken shawarma,” you tell the boy at the counter. The weather is warm enough for your tastebuds to want the gyro and its refreshing tang of tzatziki sauce, but emotionally you need the warm comfort of the spices in the shawarma. “You can have most of the hummus,” you say to Quel, “but I get one pita worth, and a very generous bite of your gyro.”
“It is a deal.”
—
You sit outside, your face and body studiously angled away from the last direction in which you saw your maybe-therapist, grateful for May, for just-warm air and gentle breezes, for pinpricks of sunshine filtering through tree leaves to scatter not-quite-heat along your cheeks, for this. This moment, small and almost good enough to forget everything else you’ve pushed to the edges of your mind.
Quel eats with a studied precision. As if eating were something they had done very well at on theoretical tests and detailed essays, and very rarely in actual practice. You dig in with the grace and manner of someone who hasn’t had to think about the sights and sounds of eating in front of someone else in a very long time. At least you remember, after a bite or two, to take a breath and to chew with your mouth closed. You pick up dropped morsels of chicken from the wax paper as you eat, and lick your fingers clean each time. The food’s too good to care about being respectable lest you waste a single taste of it.
“So what’s the deal?” you ask finally, after collecting your tax of pita and hummus, sliding the basket across the table to Quel. “Did you hear from the Others?”
Quel seems focused more intently on the food, hovering fingers dancing above the neat stack of pita triangles, as if one might be any different than the others, before picking one from the middle to drag through the hummus and eat before answering your question.
You ignore the hollow outlines of a headache building behind your eye sockets—is that a symptom?—and focus on Quel, on the thought of there being some new destiny that you alone had once again been chosen for. Perhaps this was an answer, the not answering, and you notice the intense look of consideration now aimed at you, the tongue darting between dark lips, the noncommittal head tilt, ever so slight, back and forth. Ah. Knowledge not for you.
You roll your eyes as you sit back. Can’t help it—you try not to be frustrated, or at least try not to broadcast it, because this isn’t new. Quel has never been forthcoming about so many things. What’s one more uncertainty, right?
Quel frowns apologetically, leaning forward over the table, voiced pitched in low and confidential tones. “I am sorry Dae, you know how…anyway.” They sit up a little, looking excited, still talking conspiratorially. “The point now is that I am certain. In terms of details, I do not have much of any, but that hardly matters. I do not need them to guide you. And I will guide you. I will guide you, and you will be ready.”
“Ready forrrr?”
There’s the head tilt, the shimmy and shake, the dodge that means you won’t be seeing an answer any time soon. But Quel is smiling, eyes bright with purpose.
“Training shall begin tomorrow.”
You give a groan of protest. You’ve settled into shapes ill-suited for little but weathering the storm of existing, of hunkering down under battened hatches of dutifully doing nothing. Training sounds like work, like the agony of movement, the suffering of activity. Part of you holds back, content to remain in waiting, but the greater part of you is desperately eager to have guidance that isn’t your own, to be part of anything bigger than yourself and the walls of your apartment.
“Fine,” you concede, “tomorrow.”
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My Small Bean
Note: This is my first ever fan fiction, so please don’t expect too much. The prompt is too cute I had to write it. Constructive criticism is always welcome.
Pairing: Mare ♡ Cal
Word count: 1,926
“We’re both baristas and sometimes I have trouble reaching for things and I show up to work one day to find a personalized stool with hearts and my name on it I HATE YOU but also thanks”
“Two Raspberry White Chocolate Mocha for Eve and Elane!” I wait as Eve and Elane, two of our everyday customers come and get their orders.
“Thanks, Mare!” Elane says, smiling.
“I’m not going to answer that with the usual thanks, come again. I know you two will come back anyway.” I reply, smiling back.
“Absolutely! Eve and I have been to all the cafés here in New York City, but yours is the best!”
Eve rolls her eyes and starts sipping her drink. “Oh, come on, Elane, don’t say that or she’ll get those praises into her head.”
“It’s true, though,” Elane looks at Eve, smirking. “You even said so yourself. ‘Mare, that bitch, has the best barista skills in the whole land of New York City.’ That’s exactly what you said while drinking the cappuccino she made and producing those orgasmic sounds at the same time.”
I laugh as Eve chokes on her drink. She quickly recovers and playfully glares at Elane, who’s burst out laughing with me. “You know what? We better leave. We’re late as it is. We really shouldn’t be abusing Ms. Skonos’ kindness and tolerance for tardiness.”
“Okay. Alright.” Elane turns to me. “She pretty much admitted those praises came from herself by changing the topic.”
Eve sighs dramatically and starts dragging Elane with her toward the doors. “Bye, Mare.”
“Bye, Mare.”
“Goodbye, you two.” I giggle. Because of those two, I’m starting my eight-hour shift with a bright smile.
Like every day, the café is jam-packed with people in the morning. It’s an everyday occurrence, so today’s supposed to be just like any other day, but unfortunately, all my three co-baristas are absent today for reasons I don’t know. This means I’m the only barista here to attend to all the orders. Kilorn and Cameron are present as well, but their job is limited to taking orders and handling the cashier. Technically, I’m not the only barista here. The café’s manager and owner is a professional barista whose skills are a mile better than mine.
Cal doesn’t usually make coffee with us, baristas, as he’s the boss; he only helps when more manpower is needed. Like today, for example. He’s been too grumpy the whole morning because the three absentees didn’t inform him at least one day in advance that they would all be absent at the same time today. Thanks to his skills, agility, and charm, not a single customer complained that their order is taking forever, and so, the café managed to accommodate God knows how many customers in the morning.
It’s noon now, the time of the day when there are only a handful of customers in the café. I’m about to take my 30-minute lunch break when Cameron places four more empty cups with names and orders written on them on the coffee bar. “Sorry, Mare. I know you’re really tired.”
“Don’t be silly. It’s my job.” I tell her, smiling.
I proceed to make Caramel Cinnamon Latte for four cups but notice that there’s no enough milk in the pitcher. I check the shelf beside the coffee bar but find nothing. We were very busy this morning that nobody remembered to replace the stocks on this shelf. Sighing, I make my way to the stockroom.
Whoever built the cupboards and wall cabinets in this café surely didn’t consider short people like me. The cupboards where packs of powdered milk, coffee, and sugar can be found are designed for the reach of literally 6-feet-tall people only.
I’ve been standing on my tiptoes, both arms raised vertically, trying my best to reach the tall cupboard, for a few seconds now. My co-baristas, who are all very tall people, usually do this stuff for me. I could ask Kilorn for some help, but he hasn’t returned from his 30-minute break, and it’s been more than 30 minutes. He couldn’t have chosen a better day to overspend his break. Of all days, it’s today when there are only the three of us and the boss is not in a good mood. Oh, poor Kilorn, he’ll definitely get an earful from—
“Short people problems, I see?”
A voice I would always recognize anywhere startles me and causes me to lose my balance. Apparently, I haven’t mastered my tiptoe balance.
I’m back on my feet right away. “Oh, God. You startled me!”
There he is, Cal, arms folded across his chest, a crooked grin on his beautiful face, his body leaning against the doorway connecting his office to the stockroom. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. It was a nice show, though.”
I walk toward him, a smile I can’t control suddenly forming on my face at the sight of his beautiful smiling face. “So instead of helping your girlfriend reach things she couldn’t reach, you just watched.” The moment his smile spreads so wide it crinkles his eyes, I realize what I’ve just said. Your girlfriend. I can feel the heat slowly spreading on my face.
“And here I thought you said you don’t like me acknowledging you as my girlfriend here in our workplace because we have to be ‘professional’.” He grins. “Though, I still don’t understand how you being my girlfriend and me your boyfriend makes us any less professional.”
“I’m sorry. It just came out.” I’m totally blushing now.
“Oh, come on, Mare. You know I would willingly announce in the middle of the café that ‘Mare Barrow is my girlfriend and I’m a lucky man.’ In fact, I can do it right now. Pity there are only four customers who will hear it.”
I smile at his words. Cal and I have been dating for only a month, and since one month is a very early stage of this relationship, we’ve both agreed to keep it a secret for the meantime. Sometimes, though, he can’t help teasing me about it.
“I see your mood has improved. Tell me about it?” When we were working together earlier this morning, he was kind of annoyed that three of his baristas were absent without notice. He was quiet and only talked when necessary.
“Actually, I came here to apologize for my attitude a while ago. When I was alone in my office, I realized I should have been happy that we were working together. Just the two of us. I should have savored every moment making different coffees and beverages with only you. I kind of love the idea of ‘barista couple’, what do you think?” Again, he smiles so wide it crinkles his eyes. It just reminds me of one of the many reasons why I like him so much. I don’t even realize I’m smiling like an idiot, mirroring his smiling face, until he mentions it. “Oh, you’re smiling. I guess that means you love the idea too.”
“That’s very cheesy. You know that, right?”
“Who cares? As long as we both love it. And so, instead of scolding the three for standing me up today, I rang them and generously extended their vacation by another day. This way, we can be ‘barista couple’ again tomorrow, and I promise I won’t be sulky; you’ll like me.” He says, eyes twinkling.
“Are you serious? Did you even ask why they are suddenly MIA today?”
“Of course, I did. It’s purely coincidental that they are all MIA on the same day. They thanked me for my understanding and for another day-off tomorrow.”
This time I laugh out loud. “I can’t believe you, Cal. You’re too kind and cool to be the boss man. Not scolding them for not showing up at work without notice. Handing out free day-offs. They won’t take you seriously.”
“So? You’re the only person I need to take me seriously.”
“Oh, shut up!” I giggle. I didn’t know until now that I, Mare Barrow, am capable of giggling. And it’s because of this wonderful man right in front of me.
“Not my fault I’m so in love with you.” He says so casually as if he’s just stating a statement he’s said so many times before.
My be-professional-at-work rule be damned, I’m going to kiss him right now. Standing on my toes, I cup his face in my hands and lean in.
Cal is quick to react. He places his hands on my waist and whispers, “I should have known that you’d break your own rule at some point.”
“My rule, mine to break.” I continue to lean in slowly and close my ey—
“Mare! Are you done yet? The customers are getting impatient!”
Cal and I immediately pull away from each other as Cameron walks in. “Oh, hi, Cal.” Cal doesn’t really like his employees calling him Sir.
To me, Cameron says, “Mare, what’s taking you so long? They’re getting pissed.”
Cal clears his throat. “No worries, Cam. I’ll do the orders. Mare can take her lunch break. She’s been working since 7AM.”
Cameron looks at the two of us. Her eyes alternating between my face and Cal’s as if searching for something. I suddenly feel like we’re under scrutiny. I can’t even look at her face. Finally, she says, “Okay. If you insist,” and makes her way back to the cashier.
I never once thought my attempt at kissing would turn out to be so awkward. I force myself to turn to Cal. “Uhm, thanks. I…I’ll go now…and…have my lunch.” I say, pointing my thumb in the direction of the door. It’s so unlike me to stammer, what’s happening to me?
“That’s what I said.” He grins.
“Alright. I’ll see you later?”
His smile slowly disappears. “I’m not sure if I’ll be here when you come back. I have to attend a business meeting.” But the smile quickly returns just as how it slowly disappears. “But don’t worry. We’ll definitely see each other tonight.”
“Okay. Take care.”
When I come back exactly 30 minutes later, Kilorn is already back. He smiles at me in greeting. There are only a few customers enjoying their drinks. Cal must have prepared those for them before he left for his meeting.
I pass by the stockroom on my way to the staff’s restroom when something catches my eye.
A ribbon. A beautiful big red ribbon tied to a heart-shaped wooden stool painted with small red hearts and my name carved in its surface. My name. There’s a small note on top of it.
I had this thing made and personalized for you a few weeks ago but didn’t know when I should give it to you, so it’s been hidden in my office. Your scene earlier today pushed me to just give it. I won’t always be there to help you reach those cupboards and cabinets. And neither your coworkers for that matter. I hope you’ll find this gesture cute. You can thank me later. See you tonight, my small bean. x
My small bean. Cal’s favorite endearment for me. According to him, it’s perfect for me; ‘small’ because obviously I’m a short woman, and ‘bean’ because while he’s always surrounded by different kinds of coffee and coffee beans as a barista, I’ll always be his special ‘bean.’ Cal and his horrible puns that I love. He likes making fun of my height. I pretend I hate it when he does, but honestly, I find it really annoyingly cute and endearing.
I read the note for the sixth time and suddenly burst out laughing and collapsed into giggles so loud, Kilorn comes running, asking if I’m alright.
You have no idea. I’m so much more than alright.
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The Ice We Skate
Viktor often found himself taking walks by himself outside Hogwarts’s castle in the evening of the dead of winter. Most of the other students called him crazy, but his Russian roots allowed him to barely notice the cold in the air. In fact it largely reminded him of St. Petersburg…during summer.
As one of the first students to take part in the Wizarding Schools Exchange Program, he occasionally found himself simply needing a break from the constant attention and fake smiles he found himself constantly plastering onto his face. Viktor would wander aimlessly until curfew then quickly head back to the dungeons of the Slytherin common room pretending like he had been studying in the library for the majority of the evening. No one would question him, and they would simply adorn him with the affections he used to love but was now finding quite trying.
On this particular walk he found himself walking in the direction of the lake, a place he normally stayed away from. (Giant squids? No thank you.) Caught up within his own thoughts he barely noticed the small black figure slowly skating across the lake ice. That is he did not take notice until he saw it jump up in the air, execute a beautiful quad salchow, and land again with a small wobble. Viktor froze in his tracks mesmerized as the ebony haired figure began to increase the speed of his dance into an intricate step sequence. Viktor heard the complicated music sequence that seemed to flow from the skater’s steps and body, yet there was no music.
All too soon the skater came to a rest in the middle of the ice still unaware of the single spectator who had become enthralled in his performance.
As the skater stopped bent over panting, Viktor recognized him as one of the other foreign exchange students. As the skater straightened up he quickly became aware of the silver haired figure staring at him. Freezing, the skater simply stared back looking like a deer caught in headlights. Viktor soon realized, and quickly brought his hand up, winked and waved at the skater. Even from where he was standing Viktor could see the blush spread out on the skaters face.
Now this is going to be fun. Viktor thought to himself.
Quickly taking his wand out Viktor transfigured his shoes into black ice skates, and he stepped out on the ice.
As he skated to the middle of the ice he noticed that the other skater, was covered in what seemed to be about 10 layers of clothes compared to his measly 3 layers, and the skater still looked cold.
“I thought I could join you on the ice my beautiful ice fairy. Would you mind if I joined you?” Viktor asked with a flirtatious tone.
The other skater blushed even harder at this and stuttered out a “Y-yes”
Viktor delicately raised an eyebrow and asked, “You would mind? Or you wouldn’t mind?”
At this the skater said, “I-I wouldn’t mind! Sorry…”
Viktor smiled sweetly at the skater and getting tired of simply calling him “the skater” in his mind inquired about his name.
“Now tell me, my ice fairy what is your name?”
With a sheepish smile the skater replied, “Katsuki Yuuri, just call me Yuuri though...”
Smile growing Viktor replies with, “Hello Yuuri, my name is”
“Viktor! Viktor Nikiforov.” Yuuri interrupted bringing the blush back full force from its previous receding state. “S-sorry, everyone knows who you are in school.” Yuuri stumbles out quickly trying to explain himself while gesturing to the school half-heartedly.
Just then a howl came piercing out of the woods, startling the two boys from their seemingly isolated bubble of conversation. Viktor, realizing how late it had become, sighs in sadness as he realizes that tonight, he would not get to skate with the adorable blushing boy before him.
Turning to Yuuri, he says, “It appears that the awful curse that has been put upon us prevents us from skating together tonight, but tomorrow perhaps we could meet on the ice yet again my ice fairy?”
Small smile gracing his delicate lips Yuuri replies with a nod, and together they skate to the edge of the rink to transfigure their skates back into the boots that they walked through the snow in.
As they begin to walk back to the castle, Viktor begins to realize how cold it has been getting, and if he noticing how cold it is… He turns to look at Yuuri who has blue chapped lips and chattering teeth along with a small shivering body. Viktor reaches over and pulls Yuuri to his side in an attempt to warm him up, and also because it gives him an excuse to hold the beautiful boy closer to his body.
At first Yuuri stiffens then relaxes into the warmth of Viktor. Ten minutes later they are walking through the doors of Hogwarts into the delicious warmth that the castle has to offer. Sadly, once inside Yuuri pulls out of Viktor’s embrace but before the disappointed look can fully settle on Viktor’s face, Yuuri says shyly, “We still technically have 30 minutes until curfew, would you want to grab some hot chocolate with me?”
Surprised, Viktor all but shouts “Yes, I would love too!” Then thinks and says, “Wait I have no idea where the kitchens are. Do you?”
With a small smirk on his face Yuuri simply replies by grabbing his hand and pulling Viktor along down the corridor.
Soon Viktor finds himself with a warm cup of hot cocoa in his hands, leaning against the wall with Yuuri, watching the house elves work dutifully in the kitchen. Soon they begin talking about their hometowns and their families back at home, until Viktor asks the question, “Yuuri why were you skating out on the lake by yourself?”
At this, Yuuri looks down into his almost empty cup of hot chocolate and says, “Before I was admitted to Hogwarts as a 3rd year transfer, I was actually a competitive ice skater in the muggle world. Sometimes when I need to clear my mind I return to skating.”
Without pausing, Yuuri continues on with, “When I found out you had also been admitted to the school as a fifth year, I couldn’t believe it. I had watched you skate so many times on the T.V. at the junior competitions that…that you actually were the person who inspired me to really start to work harder and try to get into the same competitions as you.”
Dropping his volume and examining the contents of the mug even further, Yuuri says, “It was my dream to skate on the same ice as you.”
At that admission, Viktor was left staring. He knew that he had inspired people before, hell he still had a fan base eagerly awaiting his senior debut, but he hadn’t realized that he could inspire someone to skate like Yuuri had earlier that evening. Someone who literally seemed to create a whole orchestra of music simply with his body.
Stretching his hand out under Yuuri’s chin, he gently lifted the almond eyed boys head up to meet his own azure eyes. “Yuuri, I may have inspired you to start ice-skating, but you have just inspired me to keep ice- skating.” With a small smile he adds, “And technically you have now skated on the same ice as me.”
At this, Yuuri smiles and seems to relax a little from the tense position his body had taken when speaking. He then inquires, “You know, since we are still both practicing for ice skating, maybe we could start practicing together?”
“I would love to Yuuri” Azure eyes filled with true joy as he looks into his not so distant future.
Suddenly a girl’s head pops through the door with a Ravenclaw Prefect pin pinned to her robs. “Yuuri! Viktor! You are both breaking curfew, ten points from Slytherin and Hufflepuff each! Also detention, for both of you, three days.”
Shocked, Viktor is about to argue that they were only a few minutes past curfew when he looks at the clock on the wall and realized it was in fact actually two hours past curfew. Had it really been that long? Before he could say anything in dispute however, Yuuri started quickly speaking in what sounded like sad, scarred, and confused Japanese. From what Viktor could decipher, he was actually reciting the recipe for something with pork cutlets and rice? What the? Oh.
Quickly catching on to the idea, he began to quickly spout the Russian National Anthem in the most confused voice he could. He couldn’t really pull off the sad angle as well as Yuuri- it was Russian after all- but the trick seemed to do the job. The prefect took pity on the sad and lost foreign exchange students and retracted the point penalty but kept the amount of detentions intact.
Which, honestly, Viktor was fine with because it meant he got to spend more time with Yuuri.
The prefect then decides that it is her humble duty to escort them back to their respective common rooms. All the while Viktor and Yuuri continue to babble in their native languages switching between nursery rhymes, national songs, and random food recipes.
Right before Yuuri escapes into the Hufflepuff common room he turned to look at Viktor who winked and said in Japanese “Tomorrow after dinner, the lake.”
To which Yuuri smiled and nodded before fully disappearing. The prefect looked even more confused at this and turned to Viktor speaking very loudly and slowly saying “You can speak Japanese?”
As they began walking back to the Slytherin dungeons he pretends to try to figure out what the prefect had said and right before slipping inside his own common room said in perfect English, “I can actually speak a little Japanese, and I am fluent in English, Russian and French. By the way, I’m glad that you enjoyed my recitation of the Russian National Anthem along with the recipe for Borsch. Good night!”
The look on the prefects face was priceless. Before she could say anything else though, he put on his most charming and heart stopping smile then proceeded to disappear into the Slytherin common room.
As he got ready for bed that night the smile on his face was, for once, a beautifully real smile.
He couldn’t wait for tomorrow.
#yuuri katsuki#victor nikiforov#victuuri#victor x yuuri#yuri on ice#yuuri on ice#fanfic#fandom#iveneverwrittenfanficbefore#constructivecriticism appreciated#hogwarts#slytherin#hufflepuff#ravenclaw#imsorry
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'A total blast': our writers pick their favorite summer blockbusters ever
New Post has been published on https://writingguideto.com/must-see/a-total-blast-our-writers-pick-their-favorite-summer-blockbusters-ever/
'A total blast': our writers pick their favorite summer blockbusters ever
As the season heats up on the big screen, Guardian writers look back on their picks from the past with killer sharks, mournful crime-fighters and time-traveling teens
Face/Off (1997)
Photograph: Allstar/Cinetext/PARAMOUNT
Madman bomber Nicolas Cage stole John Travoltas dead sons life. So gloomy FBI agent Travolta steals Cages face. When Cage steals his face and his wife and freedom John Woos Face/Off becomes the biggest, wackiest and most operatic summer blockbuster in history, a gonzo combustion that flings everything from pigeons to peaches at the screen.
Hong Kong cineastes might applaud a script with roots in the ancient Sichuan opera genre Bian Lian, where performers swap masks like magic. Popcorn-munchers, of which I am front row center, are here to watch whack job Cage and soulful Travolta, two actors who love to go full-ham, play each other and go deep inside their iconographies. Call it hamception. Or just call it a crazy swing that hits a home run as Cavolta and Trage battling it out in a warehouse, a speedboat and, of course, a church. As Cage-as-Travolta gloats to Travolta-as-Cage, Isnt this religious? The eternal battle between good and evil, saint and sinners but youre still not having any fun! Maybe hes not, but we sure are. Bravo, bravo. AN
Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
Photograph: David James/Publicity image from film company
Theres been an increasing sense of desperation clinging to the majority of roles picked by Tom Cruise in recent years. Outside of the still shockingly entertaining Mission: Impossible series, he was miscast in the barely serviceable Jack Reacher and its maddeningly unnecessary sequel, his awards-aiming American Made was throwaway and his franchise-starting The Mummy was a franchise-killer. But four summers ago, he picked the right horse just maybe at the wrong time.
Because despite how deliriously fun Edge of Tomorrow was in the summer of 2014, audiences didnt show the requisite enthusiasm. It was a moderate success (enough to warrant a long-gestating sequel) but it should have packed them in, its combination of charm, invention and sheer thrills making it one of the most objectively successful blockbuster experiences in memory. The nifty plot device (Cruise must relive a day of dying while battling aliens over and over again) allowed for some dark gallows humor and a frenetic pace that kept us all giddily on edge while it also contained a dazzling action star turn from Emily Blunt whose fearless Full Metal Bitch wrestled the film away from Cruise. Blame its relative failure on the bland title? Cruise fatigue? Blockbuster over-saturation? Then find a digital copy to watch and rewatch and repeat. BL
Back to the Future (1985)
Photograph: Allstar/UNIVERSAL/Sportsphoto Ltd./Allstar
Back to the Future very nearly wasnt a summer blockbuster. The reshoots required after Eric Stoltz was booted off, then the fact Michael J Foxs Family Ties commitments meant he could only shoot at night all meant filming didnt wrap until late April. Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg duly pencilled in an August / September release.
But then people started seeing it. Test scores were off the scale. Said producer Frank Marshall: Id never seen a preview like that. The audience went up to the ceiling. So they bagsied the best spot the year had to offer 3 July hired a squad of sound editors to work round the clock and two print editors with instructions to get properly choppy. They did, and those big trims tightened yet further one of the tautest screenplays (by Bob Gale) cinema has ever seen. The only bit of fat they left was the Johnny B Goode scene: sure, it didnt advance the story, but the kids at those test screenings knew we were gonna love it. Back to the Future is a pure shot of summer cinema: grand, ambitious, insanely entertaining. Deadpool, Avengers, take note: a blockbuster can be smart as hell so long as it wears it lightly. In the end, by the way, the film spent 11 weeks at number 1 at the US box office. Thats essentially the whole summer. CS
Teminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Photograph: Allstar/TRISTAR/Sportsphoto Ltd./Allstar
The first film I ever saw at the cinema was The Rocketeer. We drove into Bradford city centre, bought our tickets at the Odeon and sat through the 1991 tale which followed the fortunes of a stunt pilot, a rocket pack and a Nazi agent played by Timothy Dalton who sounded like he was from Bury rather than Berlin. The way into the multiplex there was a huge poster for Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Arnie sat on a Harley with a shotgun cocked and ready. My dad was a huge fan of the original but he still couldnt swing taking a seven-year-old to see it. It wasnt until I borrowed a VHS copy that I finally got to see what was behind that image. Skynet, dipshits, T-1000s, a nuclear holocaust and a motorbike chases on the LA river.
Blockbusters dont usually have that edge: theres a more brazen mainstream appeal. But Judgment Day was and still is an exception. It did huge numbers at the box office (more than $500m), was a rare sequel that was arguably better than the original and introduced really odd bits of Spanish idiom into the Bradford schoolyard lexicon. I probably would have been scarred for life watching it as a seven-year-old, but as a teenager it gave me a story I doubt Ill ever get tired of revisiting. LB
The Dark Knight (2008)
Photograph: Allstar/WARNER BROS.
The summer of 2008 was a busy one: Barack Obama emerged from a contentious democratic primary to become the first ever black presidential nominee of a major party. The dam fortifying the entire global financial system was about to burst. China hosted its first ever Summer Olympics. But somehow, and not exactly to my credit, what I remember most from that summer is the uncanny, ridiculously over-the-top publicity blitzkrieg that preceded the release of The Dark Knight, which has since emerged as not just an all-time great summer blockbuster, but an all-time great American film, period.
There were faux-political billboards that read I believe in Harvey Dent; a weirdly nondescript website of the same name; Joker playing cards dispersed throughout comic book stores, which led fans to another website where the DA was defaced with clown makeup. Dentmobiles, Gotham City voter registration cards, a pop-up local news channel: the marketing campaign might have seemed excessive had the movie not so convincingly topped it. Ten years later, as films like Deadpool and Avengers: Infinity War try to reach those same heights of virality, The Dark Knight remains the measuring stick by which every superhero movie, and superhero villain, is measured. JN
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Photograph: Jasin Boland/AP
In many ways, Fury Road is summer: arid, scorching, bright enough to be squinted at. The driving force behind all the high-impact driving is scarcity of water, the essence of life in a desert where death practically rises up from the burning sand. Even in the air-conditioned comfort of a multiplex auditorium in Washington DCs Chinatown, watching George Millers psychotic motor opera left this critic sweaty and parched. My world is fire and blood, warns the weary Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy) in the scripts opening lines. Staggering out of a theater into the oppressive rays of the sun, it sure can feel that way.
Millers masterpiece fits into the summer blockbuster canon in a less literal capacity as well, striking its ideal balance of dazzling technical spectacle and massively-scaled emotional catharsis. There was plenty of breathless praise to go around upon this films 2015 release, much of it for the feats of practical-effects daring, but the hysterical extremes of feeling cemented its status as a modern classic. I cant deny that Ive watched the polecat sequence upwards of a dozen times, but Millers film truly comes alive in Furiosas howl of desperation, and in Maxs noble disappearance into the throng. CB
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo
Its the music, its the giant boulder, its the Old Testament mysticism, its the whip, its the Cairo Swordsman, its Harrison Fords crooked smile, its the bad dates, its Karen Allen drinking a sherpa under the table, its the melted faces and exploding heads. Its all these things plus having the good fortune of seeing this at the cinema at a very young age, therefore watching most of it through my terrified fingers. (Indy tells Marion to keep her eyes shut during the cosmic spooky ending; way ahead of you there!)
The modern blockbuster as we know it was created by Steven Spielberg with Jaws and George Lucas with Star Wars, so the hype was unmatched when the two collaborated in 1981 with Raiders of the Lost Ark. As a kid I had no idea this was a loving homage to cliffhanger serials from the 30s and 40s, I took it as pure adventure. The seven-and-a-half minute desert truck chase (I dont know, Im making thus up as I go) is probably the best action sequence in all of cinema (John Woos Hard Boiled does not have a horse, sorry), but watching as an adult one notices a lot of sophisticated humor, too. (Indy being too exhausted to make love to Marion, for example, is something that didnt connect when I was six.)
Its strange to think I watched these cartoon Nazis on VHS with my grandparents who had escaped the Holocaust, and no one benefits when you do the math to figure out how young Marion was when, as Indy puts it, you knew what you were doing. But for thrills, laughs and propulsive camerawork (though a little mild Orientalism), nothing tops this one. JH
Independence Day (1996)
Photograph: Everett/REX/Shutterstock
Short of actually calling their film Summer Blockbuster, rarely can a films height-of-summer release date been so central to a films raison detre. This being the mid-90s, when po-mo and self-referentiality was all the rage, brazenly hooking your tentpole film to 4 July was seen as a pretty smart idea.
Fortunately, all the ducks did line up in a row for ID4: a game-changing performance from Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum at (arguably) his funniest, a rousingly Clintoneque president in Bill Pullman and most importantly in that run-up to the millennium physical destruction on a gigantic scale. Much comment at the time was expended on the laser obliteration of the White House (an early shot from the Tea Party/Maga crowd?), but I personally cherish director Roland Emmerichs signature move of detonating cars in somersault formation. Like many other huge-budget films then and since, Independence Day was basically a tooled-up retread of cheap-as-chips format of earlier decades though who these days would roll such expensive dice on what is essentially an original script, with no comic book or toy branding as a forerunner? We shall never see its like again. AP
Aliens (1986)
Photograph: Allstar/20 CENTURY FOX/Sportsphoto Ltd./Allstar
An Aliens summer is one for moviegoers who prefer to sit in in darkened rooms when the sun is shining; the brutal confines of the fiery power plant make an excellent subliminal ad for air conditioning. In 1986, James Cameron took Ridley Scotts elegant, iconic horror template and turned it into an all-out action blockbuster, forcing Ripley once again to face down her nemeses in a breathless fug of claustrophobia, sweat and fear. Its relentlessly stressful and unbelievably thrilling.
I first saw Aliens many years after its initial release. Owing to its sizeable and long-lasting legacy, it was at once immediately familiar, yet also brisk and brutally fresh. I understood that it was a classic, but I wasnt prepared for just how good it is, for the pitch-perfect management of tension, the pace that never really lets up, the emotional pull. The maternal undertow of Ripleys protection of Newt, and the alien mirror of that, adds a level of heart unusual in most blockbusters, and her frustration at being a woman whose authority must be earned again and again, and then proven again and again, remains grimly relevant, 30 years on. Its also a total blast. Now get away from her, you bitch. RN
Jaws (1975)
Photograph: Fotos International/Getty Images
It is the great summer blockbuster ancestor the film that in 1975 more or less invented the concept of the event movie. And unlike all those other summer blockbusters, Steven Spielbergs Jaws is actually about the summer; it is explicitly about the institution of the summer vacation, into which the movie was being sold as part of the seasonal entertainment. It is about the sun, the sand, the beach, the ocean and the entirely justified fear of being eaten alive by an enormous shark with the appetite of a serial killer and the cunning of a U-boat commander. And more than that: it is about that most contemporary of political phenomena: the coverup, the town authorities at a seaside resort putting vacationers at risk by not warning them about the shark. The Jaws mayor has become comic shorthand for the craven and pusillanimous politician.
A blockbuster nowadays means spectacular digital effects, but this film is from an analogue world. It bust the block through brilliant film-making and an inspired score from John Williams, summoning up the shark with a simple two-note theme which became the most famous musical expression of evil since Bernard Herrmanns shrieking violin stabs in Psycho took the place of actual knife-slashing. I still remember the excitement of the summer of 1975, and the queues around the block at the Empire, in Watford, round the corner from the football ground. The inspired brevity of the title meant the word was repeated over and over again to fill the marquee display: JAWS JAWS JAWS as if they were screaming it! PB
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us
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Raising a Nation Chapter 3
Can also be read on AO3
Chapter 1 I Chapter 2 I Chapter 4 I Chapter 5 I Chapter 6
Summary: England is worried about France. He hasn’t heard from the nation in a long time so he goes to check on him but he never expected to find this.
Fandom: Hetalia
Words: 1272
Parings: None
Warnings: None
The two sat quietly in the taxi as it drove them from a short way outside of Paris to Gare du Nord so they could catch the last train from the French capital to its English counterpart. It took them about half an hour which was spent in silence. When they arrived Arthur paid the driver and retrieved the suitcase with Francis' clothes in it and the briefcase he had brought with him, carrying both in one hand while holding Francis' small hand in his other. He quickly purchases two tickets on the Eurostar and hurried to catch the train.
Once they were seated and the suitcase safely stowed, Francis across from him with his back to their destination, Arthur pulled a map out of his briefcase and set it on the table between them.
"Look, Francis," he whispered, not wanting to disturb any of the other occupants. "We're here." He pointed to Paris on the map. "And we're going to take the train to here." He moved his hand to point at London."
The boy studied the map for a few minutes before asking, "What's the big blue stuff between them?"
"Water."
Francis' eyes widened and he looked at Arthur in surprise.
"How is the train going to cross the water?"
"We're going to go under it," he replied simply. "There's a tunnel."
"You can do that?" Francis cried, excitement radiating off him and jumping up in his seat.
"Yes. Modern technology is a marvel," Arthur answered, gently pushing Francis back down.
While Francis entertained himself with the map, the English nation took advantage of the remaining cell service and called his assistant. He asked her to arrange for a car to be waiting at the station in a few hours.
"Did you figure out why France has been so distant lately?" she inquired.
"Yes. Call a meeting with Cameron and Hollande. Do whatever you have to do to make sure they attend. This is extremely important."
"Is France alright? Does he need help?"
Arthur watched the boy in the seat across from him who was fascinated with the passing scenery and babbling happily in French.
"He…" He passed, unsure of what to say. Technically France was mostly fine, he was just a child for some reason. "He needs help so I'm bringing him to London with me. We'll figure out what to do tomorrow."
"Alright."
"Keep this meeting confidential. No one outside of the four of us need to know it happened."
"I promise you I will make this happen."
"Thank you."
He hung up and a few minutes afterward they entered the tunnel.
* * *
During the dark ride Francis kept himself occupied by asking questions about Europe and England and by playing with the map. His energy seemed endless and it drained Arthur of his own. When they finally made it to London Arthur picked up the two bags, took Francis' hand again, and led him out of the station to where his driver was waiting. The man took the bags from him and opened the door for them. Arthur and Francis slipped into the back while the driver put their bags in the boot before getting into his seat and starting the car.
With a sigh Arthur leaned back into his seat and closed his eyes while Francis stared out the window. A couple minutes later he felt something pressing against his shoulder. Looking over he saw the boy was leaning against him fast asleep. A small smile graced the British nation's face. The boy had finally tired himself out and was quietly snoozing next to him. He gently shifted the child so he could lay down and use his leg as a pillow.
They arrived at Arthur's home about twenty minutes later and Francis was still asleep. Rather than wake him, he carefully got out of the car and scooped him into his arms. The driver followed with the bags and opened the door for him, setting the bags just inside the home. With his hands free, the driver continued to follow him through the house, opening doors for him until they reached a small bedroom.
Arthur laid Francis on the bed and tucked him in, whispering his thanks to the other man. The driver took this as his cue to leave and did so. Arthur doing the same. Once the front door had been locked and the alarm activated, Arthur changed and went to bed.
* * *
The next morning Arthur woke up at 7:30, still rather tired after his late night the night before, and slipped out of bed. He walked down the hall before stopping in front of the door to the room Francis had slept in. Knocking quietly he called the boy's name only to hear a quiet whimper in return.
Curious, he opened the door to find an empty room. Taking a look around he found the room to mostly be in order besides an unmade bed and the door to the wardrobe ajar. He opened the doors to see Francis sitting on the ground with a frightened expression.
"Francis," he asked softly, kneeling down to be on his level. "Are you alright?" He kept his tone smoothly to keep himself from further startling the boy.
"W-Where am I?" Francis whispered, blue eyes large from his fear.
"You're in my home in England, remember? I found you yesterday and brought you here while your father is away?"
The boy nodded slowly, still uneasy.
"I-I thought it was a dream…I was alone for so long that I thought no one would ever come…"
Arthur felt his heart twinge at the obvious pain in the child's voice. No one should be alone and feel like they would always be that way.
"It was real. I'm sorry if I scared you. I'll be here for you. Are you going to be alright?"
"Y-Yes."
"Good. Would you come out of there and get dressed? We have to go somewhere today."
After Francis quietly agreed Arthur helped him out of the wardrobe and once he was sure Francis would be alright, left him to dress. 'Stupid,' he thought on his way back to his room. 'Stupid. Of course Francis would be afraid. He woke up in an unfamiliar place all alone. I should have thought of that.' He continued to silently berate himself while he pulled on a gray pinstripe suit and a matching gray tie, brushed his teeth and hair, and leave the room.
Francis was waiting in the hall, still in the clothes from the day before.
"Why aren't you dressed?"
The boy looked at his feet.
"I don't know where my clothes are," he replied quietly.
Arthur mentally chided himself for forgetting that he had left Francis' suitcase by the front door.
"I'll get them for you. While you wait go into the bathroom and brush your teeth. There are spare toothbrushes under the sink along with toothpaste."
Francis obediently walked away to do what he was told while Arthur went to retrieve the suitcase. He was glad he had at least remembered that Francis didn't have a toothbrush and helped him get one before further confusing the boy.
When he reached the suitcase he opened it and looked for the nicest outfit he could find. If they were going to see the Prime Minister of England and the President of France they both needed to be dressed properly.
He pulled out a white dress shirt, a pair of black trousers, and a gray vest before closing the suitcase and carrying it and the clothes back upstairs for Francis to wear.
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Country #97 - Bulgaria
The Airport Sprint
When I arrived in Lisbon, Portugal from Praia, Cape Verde it was about 7am and only my first of three flights of the day. There was a very long immigration line that took about an hour, and then I had to change terminals in Lisbon from the nice terminal to the dingy low-cost carrier terminal. Of course, this isn’t an easy process. You have to completely exit customs and then the airport itself just to change terminals. Going back through security took a while again but I was finally to my gate, this time to head to Frankfurt.
I would just be flying through Frankfurt to get to Sofia, Bulgaria and I knew that it would be a very quick connection time. It didn’t help matters that my plane leaving Lisbon ended up being about thirty minutes late. It was quite the long flight for continental Europe at about three hours. It was so long that I had to break down and pay for food on the plane! When I arrived in Frankfurt I had to take a bus to the terminal as almost always in Europe, but this ride was especially interesting as there had been a wreck between another bus and a baggage carrier. There were ambulances and fire trucks everywhere, but it looked like thankfully everything was fine - there were just tons of precautions! From this minor slowdown forward my nightmare of running through Frankfurt began.
When I finally arrived at the terminal I had 15 minutes in which time I cleared immigration, went through security, and ran for 15 minutes straight. I was dying with all of my luggage and my winter coat and drenched in sweat. I arrived at the boarding gate right when the gate was about to close. The bus was still there - the driver was standing right by the gate agent. I was about to pass out from my sprint. The gate agent told me that it was too late - which was not true as I had about a minute to spare before the gate was to technically close, and the bus was right there! Obviously, it wasn’t true, as after about 30 seconds of my panting from exhaustion he decided to let me on.
This was great! I was so appreciative that he decided to let me on. I began to apologize profusely, at which time my airline ordeal became much, much worse. Just to preface this, I have flown so much this past year, and have never had such a bad experience with an employee of any capacity within the travel agency. This Wizz Airlines employee absolutely went off on me. He told me that no, I was not sorry, or else this would not have happened. He told me that there was no way that I was sorry or I wouldn’t have been late. I tried very sincerely to apologize but every time I said sorry he would continue to mock me and tell me that I was not sorry. Which I obviously was! I hated being late and having to run - it’s not like I decided to do it for fun.
The problems only continued from there. I was now very upset from how he had treated me, but I was on the bus and ready to go. However, while waiting for the bus to go I looked inside and saw the gate agent making fun of me to four or five colleagues! He was mimicking my breathing and then mimicked my apology. It was horrible and I was pretty furious at this point. Like I said, I have never been treated so badly let alone by an airline but as a customer in any industry. I was sincerely sorry and after being mocked to my face I was then made fun of in plain view! It’s like the employee forgot glass and existed and that I could see everything that he was doing.
Anyways, this was an absolutely horrible experience and I wrote to Wizz Air to let them know about my experience, so we will see what happens! I fly almost daily and deal with low-cost carriers (including Wizz Air) very often and have never had this happen so I know it is an isolated incident, but nonetheless, it was very unfortunate. After dealing with that whole ordeal I was thrilled once the plane was moving and it was behind me.
I arrived in Sofia at around 7:30pm to find that I had arrived in the terminal without a metro connection and that the bus to the other terminal would not run again for another thirty minutes. I was incredibly lucky, though, as I made a new friend who helped me make it to the city center very easily! He was a former professional dancer who now teaches dance and has lived all over Europe, so it was really interesting to talk with him not only about his home country of Bulgaria but about Europe and travel in general.
We had a great talk on the bus ride and he even was nice enough to walk me the last few minutes to my hotel. It was another great chance encounter on my trip, and I can’t thank him enough for his helpfulness, generosity, and enjoyable conversation!
When I arrived at my hotel, Sense Hotel, I was blown away with how nice it was and immediately was so excited to just really enjoy a great night of sleep for the first time in a few days. My room was beautiful and modern and had lots of fun buttons to push to control all of the lights and settings in the room. There was a really nice shower and also a good night chocolate which was so cute and an unexpected treat. Thank you so much to Sense Hotel for sponsoring this night of my trip and allowing me to get a much needed full night of rest.
It ended up being quite the ordeal to get to Sofia, but I am so excited to get to explore Bulgaria tomorrow!
The Churches
I felt rested for the first time in days thanks to my cosy night’s sleep at Sense Hotel and had a great breakfast with amazing views out over all of Sofia to start my day off right. I enjoyed talking with the really sweet girls at the front desk (who were kind enough to give me an extra hour to check out) before heading out for the day in Sofia.
My first stop was Cathedral Saint Alexandar Nevski which is probably the most well known of the many churches in Sofia. It has quite the unique design and was actually built by the Russians. That makes sense upon seeing the architecture which really is stunning. My next stop was just right across the street at Temple Sveta Sofia. It is one of the historically most important spots in the city as it has been around in some capacity for almost two millennia. It stands in stark contrast to Cathedral Saint Alexandar Nevski, but was beautiful in its own way. The best part was being able to walk around all of the old ruins of previous churches that have stood on the site. You actually go underneath the church and it was really quite cool.
From there I headed to yet another church, Russian Church Sveti Nikolay Mirlikiiski. It looked very traditionally Orthodox and though small was beautiful both inside and out. My next stop was the Amphitheater of Serdica which was quite bizarre. The Amphitheater of Serdica is ruins of an ancient amphitheater, but they are now inside of a hotel. So you go inside of a hotel to see these ruins. It was fine but just weird and the ruins were not very impressive as there was not very much to see. Luckily for me everything in Sofia is very close together so it didn’t hurt to give it a quick look!
I transitioned here from looking at old ruins and churches to visit my first museum of the day, Museum of the History of Sofia. It was not a very large museum but it contained a lot and was very easy to do in under an hour. Everything was in English and I learned a good amount about the city in one quick visit. From here it was back to visiting churches. I attempted to visit Sofia Synagogue but it was closed. My next stop was Cathedral Church Sveta Nedelya, but on the way I ran into quite the interesting site! The East Gate of Serdica ruins were discovered when the city was building a metro station in 2012, and is almost an entire Roman street from the 6th century! It was really cool to walk through, and I found it especially interesting as it is right in the middle of the city and is such a recent discovery.
Cathedral Church Sveta Nedelya was right past the East Gate of Serdica and was yet another beautiful church in Sofia. From there I visited, of course, one last church. It truly was impressive how many beautiful churches are in Sofia! My last one was Church St. George Rotunda, which you could just tell was very historic. It was surrounded outside by many ruins. I then headed just next door to visit the National Archeology Museum. It was not very large but was pretty interesting, especially after having seen so many historic sites today!
My last stop was to grab a quick dinner at a restaurant called Corso. I had a nice chicken dish for a reasonable price before heading just a few minutes down the street back to Sense Hotel to get my bags and head to the airport. I took the metro as it was very quick and inexpensive. It was pretty easy though I did need to double check and make sure that I was getting on the right train.
When I arrived at the airport I was at the right terminal this time thankfully. This terminal is much nicer and newer than the one I flew into yesterday. I cleared security and immigration easily and then made my way to the airport lounge for a few hours. Things were going smoothly until I noticed my flight was delayed by an hour. This was not a huge deal but was not ideal. It left me with only an hour to connect in Istanbul. However, things only got worse. Before I knew it one hour turned to two. After finally boarding the plane and taking off I pretty much lost all hope of catching my flight when the plane had to circle in the air for another hour, bringing the delay total up to three hours.
When I arrived I was told that my flight was still at the airport, but I knew that there was no way I would make it. The flight was in the final call stage when my flight had just landed and I checked online, and when I checked the departures board in the airport it went from final call to no longer being listed on the board. I had walked quickly for a few minutes before completely giving up when it was no longer on the board. I definitely was not the only one with a missed connection. Apparently, all of this was caused by the weather in Istanbul.
There were probably hundreds of people in line to have their flight changed on Turkish Airlines. I thought that I would be in line forever, but then I got very lucky. They decided to open up a new desk to deal with the demand and they chose my spot in line to go to the front. It was so lucky and I couldn’t believe it - perhaps I would get a little sleep after all.
I had my ticket changed to a 9am flight, meaning that I would still have plenty of time to enter Azerbaijan, but I would unfortunately now not have time to see Baku which I was definitely disappointed about. I’m really glad I decided on getting Priority Pass to use for the remainder of my trip because it came in handy big time tonight. I found a lounge that I was able to sleep on a couch in for about four hours. It was a bit noisy but I was on a couch and there was even a big locker for my things so I can’t complain. I woke up around 8am, headed to my gate, and finally boarded my plane for Baku, Azerbaijan.
While tonight was quite the ordeal, it is also the first time that I have had a flight connection missed which I honestly have a hard time believing myself. Especially because, in quite exciting news, I am now one country away from being halfway on my trip! To have made it halfway without something like this happening is truly amazing. While it isn’t ideal I’m just very glad that it wasn’t worse and that I was still able to make it to Azerbaijan within the time that I needed to be there.
97 countries down, 98 to go.
For more information on Bulgaria click here to read my guide.
To learn more about Sense Hotel click here.
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ZOLLAR WARS Story
ZOLLAR WARS
Skyler Fernandez
ZOLLAR WARS
ZOLLARS isn’t just a gang website like the Dollars, it is also a virtual online world like OZ. It is a better and cool combination of both the Dollars and OZ from Durarara!! and Summer Wars, but for real!
ZOLLARS is a virtual world on the internet. The amount of people who use ZOLLARS has spread faster than cell phones. Users from all over the world create a virtual self called an “avatar” with which they live their lives. And I mean their lives literally. Games, shopping, businesses, and even legal processes. Just like in the real world, you can do almost everything inside ZOLLARS. Every business in the real world has at least one branch shop in ZOLLARS. World affairs are also shifting to ZOLLARS as well. That is “ZOLLARS,” the world’s greatest communication tool—
My name’s Sora Jackman. Cool name, I know right? I’m a cool guy when it comes t being the leader of the ZOLLARS, but in college I am just a regular guy. I’m a young student at the College of Wooster in Ohio with a gift in mathematics and science and part-time moderator for ZOLLARS along with my friend Kenta Watson.
Anyway, back in 2010 I had an idea to make a website similar to the Dollars and OZ, so I combined them together to make the next best thing. I gotten an internet company to make my dreams and ideas come true. Four years late, we finally managed to make it possible. They may have created it, but I was the one who came up with that idea in the first place, so I was named leader of the Zollars. I love to keep my leadership a secret though. Before we get any further, I’d like to talk more about myself and everything else.
I just finished my junior year in college about a month and ten days ago on Friday, May 23rd. I’ll be starting my senior year on Thursday, August 7th but the thing that sucks is that my long time crush Mitsuki Fuji has graduated here this year and I might not get to see her again. The other thing that sucks is that I didn’t get to go to the Math and Science Olympics this year and I was so close to representing Ohio, much less the United States of America. Kenta and I are 21 years-old (well, I will be 21) and Mitsuki is one year older than us, she is good at athletics and at a Japanese card game called ‘Koh Koh.’
She’s a good friend of ours and spirited girl. We’re both in the Physics Club together or was, now it is just me and Kenta. Now read of how my whole life goes upside down.
THE NEWS: ‘This is the midday news report for Tuesday, July 1st, 2014. The asteroid probe sent to space by NASA has completed its orbit around the Sun, however, it’s being brought back towards Earth to deal with some technical problems.’
Sora and Kenta were doing some maintenance checks on ZOLLARS.
“I can’t believe I didn’t get to represent Ohio,” Sora said to Kenta. “I was so close.”
“You’re still depressed over that?” Kenta asked. “Jeez man, get over it.”
“OK!” yelled a headed turkey male avatar. “Less chatting, more working!”
“OK,” Kenta said. “ Seriously, all of this moping you’re doing is really bugging me out.”
“I guess.”
“Hey, let’s go pick up some hot girls to eat watermelons watch fireworks for the 4th of July,” he said blushing. “More girls, more fireworks, more watermelon, and more summer.”
“I’m just going to stick with more watermelons and fireworks,” Sora said. “Hey, its been working for me so far.”
Then Mitsuki Fuji came charging in here by slamming the door straight open, which made them jump.
“Hey, you two wanna a job?!” Mitsuki asked loudly.
It took a few hesitate seconds for one of them to anser and it was Kenta that spoke first. “That’s kind of what we’re doing.”
“What? Really? You are?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Kenta said, “we do maintenance checks on ZOLLARS.”
“You two work for ZOLLARS?” she asked. “Awesome.”
“Nah, we just take care of the outermost systems, pretty routine.”
“I see,” she said. “Well, I guess that’s it than. I’ll just have to deal with it.”
“What kind of job is it anyway?”
“To travel with me to my hometown—
“I’ll do it!!” Kenta got up, hand raised, and excited.
“Me too!!” Sora said doing the same thing Kenta did.
“Really?!” she asked looking at them happily excited.
“Yes!!” they said at the same time.
“Count us both in,” Sora said.
“Two could get complicated,” she said.
“Huh?” both said.
“All I need is one,” she said, “so who’s it gonna be?”
In case you were or are wondering; yes it was Sora who won rock, paper, scissors. If Sora or Kenta won three times, then one of them would go with Mitsuki tomorrow to Japan. The first was a draw, both scissors. The second Sora won using scissors, the third Kenta won using paper, Kenta won the fourth using scissors, Sora won using scissors on the fifth round. Sora did a move and trick Sora learned from the fourth book of the Percy Jackson series.
Since that wasn’t fare to Kenta, Sora didn’t count that one and chose to go again. Sora’s plan was to distract Kenta, so he could win. The seventh round was a draw of paper. Kenta surprised him using gun as well, but they didn’t count that one either. Ninth round was a rock draw.
Kenta said lets both draw gun but change it to something else. So they drew gun, then they started to change it to one of the three to win. Sora made his look like he was going to draw rock, so Kenta could draw paper but Sora tricked him and drew scissors and Kenta lost. If he knew Sora would draw scissors, he would have drawn rock or if Sora still used rock, he would have won with paper or if they’d have had a draw again, then one of them would have won the next one but Sora was smart enough to counterattack and trick Kenta into thinking all of that.
Anyway, Sora got up at 7:00 a.m. to make him a fast breakfast of bagels to eat. He already packed him seven pairs of clean clothes and pajamas in his backpack last night, so he was ready to go.
He left at 8:30 a.m., Kenta’s mom was happy enough to take him to Wooster Wayne County Airport, which only took thirteen minutes to get to from the college. On the way, he watched King Haruto beat the Martial Arts Championship time record on his phone in ZOLLARS.
Mitsuki texted a message to a relative of hers saying: ‘Getting on the airplane now.’ With her avatar on the ZOLLARS.
“Sora!” she called out spotting him. “Hey, I’m over here!”
It was 8:43 a.m., when he got there and 8:47 a.m., when she spotted him.
He ran to get to her when he saw her after she called his name.
“Sorry, I’m late.”
“You’re right on time,” she said. “I bet you, Kenta would have token all morning.”
“Whatever needs doing, I’m here for ya,” he said. “Just say the word and I’ll be on it.”
“Thanks a lot,” she said. “For starters, how about grabbing these?”
She had five bags and Sora had to carry four of them. They boarded the airplane at 9:00 a.m. and it took off thirty minutes later.
“Ueda, Japan?” Sora asked.
“It’s great-grandma’s birthday party,” she said. “Our relatives will be coming all over Japan, so we could use some extra help.”
We ordered some snacks while on the plane.
“So how are you going to represent Ohio?”
“Huh?”
“Kenta mentioned you was almost close to representing Ohio in some way,” she said. “Oh come on, what’s all the blushing about?”
“Well, I almost got to go to the Math & Science Olympics this year.”
“Wait, Olympics for math and science? Hey, you must be really good, huh?”
“Good thing, because I stink at almost everything else.”
“Seriously, then show me what you got.”
“OK,” he said, “tell me the year and date that you were born.”
“OK, it was June 14th, 1992.”
“On a Friday.”
“Huh?”
“That’s what date June 14th, 1992 was,” he said. “It was a Friday.”
“You’re saying you memorized all the dates?”
“No, I just used modulo method,” he said. “So did I get it right?”
“Uh, I don’t know what date it was.”
“I’ll just go to timeanddate.com to find out,” he said. “And I got it right! Whoo! Yeah!”
“Shhh!!” said all of the passengers.
It took an hour and forty-seven minutes to get to Metropolitan Topeka Airport in Kansas and it was an hour behind their time.
“Landing in Topeka, Kansas,” said the captain.
They had to wait until 10:30 a.m. (11:30 a.m. in their own time) to board the next flight. They bought some early lunch to take with them on the plane. At 11:00 a.m. (12:00 p.m. in their own time), they took off.
“My great-grandma is turning 100 in a couple of days,” she said. “Crazy, huh?”
“She was born on 1914?” Sora asked. “Talk about a full life.”
It took seven hours and five minutes to get to L.A.X. (Los Angeles International Airport) in California. Its time was three hours behind their time, but it would be two hours away from the time in Kansas.
The flight to Japan wasn’t boarding people until 4:30 p.m. (Kansas 6:30 p.m.; Ohio 7:30 p.m.). Sora and Mitsuki gotten themselves supper to eat before boarding the plane. The plane took them off at 5:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. in Kansas and 8:00 p.m. in Ohio). It took eleven hours and eighteen minutes to get to Japan at the airport called: Narita International Airport.
While they waited during that time, instead of being quiet the whole time. They took pictures of each other, laughed, made silly faces and told jokes. When night was coming upon them and they fell asleep the whole way. Later, the female attendant woke them up and said that they would be landing shortly. So Mitsuki, ZOLLAR texted one of her relatives saying: ‘We’ll be landing shortly. Get ready to send in a driver to wait for us at the airport.’
It was 8:18 p.m. when they landed (4:18 a.m. in CA, 6:18 a.m. in KS, and 7:18 a.m. in OH). It was 8:30 p.m. when they arrived to the exist to leave the airport and spotted a driver holding a sign that said: MS. FUGI.
“Hey, driver over here!” Mitsuki called out and waved her hand out to the driver.
“Are you, Ms. Fuji?” the driver asked as they approached him.
“Yup, that’s me.”
“Then please come right in and please allow me to put your bags in the trunk.”
“Sure, thanks.”
It took them an hour and five minutes to get to Ikebukuro (that’s in Toshima, Tokyo, Japan).
“Ikebukuro?” Sora asked. “Why stop there?”
“Well, since it is night time now,” she said. “Thought maybe we could sleep at a friend’s place for the night.”
“Really?”
“It won’t be long until we get to Ueda in the morning anyway.”
“Oh, I see,” Sora said. “Oh Mitsuki?”
“Yeah?”
“Did you know Ikebukuro is the place that the Durarara!! characters live in?”
“I know, right?” she said. “That’s why we are really going to Ikebukuro. To see them.”
“Who?”
“Celty and them.”
“What?!”
“Yeah,” Mitsuki said, “as it turns out. They are real living people.”
“Whoa!” Sora said surprised and freaked out by the discovery.
“I know, right?”
It was 9:35 p.m. when they arrived in Ikebukuro. They only took the luggage that they need (Sora got his backpack, which was the only thing he brought with him and Mitsuki got her tiny bag of clean clothes for tomorrow and pajamas too), while the driver was going to go on and take Mitsuki’s other luggages to Ueda to her relatives. While they stayed for the night there in Ikebukuro with one of Mitsuki’s Durarara!! friends.
It took the them five minutes to find who they was looking for but it turned out that the person found them. It was the Black Rider a.k.a. Celty Sturluson, the Dullahan looking for her head in Japan.
“Whoa! No way!” Sora said surprised to seeing the actual Black Rider in person.
“Way,” Mitsuki said.
Mitsuki waved her hand at Celty, “Hi Celty! Good to see you again.”
She typed on her PDA and showed it to them to see what she was saying to them. A way for her to communicate with people.
‘It’s good to see you too,’ she said. ‘I got your message as soon as you texted me.’
“That’s great,” Mitsuki said. “Oh Celty, this is Sora. He’s my friend in America, he’s from Ohio, and he’s very good at math.”
“And science,” Sora said. “Anyway, it’s nice to meet you, Celty. I’m a big fan of you, Shizuo, and the rest of the gang.”
‘I’m honored and it’s very nice to meet you too, Sora,’ she said. ‘It’s very nice to have a big fan who isn’t terrified of me or Shizuo, right?’
“Right.”
‘You two ready to go?’
“Of course,” Mitsuki said.
“Going where?” Sora asked.
‘Why to my place, of course.’
“Oh right, I almost forgot about that,” Sora said now realizing it. “Yeah, I’m ready too.”
‘Good,’ Celty said, ‘hop on everyone.’
“OK,” Sora said.
“Alright,” Mitsuki said.
Mitsuki got on first and held on to Celty, while Sora got on behind Mitsuki and held on to her.
Celty wrapped their stuff bads in her shadows shapped as spheres, one on each side of her motorcycle (which is really her headless horse name Shooter).
‘You ready?’ she asked the both of them.
“Yeah,” they said at the same time.
‘Hold on, okay?’
They nodded.
Once Celty took off, her horse made that noise and the ride was exciting, until a motorcycle cop showed up behind them.
“Police! Pull over now, monster!” the cop ordered on his intercom.
“Oh please tell me that’s not who I think it is,” Sora said.
“Oh yeah, it’s Kinnosuke alright,” Mitsuki replied.
“NO!!” Sora shouted in panick. “I don’t want to go to jail! I’m gonna die in there!”
‘Not yet!’ Celty replied.
Now they were going at an accelerating speed limit that not even the cop could follow them up to. They turned to their right and hid in an alley, until Kinnosuke passed by them.
Then they laughed.
“That was the most exciting thing that I have ever done in my whole life!” Sora shouted in excitement. “Whoo!”
They continued to laugh a bit longer.
‘Alright, let’s go.’
“Right,” they both said.
They took off once again and this time there was no police after them the whole way to Celty and Shinra’s apartment. It was 9:50 p.m. when they got there and five minutes later for when they went up the elevator, Celty putting her motorcycle up, and going into the apartment room.
“Oh, welcome home, Celty,” Shinra said out loud, “Oh hey, Mitsuki.”
“Hey Shinra, hi.”
“It’s nice to see you again.”
“It’s nice to see you again too, Shinra.”
“And who might this be?” Shinra asked curiously.
“This is Sora,” she said, “he’s a friend of mine from Ohio in America.”
“Ohio, huh?” he said. “I never been to America but I’d love to see it. I bet it’s great.”
“It sure is,” Sora said.
“That’s good,” Shinra said, “I’ll be sure to visit there one day. Anyway, you two are free to use the shower to wash up if you guys want?”
“Sure. Thanks,” Mitsuki said, “that’ll be great.”
“Yeah great,” Sora said, “I’ll let you go first, Mitsuki.”
“You sure?” she asked.
“Yeah, sure. Why not, right?”
“Right.”
It was 10:43 p.m., when Mitsuki finally gotten out of the shower.
“Alright Sora, you’re up,” she said. “It’s your turn, you can go in now.”
“OK,” Sora said. “Thanks Mitsuki.”
“Your welcome.”
‘She sure sounds like she’s mothering Sora a bit don’t you think, Shinra?’ Celty asked Shinra.
“Mothering Sora? No way, Celty,” he said. “But now that I think about it, she was mothering Sora just now, wasn’t she?”
‘It sure looks that way.’
“Let’s just forget about that happening just now, okay?”
‘Okay,’ Celty agreed. ‘Weird, huh?’
“Oh yeah, weird.”
It was 11:30 p.m., when Sora finally got out of the shower.
He saw Mitsuki coming in the hall to talk to him, “Oh hey, Mitsuki. What is it? Is something wrong?”
“Oh no. I just came to tell you that I’ll be sleeping in the guest room, while you on the other hand will be sleeping on the couch. Is that okay?”
“Uh . . . yeah. Yeah, it’s fine. I’ll get use to it.”
“Okay,” she said, “Thanks Sora.”
“You’re welcome,” Sora said out loud as she left the hallway and off to the guest room. “Oh an-an-and goodnight, Mitsuki.”
“And goodnight to you too, Sora,” she said out loud for him to hear.
He could hear her giggle and he smiled just hearing it.
It was 11:35 p.m., when Sora went to bed (well the couch) and he rested easy thanks to the air conditioner.
It was 6:20 a.m. in the morning when he was woken up for breakfast. He’s been sleeping for six hours and forty-five minutes.
“Hey Sora,” Mitsuki said out loud for him to hear her as she shook him on the shoulder.
Sora groaned.
“Come on, it’s time to get up. We got breakfast ready for you,” she said.
Sora woke and got up automatically, “Breakfast?!”
“Thanks.”
“Your welcome.”
After they ate pancakes, bacon, eggs, sausage and drank orange juice, they left with Celty the same way they did last night. They left at 7:32 a.m.
“Where did you guys get all that breakfast this morning?” Sora asked. “I didn’t think you guys had American food in Japan?”
‘We got it at a grocery store, it’s a little hard to come by but we managed to get it for you two,’ Celty answered.
“For us?”
“Yeah, I asked Celty on the ZOLLARS to buy us breakfast before we got here, so when we spent the night at hers and Shinra’s place, we would have breakfast in the morning.”
“Oh cool,” Sora said. “So will there be more cops following us on the way to Ueda in Nagano?”
“Nope,” said both Celty and Mitsuki.
“Why not?”
‘The motorcycle cops never come after me in the early day time, unless someone was after me or something bad happens. And they would never suspect me leaving Ikebukuro to get to Ueda either.’
“But should we be going faster just in case?” he asked.
‘You just read my mind, Sora.’
She started to go faster now and Sora started to panick and scream before enjoying it.
It took them two hours and thirty-two minutes to get to Ueda.
“Faster Celty!” Mitsuki begged and encouraged Celty in excitement.
‘Alright, hang on!’
She want even faster to get them to Mitsuki’s great-grandmother’s house.
Normally they would have gotten there by one hour and forty-five minutes, but they got there in just forty-five minutes thanks to Celty and her horse Shooter (disguised as a black motorcycle). It was 10:49 a.m. at the time that they arrived at the big house.
“Whoa!! What in the world!!” Sora said in amazement. “You guys live here?!!”
It was awesome and amazingly big mansion.
“Granny Noriko!” Mitsuki called out to the old woman by the house entrance, Mitsuki happily waved to her as she ran to her.
“Mitsuki!” she said happy to see Mitsuki. “I hope it wasn’t too much trouble coming all this way.”
“Not at all,” Mitsuki said. “My parents said they’ll come as soon as they’re done with work.”
“That’s great, hone. Everyone else has just got here as well. Well, almost everyone,” she said. “Oh Celty, it’s been a while. How are doing?”
‘Great. Thanks,’ she said in nervous way.
Then she wondered who Sora was.
“Just wanted to wish you the best of luck. Happy 100th Birthday, ma’am,” Sora said nervously.
Then after he said that, the three of them (well two) made strange faces.
“That’s very sweet, but . . . it’s my mom’s birthday,” Noriko said.
But the biggest surprise was when they met a little someone they knew that they didn’t expect to be there.
“Why hello there, Sora,” said a familiar voice.
“Wait that voice, is that?” Sora said.
“Yup, it’s me!” said the boy right behind Noriko at the doorway, “The one and only . . . Kenta Watson!”
Sora and Mitsuki were both surprised.
“KENTA?!!” they both said out loud for the whole house to hear.
“Is that really you, Kenta?” Mitsuki asked.
“Yup,” he smirked.
‘You know this guy?’ Celty asked the both of them.
“Yeah, he’s our—
“Online buddy from France and now here!”
They didn’t answer for a few seconds.
Sora finally spoke up, “What are you doing here?!! Wait a minute, how are you even here?!! How did you get here, Kenta?!!”
“It’s simple,” he answered, “I took the two o’clock flight in the morning.”
“Huh?”
‘Yeah, I’m not buying any of that.’
“You two really know this guy?” Noriko asked.
“YES!!” they both said.
“From the . . . uh, ZOLLARS website!” Sora said quickly to keep Kenta’s secret of being their college friend covered up from any trouble at all, “We’re the bestest friends there! We’ve never even got to meet him in person before until now!”
“Whoa, never?” Noriko asked.
“Yeah,” he said.
“Oh I see, than—
“Mitsuki!” a girl about Mitsuki’s age came running to her and hugging her. “It’s been so long, since we last met! Where’ve you been?!”
“Hana? Hana! I can’t believe it you’re here! You’re back!” Mitsuki said in excitement while hugging Hana back.
They laughed together.
Sora and Celty were clueless or confused on who this Hana character was.
“Uh.”
‘Uh, am I supposed to know her. I mean, are we supposed to know her?!’ Celty asked Sora.
“I don’t know, I just got here,” said Sora.
“Sora, Celty, this is Hana,” Mitsuki said. “She’s one of my best friends here in Japan.”
“Uh,” Sora and Celty said at the same time. “What?”
“Long story short,” the girl said, “but most people call me Ana. Because it’s a lot easier to say then Hana. Am I right or what?”
“Yeah,” said both Sora and Celty.
“So what brings you here, Hana?” Mitsuki asked.
“I came for Granny’s birthday, silly,” she said. “That’s when I met little handsome man Kenta.”
He smirked.
After that, they followed Noriko to meet the birthday lady.
It really is a samurai house . . . Sora thought, “Wow.”
“Sora, come on,” Mitsuki said.
“Oh right.”
“Um, Sora.”
“Yeah?”
“I know I’ve should have mentioned this earlier, but when you meet my great-grandma just go along with whatever I say.”
“Okay,” he said. “What’re you gonna say?”
They waited outside the doorway to the room while Noriko came in on her knees and said. “Mother.”
“Yes?” the elderly woman asked.
“I’m home, Granny,” Mitsuki said coming in.
“Oh you came,” Granny said hugging her great-granddaughter.
Noriko left the room with Kenta and Hana right behind her.
“I missed you so much. You feeling, okay?” Mitsuki asked.
“Never better, dear.”
“I’ve been worried. They’ve told me you might be sick.”
“Summer heat, stayed too long in the sun.”
“Oh, that’s good.” Mitsuki said relieved.
Then Celty came in.
“Oh Celty, it’s been a while. I’m glad to see you again,” Granny said happily. “How are you doing?”
‘I’m doing great, thanks,’ Celty replied, ‘and it’s good to see you too, Granny Eska.’
“Just Granny or Eska is fine by me, Celty,” she said. “So will you be staying, if so than your friends must be coming too?”
‘Oh yes, I’ll be here for your birthday but I’m not so sure about the others yet.’
“That’s just fine, I’m sure they’ll come.”
“Hmm?” Granny said wondering who Sora was.
“Uh, hello,” he said coming in.
Mitsuki winked at Granny as she said, “Remember what I’ve promised you?”
Sora kneeled next to Mitsuki as she scooted down a bit.
“That’s the boy?” Granny asked.
“Yup, Sora Jackman.”
“Uh, hello. Please to meet you. Mitsuki and I were both in the Physics club together, so when she asks me something—
“Um-um,” she said clearing her throat. “Yeah, so we’re going out.”
“Huh?” Sora said confused.
‘Hmm?’ Celty said wondering the same thing.
“Going out?” Granny asked.
“Yeah, Sora’s my fiancé actually.”
“What?!” Sora said confused and blushing a little.
‘Huh?!’ Celty said.
“Your fiancé?” Granny was wide eyed and couldn’t believe it too.
“Huh?” Sora said.
“Yup, my fiancé.”
“Uh?” both Sora and Celty said.
Granny and Sora (even Celty) looked back at each other still wide eyed.
Granny was the first to speak, “Well then—
“So I brought him home like I said I would.”
“Mitsuki, what the heck is going on?” Sora asked.
“Listen to this grandma, his specialty the most is Math!”
“Math?” Granny asked.
“Sora! Grandma was born on July 7th, 1914. What day was she born on?”
“Eh? A . . . a Tuesday.”
“When is the anniversary of great-grandpa’s death? It was on March 21st, 1988.”
“1988, huh? Then it would be a Monday.”
Granny asked the rest from that point on.
“Great-grandpa became a part of this family when I was 17 on September 10th, 1931.”
“Thursday!”
“He was born the same year I was. Four days before his death. On March 17—
“Tu-Tuesday, a lucky day!”
“My eldest son died 6 years ago that day of my husband’s death. He was born on January 1st, 1934. How old would he be if he was alive today?”
“Your son’s death was a Friday! His birth was a Monday! If he was still alive he would be 80 right now!”
“Sora.”
“Yeah, uh-huh?”
“This great-granddaughter of mine is no push over. Are you man enough to make my Mitsuki happy?”
“Huh? Oh, uh. Maybe, uh . . . well—
“I’m asking you if you’re man enough?”
“Um, yeah.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, sure I am,” he said with a nervous smile.
“Man enough to die for her?”
Sora was really wide eyed and scared now but he answered, “Yes.”
She looked at him with that serious look for a few zilliseconds, than began to smile. “Lucky girl.”
She laughed.
Oh man, I thought she was gonna kill me, he thought loudly.
“Here Mitsuki,” Granny said.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Congrats,” she said giving her a Japanese dress or outfit.
“The morning glory yukata. Oh, thank you.”
“Sora, please enjoy your stay. I’m very honored to meet you,” she said bowing to him.
“No, the honors all mine. Thank you for your hospitality,” he said bowing back.
After they left Granny’s room, they went to a garage to talk in private and Celty wanted to talk what all of that was about with them too.
“I’m sorry,” Mitsuki said bowing her head to Sora.
‘What was that all about?’ Celty asked her.
“I’m getting to that.”
“I can’t do it,” Sora said.
“Come on, it’s like the easiest part time job in the world.”
“I can’t do it!”
“Come on, Granny and everyone have to think we’re a couple.”
“No, no, no, no, no. Mitsuki, I’ve never even token a girl out on a date before.”
“I don’t want to let Granny down. They said she was feeling sick, so I told her she couldn’t die before she met my awesome boyfriend a.k.a. you,” she said now holding his hands.
Sora was blushing pink red all over for a bit. “Yeah. OK.”
“Oh, thank you so much,” she said now letting go of his hands for him not to blush all over. “Okay, from now on you should act really lovey-dovey on me.”
“Huh?” he asked.
“And I got your back story,” she said. “You’re a teacher in college , you’re from an old family, and you just came from China.”
“Let’s see,” he said using his fingers to count what she just said. “College teacher, old family, studied abroad from China. That’s the complete opposite of me!”
“So we’re good?”
“No, we’re not good!”
‘Mitsuki, this is crazy! It’s not going to work!’ Celty said.
“Come on, you guys. Whatever happened to whatever needs doing?” she said. “It’s only four days, including today. After that, I’ll tell them that we broke up, pretty please?”
“I’m telling you it’s not going to work,” he said, “but . . . fine.”
‘I don’t like it, either.’ Celty said. ‘Someone will find out the truth sooner or later, but fine. We’ll do it, no point in arguing anyway.’
The rest of the family started to show up, except for three more people that were supposed to show up. I’m going to talk about what the family are doing right now, we’ll introduce them in a bit. Right now, let’s continue with the story, shall we?
Makato, son of Eska, was checking the Akita dog Hachi’s mouth.
“Looks like were both getting old,” Makato told Hachi while checking Hachi’s teeth.
Than a fish truck showed up, it was Makato’s brother Masato who arrived in that truck.
“Hey,” Makato said to his brother waving at him.
“Hey,” Masato said back while getting a cooler out of the back of his truck.
Than Haruna and Takeru, daughter and son of Noriko showed up on a motorcycle.
“Thanks, bro.”
“Sis, your helmet.”
She took her helmet off and threw it to her brother.
Midori, wife of Hiroki, the son of Makato and the kids were watching a baseball game and her son was the pitcher in the game.
“Strike three and that’s the game. Pitcher Ryo is thrilled and crazy,” the speaker said on TV.
Midori and the kids cheered as Haruna came in.
“Did he win?” Haruna asked as she sat down.
“Mmm-hmm,” Midori nodded.
Three of the five kids left to tell everyone that Ryo won the game.
“Let’s go to tell everybody!” Jiro said.
“Yeah, let’s go tell them!” Ichiro said.
“Yeah!” Yumiko said.
They ran down the hall to tell everyone who won the game.
“—I didn’t see this coming,” the second speaker said.
“I thought they were done for—
“I thought they were done for? What you know?!” Midori said.
The kids ran to Hiroto and Nami, seeing them replace a light bulb, “Ryo won, Ryo won!” they said.
“Good for him,” Hiroto said.
“Go tell, Granny the good news,” Nami said.
“OK!” they said happily.
“Granny!” Jiro said as he and the other two left the hallway.
“Mitsuki, have you lost your mind!” yelled Shoji, son of Hiroto.
“Quiet, Shoji!” Hiroto shouted. “No need to yell like that!”
“Your fiancé?! Cousin Shoji, objects! Damn, I was too slow,” he said looking around for Mitsuki and her fiancé.
The kids ran to the kitchen to tell the women that are cooking that Ryo won.
“Ryo won, Ryo won!” they said.
“That’s great,” the four women said.
The four women are Noriko, Haruka, Mami, and Yumi.
“Brought something for the victory party,” Masato said just coming in laying down three coolers.
They all asked what he brought and what it was as they came up to see what it was.
“Jackpot,” he said opening it.
“Squid,” Jiro said.
“And then,” Masato said opening the second one.
“Even more squid,” Ichiro said.
“And for dessert,” Masato said.
They were all like ‘uh.’
“Why’s it all squid?” Yumiko asked.
Masato got up and laughed.
When it was night time, they all sat down to eat dinner/supper but before that, Sora was introduced to the whole family by Mitsuki.
“All right, introduction time,” Mitsuki said. “The head of the family is my great-grandmother Eska. She has four children. As you know, the son was Yuto, my grandfather, who passed away six years ago. We have her eldest daughter, Noriko and her two children, Haruna and Takeru. Then we have Masato and his children, Nami, Haruka, and Hiroto. Shoji is Hiroto’s son. The last son is Makato, he has three boys who aren’t here by the way but their names are Takeo, Isamu, and Hiroki. Takeo’s wife there is Yumi and her two kids, Jiro and Yumiko. That’s Isamu’s wife, Mami and her daughter, Shizuka. There’s Hiroki’s wife, Midori, her three children are Ryo, Ichiro, and Saburo. Ryo is off playing baseball with his team before he gets back for Granny’s birthday. Last but not least, are my parents that are not present either are Taro and Sachiko. You get all that?”
“Uh . . . yeah. More or less.” Sora said.
“Well, you get the idea.” Nami said.
“Please to meet you!” everyone said and went to eating.
“Yeah, please to meet you too. Thanks for having me, I guess.” Sora said.
Everyone was chatting, eating, and drinking.
“Wow, I’m amazed Granny gave Mitsuki’s boyfriend the okay.” Haruna said.
“No kidding, every time I brought a back home. She was all mean, she would send him back to the bus stop,” Nami said.
“College teacher in China, studied abroad there, an old family, of course she likes him,” Haruna said.
Sora was surprised that they knew about the story already, but they still didn’t know it was a lie yet.
“Quite the renaissance man,” Nami said.
“Sounds too good to be true,” Haruna said.
That’s because it’s not, Sora and Celty thought at the same time.
“Maybe the spencer club should take some notes,” Masato said.
The two argued or complained about what he just said, but no one could quit keep up what they were saying.
“Oh yeah, there was a middle school age kid and a high schooler in a back room. Who are they?” Kenta asked.
“Ah, that older one would be my Haruto,” Haruka said. “He isn’t too good at these type of gatherings.”
“Ah, don’t worry about it, I can compare to that,” Sora said.
“The younger one is my son, Naruto,” Haruna said. “He’s probably still battling Haruto on a game.”
“By the way, when’s the due date?” Makato asked Sora.
“Huh?” Sora asked in confusion. “Due date?”
“Yeah, you know. For the baby?” Makato asked.
“What?!”
“Stop being a pervert,” Yumi said to Makato. “What’s wrong with you?”
“He only came to say hello,” Noriko said.
“Ah, but I thought he came to say ‘hello,’ because he got her in a family way. You’ve done it, right? What am I saying, you’re a college teacher of course you’ve done it.”
“Just drink your beer,” Noriko told him.
“Oh let him ask, Old Sora here is gonna be family soon enough,” Masato said, then laughed.
“Like hell he is! I object!!” Shoji shouted.
“Oh give it a rest, Shoji,” Hiroto said to his son.
“You give it a damn rest!” he said.
“How dare you talk to your dad like that.”
“Just you wait, fiancé,” Shoji warned.
“Or what?” Midori asked with a smile.
Than everyone laughed.
“Laugh it up!” he said.
Than someone came out from behind Sora and scared the bejesus out of him.
“Mitsuki!!!” the boy said excitedly.
“Ahhh!!” Sora screamed scared.
“Oh hi, Naruto!” Mitsuki said.
“Naruto, what did we say about scary people?” Haruna asked the boy.
“Sorry mom,” he said.
“This is Haruna’s son, Naruto,” Mitsuki told Sora.
Naruto looked at Sora. “Is this him?”
“Yeah, this is my fiancé,” Mitsuki said.
“Hi, nice to meet you. I’m Sora.”
“Sora? Cool,” Naruto said, “like off of Kingdom Hearts. I hope you become the best heroic man for your future wife, Mitsuki here!”
“Like hell!” Shoji shouted.
“Mother’s permission is all that we need. You know how things work in this family,” Noriko said.
“Come on, Granny. You really gonna go through with this?” Shoji asked.
“Of course,” she said, “Sora will make a wonderful addition to the family. I have no doubt about it. These eyes of mine have never deceived me. The Jinnouchi clan have no time for meteocre men, not while there are still family in town to protect.”
“You tell em, ma,” Masato said. “We Jinnouchi have to be as sharp and tough as nails! If you’re a man, you have to be able to protect your home and family! We played an important part in Takeda’s army! This was the Battle of Ueda!”
“Here he goes again,” Nami said.
“Tokugawa had his 7,000 elite troops, and Senzo-sama had to face him with only 2,000 of his own troops!!”
“Thus began the Second Ueda War!” Makato called out.
“Bingo, we have a winner!” Masato said.
Everyone cheered.
Later, when they were done eating, Kenta and Hanna went off on a date, Celty went to bed (or so they thought), and Mitsuki and the kids (except the baby Saburo) were taking a bath.
Sora was in the hallway talking to Kenta on his cellphone before Kenta went back on his date with Hana.
“Stupid rock, paper, scissors, I knew I should have cheated. You get to be her boyfriend, man. But at least, I get to be with her best friend and not to mention we have lie to them too. I am so jealous of you,” Kenta said.
“There’s nothing to be jealous about, it’s just a job and we’ll tell everyone we just broke up, anyway,” Sora said.
“But still,” he said. “You having at least? I know I am.”
“I don’t know,” Sora said, “I don’t do well with strangers.”
“Don’t be such a party pooper, seriously dude,” he said. “You get to sleep in bed with the most popular girl that ever went to our school. Hey, you two are still playing boyfriend and girlfriend, right? You two should get nice and cuddly.”
“What?! Cuddly? What are you talking about?”
“Ha. Good luck, man. Later,” he said, as he hung on up.
“Man. He doesn’t care about other people’s problems one bit,” Sora said to himself. “Where am I?”
He was looking over the place to find the room he was looking for.
“Wow, this place is big,” he said to himself.
Sora saw light coming from a room, so he went to check it out. It had an old teenager in there doing something on the computer and that’s where the light was coming from. He wore headphones and was listening to some kind of music, I think.
Without even making any noises, he somehow knew that Sora was there.
“You need something?” he asked.
“Hey, Haruto right? I’m Sora and I’m kind of lost.”
“The bathroom’s back there to the right,” he said.
“Oh thanks,” Sora said. “How come your back way over here?”
But he just ignored Sora and went back to doing what he was doing on the laptop.
Sora found the bathroom and saw Shizuka running away naked in the hall.
“Mommy,” she called out to.
“Shizuka, get back here. You’re all wet, silly buns,” Mitsuki said.
She noticed Sora and she hid herself.
“Whoa! I’m sorry! I wasn’t looking! Honest,” Sora said.
“I’m all done. The shower or tub’s all yours,” she said.
“Uh, no thanks. I’m good, still clean.”
But he ended up going to take a bath anyway.
“Mitsuki just soaked in this very water,” Sora said to himself.
But that was until Jiro and Ichiro’s heads popped out from under the water.
“I win!” Ichiro said.
“You big cheater, it was a tie.”
Sora got up and closed the door to let them have that bathtub, than he heard a shower going on beind a door. He slided it open and saw a man in a lab coat peeking at Celty taking a shower, he realized it was—
“Whoa, Shinra!”
“Sora!”
Celty heard them both, she grabbed her PDA and said. ‘STOP PEEKING!!’
She kicked them both out at the same time and slammed the door shut. She used her powers to keep the door good and tight.
After Sora took a shower, he and Shinra talked while walking to the eating room.
“So when did you get here, Shinra?” Sora asked.
“I got here ten minutes before peeking on Celty,” he said.
“I see.”
“Come here, Hachi. It’s me, don’t you remember me?” a voice said.
The adults were looking at a man petting the Akita dog, Hachi.
“Why are you here?” Masato asked the man.
“It’s my home, how’s that for starters?” the man said.
“Like hell it is, you thief,” Noriko said.
“Haha. Still as unpleasant as ever, Aunt Noriko. You haven’t changed a bit,” he said.
“Oh you’re a fine one to talk. Sneaking back here 10 years later like nothing every happened. What’s wrong with you?!” Makato asked.
“The gangs all here, why?”
“We’re throwing a birthday party on Monday,” Hiroto answered.
“Really. For who?”
Then he turned to Granny, realizing it was going to be her birthday.
She called the man by his name. “Daisuke.”
“Daisuke?” both Sora and Shinra wondered to themselves who this man is.
“Hey, the hag. I thought you were dead,” he said.
“Same for you. I thought you died in the streets or at least the slums for that matter years ago,” she said.
“You’ll hit a hundred more easily before you crock,” he said.
“Maybe so,” she said. “Have you eaten yet?”
“I don’t need any of your food,” he said. “This Go-Japan stinks, all street and all narrow, and there’s too damn many of us.”
He drank a glass of beer and said. “But the beer’s good at least.”
Than Mitsuki came in behind Sora and was surprised to see this man.
“Daisuke?” Mitsuki asked.
Than a smile came on her face, “Uncle Daisuke!”
“Mitsuki, is that you?” he asked.
She ran up to him and gave him a hug that pushed him on the ground while he was sitting.
“Oh my gosh, you’re back!” she said happy and laughing.
“Thanks,” he said.
“Mitsuki, you get away from him!” Noriko ordered.
“Huh? Why, it’s Uncle Daisuke,” she said.
The ladies, except Granny and Mitsuki were talking in the kitchen.
“Has it really been ten years?” Nami asked.
“Time sure does fly by,” Noriko said.
“So is Daisuke, anyway?” Mami asked.
“Oh that’s right, you never would have met him,” Yumi said.
“Trust me, it’s a long story,” Midori said.
“Why bother? My mother adopted him,” Noriko said.
“Yeah, because he’s great-grandfather’s illegitimate son,” Nami said.
“Huh?” Mami said.
“That ungrateful punk had the nerve to take what little property Granny had to go chasing off to America with the money. America, can you believe it?! Geez, who does that?” Haruna said.
“That kind of stuff happened a lot back then,” Noriko said.
Daisuke and Mitsuki were playing the card game called, ‘Koi Koi,’ while Sora was trying to learn the rules.
“Really? You haven’t gotten married yet?” Mitsuki asked. “Than do you have a girl-friend?”
“Quit the dumb questions,” he said.
“That’s great. I want to visit more places in America. Hey, take me to the Disney Resorts. First, the one in California and then the one in Florida and in between I could just crash at your place. So how do I get in touch with you?”
“Win and I’ll tell,” he said.
“Aw. No fare,” she said.
“That’s what makes it fun,” he said, “but if you still win I’ll take you all over the world if you want?”
“What? Really?” she asked happily. “So, will you stay too?”
“Maybe if you win,” he said.
“Alright, here goes nothing. Haha. Dry three bright, read them and weep.”
“Are you taking the points?”
“Not yet, Koi-Koi, uncle.”
“Alright, my turn then. Bam. Dry four—dry four brights?”
“Huh? Of course not. Oh, that’s a shame.”
“Three junk cards.”
“Huh? Koi-Koi, right?”
“Fraid not.”
“How’d you do that?”
“Haha. What can I say? Well, I think I’m gonna call it a night.”
“Oh, come on. One more game.”
“I believe in quitting while you’re ahead. That’s my style, anyway. You’re turn.”
“Ah, I’m still learning the rules,” Sora said.
“Hey, how long are you here for?” she asked Daisuke while getting up and going with him.
“Don’t know.”
“You could just stay. Yeah, what do ya think?”
After they left, Sora was alone in the room, then a few minutes later at 8:00 p.m. Masato called to everyone from outside in the grassy fields shouting and yelling. “Hey! Get ready everyone! We’re going to start the fireworks, now!”
When they started the fireworks, it was beautiful. Sora remained where he was at while the others were outside sitting on the ground, or in chairs. It lasted, until it was 9:00 p.m.
“Happy Fourth of July Day!!” everyone outside shouted, then they all cheered.
Later that night, Sora went to the kitchen to thank the ladies for the meal and everything.
“Excuse me,” Sora said. “Thank you all for everything today. I’m going to head off to bed, so good night everyone.”
“Wow, you’re so polite,” Nami said.
“So admirate,” Haruna said.
Then he left and could hear them talking.
“Still, you think it’s odd that he didn’t drink?” Nami asked.
“That’s a good thing, right?” Haruna said.
“Oh stop it, it doesn’t matter if he drinked or not,” Noriko said.
Sora went to the room they gave him to sleep in. It was one of those sleeping on the floor beds called ‘futons,’ Japanese people and maybe even Chinese people sleep in.
Sora went on the ZOLLAR’s chatroom before going to sleep, but none of his chatroom buddies came on, I guess it was because time was different here and in America. So Sora just got off and tried to sleep, but he was having trouble sleeping.
“What am I doing here?” Sora asked himself.
Then in just a few seconds, his phone made a weird ring tone. He opened it up and on the screen he got a Zollar mail, then it had numbers.
He got his notebook and copied the numbers down and begun to try and solve it. It took him from 12:45 p.m. to 3:40 a.m. to finish it and type in the answer.
“I solved it,” he said.
He typed in the answer, then it said ‘thank you’ and it counted down from three, then it did a loud pop sound and that’s what made him jump and drop his phone.
“Ah!”
It had a crazy evil smiley face on the screen and giggled a bit. Sora just turned it off and went to bed to get some sleep.
“What the heck was that all about anyway?” he asked himself before shutting his eyes.
While he was still sleeping the morning when everyone was up, two kids jumped on top of him.
“Wake up!” they said.
Sora woke to see it was Jiro and Ichiro trying to wake him up.
“Huh?” Sora said.
“Out of bed, criminal,” Jiro ordered.
“Get up!” they said.
Sora got up and they dragged him by the hand to get to the living room to watch the news on the TV.
“Let’s go! Come on! Move it, big guy! Come on!” they said dragging him.
“Wait! I just wanna sleep!” he said.
“Quiet, you see. It is too his face,” Ichiro said.
“No doubt about it. This is him, alright,” Jiro said.
“Huh?” Sora said.
“—the master mind behind this attack,” said a man on TV.
“He looks young does he? A college student perhaps?” a second man asked. “Maybe, even a high schooler.”
There was a picture of Sora on TV. He couldn’t believe.
“Wait, that picture,” Sora said. “It’s me.”
Only his eyes were covered up and could not be seen.
“Hard to believe this baby faced boy hacked into the land of ZOLLAR’s maintenance server. He turned the whole place on its head in just one night. Experts are saying that system repairs will take some time,” the first man said.
“Probably just a prank,” a third man said, “but I won’t be able to check my email though.”
“But ZOLLARS is bubukids now. Its users are common of that of cellphones, right?” the first man said.
“Indeed, Japanese and American society depends on ZOLLARS access from shopping and online chatting to business operations. Maybe it is just a prank, but they’re going to throw the book at this kid none the less,” the second man said.
“Throw the book at him?” Jiro asked.
“It means he’s busted,” Ichiro answered.
They laughed.
“OK, breakfast is ready,” Yumi said passing by.
Sora grabbed the remote off the small table and turned off the TV.
“Huh?” they said.
“Hey, give me that,” Jiro said snatching the remote from him and turning the TV back on. “There.”
“No wait!” Sora said.
“Oh no, you don’t,” he said.
Sora tried chasing them around the table to get the remote from them, but he couldn’t.
“Please, I didn’t do it! Stop running already! Wait, nobody look!”
Then he saw the plug and unplugged the TV.
“Huh?” they said.
“The TV went out,” Ichiro said.
“How did that happen?” Jiro said.
Then Sora got away from the kids to try out his phone to get on the ZOLLARS.
“I’m a wanted criminal?! Me?! How in the world did this even happen?!!” I whispered talked to myself.
“Hey, breakfast!” Midori called out.
Sora hid when he heard her.
“This has to be some kind of mistake,” Sora said.
Sora already had his name on the log in of the homepage of the ZOLLARS. He just needed to type in the password, but it just said he was unable to log in and was already on. He did it a second time, but no luck.
“What the?” Sora said.
Then he remembered Haruto.
“Where was that kid?” he asked himself. “Oh man. Huh?”
He spotted Haruto’s room and ran to it and he was still in there.
“There you are!” Sora said.
“Did you do this?” he asked.
“Let me use your computer now!” Sora ordered.
“That was rude. Try asking nicely, dude,” he said.
Sora calmed himself down a bit by inhaling and exhaling one time. “Can I please borrow your computer for a second now, please?”
He moved the computer towards him.
“Thanks a lot,” Sora said.
He typed in his username and password again, but it didn’t work a first or second time again.
“No way,” Sora said.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Someone stole my account to hack into ZOLLARS.”
“I see, you were framed than, right?”
“Right.”
“Don’t try calling Customer Service, their busy.”
Then someone touched Sora on the shoulder.
He closed his eyes and screamed that he also screamed like a girl.
“Come down, dude! You want people to hear you?” Haruto said. “It’s just Celty, jeez man.”
“Celty, I swear I didn’t do this,” Sora said.
‘I know, I over heard.’
“Sora,” said a woman’s voice.
“Yeah?” he asked realizing it was Haruto’s mom, Haruka.
“You have a phone call. It’s Kenta from last night,” she said.
Sora picked up the phone and thanked her for it, then he answered it. “Hello?”
“Please tell me you didn’t break the Internet?” Kenta asked.
“Of course not.”
“Didn’t think so. It’s too stupid to be you.”
“Whatever, if you know it wasn’t me, then help me out.”
“ I can’t. None of our admin passwords work anymore. We’ve been exiled.”
“Wasn’t our security system like the best in the world?!”
“Last night, this strange weird email message popped up all over ZOLLARS.”
“Whad it say?”
“Zollar’s 2056 digit security algorithm. It’s suppose to be impossible to decrypt, but someone punched through it in a single night.”
“Wait a minute, 2056? What was the first number?”
“Eight.”
Then he realized that it was him who did it.
“I . . . I did it. It was me after all,” Sora said.
“Excuse me?!”
“I just thought it was another one of those random math problems.”
“So you just went and solved it?! Idiot!”
“I’m sorry.”
“No way,” both Haruto and Celty said in surprise.
“Anyway, I got you a guest avatar on that phone of yours,” Kenta said. “No privileges, but it’s better than nothing. Use it to find out what’s going on, okay?”
“You’re kidding me, right? I’m a cat? A blue cat that looks like Happy off of Fairy Tail?”
“Greetings citizens of Zollars,” said a male voice, “do to unforeseen secure stances many of our services are off line. We apologize for the technical difficulties and will get on it as soon as possible.”
“Sora, there he is!” Kenta said.
“Hey . . . um . . . pardon me. C-Could you stop using my avatar to cause trouble?”
The avatar turned around and had an evil smile and laughed.
“This guy stole my Zollars account! I’m a victim of identity fraud!” Sora said.
All the avatars around the avatar had the same evil smile and laugh as he did when they all turned around to face Sora.
“Who is this maniac? You can’t just do whatever you want just because you’re online! There are rules, you know!!”
He flew up to Sora and punched him in the face.
“Battle mode?! But this a no fighting area,” Kenta said. “This place has just been reset for all the avatars.”
“Tell me like a normal person would!” Sora said.
“ZOLLARS just turned into one giant cage match! Is that normal enough for you, Sora?! Now run!”
“Hey, let’s talk this over! Let’s talk this over!” Sora said holding his hand up in a stop as the imposter was walking slowly up to him.
The imposter jumped up in the air and its feet landed on Sora’s cat-like face, then it started jumping and punching on Sora’s face.
“Move, dummy!” Haruto said to Sora. “He’s killing ya like a giant punching bag! Get out of the way!”
Now Haruto was taking over with his own avatar.
The imposter was kicked in the face by Haruto’s avatar out of nowhere. The imposter crashed to the ZOLLAR building, then while there was smoke surrounding the imposter, Haruto kicked him in the face again away from the building. As the dust cleared up really fast, Sora and Kenta couldn’t believe their eyes. It was the King himself.
“That’s . . .” Kenta said. “Kind Haruto!”
“All right!!” said the comments of every avatars around the world.
The imposter’s appearance has changed before he got up and started to fly away with King Haruto following him in the air.
“Quick! He’s getting away!” Sora shouted.
‘Stay here, you guys! I’ll be right back! I have an idea!’ Celty said before rushing off.
“Wait! Celty!” Sora said.
Too late, Celty was already gone.
Celty rushed off to Naruto’s room to ask him something, I know you’re all going to love.
Celty appeared in front of Naruto’s front doorway room in a flash.
‘Naruto, I need your help!’
“Celty, are you seeing this?” Naruto asked pointing at the picture of Sora on the news of his computer screen.
‘No time for that now! Help me out!’
“OK, but for what?”
‘I need you to use your machine to put me inside of ZOLLAR.’
“Alright!” he said. “Thought you’d never ask. Which one you’d like? Posses your avatar-self or put yourself in there?”
‘Avatar-self.’
“You got it.”
“There’s no way I’m letting you go in on your own,” said a man’s voice from behind Celty by the doorway.
‘Huh? Shizuo?’
“Hey Naruto, put myself inside there,” he ordered him. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but something tells me you need to get inside ZOLLAR to stop the criminal. Time for battle, huh?”
Back in Haruto’s room after Celty left, Haruto was chasing the imposter.
“I can’t believe it, you’re—
“Stop talking, I’m trying to concentrate,” Haruto said to Sora.
Haruto followed the criminal back to the ground and he finally got a hold of the imposter. He tightened his arm around the criminal’s neck.
“You got him now,” Sora said.
“This guy is nothing.”
Then Jiro and Ichiro spotted Sora in Haruto’s room as they were passing by.
“There he is!” Jiro said. “Sir, the criminal’s been spotted!”
“Good work, cadet,” Ichiro said.
“You’re going to jail!” they both said at the same time as they ran at Sora to tackle him down.
“Huh?” he said turning around before they jumped on him to hold him down. “No stop, I’m innocent! I can prove it!”
“Cut it out!” Haruto told the kids.
The imposter got out of King Haruto’s grip and ran for Kenta. Sora held the kids down before seeing that in alarm.
“Kenta, get away from there!!”
“Whoa, whoa! What the hell!” Kenta said in alarm doing just that.
But as it turned out, it went for the avatar by Kenta and not him instead.
The little avatar tried her best to get away from it, but it just ate her, then went for a guy’s avatar and ate him too.
Every avatar around Haruto and the man-eating avatar, stepped a few feet away from the two.
Then the imposter evolved into something else.
“That guy---” Ichiro said.
“—got big,” Jiro said.
Then Sora noticed a picture of his avatar on the disc thing behind the evolved avatar.
“Hey, that’s my icon!” Sora said.
Then the avatar and King Haruto started to fight. Haruto started having a hard time with this guy.
“Damn it, damn it, damn it,” he said in frustration.
This evolved avatar was stronger and faster than Haruto.
“Who are you?” Haruto asked.
“Hey, cool game,” Ichiro said.
“Yeah, I wanna play it,” Jiro said.
“Don’t touch anything!” Haruto yelled pushing them out of the way.
“I’m telling,” Jiro said.
Haruto realized his avatar was getting beat up, no thanks to the kids. Then all of a sudden out of nowhere, King Haruto . . . lost.
“K.O.!!” a man’s voice said. “Challenger wins!!”
The avatar was about to steal Haruto’s avatar, until Shizuo showed up out of nowhere and punched the avatar in the face but it did not go down. Then two more avatars showed up and stood by King Haruto’s side as he laid down unconscious.
“Whoa! Is that Shizuo?!”
“Yeah, and I’m Naruto!” the fox avatar said. “We met last night, remember?”
“Oh yeah, your that kid.”
“And I’m Celty,” said the headless knight.
“What?!”
Shizuo jumped away from the avatar and stood with his friends, but it wasn’t over just yet, two avatars that this avatar stolen had came out of his disc and they were fighting types.
“Oh man, this is so like Summer Wars,” Sora said.
The kids just watched the show.
Celty fought the samurai avatar, Naruto fought the guerrilla avatar, while Shizuo fought the avatar.
Celty easily defeated her opponent and when the opponent was defeated, it went back into the avatar’s disc.
Naruto was having a hard time with the guerrilla, so Celty came in to help before he was defeated. Celty easily nocked the guerilla out with her scythe, then Shizuo suddenly appeared and punched the unconscious avatar in the face and it went flying and crashing to a wall. So the guerrilla avatar was put back into the avatar’s disc after that attack. The avatar looked at Celty, Shizuo, and the defeated Naruto.
Naruto looked at the avatar and shouted before falling unconscious. “Y . . . you . . . We won’t forget this . . .!!”
The avatar started charging at Celty and Shizuo, without his feet on the ground.
“Come on, come on,” Haruto trying to get his avatar up to help, but couldn’t.
Celty wrapped her, Shizuo, and the unconscious Naruto in a black sphere made from her shadows and when it faded away, Celty, Shizuo, and Naruto were gone.
That was when Sora started to get the kids out of the room.
“Okay, kids time to go,” he said.
“Hey, let me go! You’re a criminal, and yet--” Ichiro said.
“Let me play the game too--!!” Jiro said.
The avatar was ready to steal Haruto’s avatar, but Sora ran to King Haruto’s aid and stood there. Sora gave the avatar a shocked expression pointing to the left direction. The avatar looked in that direction, Sora grabbed, pulled, ran with the unconscious King Haruto and managed to escape. The avatar didn’t bother to go on after them, so he just flew away.
Sora was keeping the door closed, while he used the phone to use his quest avatar to get King Haruto out of there. The kids were wanting back in, but that was never gonna happen.
“Oh, thank god,” Sora said. “That was close. He probably would have eaten your avatar too.”
Haruto was silence.
Outside somewhere around the house, Mitsuki and a few of the family was practicing a happy birthday sing-a-long for Granny Eska.
“Here we go. One, two. . .” Mitsuki said.
Then they started singing.
“Uncle Daisuke, come and sing,” Mitsuki called out to him, while everyone still sung.
“I’ll pass,” he said.
“Just forget about him,” Nami told Mitsuki.
Daisuke was reading something on his phone, until he was approached by Yumiko.
“Uncle?” she said.
“Huh?”
“What’cha looking at?”
So he lied. “Ladies in hot swimsuits.”
“What was your job in America?”
“Ninja.”
“Whoa really?”
He showed her his phone, but looked away and covered her eyes thinking it really was what he said it was, but it wasn’t. Just the words he was reading.
Back at Haruto’s room, after the kids left. Celty, Shizuo, and Naruto showed up to see if Sora and Haruto were okay, then Kenta finally made it there a few minutes after Celty’s group came. Kenta told them, Hana was with the family when Sora asked.
“I think I’ve figured out who’s behind all of this, but it ain’t human,” Kenta told everyone.
“It isn’t human, than what is it?” Sora asked.
“A.I., you know artificial intelligence. Apparently, someone was programming an A.I. designed for hacking into a Robotics’ Club in Pittsburgh and its somehow got out,” Kenta said looking up the thing on his laptop.
“It got out?” Sora asked.
‘What do you mean it got out? How could it have escaped?’ Celty asked.
“It just did,” Kenta said. “The best part, it’s called ‘Kill Machine.’”
“Kill Machine?” Sora said. “Oh god, just like Love Machine, but with the word ‘kill’ in it. Oh I was right, this is so like the Summer War anime movie indeed.”
The group stood silence after that.
The family sat in the eating table in shock as they saw Sora’s face on TV.
“Jeez, I wish this kid would give us a break already,” a man’s voice on the news said.
“You can say that again, I paid too much for this cellphone not to work,” a woman’s voice said on the news.
The rest of the family that practiced the birthday singing came inside chatting.
“If Ryo’s team makes it to the Nationals, let’s go to the hot springs,” Midori said. “My treat, ladies.”
“Sounds good to me,” said all three (Nami, Yumi, and Haruka).
Mitsuki ran to the table in shock of seeing Sora’s face on TV.
“Wait, is that--” Nami said.
Haruna and Shoji came back with news on Sora.
“Mitsuki! Your boyfriend’s a con artist!” Haruna said.
“Dump that guy, this instant!” Shoji ordered.
“Sora’s not from an old family, his dad’s just some random sells man!” Haruna said. “I checked into the ZOLLARS registry! Oh and all of that stuff about being a college teacher you told us was a lie! According to the registry, he’s one year younger than you are!”
“We got a fax down at the police station, look!” Shoji said showing a picture of Sora.
“And he’s just a junior in college in Ohio in America!” Haruna said. “And he’s never studied abroad! He probably couldn’t even find cities of China on the map!”
“I thought. . .” Mitsuki said. “Granny?”
“—and now for our next news story,” a man said on the news.
“The NASA asteroid probe failed to release its capsule as planned by its designers,” the second man said on the news.
“Oh and I found out that that Kenta fella isn’t from Frnace! He’s a friend to you and Sora in America at the same college, you three go to!” Haruna said.
Hana couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “What? That can’t be.”
Back in Haruto’s room, there were comments on King Haruto.
“Whoa, these comments are brutal,” Sora said, “but don’t worry it’s just a game.”
“KING HARUTO, KING OF STUPIDS!!”
“YOU BETRAYED US, HARUTO!”
“It’s not a game. It’s a sport,” Haruto said.
“Huh?” Sora asked.
“Games are for people who don’t care enough,” Haruto said. “In sports you compete to win.”
“Oh, I see!”
“But it’s different!” Haruto said.
“Different how?”
“It loves games just like Love Machine, I can feel it. It likes to play.”
“Likes to play like Love Machine off of Summer Wars, huh? Which means he—
Sora was cut off when he heard someone running this way in the hall.
Shoji shouted at him. “Haha! Got ya!”
The whole family tried to get in at the same time, but they all fell down on top of one another and trying to get back up and they were too noisy that the group could hardly make out what they were all saying.
“Cat’s out of the bag,” Mitsuki said.
“I told you it wasn’t gonna work!!” Sora and Celty said at the same time. “And we told you someone would find out!!”
They were in the room close to the dining room (also known as the eating room too). The TV has the baseball game on with Midori’s son Ryo on. She was the only one watching TV at the table, while the others stared at Sora, Mitsuki, and Kenta in the other room. The only ones not in both rooms were Haruto, Naruto, and of course Daisuke.
Sora, Mitsuki, and Kenta was kneeling in front of Noriko, while the others sat in the dining room behind them. Shoji sat on their left, Nami stood by their right, Eska sat far behind them on their right, while Celty, Shinra, Shizuo, Haruna, and Hana stood behind them.
Ryo said on TV. “Yeah, the team at the other school are no pushovers, you know. But I honestly think when the dust clears we’ll be the champs. Ueda High School, yeah!”
The team gathered around him and they all cheered.
Midori cheered too, but it ended soon as she saw no one else was cheering at the table or watching TV. “Yeah! Huh?”
“Why on earth, would the both of you lie to us?” Noriko asked Sora and Kenta.
“And what were you thinking?” Noriko asked Mitsuki. “Granny likes being lied too?”
Mitsuki just shook her head no, none of the three friends didn’t even bother to look at Noriko.
“I had my doubts about these tricksters the moment they walked through the door,” Haruna said.
“Kenta, please tell me this isn’t true,” Hana asked sadly.
He said nothing.
“Though we do have a college teacher from an old family who’s studied in America and traveled the whole world, if that’s what you’re looking for?” Nami said.
“Daisuke has all of those qualities,” Noriko said.
“Your right, but why Mitsuki?” Haruna asked standing by Nami’s side now.
“Hold on, wasn’t Mitsuki in love with--” Nami said.
Then Nami and Haruna gasped in realization as Mitsuki’s whole face started to blush in embarrassment.
“She was always fond of Daisuke,” Noriko said.
“And she had her love fortune told when she was in kindergarten and Pre-K,” Nami said.
Haruna said, “She even wrote that for her essay for school, remember? ‘Me & Daisuke.’”
Sora and Kenta couldn’t hold in their laughter anymore, so they burst out in laughter, as Mitsuki spoken out.
“NO!!” Mitsuki shouted embarrassed. “Just stop it, I’m begging you!”
“At least we got all of that figured out,” Haruna said.
Shoji got up in frustration. “Oh focus, women! What’s important is that this guy’s a cyber criminal!”
“I’m not!” Sora said.
“He’s right,” said Haruna.
“He can’t stay here after what his done,” Noriko said.
“Well you’re a cop, aren’t you?” Nami asked him. “Just arrest him problem solved.”
“Oh, right,” said Shoji.
“And while you’re at it, arrest Kenta too,” Hana said.
“Huh?” Kenta said.
“Kenta?” both Noriko and Haruna asked her.
“What for?” Nami asked Hana.
“Just in case, he’s an accomplice,” Hana said.
“What?” Kenta said.
“Good point,” Shoji said.
‘Now hold on their innocent,’ Celty said talking about Sora and Kenta.
“Oh enough!” Shoji said to everyone.
Shoji handcuffed the both of them. “Checkmate!”
“Whoa,” Ichiro said.
“Take them to jail,” Jiro said.
“Hey, don’t be rude,” Yumi and Midori said at the same time.
“The time is now, 12:30 p.m.” Shoji said. “The cause of arrest . . . well . . . because . . .”
“Tell me, Sora, was that you on TV?” Eska asked before taking a drink of tea. “I don’t know what load of crap they were talking about on the news just now, but was that really you on the photograph just now?”
“I swear, I didn’t do it!” Sora complained.
“Yeah, right, now come on!” Shoji shouted.
“Wait, before we leave there’s something I need to say before he takes and drags us away,” Sora said scooting over to Granny Eska.
“What?!” Shoji said.
“Be quiet!” Granny ordered Shoji to hear what Sora had to say. “Go on, Sora.”
“I just wanted to thank you for such a good, great, and wonderful time,” Sora said. “You see my father had to relocate for his job and mom’s job keeps her busy too. I hardly ever get to see them anymore, especially on holidays like Christmas and Summer Break. Mostly I’m the only one home, sometimes it’s just me and Kenta’s family but after that I’m always alone. Eating dinner with you all like a real family, I never had a chance to do stuff like that before. I really liked it, honest.”
Granny closed her eyes and smiled. “I understand.”
“Anyway, thank you for having me and Kenta,” he said bowing his head to her.
He got up and said. “Well everyone, we’re leaving now. Glad to have met you,” he said bowing his head to them.
“Glad to have met you too,” everyone said.
Shoji putted Sora in the front seat in his car and Kenta in the back. The wheel was on the right. When Shoji got in, he started the car and was driving out of there.
Sora turned to see the Jinnouchi mansion one last time, until Mitsuki, Celty, Shizuo, and Shinra came running after them, trying their best to follow them.
Sora gasped, “Mitsuki? Guys?” he said. “Mitsuki, Celty, Shinra, Shizuo, I’m soryy!” he called out to them.
Shoji slapped him.
“Ow!”
Mitsuki watched as the car left with Celty, Shinra, and Shizuo standing right behind her watching too.
Celty touched her shoulders and said, ‘Don’t worry about a thing, Mitsuki. He’ll come back.’
Then they looked back to where the car left.
As for Kill Machine, he was up to no good in the world of Zollars.
He used some type of key to unlock something to give him access to. . .well, everything. The key went half way into the ‘O’ of the word Zollar, then he started pulling strings, throwing a ball into other balls like it was a game of marbles, changing traffics, and all kinds of things to create more errors, chaos, destruction, and panic in the real world.
Midori and the rest of the kids were watching her son playing his baseball game. “Yeah Ryo! You can do it, baby! Give mama a no hitter!”
But just when it was about to show her son making his pitch, the news popped up.
“Oh enough of the stupid probe already!” Midori said.
“Midori,” Noriko said.
“Yeah?”
“We’re going to have lots of relatives today. Come and help out. Baseball can wait.”
“OK.”
Back to Sora, Kenta, and Shoji, they just stopped in traffic at a red light.
“To bad you don’t have a siren on this thing,” Sora said.
“Shut up!” Shoji yelled.
“Yes sir.”
Shoji taped his fingers on the wheel impatiently and started grumbling and growling. “Hey!”
“Yes?!” both Sora and Kenta asked.
“It’s green, right?! So why are we just sitting here?!”
“I don’t know!” they said.
Back at the Jinnouchi Mansion, the family is having problems trying to get relatives here for Granny’s birthday party on Monday.
“Huh, you won’t be here?” Noriko asked Mitsuki’s mom, Sachiko on the phone. “Why?”
“Because my GPS is broken. I’m somewhere in Saitama, but it keeps saying I’m in Hokkaido,” she said, “and its wall to wall traffic. So I’m not even so sure if I’ll be able to make it today.”
“Her birthday is the day after tomorrow, there must be some way you can get here,” Noriko said.
“Don’t freak out,” Sachiko said. “My husband will take the next bullet train tonight just let Mitsuki know for me.”
When Noriko called Sachiko’s husband Taro, and guess what?
“Sorry, but I won’t be able to leave Tokyo today,” he said.
“You too?! Why not?!”
“Someone or something’s been raising the pressure in the water bay systems. If we don’t get this fix soon, all the underground cast and power lines will be in danger too,” he said. “I swear I’ll be on the bullet train by tomorrow morning. Be sure to tell Mitsuki for me, okay?”
“You better,” Noriko said. “We’ve been planning this for ages. This is no time to let work interfere.”
The whole family called their loves and none of them could come because of the problem with Zollars, no thanks to Kill Machine.
“You can’t come home?” Yumi asked her husband on the phone. “What’s up?”
“All the elderly keep pushing their emergency alert buttons and when we get here their all fine,” Takeo said.
“What, you too?” Mami said on the phone to her husband.
“We responded to a few alarms, when we got here just now we couldn’t find anything on fire,” Isamu said. “It’s been like that all morning long.”
“Wait, weren’t you on the night shift?” Midori asked her husband on the phone.
“Yeah, but calls keep coming in non-stop. Never got the chance to clock out yet,” Hiroki said. “But I bet this one’s as bogus as the rest of them.”
“My boat docked at the wrong port, but how?” Masato asked the person on the phone.
“Can’t you make it somehow, Haruto’s waiting,” Haruka asked her husband on the phone.
“Nature called?” Makato asked the person on the phone. “Oh say no more than, don’t you worry about me.”
“Yeah,” Nami said on the phone. “Okay, I’ll tell Aunt Noriko. Hey, Uncle—Wait, what the. . .”
“Why can’t anybody make it here?!” Noriko said. “What is going on?!”
Back to Sora, Kenta, and Shoji, they were still stuck in traffic.
“Damn, this is bullshit!” Shoji yelled. “My lunch break’s about to end!”
Then all of a sudden Clety and Takeru came there on their motorcycles. Mitsuki sat behind Takeru, and Shizuo sat behind Celty.
“Turn around, it’s jammed for over 60 kilometers,” Mitsuki said.
Shoji parked his car in the grassy field and left it there, while he and Sora went with the others back to the house.
“The only reason I’m doing this is because Mitsuki asked me too, alright?” Shoji said to Sora while freeing him from his handcuffs.
“Why is all of this happening?” Mitsuki asked.
“It might be terrorism,” Takeru said while listening to the news on some radio device.
“Huh?” Mitsuki asked.
When they got back, Nami welcomed them back, but then realized Sora and Kenta was back too.
“Welcome back,” she said. “Wait a minute, what are you doing back here?”
“Traffic was really full and chaotic,” Sora answered.
“And bad,” Kenta replied.
When they got inside, Yumi and Mami noticed them back too.
“Did ya’ll forget something?” Yumi asked them.
“No, not really,” Sora said as he walked away to get back to Haruto’s room.
“Just bad traffic problems,” Kenta said going with Sora.
In another room there was Noriko, Masato, and Makato but they didn’t notice Sora and Kenta at all.
“Listen, just tell the other fishermen to unplug all the GPS systems,” Masato told someone on the phone before hanging up.
“What about the ladders performance the others were going to do?” Noriko asked.
“I think they’ll have to take a rain check.” Masato said.
“I ordered the right party buns for everyone,” she said.
“Thank god, they won’t get here. Problem solved,” Makato said.
“Bite your tongue!” she said. “Some of us have been working real hard to getting ready, while others go lay a bout and read the paper!”
Sora and Kenta managed to get to Haruto’s room without more of the family spotting them. This time Shoji and Shinra was present in the group. Mikado, Anri, and Masaomi’s faces appeared on Haruto’s computer to be present in the group too. Celty explained that she contacted the three about what was going on here (in case of emergency) and so they wanted to be part of the group and help out in any way they can and they were grateful for that. They needed all the people and help that they could get their hands on.
“Kill Machine is totally behind all of this,” Kenta said. “With that password, it can take on as many accounts it wants.”
“Accounts?” Mitsuki asked.
“People’s online accounts in Zollars,” Haruto answered.
“Seriously,” Masaomi asked, “it wants accounts?”
“Not to mention, eating or stealing accounts gives it a power boost,” Mikado said.
“But why and why ZOLLARS too?” Anri asked.
“Accounts have the same power as their real world users,” Kenta said. “Steal an account from the water department and you control the water. Steal an account from the train station and you control the train. People rely on ZOLLARS to get things done.”
“Yeah, because they thought that Zollars would be safe,” Haruto said.
“Exactly,” Kenta said, “or say it gets hands on the President’s account and fires nuclear weapons.”
“What?” everyone said.
“This is all my fault, I did this,” Sora said covering his face in shame.
“Than, I am so re-arresting you!” Shoji yelled at him.
Granny and Shizuka were watching the news and everything was not looking good out there.
“What a mess, it’s more like a war,” Granny said.
“What’s a war?” Shizuka asked.
“People are gonna die if we sit around doing nothing,” Granny answered before leaving the room.
Granny was calling everyone she knew to help fix the problem, in other words, motivating everyone.
“Ambulance Six,” Takeo said answering the call. “Huh? Granny, how’d you get this number?!”
“Takeo, get out there and save as many elderly civilians as you can, got it?” she said.
“Don’t lose heart, Isamu,” she said. “Show the world your own Jinnouchi spirit!”
“This is a war, Hiroki, and you better believe I’m going to fight my part in it!”
“This is a what?” he asked, but she hung up before answering his question. “Huh?”
Granny was now talking to some old friends or colleagues the rest of the time to respond to this whole mess.
The group watched in amaze during half of the time seeing what she was doing.
“The one she’s talking to on the phone right now named Obata Jr., he’s my police commissioner,” Shoji said.
“Whoa,” Mitsuki said.
“I get it now,” Sora said. “Your Granny is inspiring and motivating everyone.”
Sora smiled in amazement at Granny, while she was talking on the phone.
The group went back to Haruto’s room to do something about the Kill Machine problem in ZOLLARS.
“All the Zollar engineers are on duty, but they still can’t get their way into the admin building,” Kenta said. “Type in some silly password. A caution screen should show up followed by a code, a 512 number code, not like the long one from last night.”
“So all that. . .is the code?” Mitsuki said.
Thanks to Granny every that was in complete chaos is now being fixed. Kill Machine is surprised seeing that problem he caused inside of Zollars to effect the real world was now being fixed. He checked the telephone record to see who the cause of all of this was and of course, he found out it was Granny. If he was angry or had an evil smile, it never quite showed it.
“I know you can do it,” Granny told the person on the phone. “Of course you can.”
Sora was writing rapidly to solve the problem on a lot of papers.
“Who is this guy?” Shoji asked.
“Our national rep of the Math & Science Olympics,” Mitsuki answered.
“Well, first runner up at least,” Sora said. “I got it.”
He typed in the answer and pressed enter and he got the admin building opened. Kill Machine had to retreat, now that Sora fixed the problem with Zollars.
“Hey, we’re in!” Masaomi said online.
“Yeah!” everyone said, minus Sora.
“Alright!” Mikado said.
“Good news, Sora,” Kenta said getting on Haruto’s computer.
“Huh?” Sora asked.
“I checked the security log on my phone. You see these are the list of 33 people around the world that broke the code last night,” he said pointing at the list of names. “Turns out that you’re not on the list.”
“Why not?” Sora asked.
“Ah, because somebody got the last letter wrong. Oh boo boo.”
“What?!” Sora said shocked and surprised.
“Oh burn!” Masaomi said online. “The failed representative got careless!! Hahahaha!”
“Well that sucks, so you’re not a criminal?” Shoji asked.
“Everyone got their avatar jacked, right answer or not,” Kenta said. “Jeez, give us a smile already at least you got it right this time.”
“Boo,” Sora said with a smile.
Mitsuki giggled a bit. “Haha.”
“Great job you guys,” Mikado said online, “but it’s not over yet. Kill Machine is still at large and we got to be there to stop him.
“I already got the Dollars helping out on the job,” he said. “Well, what’s still left of them.”
“Good,” Sora said, “we’ll need both the Dollars and the Zollars working together to take this guy down.”
“Got it,” Mikado said. “We’ll be there tonight shortly, but right now we got to focus on the problem at hand and that’s the problem with Zollars and that problem is none other. . .than Kill Machine.”
“Right,” everyone said.
“Naruto, take them to your machine,” Mikado ordered.
“Got it,” Naruto said giving him a thumbs up, “you can count on me!”
Then Mikado and his friends logged out.
“Machine?” Sora asked. “What machine?”
“Follow me if you want to find out,” Naruto said with a smile.
They followed him to his room, which wasn’t very big. Until he lead them to the room behind his room and it was really big.
“Whoa!” Sora said.
“What the. . .” Kenta said.
“What is this place?” Sora asked in amazement.
Even the others were amazed by its glory and technology machinery.
“This is my real room, where I build my inventions,” Naruto answered.
“Some of this looks like the stuff from science fiction movies,” Kenta and Sora both said.
“It is,” Naruto said.
“Huh?!” they both said.
“I even got more in the basement,” he said.
“There’s a basement here too?!!” they both asked.
“Those look like the exact same thing computer from Code Lyoko!” Sora said.
“And those coffins are the exact same coffins from the Mortality Doctrine book series!” Kenta said.
“Are all of these--” everyone said.
“Yup, everyone of them,” Naruto said. “And they all belong to me now.”
“What?!!” everyone said, minus Shizuo.
‘This is crazy!’ Celty said. ‘I didn’t even know about all of this, or this room either, Naruto!’
“Me neither,” Shinra said. “Why didn’t you tell us about this, Naruto?! This place is awesome!”
“Where’d you even get all of this stuff, Naruto?!” Shoji asked him.
“And where’d you even managed to buy all of this stuff?! How, I should say?!” Haruto asked.
“Tell us, Naruto!!” everyone asked, minus Shizuo. “Tell us!!”
“SHUT UP!!!!” Naruto shouted in frustration. “All of you, that’s an order!! Understand?!!”
They just stared with a blank wide eye expressions in silence.
Naruto exhaled a deep breath and said. “Everyone just clam down and I’ll explain in short. First, sorry for yelling. Second, these machines transport you into ZOLLAR or let you poses your own avatar. Third, I got all of this stuff thanks to Takeru and the government. Fourth, we’re going to use these machines to fight Kill Machine from the inside ZOLLAR. Fifth, I like to keep my inventions private sometimes. And sixthly, the machines are to be kept secret from the rest of the family. Welcome to my laboratory, Team Zollar.”
Then a voice came from the supercomputer. “Shall I get them started, Sir Naruto?”
“Whoa!” everyone said.
“A talking computer program,” Sora said.
“Yeah, cool,” Kenta said.
“Yes, you may. Begin preparations immediately,” Naruto told the program.
“Yes, sir.”
“Who is that?” Sora asked.
“His name’s Jarvis,” Naruto said.
“Jarvis?” Kenta asked. “Like off of Iron Man, Jarvis?”
“Yes,” Jarvis said.
“Cool,” both Shoji and Kenta said.
“Yeah,” both Sora and Mitsuki said.
“Sir, I sense the A.I. known as Kill Machine that you replied to me to hunt down has started to trap users in the admin building,” Jarvis said.
“What?!” everyone said.
All avatar users inside and outside the admin building inside ZOLLAR, were starting to freak out and panic. The ones trapped inside were banging on the entrance to get out and the ones outside were trying to help open the entrance, but with no luck.
“May we hurry this up, sir?” Jarvis asked. “There are citizens in danger and we have not the time to think here.”
“Yeah, hurry!” Naruto said.
“Ready to transport you to ZOLLAR when you are, Master Naruto.”
“Got it,” Naruto said. “Let’s go, you guys!”
“Right!” everyone said.
“Sora, Kenta, and Haruto will stay here to their avatars,” Naruto ordered. “The rest of you get into a Coffin to poses your avatars, or go to a transporter to send yourselves inside ZOLLAR. Now go, go, go!”
Shinra and Shizuo got in the transporters, while Celty, Mitsuki, and Shoji went into the Coffins.
“Scanning Shinra. Scanning Shizuo,” Jarvis said. “Virtualization.”
Shinra and Shizuo made it inside ZOLLAR, along with the others. Sora and the others logged in to their avatars to join the others.
“Mikado, you there?” Naruto asked.
Mikado’s face popped up on the screen with Masaomi, Anri, and Saki in the background. “What is it? Is something wrong?”
“Kill Machine’s trapped avatar users inside the admin building, we need your help,” Sora said.
“You can count on us,” Mikado said before his face left the screen.
It wasn’t long before Mikado and his friends showed up in their group.
“So how do we get them out of there, anyway?” Masaomi asked.
“Beats me,” Mikado said.
“We’ll split up into two teams,” Naruto said. “Sora, Mitsuki, Shoji, Kenta, and Haruto are with me. The rest of you with Mikado.”
“Right!” everyone said.
Mikado’s group looked above and below the admin building for Kill Machine, while Sora and his group went to help the other avatars out into freeing the rest out of the admin building.
“You know, I’ve been thinking you guys,” Mikado said.
“Huh?” Masaomi asked.
“That the website ZOLLAR and the Zollars gang both might have a leader,” Mikado said.
“Does the ZOLLAR world and gang even have a leader?” Kenta asked.
“According to Jarvis it does,” Naruto said, “but let’s not worry about that right now guys. Let’s just focus on the task at hand, okay?”
The leader, huh? Sora thought. Jarvis doesn’t know it’s me, does he?
Then Sora came to the realization that it was all a trap to lure them to the A.I.
“Guys, run!” Sora shouted to everyone. “Everyone, get out of here now! It’s a trap!”
But it was too late, Kill Machine came down attacking him and Naruto’s group.
Kill Machine pushed through Naruto and his team and started attacking Sora’s avatar again, he has easily defeated Sora’s avatar. Just when it was about to absorb Sora’s guest avatar, Haruto yelled at him to log out and he did.
Kenta did the same thing of logging off too, before Kill Machine would have the chance to take his account too.
Mikado and his group came to join the fight too.
Kill Machine fought every last one of them. Mitsuki wanted to join in, but Shoji stopped her.
“Mitsuki, no!” he said. “You’ll be absorbed too!”
“Jarvis, how do I free everyone in the admin building?” Sora asked.
“Do the same thing like done before with the admin building,” Jarvis said.
“Another code to solve?”
“Yes.”
“Alright.”
“But you’ll have to do it inside of ZOLLAR this time. It won’t work in the real world this time.”
“Huh?” Sora, Naruto, Haruto, and Kenta said. “What?”
Then Haruto and Naruto turned their attention back to their computers.
Then Sora thought back to when he was the first one, Kill Machine attacked when it showed its-self to him and Naruto’s team.
He’s trying to lure me in to get me out of the picture, he thought. I’ll have to take the risk.
Naruto was going for the surprise attack to do on Kill Machine from behind. “Payback time, you mother—
Kill Machine saw him coming and so he kicked Naruto’s avatar in the face and his avatar lost the battle, Naruto logged off really fast.
“Thank god, that was close,” Naruto said.
“Naruto,” Sora said.
“Yeah?”
“Get Mitsuki and Shoji out of there,” he said. “They’ll lose in this fight if they stay.”
“Got it.”
Naruto pushed a button on his computer and Mitsuki and Shoji was out of the ZOLLAR world and waked up back in their Coffins in the real world.
When Mitsuki and Shoji got out of their Coffins, they were a bit dizzy like they was trying not to fall asleep.
“Hey guys,” Shoji said walking to us slowly. “Remind me . . . not to . . .” he yawned, “. . . go in there . . . again.”
He fell on the floor asleep and started to snore.
“Hey Sora,” Mitsuki said before she started to fall asleep too.
Sora ran to catch her, when he did she smiled happily asleep in his arms.
He smiled and laid her down softly on the ground.
Kill Machine was giving everyone a hard time, so Mikado, Masaomi, and Saki told them and the others they were logging out and they did.
Shinra didn’t even bother to join the fight, he stayed out of it.
“Alright,” Sora said. “I’m going in. Jarvis, transport me inside ZOLLAR.”
“Yes, sir.”
“What?!” Naruto, Haruto, and Kenta said.
Haruto quickly looked back to see his avatar getting his butt kicked, but Haruto fought back with Shizuo’s help.
“Shizuo, Celty, Anri, I’m going to log out for a sec, then come back in to poses my avatar!” Haruto said.
“Got it!” they said while fighting Kill Machine.
Haruto logged out.
“Alright, we’ll let you go crack the code but you ain’t going in alone,” Haruto said, “so count me in.”
“I’m with you too,” Naruto said.
“Right,” Sora said.
Sora got in the transporter and Haruto and Naruto got in the Coffins.
“Scanning Sora,” Kenta said. “Virtualization.”
Kenta pressed enter and Sora was transported to ZOLLAR. Haruto and Naruto arrived beside him shortly afterwards.
“Alright,” Sora said. “Let’s go!”
“Right!” said the both of them.
They flied while in the air to get back to the admin building.
Kenta decided to help out on the outside. He typed a bunch of stuff to help his friends out in the Zollars. He calls Mikado, Masaomi, and ANri online, until their faces finally pop up on the screen. Then he left a comment for Shinra to read.
“What is it, Kenta?” Mikado asked.
“Are you almost here at the house?” Kenta asked.
“Yeah, we just arrived and just on time and real early too,” Mikado said.
“Where are you and we’ll find you in the house?” Masaomi asked.
“We’re in Naruto’s room,” Kenta said still typing stuff up.
“We’ll be there real soon,” Anri said. “Just wait for us, okay?”
“Yeah, okay,” Kenta said. “No problem. Just run as fast as you can.”
Their faces popped off the screen.
Shinra finally saw the comment in the air that Kenta left for him.
It said: “Shinra, come back to aid Mitsuki and Shoji. They fell right asleep when they came back to the real world. Check ‘em out. P.S. Sora went to the admin building.”
Shinra yelled out in the air for Kenta to hear. “Kenta! I got your message! Get me out and I’ll be able to help you!”
“Gotcha,” Kenta said pressing a button and Shinra came out of the transporter.
Shinra didn’t feel dizzy or anything when he got back. He was perfectly fine and he checked up on the sleeping Mitsuki and Shoji.
“They’ll be out for a while, but they’ll awake soon,” Shinra said.
“Good, now to tell Shizuo, Celty, and Anri to get out of there too,” Kenta said. “But first, to give King Haruto, Naruto, and Sora the heads up.”
Sora, Haruto, and Naruto were only half way to the admin building when they heard Kenta’s voice talking to them.
“Sora! It’s me, Kenta!”
“What’s wrong?” Sora asked.
“I’m going to tell Shizuo, Celty, and Anri to retreat,” he said. “I’ll need Haruto and Naruto to fight and distract the A.I. to give you a chance to crack the code again to free all the avatars trapped inside, all right?”
“OK, will do,” Sora said.
“We’ll buy you some time,” Naruto said.
“Right,” Sora said.
“Let’s go!” Naruto told Haruto.
And they both flied really fast back to where Kill Machine and their friends were.
Kenta gave out a comment to all the avatars in ZOLLAR.
KING HARUTO AND NARUTO
TEAM UP AGAINST KILL MACHINE!!
P.S.
THE BLACK RIDER AND SHIZUO HEIWAJIMA
JOINS THE FIGHT TOO!
That got everyone’s attention.
“Anri, leave now!” Kenta warned her.
“Alright,” she said. “We also made it to Naruto’s room. Where are you?”
“Just wait in the room, we’ll meet you there,” Kenta said.
“Right,” Anri said logging off.
“Shinra, open the door,” Kenta told him.
“OK.”
Shinra ran to the door and opened it to pull Anri and her friends into Naruto’s secret room and base of operation.
They stared in awe as Shinra closed the door behind them.
“Oh man, what is all this stuff?” Mikado asked.
“An inventor’s lab,” Masaomi said. “I think.”
“Naruto’s room,” Anri said.
“Yeah,” Saki said.
Shinra stood in front of them on their left. “Amazing, right?”
“Yeah. Right. Amazing. Cool,” they all said.
“Alright, almost done,” Kenta said still typing.
He noticed an unknown avatar approaching Shizuo and Celty’s direction.
“Who’s that?” Kenta said checking out the avatar’s identity. “Wait, is that . . . Kinnosuke?!”
Celty had Kill Machine wrapped in her black sphere made from her shadows. Oh and Celty’s able to talk in the world of ZOLLAR.
“Well, that was fast,” Celty said.
“Yeah, I guess it was,” Shizuo smiled.
“Celty, get out of there now!” Kenta said. “It’s Kinnosuke Kuzuhara! His avatar’s coming your way! He’s like some white robotic version of RoboCop or something!”
“What?!!” she said.
“RoboCop? What’s that? A movie?” Shizuo asked.
“Yes! Now run!” Kenta warned them. “Here he comes!”
Celty and Shizuo spotted Kinnosuke flying in, but Celty wrapped herself and Shizuo in her shadowy sphere and when the sphere swept away, even the ones trapping Kill Machine were gone. Shizuo and Celty were both gone to Kinnosuke’s surprise.
Celty woke up out of her Coffin and Shizuo stepped out of his transporter.
Celty was surprised to see Mikado and his friends here.
Mikado and his friends were happy to see her.
“Celty,” Mikado said in relief.
‘I thought you four weren’t coming, until tonight?’
“We were but traffic started to speed things up pretty fast,” Mikado said.
‘That’s good,’ Celty said. ‘Glad to hear it.’
“Celty, are you all right?” Shinra asked touching her shoulders.
‘I am now, now that I am with you now, Shinra,’ she said.
He smiled at the compliment.
Shizuo walked up beside the two and Anri was glad to see him.
“Shizuo,” she said smiling.
“Who are you—Anri, right?” he asked.
She nodded.
“Nice to meet you again too,” he said smiling with a thumbs up and a wink.
She smiled back and did that bowing gesture.
“Alright, I’m almost done,” Kenta said typing as rapidly as he can.
‘What happened to Kinnosuke’s avatar?’ Celty asked Kenta, worried that the motorcycle cop’s avatar was taken too.
“Hold on, let me check,” Kenta said. “Whoa, his avatar just gotten beat up by Kill Machine!”
‘What?!’
The avatar of Kinnosuke was badly beaten up, then Kill Machine absorbed his account.
“Hey you, Kill Machine, over here!” Haruto yelled down at the A.I. with Naruto by his side.
Kill Machine looked up and saw them. They flew down with a surprise attack. The tag team were working together to take down Kill Machine.
All the avatars were watching from above or below. They were cheering the two on to defeat Kill Machine.
Kenta contacted Sora on what was going on. “Sora, it’s just you, King Haruto, and Naruto now. They’re fighting off against Kill Machine, you’re on your own now.”
“Got it,” Sora said. “I just made it back to the admin building. I’m solving the problem now.”
When Sora finished solving the code, he didn’t like what the answer was. It said: “I want the Leader of the Zollars.”
“What?!” Sora was all shaken up, his fears have come true. Kill Machine was after him.
“Sora!” Kenta said. “King Haruto and Naruto were just devirtualize by Kill Machine! Solve the answer and run!”
Sora snapped out of it and typed in the right answer and pushed enter and the admin building was opened once again.
“I got it,” Sora said.
“Sora, behind you!” Kenta warned.
Sora looked back and saw Kill Machine coming in his direction really close and really fast.
Sora was terrified, that was when a program showed up and fought Kill Machine. It looked like Anon from the XBOX360 game Tron: Evolution.
“What? Is that—
“Yeah, it is. But he won’t last very long so run. Now!” Kenta said.
Sora flew away past them.
“I’m giving you a power boost to fly really fast, Sora,” Kenta said.
“Thanks!”
“Don’t mention it.”
Then Sora started going extra faster.
Anon was derezed and Kill Machine started to go really faster to chase after Sora.
“I got a portal opened up for you, Sora,” Kenta said. “Do you see it?”
There was a yellow big portal just a few feet away up ahead.
“I see.”
“Go through it!” Kena said. “It’ll take you back to the real world, but hurry Kill Machine is gaining up on you!”
Sora was just a few inches from the portal now and Kill Machine was right behind him getting ready to strike his spear down upon Sora to cut him in half, but he missed when Sora got into the portal and the portal disappeared.
Sora jumped out of the transporter and fell on the ground. “Ah! Ow!”
The group stared down at him and helped him up.
“You made it,” Mikado said.
“Yeah, I did didn’t I?” Sora said.
Mitsuki and Shoji were finally up and at ‘em.
Then a thought occurred to him. Kill . . . Machine? A man name Daisuke. Pittsburg. The Zollars.
Sora ran to Haruto’s computer and onto the Zollars’ webpage and was doing something on it.
What’s he doing? Celty thought.
Then when everyone saw what he was on on the Zollars, they were shocked and surprised who Sora Jackman really was.
“No way,” Mikado said.
“He’s the. . .” Masaomi said.
“Yeah,” Anri said.
“I had no idea you were . . . My best friend was . . .” Kenta said.
“This guy?” Shoji asked.
“Yeah,” Shizuo said now smiling. “I never would have guessed it either.”
“Sora, are you the . . .” Mitsuki asked.
After Sora finished up whatever he was doing. He got up and turned to his friends.
“All right, now all my cards are in order now,” Sora said. “Allow me to reintroduce myself. My name is Sora Jackman and I am the leader of the Zollars.
“Sorry, I kept my identity a secret of being the leader of the Zollars. But I wanted to keep my leadership a secret, until now. Hey, give me a smile already guys at least we did something.”
They gave a smile and a nervous laugh too, minus Shizuo who pretty much laughed for real.
The news lady said stuff on TV at the dining table for supper tonight. “—and so the entire country was in a state of panic today.”
“According to the reports, the Zollars system was restored and everything has gone back to normal so far,” a man’s voice on the news said. “The same chaos happened around the world, but were fixed thanks to the ZOLLARS system’s recovery. We’re still trying to find an explanation for all of this.”
“It’s Day 10 of the Baseball Tournament, a week and a half into the tournament and after the afternoon slug battle. Ueda High School makes it to the finals,” a man’s voice on TV said.
Everyone cheered.
This time Takeo, Isamu, Hiroki, Mikado, Masaomi, Anri, Saki, Shinra, Celty, and Haruto was present at the table with the rest of them. Shizuo smoked outside, while Daisuke sat away from the family and drank beer.
“32 hits and they win?!” Takeo said. “Amazing!”
“Even when he thinks he’s gonna lose, it’s written all over his face,” Hiroki said.
“Like father, like son,” Isamu said.
Isamu and Takeo laughed.
“Mitsuki, when your parents getting here?” Takeo asked Mitsuki.
“Well, dad’s working tonight to fix the water pipes and mom’s in Saitama at some random business hotel,” she said.
“Good to hear,” Takeo said. “I’m glad their okay.”
“If Granny didn’t call everyone up, we would have had a lot of trouble out there today,” Isamu said. “Ain’t that right, grandma?”
“Oh no, I didn’t do anything,” she said. “You all did the greatest jobs out there today. I didn’t do anything, I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh sure,” Hiroki said.
“No other grandma is that awesome,” Isamu said.
“Best one in Japan,” Takeo said. “No, the whole world.”
“Silly boys,” she said.
The three started laughing.
“Sora,” Granny said.
“Yeah?” Sora asked.
“I hear tell you worked real especially hard today,” she said.
“Oh no, no. It was nothing really,” he said.
“Mitsuki’s boyfriend helped out?” Takeo asked.
“He’s not her boyfriend,” Shoji said.
“He fixed the problem with ZOLLARS twice from what I’ve heard,” Nami said.
“Not bad for a junior college student,” Haruna said.
“Way to go, boyfriend!” the three sons of Makato said.
“He’s not her boyfriend!” Shoji repeated himself.
“And check this out everyone,” Masaomi said getting up and being his goofy old-self. “We’ve all found out that this boyfriend is none other than the leader of the Zollars gang himself.”
“Whoa!” the whole family said, because they didn’t know that. “Cool!”
“Awesome, boyfriend!” the three sons of Makato said.
“I told you, he’s not her boyfriend!!” Shoji said.
“Neither are you, Shoji, so chill out,” Hiroki said.
Everyone laughed.
The news man was saying something. “—though ZOLLARS is up and running again, a few users are unable to access their accounts. The reasons are still unknown.”
Sora said, “It’s because—
“It’s because we haven’t defeated Kill Machine yet,” Haruto said.
“Exactly,” Sora said.
“Kill Machine?” Hana asked out of her angry mood now.
“Like the song Love Machine or something or what?” Hiroto asked.
“It’s an account stealing A.I.,” Haruto said putting his laptop on the table for everyone to gather around to see the picture of Kill Machine.
“That’s one mean looking avatar,” Haruna said.
“No kidding that one’s bad news,” Nami said.
“This thing caused all of that trouble today?” Hiroki asked.
“They’re not mentioning him on the news,” Masato said.
“It’s only a matter of time, sensei,” Haruto said. “The world of ZOLLARS is big. People that seen him are starting to band together, if we could just pull out some info or anything we might just be able to beat him.”
“Hahahaha. That’s very good and all, but it’s not going to work,” Daisuke spoke up.
Everyone stared at him.
Haruto got up and asked him, “Oh yeah and how would you know that?”
“Good question, because . . . Kill Machine was programmed by yours truly,” he said.
Haruto, Sora, and Mitsuki were surprised at this.
I knew it . . . I knew it was him, Sora thought before giving an angry look.
“You made Kill Machine?” Haruto asked him.
“Yeah, I developed an A.I., made for hacking,” Daisuke said.
Back in ZOLLARS, Kill Machine took on every fighters that came at him at once and he defeated every last one of them. He absorbed them all and the only two fighters left were King Haruto and Naruto that he still hasn’t gotten his hands yet.
“Really all I did was simple. I infused a program with the desire to learn,” Daisuke said. “It has a thirs for knowledge. A military branch came and offered to buy it from me for some serious Koi, provided I give it a test drive.”
“A test . . .?!” Sora said.
“I never figured they’d use ZOLLARS as a field test. The results are too damn amazing,” Daisuke said. “As his coded instinct continues to grow, he’ll continue taking over more and more user privileged accounts as he acquires more information throughout the world, his abilities will increase and become more powerful than you can ever imagine,” he continued. “Kill Machine’s as strong as a billion men army now. See that’s why you can’t defeat it.”
Haruto was really shaken up now and Sora clenched his fist and was a bit mad.
Why? Why would you do this?! Why would you make such a thing?!! Sora wanted to say to him, but he knew the answers to that already.
“Do you know how many were infected and troubled by all of this?! Or how much damage you’ve done to our society?!” Takeo asked.
“It’s not my fault, I’m innocent,” Daisuke said. “The A.I.’s acting on its own. So if you want to be mad be mad at Kill Machine.”
“It’s your creation and it’s putting everyone’s lives in danger! Do something about it!” Isamu said.
“It’s like I’m talking to a wall,” Daisuke said. “If I get involved now, I might be a criminal. So—
Hiroki walked up to Daisuke and grabbed him by the collar and pulled him on his feet. Daisuke dropped and broke his glass of beer in the process.
“Keep trying to talk your way out of this!” Hiroki yelled in his face.
“Stop it!” Takeo said.
“Don’t you dare pretend that all of this garbage isn’t your fault!” Hiroki shouted as his two brothers held him back.
“You idiot, listen to me,” Daisuke said. “How many times do I have to keep saying it to knock some sense into you?! I only developed the damn thing, it’s not like I told it what to do, like take over the damn planet!”
“That’s bullshit!” Hiroki shouted.
“Both of you, stop fighting in front of Granny!” Takeo ordered them.
Shizuo growled really loud.
He stepped on his cigarette and walked over to Daisuke and everyone stepped out of his way as he walked over to Daisuke and said, “You piss me off! You’re saying that even though you made it that it ain’t your fault for giving it to the military in the first place?!”
Daisuke looked really scared of Shizuo’s angry look.
“You’re telling me . . .” Shizuo said pulling out a wooden square column. “. . . you really think . . . that’s not . . .”
“Oh boy,” Takeo said.
“. . . YOU’RE FAULT!!!!” Shizuo yelled before sending a screaming Daisuke into the air.
When Daisuke was coming down, Shizuo used the wooden column like a bat to hit Daisuke to a wall before tossing it aside.
Shizuo grabbed him by the collar and was about to literally knock some sense into him, when Takeo came in to stop it and calm Shizuo down.
“Stop it, you guys! Not in front of Granny!” he said.
Shizuo was calm and so he let go of Daisuke and they stared at Granny.
Granny didn’t look happy when she looked at Daisuke, “Daisuke.”
Daisuke walked to stand in front of Granny and looked her in the eyes, “Granny. You understand, don’t you?”
She stood silence.
He inhaled and exhaled, “Sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused up ‘til now, honest,” he said. “It’s just that these last couple of years I’ve been working really hard. So I could come back home to make you proud of me.”
She gave a sad concerned look.
“Read it. See Granny,” he said pulling out his cell phone and showing it to Granny for her to read.
“Well?” he said. “The U.S. Army decided to buy Kill Machine for an enormous price, it’s a fortune. We’ll have money again, like when Gramps was alive but even more,” he continued. “And I never could have done it without you, after all that money you gave me funded my project every step of the way.”
She was shocked when he said all of that, then got angry and walked to fast to grab a spear for a weapon.
“Mother!” Noriko said scared.
Granny came at him with it and he let go of his phone in panic, or dropped it while in panic.
“Look out!” Mitsuki said to Daisuke.
Daisuke was dodging all of her swings and made a mess in the process.
Granny gad the tip of her spear pointed at him, “On your feet and die like a man.”
He grabbed the blade point of the spear and got up, “I should have never come back here.”
He let the spear go and walked away to leave.
“Uncle!” Mitsuki said starting to go after him.
“Mitsuki!” Granny said.
She stopped and watched as her uncle walked away.
“All right everyone, this is a mistake caused by one of our own. Therefore we have to be the ones to fix it,” Granny said. “Now everybody cleanup, a family attends to their own messes and this one will be no different.”
Granny walked away and left them all with the cleaning.
They was cleaning and putting the tables back where they belong and threw away broken glass.
Sora saw Mitsuki still sitting by herself, so he wanted to see if she was okay.
“Mitsuki?” he asked.
She got up and walked away.
He left the dishes and went after her in the hallway, “Mitsuki, wait.”
“Leave me alone,” she said without even turning around to look at him. “I had about enough than I can deal with.”
That was the last thing she said before she left. Sora was about to go back to the cleaning when he heard Granny’s voice.
“Psss,” she said.
“Huh?” he said.
He turned to see her hand waving for him to come with her.
He helped Granny into her room.
“These legs of mine were a lot more easier back in the day,” she said.
“You may have over did things back there,” he said.
“Thank you son, you’re a real help,” she said.
“I should get back to the cleaning,” Sora said.
“Tell me, Sora, have you ever played Honafuda Koi-Koi?”
“Afraid I haven’t.”
She shuffled and laid out the cards.
“In years past we used to play as a family, but now everyone is so busy with their own lives now a days. You can go first.”
“Okay thanks.”
“I’m sorry you had to witness our family drama earlier.”
“That’s fine.”
“And Mitsuki’s foolishness, honestly.”
“Koi-Koi, ma’am.”
“Very good.”
“Uh . . . thank you very much.”
“You see, Daisuke is my adopted son. He’s always been a very bright child, he had a hard time fitting in, somewhat rebellious, and he would work twice as hard as everyone else and wouldn’t want any help,” she continued. “I never wanted him to be discriminated against, nor did I want him to be concerned about being indebted to us. This is my responsibility. When he took our property 10 years ago, it was the first time he had ever depended on me for something and I have long forgiven him ages ago. Now, it’s a matter of being forgiven or not.”
“I can understand Daisuke a bit,” Sora said. “He feels like wanting to be recognized by someone to be necessary to them. But if you have no confidence in yourself, it feels like a fruitless effort. But I’ll help to the best and beyond of my abilities to beat Kill Machine.”
“I know you will,” she said.
They was silence for a while, until Granny asked a question, “So, you like Mitsuki, don’t you?”
Sora blushed, “Uh . . . I’ve always loved her when I first started college. She was the school’s most popular girl. She has the looks of an expensive flower and the heart of a lion.”
“That child?”
“Yeah.”
“So if I should win, what do I get for my troubles?”
“Huh?”
“It doesn’t pack much of a punch if you don’t make a wager to make things more interesting. Oh look Koi-Koi
“If I beat you at Hanafuda . . . I’d like you to swear to take good care of Mitsuki.”
“What?” Sora asked in surprise.
“She’s the type of girl that would drag in some boy to being her fiancé and he turns out to be the leader of the Zollars and she doesn’t even know how to fall in love with someone. She’s still very childish and still does many foolish things, but even so, if you can look beyond that I’ll ask again,” she said. “Please Sora, take good care of Mitsuki.”
He was surprised to hear her asking him to take care of the girl he loves.
“Are you sure?”
She nodded, “I know you can do it, if it’s you, I believe you can do it.”
Then he realized that Kill Machine would have her killed and that was the other reason why she was asking him to do this.
You’re dying. No . . . you know you are going to die, he wanted to say.
He wanted to help her, save her, watch her in her sleep to protect her for Kill Machine, but he knew she was expecting that and would rather die anyway to protect her family. Or maybe she had a plan and he just didn’t know what it was.
He wanted to ask, or say something about it but nothing ever came out.
Then he smiled, “You can count on me, Granny. I’ll devote my life to you to protect Mitsuki all the way to the end, even if I have to—
“I win.”
“What?”
“Looks like I still got it,” she said. “Hahahaha.”
Sora noticed a strange devise on her chest and wondered about it, but did not ask about it.
Sora went to bed after that ‘cause that cleaning was already done. He tried to go to sleep, but it was difficult for him to when thinking about Granny and Mitsuki. He was feeling bad not looking after Granny after discovering the truth, but he finally managed to go to sleep and was hearing a ringing bell sound while sleeping and dreaming.
His dream turned out to be a bit of a nightmare. First, his dream was about him running out of bed and into the hallway to go save Granny. When he got there, the devise on her chest started to glow and bright up the place.
Ring, ring.
Sora found himself inside ZOLLAR.
Ring, ring.
Sora found himself in front of Kill Machine and he screamed and ran away, while Kill Machine chased after him from behind.
Ring, ring.
Ring, ring.
Every avatars around was wounded and injured and laid down unconscious. Everything was a mess and in chaos.
Ring, ring.
He even saw his unconscious friends: Mitsuki’s avatar, his quest avatar, King Haruto, and everyone. All of them defeated by Kill Machine.
Ring, ring.
Sora heard a weapon being drawn from behind him. He turned around to see if it was Kill Machine.
Ring, ring.
He was surprised to see it was Granny with her spear ready to attack Kill Machine with.
“Granny . . .!!!” Sora called out to her.
Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring.
Then the ringing stopped and everything went black at first.
When the dream came back, Granny wasn’t there anymore like she just disappeared or wasn’t even there to begin with.
Sora got angry at Kill Machine, so he grabbed a weapon and charged to attack Kill Machine with it. He jumped up into the air to strike his weapon down upon Kill Machine to cut him in half as he screamed in anger.
Sora heard dog barking sounds, but ignored it even if it started to get louder.
“Hello, leader of the Zollars!” Kill Machine spoke, which surprised Sora and it caused him to wake up.
“Ah!” Sora said as he stood out of bed really fast and the barking stopped. “What a frightening dream.”
Hachi started to bark again, before running off.
“Hachi? What’s wrong?” he asked the dog (sort of).
Then he saw Noriko and Makato running down the hall.
“Makato, hurry!” Noriko told him.
“I’m coming!” he said.
“Hurry, please!” she said.
They were freaked out and scared about something and Sora was going to find out what. He chased after them and saw all the family running to Granny’s room, so he followed them there.
When Sora got in there, he realized that his worst fears and discoveries have come true. Granny was dead.
“Please breathe,” Mitsuki said sadly.
“You have to help her!” Noriko said.
Hiroki had his hands on her chest to pump out some air to get her to breathe.
“Granny . . . Granny, wake up,” a sad Mitsuki said.
“Mother!” Noriko said.
“Granny, please!” the women said.
“Please, you have to help her!” Noriko said.
“Please, don’t die,” one of the women said.
“Please, please, don’t leave us,” another woman said.
“Let me have a try,” Takeo said, but Hiroki wasn’t planning on stopping.
“That’s enough, Hiroki,” Makato told him.
“No, Hiroki, don’t you stop!” Noriko begged of him.
“Hiroki!” Makato said.
“I won’t!” he shouted.
“Hiroki, stop!” Shinra told him.
“Keep trying!” Mitsuki said in tears of sadness.
The kids, Shizuo, Celty, Mikado, Masaomi, Anri, Saki, Naruto, Shoji, Hana, and Kenta couldn’t believe it themselves either.
Hiroki kepted trying for as long as he could, but soon gave up and cried with his head held down.
“Looks like everyone’s here,” Makato said.
“Yeah,” Shinra said.
Makato checked his watch, “5:22 a.m.”
Later in the morning, the family and everyone was still in Granny’s room, sad of her death.
Makato reveals something to all of them.
“Mom had angina,” he said. “She took nitroglycerin for it. I used this heart monitor to keep track of all her health. Heart rate, blood pressure, perspiration levels. This thing would have immediately alarmed me if something went wrong, but it stopped receiving the data late last night.”
“Because of ZOLLARS being down,” Takeo said.
“Someone that works for the health department must have gotten their account stolen,” Sora said.
“So if ZOLLARS was working she’d be okay?!” Masato asked.
“Maybe it was just her time,” Makato said.
“She had lots of time left here, damn it!” Masato said. “Where’s Daisuke?! I’m gonna break his worthless neck!”
“We don’t know. He stole Shoji’s car and left,” Hiroki said.
“He’s been gone for 10 whole years,” Isamu said. “Heck, we don’t even have a phone number to get in contact with him.”
Masato turned around and punched the wooden part of the doorway, “Damn it!”
The baby, Saburo, started crying in the room he was sleeping in. Midori got up to check on her son, “Sorry. Excuse me. Sorry.”
Hachi looked sad that his owner was dead and Granny still had that devise on her chest, but this time it glowed blue in the center of it.
The family was all in the other room sad and depressed that Granny was gone, even Celty and them seemed sad about her loss. Sora was already dressed up by now and he and Mitsuki both sat far away from the family.
“Make them stop,” Mitsuki told Sora without even looking at him.
“Huh?” he asked.
“My tears, I can’t stop them. Hold me, right here,” she said moving her hand over for him to hold on to. “Please Sora, make them stop.”
He hesitated for a second, but he putted his hand on top of hers.
She started crying, so Sora grabbed her hand and held on instead.
The news started to talk about today’s news, “On our top story today, over 10 million users in ZOLLARS are unable to access their ZOLLARS account, because of the system wide errors that brought the Internet to a hold today.”
Later on, Sora went to the room he was staying in to call his mom.
“I wonder if mom’s angry or worried. She must be,” he said to himself.
He waited for her to pick up the phone and when she did, she said, “Hello?”
“Hey mom, it’s me Sora.”
“Sora, are you okay?!” she asked. “I’ve been worried sick about you!”
“Sorry, about that.”
“Yesterday, the police came to the house asking questions about you.”
“Ah. Mom, I can explain.”
“It’s all right. Everybody knows you aren’t the criminal now,” she said. “Even Kenta’s mom and Eska contacted me and explained everything to me. Eska even said you were the leader of the Zollars.”
“Really?! Wait what?!”
“It’s okay, Sora. I don’t care if you are the leader of the Zollars or not. I just want you to know, I’m proud of you no matter what. That Eska sure can convince and talk some sense into ya.”
Thank you, Granny Eska! Sora thought.
“Sora.”
“Yeah?”
“Please, hurry home.”
“I’d love to mom, but . . . I can’t leave them just yet,” he said. “I still have things I have to do here.”
“But your birthday’s coming soon.”
“It’ll have to wait,” he said. “Bye, mom.”
He hung up.
That was the first time Sora’s every showed his mom determination.
He went to the living room to have some breakfast, when Mami noticed him coming in.
“Oh Sora, please have some breakfast,” Mami said.
“Thanks.”
“But first, could you get Mitsuki?” she said.
“Ah, sure.”
“She’s on the second floor,” she said pointing in the direction. “The stairs are that way to your right.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Good luck,” she said.
“Thanks,” he said with a smile and a blush before going.
He went up the stairs and went straight to look for Mitsuki in one of the rooms, he found her in the last room.
“Hey Mitsuki, you should probably come down to eat, if you want to that is.”
She didn’t respond.
“Mitsuki?”
“This is my uncle’s room,” she said.
“Daisuke’s?”
She nodded, “We didn’t know when he’d be back, but Granny kept his room the same as it was when he left. I wonder why it turned out this way when he got back,” she continued. “Just so he could leave again.”
Sora then noticed the phone in her hands, realizing it was Daisuke’s phone.
“You trying to get in contact with him?” he asked. “Like call him, or something?”
“I can’t,” she said. “I’m having a hard time to get in touch with him.”
“You could always try Eska’s birthday for the passcode, if nothing else works,” he said remembering from the anime movie, Summer Wars.
“Thanks,” she said wipping a tear off her left eye, “but the family is torn apart now and . . . and . . . and I don’t even know what to do anymore. I’m all alone now.”
It took some time to answer, but Sora came up with an answer to respond to her about, “But you’re not alone, Mitsuki. It isn’t just Daisuke and Granny, either, but the feeling of wanting to see each other and be together is a great and powerful thing. You and the rest of the family are all the same way and in the same respect as they are,” he continued on. “I think I might have arrived with an answer, even if it takes an amount of time and instruction, even if it does take me a minute o fa million years to accomplish that answer for you and everyone here. I’m sure you and all of you can be guided there. I’m here for you, no matter what, and I’ll help you with whatever way I can to make you all happy again. So don’t be impatient. We’re all in this together, Mitsuki, so . . . I’m gonna do whatever I can to bring the family back together again.”
Granny Eska was such a great person in existence for the Jinnouchi, Sora thought. This home is uneasy without someone as their pillar.
Then Sora had a flashback of what Granny said to him, “If it’s you, I believe you can do it.”
Sora offered his hand to Mitsuki and she took it while Sora was still thinking, Everyone in this house, feels encouraged by Granny Eska. After all, they’re a family that gives it their best. She even believed in me too.
They walked down the stairs and to the living room to eat.
After everyone was done eating in silence, they started to talk and discuss things.
The ones that weren’t present in the room were Mitsuki, Kenta, Hana, Shizuka, the baby Saburo, Shoji, Celty, Shizuo, Shinra, Mikado, Masaomi, Anri, Saki, and of course as always the Akita dog Hachi.
Mitsuki, Shizuka, Saburo, and Shoji were somewhere in the house. Kenta and Hana went with Celty and them in town to do somethings, but Hana was still a little mad at Kenta.
“Have you called Ryo yet to tell him?” Hiroki asked his wife, Midori.
“No, I’ll tell him after his game,” she said. “I don’t want to ruin things for him.”
“That makes sense,” Hiroki said. “I think it’s for the best if we just keep it that way.”
After Noriko got done eating her bowl of rice, she said, “We’re going to be very busy today. Nami, Mami, Midori, you three will be in charge of the kitchen. Hiroki, you and your brothers make an arrangement meeting with the Temple. The rest of you, you tell every family and associates about what happened here today. Everybody got that?”
“There’s something we’ve gotta do before all that other crap,” Masato said.
“Mom, the red and white party buns,” Haruna said.
“I need to order funeral buns too,” Noriko said.
“I’m not talking about the damn buns!” Masato said getting up angrily. “I’m talking revenge! We’re gonna destroy that A.I. thing! Well, are we?!”
“Oh honestly,” Noriko said.
“What’d you say?!” he said.
“It’s true what they say about the second and youngest childish son in the family being useless.”
“That’s got nothing to do with it! First, second, oldest, youngest, or not!” he said. “The Jinnouchi family’s never run from a fight and we ain’t running now! Family taking care of the mistake made by one of our own was mom’s last words to all of us!”
“Dad, please!” Nami said. “Don’t declare war right before Granny’s funeral.”
“What, are you kidding me?!” he said. “We have to do something! Come on, we can dedicate out victory to her very own memory!”
The ladies didn’t liking what Masato was saying one bit.
“Um, excuse me,” Sora said raising his hand, then getting up to face the women. “I agree with him.”
“Yeah, yeah. Can outsider please stay out of this,” Nami said waving her hand.
“Nami,” Haruna said to her.
“Yeah, I’m an outsider, even when I was only here for two days. Granny Eska became an important person to me,” Sora said.
“Please, stop talking,” Noriko said.
Sora ignored her and said, “I never thought the problems in my very own website would cause so much trouble, or cause someone their life, but that’s exactly what happened. Kill Machine’s dangerous. What if what happened yesterday and this morning happens again somewhere else? Heck, what’s to stop it from attacking someone else’s family tomorrow or the next day, or the day after that next day? I just really don’t want to see the sadness that has befallen this home and family spread any further to more homes and families. That’s why we have to stop it, even alone if we have too. Whatever, it takes.”
“What?!” Nami said furious. “Kid, you got a lot of nerves saying all of that right now!”
“Look, all I’m saying is that we should make sure this isn’t going to happen to anyone else anymore,” he said.
“How dare you say and spout such nonsense in the middle of our home!” she said.
\“But I—
“You want us to worry about others right now? We got out own troubles and problems to deal with, thank you very much,” Nami said.
“I-I just want wanted to help,” he said.
Noriko got up and said, before clapping her hands, “Alright everybody, let’s go.”
It was just Sora, Masato, Haruto, Naruto, Hiroto, and Takeru in the room by themselves now.
“Cowards, the lot of them,” Masato said, “and they call themselves members of the Jinnouchi Clan?”
“I’m sorry for earlier. I should have not spoken out like that,” Sora said.
“No, your opinion was honest and it needed to be said,” Takeru said. “You need to protect others before you protect yourself and before they protect you too.”
“Is that supposed to be some Self-Defense Force motto, or something?” Hiroto asked.
“Not really. Well, not exactly I should have said,” he said. “I just got it off of the 1950s movie, ‘Seven Samurais.’”
“Uncle Hiroto,” Haruto said.
“Yeah, what’s up?” Hiroto asked his nephew.
“”Your store sells better computers than this one, right?”
“Yeah, you bet.”
Haruto closed his laptop and got up out of his chair.
“Haruto?” Sora said.
“I want to take out Kill Machine,” Haruto said. “It’s time for another rematch.”
Noriko, Haruna, and Nami were in the big room looking up pictures of Granny.
“I can’t believe that Masato, when there’s so much to do,” Noriko said looking through some pictures of Granny.
“This is gonna be tougher than I thought,” Nami said.
“Hey you two, what about this one?” Haruna asked.
“Oh, for when both the General and Governor gave her that metal,” Noriko said.
“It’s perfect,” Nami said.
The guys were in the garden planning on their attack.
“In the year 1600 of July 5th, Tokugawa Hidetada led a 38,000 men army to invade the smaller area of Ueda. We only had a 2,000 men army. How’d we do it, you ask?” Masato said.
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