Bab 27: Episode Twenty Six. (June 9th, 2123. Division-A, South District.)
The hospital lobby was stacked with people. Flashing cameras and pointed microphones flooded the area, overwhelming the secretaries and nurses on duty. A reporter stepped in front of the crowd, walking quickly behind a nurse.
"Ma'am, can you or can you not confirm the wellbeing of the Royal Ambassador? She's been missing from public eye for nearly five days now. Is she still being treated?" The reporter continued following the nurse, who paid no attention, down the lobby. As the nurse entered a hallway, two security guards stepped in front of the reporter, blocking him off.
Hideyo waited in the hall, leaning against the wall as the nurse approached. She wore a yellow hoodie and baggy sweatpants to disguise herself. "This is ridiculous," the girl said.
"Tell me about it," the nurse mumbled, rolling her eyes. "Sorry for the wait, miss. She's this way."
The two began walking down the hallway together. Hideyo observed as nurses and doctors stammered through the building, overwhelmed with patients. "This is too chaotic. I'll work on passing a bill to prevent the press from invading your business."
"No need for that," the nurse said. "We don't need something that heavy-handed. Besides, the press is already silenced enough as it is, right?" The nurse paused, realizing who she was talking to. She stuttered, changing the subject. "I'm sure you'll be busy with other things anyway. More guards would be nice, though, maybe a fence outside?"
Hideyo looked around as they passed a receptionist desk. She met eye contact with a doctor dressed in all blue scrubs. He stared at her intently and angrily, ignoring the person who was talking to him. Hideyo turned her head, dismissing him as she pulled her hood tighter over her head.
"Do normal people… like us?" Hideyo asked the nurse, thinking about the looks she's been getting recently.
The nurse's eyes widened and her cheeks filled with red. "W-what do you mean by that? Everyone here is… so thankful for what you and your administration is doing for this city."
Hideyo shook her head, her pace steadily increasing. "Be honest." She lifted her hand to her neck, running her thumb over her choker to feel the 'A' imprinted on the stone emblem. "I'm pretty removed from the world outside of the Grand Hall. I have no connections outside of those walls, so I rarely get to know what the people are thinking of us nowadays."
Looking down, the nurse responded. "Well, to be blatant about it… people are scared right now. They're… we're starting to think that the Royal Ambassador is unreliable and not fit to protect this city." Hideyo turned her head, listening closely as they climbed a staircase. "In times like these, all we need is closure. And yet, it seems like our own leaders don't trust us and so, we don't trust them. People are starting to believe rumors and photoshopped pictures circulating around the internet more so than you guys."
Hideyo's eyes widened. She lifted her head up once she reached the top, staring the nurse in the face intently. "Do you truly believe those pictures are edited?"
"I hope they are… really," the nurse said, staring at a television behind Hideyo. The girl turned around, watching the screen as a reporter spoke to the audience. She cursed under her breath as a blurry picture of a huge Compactor hand on Aminawa Bridge appeared on screen. "If those pictures are real, then I'd almost rather not know. Most of them are bogus, but I really believe that the saying 'ignorance is bliss' holds strong, even today."
Hideyo sighed, turning her back to the television. "Well, they are fake, so you can rest easy. I can assure you that our administration is working hard to protect this city. Whomever is at the root of all this is a mystery to us just as much as it is to everyone else."
The nurse giggled to herself, continuing down the hallway. "I will admit, your construction team really is impressive. You already have more than half the district completely rebuilt and stocked. Your workers must get paid a lot."
"They get paid pretty well," she said, forcing a smile despite all the underlying worries racing through her brain. "We're just lucky to have so many people willing to keep Division-A running."
"I should've became a construction worker then," she giggled. "I'd get paid a lot better than I do here." The nurse stopped in front of a door and scanned her thumb on the keypad, opening it. "Anyway, this is her room."
"Isn't the Royal Ambassador supposed to be on the top floor? Why is she on the second?" Hideyo asked, concerned.
"Milady said she wanted a better view of the people outside so she asked to be moved to a floor closer to the ground," the nurse informed her, ushering Hideyo inside.
Hideyo nodded, pulling her yellow hood down as she entered. She turned around with a smile, "thank you." The nursed closed the door, giving Hideyo and Hetsu the alone time she requested. Hideyo pulled off her hoodie and draped it across the back of a chair. She watched as Hetsu sat up on the edge of her bed, staring out the window. "Master, I brought you your lunch. You asked for curry, right?" Hideyo leaned over, pulling out a box from the pouch in her hoodie. "You should eat it while its hot."
Hetsu had her hand pressed against the glass as she peered down at the crowd of people beneath her. Countless people were stopping by to take pictures and huddling around the front doors. People in the back were holding up makeshift signs and banners, reading 'You can't hide forever,' 'What happened to my baby is on you,' and 'You're too old to rule this city.' The elderly woman sighed, closing her eyes as she rested her forehead against the window.
"You have this entire hospital built for government officials and you chose to be on the same floor as judicial branch? Come on, get higher standards." Hideyo joked, walking up to Hetsu. "You know… staring out the window and reminiscing about better days isn't doing you any favors."
"How grown up you've become, Hiroko; so wise," Hetsu mentioned, her voice weak. "You've grown up so much since that day I found you."
Hideyo smiled, resting the lunchbox on the side of the bed beside Hetsu. "How's your head? You should be laying down, master."
Hetsu backed away, picking up the lunch box and sitting it in her lap, feeling the warmth of it against her thighs through her hospital gown. "It hurts… so painful," she replied. "…but that isn't because of the injury." Hetsu pushed her thumb under the latch, opening the box with a cloud of steam uprising right after. "Thank you for this. The curry here isn't very good, but I didn't want to tell them that."
Hideyo watched with a smile as the Royal Ambassador picked up the chopsticks, struggling slightly. She chewed in delight before sighing as she reflected on the days prior. The woman swallowed and dropped her head, her white hair falling over her face. Hideyo arched her eyebrows in sympathy. She lifted her hand from the bed and wrapped her arm around Hetsu, hesitant at first.
"How could I let this happen?" Hetsu asked, her weak voice cracking.
"Master, it isn't your fault."
"Then who is at fault if it isn't myself?" She lifted her hand up, pushing her hair over her ear. "It's on me. This entire predicament could have been prevented if it wasn't for my foolish negligence of the outside circumstances that plagued this city. I've been completely and utterly oblivious to what Division-A really needed; a true leader."
Hideyo jolted upright in shock. "You are the one who helped build this place when humanity had nothing left to turn to. We would have gone extinct if you didn't protect us from that storm. You have every right to be this city's leader. If anyone is the most qualified, its you!"
The corner's of Hetsu's mouth uplifted as she laughed at herself. "Look at me, Hideyo. I'm relying on a pre-teen for consolidation. I'm not fit for this anymore."
"Division-A is in crisis mode, we're going through the worst of the worst right now and you think the best thing for this city is for their leader to step down? No! What we need right now is a role model, someone to unite Division-A before it tears itself apart, before the Compactors can even get to it." Hideyo stood up, looking down at her superior. "I need you."
"Hideyo, cant you see? They don't want me," Hetsu pointed out. "Do you expect me to run this place till I die?"
"Yes," she affirmed. "We all do."
The room grew silent. Hideyo stared down in pity as Hetsu looked out the window, her expressions blank in thought. The distant chatter of doctors from outside isolated the persisting voice of a news reported from the television in the corner of the room. The girls listened closely, ignoring each other as the report went on.
"…high altitude nuclear explosion. The explosion in the upper atmosphere rained Compton electrons, an atmospheric molecule, that were sputtered by gamma-rays that then accelerate and spiral along the city's electromagnetic field. This generates an electromagnetic pulse, which is why any electronic devices with an antenna near the South District quit functioning."
"Was it really necessary?" Hideyo questioned.
"The pulse they're talking about was lethal to a Compactor's core." Hetsu informed, straightening her slouched back. "Our scientists have been playing with the idea to equip Omega weapons with such EMP, but we haven't been successful in doing so. The explosion generated was always too big for the weapon to handle, no matter how small we tried to shrink it. Bombing the district was the only way to kill those creatures without losing anymore civilians. The blast from the EMP wouldn't kill humans if they were far away enough, hence why we set it off in the sky. Only machines were affected, and they can be revived."
"Nuclear explosions do work then, huh? But then damage to the district's infrastructure was too much for us to risk again," Hideyo pointed out.
"I know that, this was a last resort. I didn't want to bomb my own city."
Hideyo rubbed the back of her nape, looking to the side of the room as she reminded herself of the discussion she had with the nurse. She glanced at Hetsu, struggling to bring up the conversation. "You… I think it would be for the best if we told them." Hetsu turned to look at her, suspicious as to where Hideyo was leading. "Distrust is spreading through Division-A like wildfire and photos of the Compactor's limbs plastered on Aminawa Bridge are trending on social media. Master, people are starting to catch on. I don't know how much longer we can keep this façade going."
"There's nothing we can do to fix this now, Hideyo," Hetsu said. "Our only hope for redemption is to find the source of these monsters before anymore of them attack. We cant keep fighting them one on one anymore. Now that we know they have some potential for intelligence, I have reason to believe someone or something is orchestrating this from behind the curtains. What we need to do is-"
"That's not what I'm talking about. The people out there are being hunted and they don't even know it. They deserve to at least be aware of our circumstances so they'll be prepared," she explained.
"If knowledge of Compactor's comes out then the city will go up in flames," Hetsu exclaimed.
"Do you not trust your own people?" Hideyo accused.
"No, I don't! How am I supposed to expect humanity to thrive if we're living in constant fear of what's to come? They will kill themselves, Hideyo. I've experienced this first hand, I know what I'm talking about. If we tell them about Compactors, what reason do we have not to tell them everything else as well? About the war… the world, this place. I'm not risking it."
Hideyo was silent, biting her lip for a brief second. "They're going to find out… and when they do, we will have everyone against us. It's better for us to tell them before they find out for themselves, before we suffer from another attack."
"It's too late for that," Hetsu responded. "Our city is already in a downwards spiral. Pretty soon… we'll be facing war with ourselves."
"How do you know that? Like I said, we need a leader who can unite-"
"I'm not talking about a civil war amidst Division-A," Hetsu whispered harshly. "I'm referring to the outsiders. How much longer do we have until they find us?"
She shook her head, her curled piggy tails swinging with the motion. "It's been one hundred years since then, they wont. Our concern now is whatever is attacking us today, not what's attacked us in the past."
"Who's to say they aren't working together? If they are, then I'd have to inform all of the Omegas about it… they'd never forgive me for keeping that from them." Hetsu slid her hands across her thighs, wiping the nervous sweat from her skin. "Akino Sakagami might be our ally, but be can't know about what Division-A is, neither can anyone else."
Suddenly, the door behind them opened. Hideyo jumped, sweat running from her forehead as the thought of someone listening to their conversation flooded her mind. She turned around, stepping in front of Hetsu. In the doorway was the nurse peaking behind Makina's shoulders.
Hetsu leaned over, looking between Hideyo's arm and hips. "Makina? What are you doing here? You're supposed to be at a wellness check-up this afternoon."
"I called it off, I didn't need it," Makina said, stepping in front of the nurse and closing the door on her. Makina glanced to Hideyo, who was visibly taken aback and nervous. "What? Did you shit yourself?"
"Why are you here, Makina?" Hetsu asked.
Makina walked up to the hospital bed with heavy feet, her white sneakers intentionally skidding across the tiles. Hideyo watched passively as the Omega approached her master. She looked down, her eyes staring into the grayness of the leader's. "I'm going to get straight to the point. This is absurd and you need to get your head out of your ass."
Hideyo extended her neck, shocked. "Makina!"
"I know you don't like me," Makina continued, "but this isn't about our relationship, its about your leadership." Hetsu squinted her eyes, giving an intent glare. "I've bit my tongue and kept my mouth shut whenever you let Akino get his way, but the only thing you're doing is endangering him, myself, and everyone else. I feel like I'm missing a crucial piece of information, because I cannot wrap my head around why you would let a nosy little kid run around in our business!"
"Makina," Hetsu mumbled, rubbing her head, "have you forgotten? That boy is unique. He's got traits of an Omega infused into his DNA and has the strife and willpower to help us uncover whatever the Compactors are. He could be the key!"
"Then why aren't you doing research on him? He could be dangerous! We read the same journal, yes? You saw what he was writing! He knows about the purpose behind the sleeping pills and how they work, none of us told him that! This is all the more reason why he's unpredictable and can't be trusted!"
"We have been doing research, but can't you understand that we have other matters to worry about?" Hetsu stressed.
Gritting her teeth, Makina persisted. "Ever since he got involved, Division-A has been in danger and the Compactors are getting more and more powerful. This can't be a coincidence! Even if he's useful for the time being, its entirely possible that he's leading us to our doom and you are too blind to realize it!"
She shook her head in response. "Oh, Makina, you're the blind one. Get your head out of the gutter." Makina inched back, offended. "You need to build trust in your comrades, how else do you expect us to win if we can't even achieve that?"
"You have no room to be talking about trust," Makina fired back. "All I'm asking is for a steady, certain future where humanity prospers. Throwing dice and taking risks like this isn't like you, you're getting desperate. I can see that."
"So what if I am, Makina? We're living in a world right now that has little hope for us. Everything I do as your leader is a shot in the dark and I have not failed yet," the elderly woman elaborated. "The construction of this entire city was a gamble at best and here we are, one hundred years later, paying for the price of our freedom. What else am I supposed to do?"
Hideyo looked down, gliding her thumb over her choker in thought, as she always did when situations got too tense. There was a pause as Makina waited to reply. The two girls sitting on the bed looked up at her, patiently waiting. Makina's face was painted with anguish and frustration, disguising whatever feelings she was fighting deep inside.
"This attack might have been big to us," Makina started, forcing the words out of her mouth, "but this was nothing for the Compactors. There was only five in the district and they did… this much damage. Who's to say there wont be a repeat of what happened to my own district when I was a kid?! There was hundreds of those damn things when we traveled up there, we can't afford the kind of devastation they would cause if they all went Stage 3 and attacked." Makina locked her eyes on the woman's, determined and worried. "This is the last place humanity has and I can't stand watching you gamble it away."
Hetsu broke the eye contact, her eyes wandering back towards the window. She took a deep breath, exhaling tiredly. "I know it's tough for you, Makina, but as scary as the world is right now, I still have faith in my soldiers. Division-A is still standing because of Omegas like you. What happened to the North District was awful, but with people like you… we can prevent it."
"We obviously can't," Makina stuttered, clenching her fist. "We don't stand a chance." She shifted her weight to her left foot, leaning over to look out the window. "All of those people are going through what I had to go through. If they're not brainwashed then they're silenced, tricked into playing into your game." She looked closely into her reflection, noticing the luminescence of her eyes. "I didn't ask to be this way, and now I'm stuck in a constant cycle… reliving what I've tried so hard to forget."
"Makina…," Hideyo whispered, concerned.
Hetsu twisted her neck, facing Makina respectively but unable to meet her tormented, intimidating eyes, the eyes she is responsible for making.
"I'm past the point of no return, I can't back out now," Makina stated. "No amount of conversion surgery can undo what this city has put me through. All I hope is to get this over with and finally live in peace." Her eyes drained of color, becoming dull as she stepped towards the door. "Think about this, Hetsu Koboshi. I'm not watching anymore of my friends get killed, including Akino and the others."
Several Days Later…
Akino stood stiff, his muscles burning with guilt as he dug his weight into the mud, soaking his shoes. He bit his lip and closed his eyes, the rain helping to muffle his pain. Water ran down his face and dampened his shoulders as he stood in the graveyard without an umbrella. Hundreds of people surrounded him, circling around the tombstones. Matoi and Sakagami stood behind him, giving him his space as they listened to the officiant. The clouds overhead groaned, glowing with sparks of electricity. People were on their knees, crying into their hands and tissues. The sound of anguish overpowered the crackling thunder from above as relatives and friends mourned over the deceased. Cameras went off from behind them as caskets decorated with flowers were lowered into the ground.
The blue and purpled haired boy covered his red face with his hands, hiding the tears swelling in his eyes. The overwhelming cries and screams invaded Akino's gut. This was a different kind of pain- not from the injuries of war, but the holes left from after it. His heart beat in his throat as he looked around, horrified that this was now a familiar sight to him.
A few feet away was Yukino and Miki, whom he hasn't talked to since the attack. Yukino sat on the ground, folded over herself and clawing at her stomach as she screamed, tears flooding from her eyes. Akino listened closely, struggling to hear her cries through the rain. His stomach sank and his eyes grew large as Yukino called out to her family.
"Mom!!!" She shouted, her voice cracking as she hurled up her pain. "Dad, Yuki!!!"
Lightning lit up the sky as the thunder yelled back at them, fighting for power against the crowd's weeping. Yukino's vocal cords were strung to their limit as her voice started going out, her crying being reduced to nothing but whimpers. She lifted her head and outstretched her arm towards their casket, screaming their names.
"Why?! W-Wh… why?!" She coughed, crawling over to her family as her knees and arms trembled. Miki stepped forward, picking her up and pulling her back into the line of people. She turned around, crying into his wet hoodie as he and his father embraced her.
Akino looked away, choking on his guilt as he fought back tears. He shook his head, denying himself the satisfaction of a breakdown. His legs started shaking and he arched his shoulders, sniffling and wiping the rain from his face. Sakagami stepped towards him, placing her hand on his shoulder.
"It isn't your fault," she whispered into his ear, hovering the umbrella over his soaked head.
He looked up, his eyes dilated in surprise. Tears swelled up in his eyes as he dropped his gaze back to his muddied tennis shoes. "It is," he mumbled. "This is my fault. They died because of me."
"No," she disagreed, "don't say that."
He stared at the hundreds of caskets spread out in front of him, cameras illuminating his face as news reporters pushed through. "It's me, I'm the one who stands on their graves. I am to blame."
Matoi itched her wrist, feeling the imprint of her weapon through her sleeve as she thought what she could have done differently. Her blue eyes followed the trail of footprints as people started walking towards the deceased. The three of them stayed behind, watching as everyone hugged the tombstones of their loved ones.
"It's up to me to fix this," he said under his breath, wiping his nose. "I'll avenge them; Yukino and Miki… and everyone else. The Compactors… whoever is leading them… they'll know I'm coming. I'm not letting this go on any longer."
Matoi's eyes widened as he spoke, worried yet inspired by his drive. Sakagami grabbed Akino's hand and squeezed it tight, their pulse beating against each other. Akino looked at her, making eye contact.
"You're not doing it alone," Sakagami told him. "Not this time."
Matoi walked up to them and grabbed Akino's other hand. She watched as Yukino mourned in the distance. "You'll save us, I know you will," she confessed, glancing up at him as well. "I'll be by your side for all of it."
The sound of the running faucet water echoed in the empty public bathroom. Akino was leaned over the sink, staring at his reflection in the mirror. His eyes were outlined in pink from the tears that were made moments before. He rubbed his eyes, drying the eyelashes and moistening his bloodshot scleras. He sighed, turning off the faucet as he stepped away from the mirror. He watched as the door suddenly opened from behind him. Miki walked into the bathroom, making no detours to his stall. The door closed and latched, paying no attention to Akino.
"Miki," Akino stated. "I-…"
"Don't," he said from the stall, crouched over the toilet, pants still up. "I don't want to hear it from you, freak."
Akino gasped, whipping his head around to face Miki's stall. He paused for a few seconds, hesitating. "…I know that what happened-"
"Please," Miki interrupted, his voice muffled through his hands, "just shut up."
Akino rested his palm against the surface of the stall door, sighing as he watched his friendship shatter. He dropped his hand, heading towards the exit. He gripped the handle and pulled the door open, pausing in the doorway. "I promise…" Miki lifted his head, listening. "I promise that I'll fix this."
And with that, Akino left, the door swinging behind him.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone