Bab 5: Nagai Michinori
For some reason the current situation reminded me of a phrase: Nagai Michinori.
Nagai michinori means to have a long way to go. I learnt this whilst on holiday to Japan, our tour leader taught us this phrase whilst we were there. We had just been preparing to go on a hiking journey whilst in Kumano. Our tour leader at the time looked very young and energetic. She was foreign so it was quite advantaged to the English speaking visitors. For some reason, she caught my attention a little too much. Perhaps it was the astonishing resemblance between her and my mother. But that's not the point. What is the point is that it felt like we were on that hike all over again. But this time it felt like we'd tumbled right back to the start of the trail.
"Unlike her, I'm not a sore loser," I rolled my eyes and took a seat, "lets get this baby started."
"Oh by the way-" but before Grecia could finish her statement she was interrupted by a loud blaring sign.
"I repeat this is not a drill, this is not a drill, due to the current circumstances we have been forced to evacuate. We can assure you that your family members have been taken to safety and you will be able to contact them once we are all safely on coaches and on the road. Before then please refrain from posting on social media, using SMS and make any calls via mobile network." The room went absolutely as silent as a pin for a moment. Mouths wide open, staring, shocked. Words and phrases not enough to describe the pure confusion I was experiencing. "We will now call out each class name and your allocated coach slot and where to get it, your homeroom teachers will also be allocated to your coach. The teachers will be last to leave after ensuring that no one has been left behind and is on the coach. We have a short time of two hours to be out of here so please listen to instructions as noted. We will begin with the lowest. Class 1A report to the car park for coach 1A; class 1B report to the car park for coach 1B; Class 1C report to the car park for coach 1C..." and he went on and on. The sound of the announcer slowly began to drone out over the noise of the escalating chaos.
It all felt familiar again. Having to be on the run- only a few hours to pack. With the voices repeating. "Hurry up," and "run fast, don't let them catch you." Ten - nine - eight... The only instinct you have is to run. And fast at that. Leave everything behind and worry about your present. Seven - six - five Come on, come on you have to get out of here. The sound of plates crashing. People screaming. Children crying but you can't worry about them. All you can do is run. four - three - two until... one they catch up.
When people call out to you, you have to keep running you never know if they're good or bad. "SILVIA!" I heard someone scream my name for the eighth time, "I've been screaming your name for the past five minutes what the hell."
Click- That's when I clocked. I wasn't in America anymore, surely I didn't have anything to be worried about. Everybody
I headed to the back of the coach taking a seat at the chairs in front of the very back seats. The coach was indeed fancy for something we were evacuating in, so many people had been shoved in that some were even sitting on the floor, it was absolute madness, it's a good thing I got this seat, for some reason the very back seats were empty even though people could've sat here instead.
Soon after I arrived, Ree, Gracen and Grecia loaded into the coach taking up the seats surrounding me.
"The Chicken?" Ree asked, immediately after sitting next to me, hands out.
I smiled pulling out the two large black bags containing our meals.
"Gracen, as it seems the back seats are unoccupied, is it possible to set up the projector on the back seats, surely you had already downloaded something for us to watch ?" Grecia seemed incredibly calm for someone who just received news saying that we could die if we don't get out on time.
"Of course, I did, I don't plan on spending any of my mobile data. Do I look like I have money to be wasting?" she chuckled and puled the projector out of her bag, I'm surprised she brought it with her. Most people grabbed prized possessions or things that meant a lot. Some completely froze and didn't even bring anything.
We watched as she set it up in confusion. Some we're shocked as to how we could be so calm; some looked stupefied; and some weren't even surprised.
"Of course I brought this with me, it was too expensive to just leave behind," she chuckled explaining loudly so everyone could hear.
"Ree!" a tall boy at the front of the bus yelled waving his hands up high,
three other boys following behind him their heights increasing as they entered the bus.
"Yo Sebastian, over here!" she stood up from her seat waving her hands about frantically. Someone would think she was about to die.
The four boys headed in our direction trying not to step on people who had taken the floor seats
They slowly made their way to the back taking the four empty seats on the floor by our seats. The tallest two's legs could barely fit in and they were stretched all over the floor. It felt like I was looking at a bunch of spider legs.
"Ooh, you saved us some food how kind of you," the 2nd smallest extended his hand out to grab a chicken leg. How very bold of this boy.
I smacked his hand away by reflex and shot a deep glare.
"Hold on," the same boy stared at my face then at Ree's and back and forth until the coach suddenly started to moved and they were all jolted forward. They looked so disarranged on the floor their legs playing a game of Jenga, they were all slotted within each other.
"I get that my face is amazing but-" Ree started.
"No, the two of you look the same I almost couldn't even tell the difference. And you're also both, extremely, stingy with chicken," the tall boy from earlier stated.
"I know that we look the same, how wouldn't we have noticed," we said in chorus.
"Are you two related? A cousin I've perhaps never heard about?"
"No" I replied certain, in all of the photos I had there had never been any trace of a sibling in my family we were a generation of only children.
The silence went on as people proceeded to stare.
Attempting to break the silence a teacher stood up from their seat and started to approach us, "Most people brought clothes, prized possessions, electronics, something useful but the five of you brought chicken and what, two bottles of coke?! We're evacuating because were about to die not going on a surprise field trip," he shook his head and returned to his seat.
"I mean you never know," I murmured in a small voice.
"Mr Bramely's not wrong, what's wrong with the four of you," a girl who seemed around my age turned around in her seat, she stared at us with devil-like eyes. She wore red contacts and looked similar to the "mean rich girl" from earlier. What's her problem how could we possibly have offended her?
"Anyways, keep it down some of us are scared for our lives here. You're little cult thing or whatever, it's like you're adding fuel to the flames," she turned back around into her seat.
"Salty much..." I rolled my eyes.
RING!
My phone was buzzing from my back pocket, I took it out to see Leo was calling me.
"What?" I answered.
"Did you just roll your eyes, I could feel it from over here."
"I swear to god, anyways Leo-"
"Did you just say, Leo?" I was cut off once again by the rude girl from earlier.
"Yes, and how does that affect you?" I turned to face her.
"Leo I'll call you back," I hung up slotting my phone in the little pocket of the chair in front of me.
"Wait so you know Leo Jung, how?"
"The real question is how do you know Leo Jung? What are you, some sort of stalker?"
"No, but all the girls know him he's one of the best looking boys in school."
I felt my mouth hit the floor in disgust.
"We got here today, why do you all know who he is, we moved to this country yesterday."
"Uhm well so how do you know him?" her previously demon-like eyes now seemed like roses: sweet and charming.
"Weren't you just crying about this whole situation just a moment ago? Since when did you have the time to think about boys," Ree stood up from her seat leaning over the seat in front of her. She chuckled slightly then rolled her eyes and plastered a disgusted look over her face.
"Oh, what is this, are you guys twins?" everyone on the coach averted their attention to the both of us.
"No," we crossed our arms at the same time.
"Whatever you say, anyways" she turned to me "how do you know Leo Jung" she continued.
"I don't know if your skull is that thick or if you just have a lack of vocabulary, do you think you can insult me then try and get to know my best friend as if we've been friends all along, I'm not that easy so I suggest you sit back in your seat with you fake excuse of a designer jacket," I raised my eyebrow smirking. That should shut her up.
Surely enough I was right, she huffed before collapsing back in her seat throwing a mini tantrum.
"What are you staring at," all four of the boys on the floor, Gracen and Grecia had been staring at me, and were now clapping whilst nodding their heads. Some even started whistling.
"Eva Seo has finally met her match," they continued clapping and giving me thumbs up.
"That was cool," one of the tall bays on the floor held his thumbs up to me.
I felt a smile grow on my face.
*******4 Hours Latee********
Before we knew it we had all been fully engrossed in the series.
BANG!
I looked out of the window looking behind us, as we entered a dark tunnel, at the end of the tunnel you could see buildings crashing and burning up as well as a few other cars that had barely made it in the tunnel at a drastic speed.
Fortunately, we had just managed to escape the D-ZONE. It was terrifying, buildings continued collapsed one after each other, planes whizzed around everywhere some were pulled into the chaos, it was like I was looking at a giant campsite fire made completely of Buildings and Houses.
I turned around to see tears streaming down some people's face. Even though I had no attachment to the city, for some people this was where they grew up, had their first birthdays, waved goodbye to family members. For some, this was where they first attended school, where they had their first birthday, made their first friend, had their first 10th birthday party, went to their first park, went to their first shopping mall.
For some this was their home. Now it's been blown to bits.
Past lives couldn't ever hold me down
Lost love is sweeter when it's finally found
I've got the strangest feeling
This isn't our first time around – Martin Arteta, Borns
It felt like the song was replaying in my head all of a sudden. It's as if their past lives were nothing more than a sweet memory
"Everyone, earlier I heard one of the teachers say that we're going to be a military base somewhere under a city in North Korea, or more specifically what's left of North Korea," a boy with a red mullet and black bucket hat stood up. He spoke in a low and hushed voice.
"Ren now's not the time for jokes," another person stood up.
"I'm not lying you could even see the smoke from, the East China Sea, Japan and even parts of China. The whole country was obliterated, who do you think did this?"
"Whoever it was," I stood up again, "must be a psycho, only a psycho could come up with such ideas."
"Ideas of a psycho, why don't we call this event The Ideas of a Psycho, that makes sense whatever crazy person did this we can't forgive them." the person responded.
The whole bus chorused in agreement murmuring between themselves, however, these murmurs soon turned into words of disagreement, which soon turned into loud arguments, the noise was loud and it was chaotic, what was once a peaceful bus with everyone watching the series with us soon turned into a riot.
***********2 HOURS LATER**********
We were still nowhere near our destination according to the teachers, and everyone was hot, sweaty and angry. Fortunately, the teacher suggested we stop somewhere for around ten minutes to relieve all our stress and stretch our legs, however me, the twins, Ree, the other girl whose name I still didn't know and the four tallboys decided to stay inside. We were too interested in the series. We had even almost finished season 1.
"The four of you never told us your names, or is it just me who doesn't know who you are?" I asked.
"Yeah, it's just you," Ree replied.
The tallest amongst them stood up, "I am Yuzuru nice to meet you."
They stood up in order from the tallest to the shortest:
"Hello, I am Yuki."
"Hi, I'm Sebastian."
"Hey there, I'm Luca."
Even though Luca was the shortest, standing next to him I still managed to look like a midget. "Well I'm Silvia I moved here from America just yesterday."
"Wait, who are you?" I turned to face the girl who was sitting in the corner. I had taken note of her existence but didn't pay much attention to it, so I completely forget she was here.
"Oh I'm Aaliyah," her mouth smiled widely. How did I not notice such a beautiful person? Then again she was the girl from the bus stop.
"Oh, you're the-"
"Yeah, the "tran**" her smile seemed to fade.
"What-" what did she mean?
"I mean go ahead make fun of me?" I was so confused why would I make fun of her.
"Make fun of you for what?"
"For being trans, what else-"
I was completely shocked. Why would she think that? For someone to blatantly assume every person they meet is transphobic. She must've been through a hard time.
"Wow, erm just yesterday that must've been hard on you," Sebastian spoke up trying to clear the tension in the air.
"Everybody back in the coach now, come on let's get it moving!!" one of the teachers who were still awake yelled as everybody collectively gathered into their seats, some still sitting on the floor.
"As if we were on a normal school trip, I'm going to call out a register say here when I call your name, we will not be leaving until I hear you say here," the teacher stood up with at the front of the coach with a clipboard and pen.
"Gracen Ace,"
"Here."
"Grecia Ace,"
"Here."
The list went on until it came to our names
"Rhea Stone,"
"Here."
"Silvia Stone,"
"Her-"
"Wait for a second," the teacher paused, walking in our direction with his blue clipboard and cheap razor brand pen. "I've never heard of a Silvia Stone."
"I moved here yesterday, I'm a new student here," I stood up.
Instead, he ignored me and turned to Rhea.
"Are you Silvia Stone?"
"Sir," I tapped his shoulder to gain his attention, "I'm Silvia Stone."
He turned around to face me before turning back to look at Rhea, he then proceeded to look back and forth growing even more confused as time went by.
He then once again checked his checklist and turned back. "Are you two twins or am I just seeing things," he took off his glasses wiped them before putting them back on, "a few weeks ago Rhea I don't recall you having a twin."
"We're not twins we're just doppelgängers," we replied.
"Doppel what-" the teacher looked confused.
"We're two people who look the same however aren't related in any way," I explained.
"What about your surnames?" he asked again.
"Well that's just pure coincidence," I responded.
"Then how do you explain, that your date of births, place of births and even blood types are the same. I think somebodies parents are hiding some kind of secret from you" he crossed his arm smirking as if he has just won an argument.
"What?" at this point everyone on the bus had their eyes on us.
I was baffled: look, surname, age, DOB, height, and blood types what is going on here.
I sat back down in my seat to avoid any further questioning. We sat in silence for about three minutes before the teacher returned to the front to continue the registration.
"And Lastly Aaliyah Castino,"
"Here."
"Then let's get going, everyone seat belts please," the teacher sat back down before the coach suddenly jolted and we pulled out of the field.
"Bear your selves we still have eight more hours to go, and there will be no stopping or else we'll be a day behind everyone else due to the time changes," the teacher announced.
Eight hours, great that gives me time to sort things out. I turned to face Rhea who also turned to face me.
"Who are you?" we asked each other.
I immediately turned back to face the opposite direction from her. I felt the oxygen in the air become stuffier as the tension grew around us. The Projector had died and it was impossible to charge it on the coach as it required more watts then the coach provided. If we did, the coach would break down before we're even one hour further into our journey. This is going to be one long journey.
I took my phone out from my bag, connecting my touch pods to it. They amongst one of the earliest inventions in the new and improved AI devices. The pods were small buds that fit directly into your ear, can be controlled by voice, phone and any device you are on. They block noise, and nor do you have to worry about anyone hearing your music if you decide to blast at full volume. The case is small, practical and customisable. I connected my touch pods to my phone then took out my laptop. "Hey Vox, play me some Spotify," you're probably wondering its 2045 who still uses Spotify, well if you ask me it's better than that rip off version Sound Patch. All the songs cost around $4, whereas Spotify is completely free.
You know I would do great as a sales ambassador.
The moment I opened my laptop Rhea got up and looked around before settling back into her seat. "So, are we just going to pretend as if nothing happened?" she crossed her arms turning to face me. Fortunately, I didn't have them at full volume, I was just about barely able to make out what she said.
"Yes, we're going to do exactly that" I took one of the pods out of my ears before shutting my laptop and turning to her.
"You know I waited until everyone was asleep to ask you this, but who exactly are you, and what do you want from me?"
Hadiah
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