Vol 8 Chapter 2.1 (1/2)

CHAPTER 2

”I've done with fancies, imaginary terrors and phantoms! Life is real! haven't I lived just now? [...] The Kingdom of Heaven to her- [...] Now for the reign of reason and light... and of will, and of strength... and now we will see! We will try our strength!”[1]

Lili was sleeping. She breathed softly, lying on the tattered sofa at the back of the shop.

She was in a fetal position, and with her furrowed brow and her pursed lips, she looked anything but peaceful. Tear streaks still stood out on her face. Out of anxiety, perhaps, she had curled up into a ball, clutching tightly onto the blanket Karan had covered her with.

”Lili... poor thing.” Karan smoothed the blanket's wrinkles out. Lili's lips moved imperceptibly.

”Daddy... don't go,” she mumbled in her sleep. Her fingers closed tightly around a corner of the blanket.

Tears sprang into Karan's eyes, and she hurriedly pressed her fingers to her tear ducts. Crying would not do anything. Tears had never solved anything for her; she had wept herself dry when s.h.i.+on had disappeared.

She had wept, and wept, and wept. Certainly, there were times when her tears supported her. Sometimes, crying allowed her to change her mindset and take a step towards tomorrow. She had numerous such experiences. Karan had no intentions of dismissing or being ashamed of her tears.

But this time, it was different.

I have to protect this little girl. I can't sit here and cry. I have to become stronger.

Karan gently stroked Lili's hair. She had to protect Lili from any sort of peril. I won't let her be sad any longer. I won't let her suffer. I couldn't protect s.h.i.+on; I couldn't protect Safu. But because of that, I have to protect Lili with all it takes.

I've been given almost no power at all: no power to change the world; no power to ward off the rain of misfortune; no power to save the ones I love. I am weak, but I am not powerless. There is still a little strength left inside me. I'll use that strength to open my arms wide, and become a s.h.i.+eld to the ones weaker and more fragile than me.

”Daddy... daddy... I'm scared.”

Karan kissed Lili softly on her forehead. ”Lili, it's okay. It's going to be alright.”

There was a knock.

Someone was knocking at the shop door in an apologetic but hurried manner. Every time she heard a knock, Karan's heart used to soar at the idea of s.h.i.+on coming home. She used to be overcome with the urge to run up to the door. Now, she was calm enough to tilt a cautious ear to the sound of the door being struck.

It wasn't because she had lost hope. As a mother, her hope for her son's return was firmly rooted in her heart.

It was Nezumi's message. That short letter was hope itself. Hope brought ease and resolution back to Karan. It bid her to be calm. It gave her something to believe in.

Yes, that's right. You'll definitely come home some day, s.h.i.+on. Definitely. Karan stood and crept up to the door.

”Karan, aren't you home? It's me,” said a somewhat tired male voice. It was Yoming, the elder brother of Lili's mother, Renka. He was Lili's only uncle and one of her few blood relatives.

”Hold on a minute, Yoming. I'll open it now.” She pulled the blinds up and unlocked the door. A tall man entered on unsteady feet. He looked even more exhausted than he sounded.

”How's Renka?” she asked as she closed the door. The man had sunken into a chair. According to him, Renka had worked herself into a panic over worrying about her husband, who had not returned home from work.

”I gave her tranquilizers and finally got her to sleep. She cried and screamed... it was horrible. I never imagined that she'd bawl like that. She's a little tougher most of the time.”

”She must be worried sick.”

”You bet. No matter how long she kept waiting, Getsuyaku never came home. He didn't show up on his usual bus, nor on the one after that. This is the first time this has happened since they got married. She figured something had happened to him, and she didn't know what to do. It was all she could think about. I told her to calm down, but she wouldn't listen to anything I said... it was a pity to watch.”

”But someone would call if something happened at his workplace, right? If there hasn't been a call, then...”

Yoming shook his head weakly. The bags under his eyes grew more p.r.o.nounced, and the creases deepened between his eyebrows.

”I don't know where he works. I have no idea where to call, or who to ask questions to. Getsuyaku didn't even tell his own family where he was working.”

”His workplace? Even Renka doesn't know?”

”Yeah, she said she has no idea. She'd questioned Getsuyaku before, soon after they'd gotten married, but he didn't give an answer. He said he wasn't doing anything shady, but he couldn't say on corporate orders. He begged her not to ask because he'd get fired for telling her. Renka said she had no choice but to close her mouth after that. His salary wasn't exactly high, but Getsuyaku made more than the average Lost Town resident, and he used to hand it all to his wife. Renka eventually stopped being bothered by Getsuyaku's workplace, and reckoned that he'd tell her when the time was right. She had Lili, and another baby was on the way. Sure, it bothered her, but a stable means of living was her main concern. So she turned a blind eye. The result― this.”

”But what kind of workplace would you have to keep secret from your own family?”

”Where do you think?” Yoming looked up at Karan. A sharp light glinted for a moment in his bloodshot eyes. Karan swallowed. Secrets, concealment, silence.

”The Correctional Facility.” As soon as the words slid off her tongue, a bitter taste spread inside her mouth. She knew it was an illusion, but it was bitter enough to make her shudder.

”Yes, that's what I think, too. I don't have evidence, but I'm almost positive it's there. Getsuyaku was working at the Correctional Facility. Of course, it probably wasn't such an important department. But a workplace that needs to enforce a gag law right to the bottom rungs of its organization... yeah, that place is the only possibility.”

”But... even if Getsuyaku-san did work for the Correctional Facility, he still came home every day at the same time, right?”

”Yeah. He left home and came back every day on the minute, like clockwork. But today, no matter how long she waited, he never came home. And on top of that...” Yoming hesitated to speak.

”Did something happen?”

Yoming extracted a small bag from his breast pocket, and emptied its contents into the palm of his hand. Karan held her breath.

”Oh my, gold coins.”

Three gold coins. One gold coin amounted to about half a year's worth of wages for Lost Town residents. Three gold coins. It was an enormous sum.

”Getsuyaku gave them to her.”

”Heavens, how did he come by such a large amount of money?”

”Renka asked him the same thing. But knowing her, she probably interrogated him, more like.”

”And Getsuyaku-san?”

”He didn't give her a clear answer. He said it wasn't shady money, and kept repeating that it was legitimate payment. In the end, it was left in the dark. It's just that... afterwards, Renka overheard him saying to himself that it should be enough to sustain them for a good while. Renka's insisting that Getsuyaku meant that they would be okay if he disappeared. As for me, I don't think she's being delusional.”

”Did Getsuyaku-san feel some kind of... premonition that something would happen to him?”

”I suppose. Renka says he'd been acting strange these past couple of days. He seemed to be lost and afraid of something, and there would often be times like yesterday, when he'd be dazed and unresponsive.”

”It seems like Lili had the same feeling. She was very worried about Getsuyaku-san.” Karan's voice trembled at the end of her words. Her heart pounded frantically.

A large amount of money with no identifiable source; an utterance predicting his failure to return; his inscrutable behaviour―it all smelled of destruction. She could understand why Renka had become upset, unable to bear her anxiety. Adding to this fact was that Renka had witnessed her previous husband's sudden and mysterious death.

The same thing will happen again.

That thought would make her fear and anxiety burgeon. Renka's household with Getsuyaku was her small paradise, attained at last after a hard struggle with her daughter. For her to have it wrenched from her, for her to lose it all again―it was too cruel.

Yoming suddenly stood up. He began pacing inside the small store. His footsteps echoed.

”Are they linked?” His footsteps almost drowned out his low voice, now almost a mumble.

”Hm? What did you say?”

Yoming's feet stopped abruptly. He turned his body to stand in front of Karan. His face was tense, but his flushed cheeks betrayed his excitement.

”Is there a link between the incident with Getsuyaku and the incidents in No. 6? What do you think, Karan?”

”No, why, there's no way―”

”―that could be true? Are you sure?” Yoming's eyes harboured a feverish dull light. In a matter of minutes, his whole countenance had changed. Or had Yoming simply showed a side of him he had kept hidden before?

”If Getsuyaku wasn't able to come home, it wasn't from personal reasons. You know him; if it was, he would definitely contact his family somehow. Right now, he's in a situation where he can't contact them even if he wanted to. Maybe he's completely forbidden to make contact with anyone.”

”You mean he's been detained somewhere?”

”Yes. But if he was detained, there would be some kind of notice to his family from the Security Bureau. At least, that's how it's been up until now. But there hasn't been any contact. If his workplace happened to be the Correctional Facility... can't we say that maybe some abnormal incident has occurred there?”

Correctional Facility. Safu was probably taken there, and s.h.i.+on was likely there as well.

”It's not only the Correctional Facility... hey, Karan. Right now, this city, No. 6, is undergoing a huge s.h.i.+ft. You feel it too, right?”

”Yes,” Karan said hesitantly.

Yoming resumed walking. Click, click, click. His footsteps rang out more loudly, more incessantly. ”Holy City citizens are dropping dead left and right. The authorities aren't trying to deal with it. In fact, they can't. No one knows what to do. This is probably the first time something like this has happened. No. 6 was the ultimate utopian city, called Holy City by people, even―and it's crumbling. By tomorrow, it may be completely gone.”

”Yoming, you're getting ahead of yourself. It can't possibly be―”

”No, I know,” Yoming interrupted Karan firmly, and a smile crossed his lips. ”There's a horror circling within this city, a horror no one's experienced before. It's the horror of having your life threatened. Soon, it'll turn into discontent towards the city authorities. In fact, the discontent has swelled up so much, it's probably almost bursting by now. Citizens were used to obeying and accepting the false prosperity thrust upon them, but now they've woken up. They've woken up, and realized what an unfair and confining world they've lived in. Yes, yes, they've finally awoken. And they're nearly out of their wits panicking. Goodness knows why they didn't try to wake up sooner. No one tried to look at the truth.”

”Yoming...” Karan took one step back. Yoming appeared not to notice Karan's unease. He looked like he had forgotten about Getsuyaku and his only younger sister, Renka, as well. Getsuyaku, Renka, Lili, and Karan. Jarred by the tumult of his emotions, Yoming was not able to spare a thought to any individual person around him.

Karan knew people with eyes like these.

It was a long, long time ago, when Karan was young. No. 6 had not even developed its outline. Those people were carried away with their words and ideals; their gazes smouldered with pa.s.sion and their voices were ablaze. They blinded others with their brilliance, but they were also terrifying. Humans were nowhere to be found at the other end of their heated gaze. They discoursed of ideals, but they were barely interested in people. Perhaps they had not even realized that they no longer regarded the existence of humans. They spoke of the foundation of the ideal city as something of the near future, and yet humans never factored into those thoughts... it was unnerving.

Karan gradually distanced herself from them. She was afraid of being with them. She was afraid of their gaze. Those men were people who gradually went on to build the foundation of No. 6, and yet she found them terrifying, unnerving, and hard to relate to.

Terrifying, unnerving...

They had similar eyes. Those men discussed the creation of the utopian city. The man in front of her spoke of its destruction. They stood on opposite ends, and yet they had similar eyes.

”Karan, this is our opportunity. Our one in a thousand chances of choking the life out of this artificial Holy City. Who knew it would come so soon?” he chuckled. ”Even heaven has turned its back on No. 6.”

Yoming stopped and began to laugh out loud. Karan felt a chill. She felt her back tense with cold.

”Yoming... what are you thinking? What are you planning to do?”

Yoming's eyes s.h.i.+fted aside, and his eyes trained on Karan.

”What am I trying to do? Hmm... well, Karan, I guess I can tell you everything. You're almost like one of us anyway.”

”One of you...?”

”There are many people like me in this city who have had their family torn from them ruthlessly. You're one of those people too, aren't you?”