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READ THIS BEFORE CONTINUING Some of the images/topics described in this chapter contain violence, please do not read this chapter if you are sensitive to either of the topic(s) mentioned, thank you. |
The time had come for Makoto to meet Asami on the roof of the school. As he climbed up the stairs, his mind and heart were racing.
“What is she going to say?...” Makoto thought as he held the note in his hand-- staring and re-reading the words written on it. The single piece of paper and that sentence had become his whole world at this moment.
It was only till he had reached the door to the rooftop that Makoto had finally looked up from the note. He took a deep breath to calm his heart and mind and reached for the door. A soft click of the handle and then a bright beam of sunlight grew brighter and more intense as Makoto opened the door. His face was filled with the sunlight and its warmth as he stepped up to reach the roof, and as his eyes adjusted to the light, there she was. Makoto’s eyes widened almost immediately at the sight of her; it was like a scene from a romance movie, her hair blowing in the wind as she faced the fence perpendicular to her line of sight. Makoto subconsciously started to walk towards her as if she had a gravitational pull on him. After a few moments, she took notice of him and froze Makoto in place with just the look of her eyes. Then, at that moment, Asami became all Makoto cared about in the world at that moment-- he simply couldn’t stop gazing at her. They both approached each other, locking eyes until stopping about 3 feet away from each other. At this distance, Asami couldn’t stop herself from blushing out of embarrassment; she almost didn’t have the courage to say what she wanted to say, but she gathered all her courage and said it
“What is she going to say?...” Makoto thought as he held the note in his hand-- staring and re-reading the words written on it. The single piece of paper and that sentence had become his whole world at this moment.
It was only till he had reached the door to the rooftop that Makoto had finally looked up from the note. He took a deep breath to calm his heart and mind and reached for the door. A soft click of the handle and then a bright beam of sunlight grew brighter and more intense as Makoto opened the door. His face was filled with the sunlight and its warmth as he stepped up to reach the roof, and as his eyes adjusted to the light, there she was. Makoto’s eyes widened almost immediately at the sight of her; it was like a scene from a romance movie, her hair blowing in the wind as she faced the fence perpendicular to her line of sight. Makoto subconsciously started to walk towards her as if she had a gravitational pull on him. After a few moments, she took notice of him and froze Makoto in place with just the look of her eyes. Then, at that moment, Asami became all Makoto cared about in the world at that moment-- he simply couldn’t stop gazing at her. They both approached each other, locking eyes until stopping about 3 feet away from each other. At this distance, Asami couldn’t stop herself from blushing out of embarrassment; she almost didn’t have the courage to say what she wanted to say, but she gathered all her courage and said it
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“Makoto, will you-” BEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEP The sound came from Makoto’s phone, which he quickly pulled out to check the morbid notification. |
“State of Emergency: Military Forces Eliminated, citizens should remain indoors at all times.” Makoto closed the notification and unlocked his phone and immediately went to a news source. It wasn’t a false alarm-- news broadcasting stations were all reporting on it, the entire military force had been eliminated. There was a live feed to go along with what the news were reporting on-- live footage of what was going on in the military bases. Both Makoto and Asami were glued to the live footage as they witnessed in horror the PeaceMaker kill every soldier. Some fought, some ran; either way, they all faced the same fate-- death. Then, the sirens blared-- a loud echoing as if from a bellowing creature, in the distance, Makoto and Asami both watched bright flashing lights fly into the sky, followed by heavy streams of clouds-- missiles.
“Oh, my God,” Makoto said as he watched the missiles go slowly higher and higher.
“MAKOTO! WE HAVE TO GO!” Asami said as she held the rooftop door open, snapping Makoto out of his fearful trance.
Makoto could hardly process what had just happened, but it didn’t matter at the moment; all his body could do was run alongside Asami.
“WE’LL HAVE TO GO TO YOUR HOUSE, IT’S CLOSER!” Asami yelled back to Makoto as they ran through the school, frantically trying to get out.
“MAKOTO! WE HAVE TO GO!” Asami said as she held the rooftop door open, snapping Makoto out of his fearful trance.
Makoto could hardly process what had just happened, but it didn’t matter at the moment; all his body could do was run alongside Asami.
“WE’LL HAVE TO GO TO YOUR HOUSE, IT’S CLOSER!” Asami yelled back to Makoto as they ran through the school, frantically trying to get out.
The first missile struck, fortunately, nowhere near the school, but they heard it, a silent boom in the distance. The sirens kept echoing through, as if the entire country. The second missile struck the boom, still far but only a bit closer. Makoto and Asami were outside now, still running towards Makoto’s home, and soon enough, they reached it. They both panted as they shut the door and began to get some supplies throughout the house to prepare for a shortage. Shortly after, they headed to the basement and got together in the farthest corner from the windows. They could still hear the sirens; they were muffled, yet their terrifying tone continued to linger. Soft, muffled explosions happened every other minute; all of them seemed far away, but they couldn’t tell at that point. Their fast-paced breaths seemed to be only a little bit louder; all they could do now was wait and see what happened.
Makoto had to almost drag Asami to get up to go and see what had happened, pulling her up by her hands. She finally grew aware of what had happened just a few hours before. Shetoo jumped up and looked around to see if the house was still in place. Soon, they both walked up together from the basement to see what had happened outside. It was completely quiet, it had always been quiet in Makoto’s part of the neighborhood, but Makoto felt it was a different kind of quiet. They opened the front door to see no damage to the neighborhood, the sky had become grey, and there was fog everywhere, but no damage to the neighborhood. Still not feeling completely safe, they went back inside to look for answers to what had happened. Suddenly, Makoto’s phone vibrated-- it was Kiyoshi calling him.
He answered, “Kiyoshi, are you ok?” Makoto asked, relieved that his friend was ok.
“Hey, I’ve been trying to call you for the past few hours, thank God you’re ok,” Kiyoshi replied.
“Well, me and Asami actually um...fell asleep in my basement,” Makoto said as he waited for Kiyoshi to say something about it
“...Well, anyways, I’ve been searching for what happened and where those missiles actually struck, and it turns out that they only struck places like airports, shipment docks, and ferry terminals.”
“That’s really strange-- oh wait, did you see what attacked the military bases?” Makoto replied.
“Yeah, I’ve never seen anything like it. The way it looked in that footage, it has to be about 10 feet tall. And the speed at which it moved was remarkable.” Kiyoshi replied and then continued, “Another thing I’m worried about is that...my dad hasn’t come home yet, and it’s been 2 days. Sometimes, you know how it is, he stays at some hotel in order to continue working right away, so he doesn’t have to take time out to go home. But something about this time feels different, like he’s not staying away from home on purpose this time..."
“Oh no. Do you remember if he said he would take that long?”
“No, he just said that we were going to work, but he's said that when he's stayed out before, so I'm not sure.” Kiyoshi replied, “Well, I'm glad you two are ok, I can come over there soon. Let's just hope that this thing that attacked the base isn't going to target citizens soon. Stay safe, bye.”
“Bye.”
“Hey, I’ve been trying to call you for the past few hours, thank God you’re ok,” Kiyoshi replied.
“Well, me and Asami actually um...fell asleep in my basement,” Makoto said as he waited for Kiyoshi to say something about it
“...Well, anyways, I’ve been searching for what happened and where those missiles actually struck, and it turns out that they only struck places like airports, shipment docks, and ferry terminals.”
“That’s really strange-- oh wait, did you see what attacked the military bases?” Makoto replied.
“Yeah, I’ve never seen anything like it. The way it looked in that footage, it has to be about 10 feet tall. And the speed at which it moved was remarkable.” Kiyoshi replied and then continued, “Another thing I’m worried about is that...my dad hasn’t come home yet, and it’s been 2 days. Sometimes, you know how it is, he stays at some hotel in order to continue working right away, so he doesn’t have to take time out to go home. But something about this time feels different, like he’s not staying away from home on purpose this time..."
“Oh no. Do you remember if he said he would take that long?”
“No, he just said that we were going to work, but he's said that when he's stayed out before, so I'm not sure.” Kiyoshi replied, “Well, I'm glad you two are ok, I can come over there soon. Let's just hope that this thing that attacked the base isn't going to target citizens soon. Stay safe, bye.”
“Bye.”
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A few moments before the sirens blared, in a Tokyo Mental Asylum, one of their most infamous and youngest patient they have currently is Sayaka Takahashi. She is 18 years old and is there on behalf of her previous incidents, where her temper got the best of her. In elementary school, she got in a fight with another girl and bit her so hard she started to bleed. In middle school, she would suddenly take out her aggression on a nearby student by either pulling their hair with an extreme amount of force or throwing a textbook at the teacher. And in her last incident before being held in the asylum, during high school, there was an incident where she was bullied for being a “crazy loner.” In response, Sayaka followed the girl and her friend group after school and waited till there was hardly anyone around. She pulled out a knife and started to chase the girls throughout the neighborhood; Sayaka laughed manically as she did this. Now she lay in her restrained bed, unable to move from the bedframe entirely. Her wrists and ankles were heavily restrained, and even her neck. At the time the sirens blared, a nurse was doing their routine check-in with Sayaka, making sure the restraints were tight and secure. After the nurse heard the sirens blare, she started to run out of the room. Sayaka yelled for her to come back and not to leave her there. Out of empathy, the nurse frantically cut the restraints one by one, and as soon as one of Sayaka’s hands was free, she grabbed the nurse by the shirt and pulled her down to the top of the bedframe, hitting her head and rendering her unconscious. She grabbed the knife the nurse was using and freed herself, and to blend in with the running crowd just outside the hall, she put on the nurse's uniform and ran alongside the crowd. Sayaka heard the sirens but didn't know what was going on. She kept running through the halls with the crowd to get out as soon as possible. She stopped and looked at the TV. One of the news stations had a freeze frame of what attacked the military base-- the PeaceMaker. Seeing this, Sayaka smiled and said to herself:
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“Finally, a new opponent.” |
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Atticus Villanueva |
