Chapter 2: AKIO KATSUEKI
"Walkie Check."
"Good Check."
The voice breaks for a moment, "Everything is... safe out here."
"Go again."
"Everything is safe out here. 1st and 2nd base have fallen."
"It means the road is clear. So, what's your 20?"
"I'm standing outside Mama's door."
"No, Nia, what are you doing? You are not supposed to use words like 'Mom' or 'Mama.' She's our enemy right now. 1st base villain."
"Copy."
"So, I am reaching to the ground. You reach there, too."
"Copy."
"Signing out."
Saying so, Akio puts the walkie talkie on his table. But Akio forgot to turn it off, so Nia's voice was still coming.
"It's not fair. I wanted to say signing out this time-"
Akio turns the walkie off as fast as possible.
Then he looks at the window. A small ray of moon-light is coming through that window.
"Can't let Nia wait for much longer. She will start ranting on me."
Akio takes his jacket, wears it off and leaves the room with silence.
After a while, he reaches the ground outside his house.
He could see his sister Nia waiting for him. A cute 6 years old girl. She follows Akio blindly. For her, Akio is the commander.
Nia notices him and gives him a beautiful smile.
Akio gets closer to her and gives her some coins.
"your 1st payment. You will get the whole payment tomorrow as promised."
Nia gets happy, "You will take me to the safari park. Right? Can't wait for it, Vaia."
[Author's Note : in Bangladesh, Vaia is a term used to refer to a brother]
Akio smiles back to her. "Yes, of course I will. And you have to look after mom and sis for an hour. They're still our enemy."
Nia nods with affirmation, "Yes sir. They're enemies. I know what happened the previous time. You got badly smacked by mom when she heard that you went to the jungle at night all alone. And Apu was laughing at you all along. They're evil."
[A/N : Apu is a term used to refer to elder sisters in Bangladesh]
Hearing that didn't please Akio though. It just made him recall the previous event. Oh, he did get beaten pretty badly at that time.
Akio just tried to put a fake smile, "you don't need to bring that up though. Ok so I am going."
Nia: see Ya. And I am looking forward to tomorrow's payment. Safari Park.
Akio: You bet.
At the base of the night, Akio starts running in the midst of the jungle.
Oh, this feeling!
He is never going to forget it. Moon's light is coming through the gaps in the trees. And That light is showing him the way.
And after a while, the boy reaches the end of the forest. that jungle ends in front of a huge ditch.
The moment he crosses the jungle, the sky in front of him seems to get clearer. Thus, Akio was able to see the Moon now.
All of these—lies, payments, checking on Mom and big sister—are only for this experience, for this feeling.
It's the full moon.
For some reason, Akio loves watching it. He feels like he can even keep staring at this full moon for eternity.
unintentionally, words pops out of Akio mouth, "It's beautiful."
Suddenly he hears a voice. "It is."
Akio startles by the sound, as he searches for the source of the voice, he finds that person sitting in front of him.
A middle-aged man with Short boxed beard is reclining on a huge rock, wearing a very old-fashioned dress.
Also a red hat on his head.
And in his hand, a brand-new wine bottle. Akio walks towards him while expressing a little discomfort.
That middle-aged man assures him with a smile, "don't worry, I won't bite you."
The boy: "I am not afraid of you. It's the height I am afraid of. This ditch in front of you is at least 40 metres high. I have a phobia of height. And now yes, you can laugh at me."
The middle-aged man assures akio, "How's this a laughable matter? You are scared of something. It's a very serious thing to talk about. Ok, you don't have to be scared. You can sit there. You don't need to come near this ditch. Is that ok?"
Akio feels assured hearing those words. He immediately sits. This man seems to be good.
The middle-aged man: "What's your name, brat?"
The boy answers rapidly, "Akio."
The middle-aged man: "just Akio? no family name?"
Akio: "I have. But I don't want to put that name on me. That name is a disgrace."
"Let me guess, Is it about your father? Cause most of the people's family name comes from their father–"
Akio stops that guy right away by shouting, "That name is a disgrace. I told you."
A gentle breeze blew past them.
Middle aged man says in a low voice, "so you hate him."
Akio lowered his head. "He left my mom, me, and my 2 sisters three years ago."
"I am sorry"
Akio says nothing in return.
The atmosphere goes really gloomy because of this topic.
That middle aged man takes a sip from the bottle and asks, "so, how many years has it been that you guys are living in the midst of the jungle?"
Akio responds, "not much, just 3 months. Actually In that city, a lot of money was needed to survive. So, in my father's absence, My mother got out of housework and took a job to feed us. But that did not last. After 1 year of hardship, we had to leave the town and come here."
"In the middle of the jungle? Nice choice."
Akio stares at that man, "We had no choice. This is the farmhouse of my mom's colleague. She let us live here. She's been living in city. This farm house was unused. So we decided to move on here. It feels nice here though."
"So you hate your dad?"
Akio immediately replies, "yeah. With all of my heart. He is a monster. All those tears I saw from my family's faces were all because of that one guy. He should just die somewhere."
Middle aged man shakes his head. "Oh-kay. At this early age, you sure are going through a lot."
Akio gives away a fake smile, "no, it's nothing."
For some time, none says a word. They keep watching the moon.
Akio breaks the silence. "By the way, who are you, old guy? What are you doing here? I never saw you in this area before."
The middle-aged man looks at the moon and then at Akio's face, "I am known as Solis."
Akio: no family name?
Solis laughs. "I do have one. But I can't tell you that. The knowledge of this may harm you and your family. Just call me solis."
Akio stops solis, "If it's risky for my family, I shouldn't bother, then."
Solis smiles a bit. "You seem to love your family a lot."
Akio laughs, "Well, The feeling is mutual. They also love me a lot."
Solis: they sure do.
Akio stops for a while and asks, "by the way, old man, what do you do for a living? Is that also prohibited to learn?"
Solis answers immediately, "I travel around the country and abroad."
Akio mocks him, "So, you are homeless."
Solis chokes, "That was rude."
Akio: Is that so?
Solis: yes.
They both laughes again. The mood lightens. Solis looks at the sky and says,
"I am an explorer."
Akio questions, "What do you explore?"
Solis looks at akio, "fun."
Akio mocks, "deep talk."
Solis smiles a bit. Akio looks at Solis's eyes. It seems somehow dead.
Akio asks, "Did anything bad happen to you recently?
This question of Akio makes Solis a bit surprised. "No nothing. Why would you think that?"
Akio shakes his head, "just an intuition."
Solis stays silent for a while, then looks at Akio's face.
That seems like A dependable face to Solis. Solis smiles a bit and opens his mouth to start talking.
"Actually, there is something in my mind. A doubt you can say. Do you desire to hear that?"
Akio nods with affirmation.
Solis takes a deep breath.
"I had to kill my best friend."
Akio says nothing. He is just shocked.
Solis sighs. "He betrayed me. I trusted him with my life. But behind my back, he was conspiring to kill me with my enemies. So, I had to…."
Some tears came out of Solis's eyes. Solis tries his best to stop them.
"But I still regret... Maybe there were other ways. I want to repent for my sins. If there was a way to die…"
solis then stops himself, "well i can't die. got a lot of things to do."
The situation gets way more awkward. None says anything for a while. akio tries to make distance from him. And then he himself breaks the silence.
"So, you're a murderer?"
Solis tries to put a smile, "don't worry, I won't do any harm to you guys."
Akio replies right back, "Well, that doesn't remove my worries though. Still, I mean, dude…. You are fleeing from the police?"
Solis: kind of. But not actually police. A defence organisation.
Akio seems to be surprised, "oh, wow. I don't know what that means to be honest."
Solis tries to explain. "Basically an organisation which gives protection to civilians and works for government…. I don't know how to explain this thing in an easy way."
Akio tries to act like he understood everything.
"Yeah yeah.. Good. So they're after you, and you are hiding here.."
Solis smiles, "yeah."
Akio asks, "why hide here out of all these places?"
Solis answers, "just came here to repent. My that friend's parents live here. umm... the one i had to..."
Akio nods, "yeah yeah.. i get it. his parents live in this district?"
Solis: yeah. Kind of. I did meet them. There's an old lady, maybe his grandma, she kinda welcomed me. Hehe"
Akio stares at him and says, " so, she kicked you out."
Solis says nothing in response.
akio tries to fix the mood, "no, no.. i mean-"
Soils sigh, "sometimes, I really wonder, is it really right to forget them all behind?"
Akio gets up in a hurry.
Akio replies, "well, I am just a 10 years old kid. Those right-wrong concepts are unknown to me. But all i should say is, look out for the future. Maybe you would get something you can do. Maybe you can repent for that sin you spoke of at some point. By the way, It's midnight. I can't be here right now. If my mom or sister wakes up, they'll kill me.. I have to leave."
Solis: oh-ok. be careful in this jungle. And can I know where your house is?
Akio points south. "This way."
Solis looks at south, "Hmm, you guys live in the middle of this jungle. Good. Now go."
Akio pleads to him, "yeah. And please don't do anything to my family. They're really important to me."
Akio was leaving. At that moment, another call came from behind.
"Oi, little brat."
Akio looks back.
Solis tells him, "family is important. Treasure it. "
Akio smiles. "I will."
After a while, Akio came closer to his house thinking about this and that.
"mom wouldn't believe me if i tell her about this solis guy. what's the deal with him anyway?"
And after reaching the end of the jungle, he sees his house burning.
Akio was shocked and couldn't reach for words.
But he doesn't have time for despair. He needs to save his family.
He starts running towards the house and all of a sudden, someone hits him from behind.
Akio falls on the ground.
Bloods are coming out of his head. He can't see anything but blood.
Soon, Akio stops feeling anything.
And then, he blanks out.
After that, he opens his eyes and finds himself standing in a vast, desolate field. The air feels heavy, charged with an unsettling energy. A chaotic symphony of distant voices echoes all around him, adding to the sense of unease. Above, a colossal eye peers down from the ominous, darkened sky, its gaze fixed on Akio.
The eye is mesmerizing yet terrifying, with veins pulsating beneath its pale, lifeless surface. It seems to hold an unfathomable knowledge of the universe, and Akio can't help but shiver under its intense scrutiny.
His heart races as he struggles to comprehend his surroundings. The landscape feels surreal, as if he has stepped into a twisted dreamscape. The field stretches on endlessly, and Akio senses an invisible force tugging at him, keeping him rooted in this otherworldly realm.
Feeling a mix of fear and confusion, Akio grits his teeth and shouts,
"What's going on? Where's my family?"
But there's no response. His voice merely becomes another echo in the cacophony surrounding him. The enormity of the situation weighs heavily on him, and he desperately tries to make sense of it all.
As he takes some deep breaths, trying to calm himself, a sense of uncertainty washes over him.
"Is this a dream? This has to be a dream. Let me out."
He pleads as he squeezes his eyes shut, hoping to escape the surreal reality he finds himself in.
"October 5, 2022, 5:32 PM
More than 10 people are trapped in a whole tube. They have been kept alive with a very high-tech support system. This huge room, which is called the Research division, has that huge tube in the middle of it.
Lots of people working outside the tube. Taking notes, observing the people within the tube, collecting Datas, changing water within the tube. All the work is going on within the usual schedule.
But something broke that schedule today. Suddenly, one of the researchers saw something. A hand movement from a certain patient.
"Someone has awoken from the tube."
"What?"
Everyone became busier. They are running from here to there.
"Call the monitor."
"Tell me the name of that subject before that."
"What's the name of the one who just awoke?"
"It's Akio. Family name is Katsueki."
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