Chapter 5: Oh...........
The midnight sky at times can become a sweet embrace of starry black, a fresh chance to dream anew but Zayn's tightly shut eyes opened, returning him from the land of dreams to the land that needs them. The hues of an unfamiliar bedroom quickly assaulted him and drove his haziness away.
12:30AM it is and most of the lavish lights illuminating the Brief's estate have long turned dim. Calmly observing his new surroundings, Zayn stood up and walked in calmness across the dark room, following the trails of the moonlight escaping the crevices of the curtains.
Opening the curtains, a gleaming smile was about to creep into Zayn's face, but he kept an indifferent guise out of wary of himself being monitored through cameras, which would be reasonable considering high the status of the people that took him in was.
*Kwaaaak*
Looking up at in the distance. Zayn heard the screeching of a hawk piercing into the distance and saw the flapping of its wings as it moved to hunt its prey, giving the hawk a dancing silhouette on the open stage of the graphite moonlighted night.
Zayn closed the curtains, encasing his surroundings in darkness once again. With eyes that now became accustomed to the dark, he walked to the exit door of the bedroom with strides made by strained legs. Yet, those same legs moved unshaken by the weight they were holding.
***************
(Flash back, 8 Hours Earlier)
"Shiiiiitttt!"
After coming out of library, Zayn tried searching left and right for a taxi driver. He ran across the streets while asking for directions to places taxi's gather, but nothing went his way that night. As he continued running frantically, he paused his steps and slowed down.
"huf… huf.." Panting as he came to a stop Zayn started gathering his thoughts.
'What's even the point of running around like a maniac, the distance to the Brief's estate by foot will take me more than an hour and a half to get there, which by that time I would definitely not be welcomed there. Hell, even if I run at a constant speed of around 10km/hr, it'll still take 30-35 minutes to reach there. Moreover, before I even get there I wouldn't be surprised if my body failed me midway as I can't maintain 10 minutes at that speed without like I need an oxygen mask, being so out of breath.'
After Zayn's sorted his thought on the matter, his turned to the direction of his inn as he decided to end his night when suddenly a risky thought came to him.
'If I can monitor my heart rate as I run and estimate how much my body is anaerobically producing energy. I may be able to intentionally predict when I lose consciousness and deliberately faint on the premises of the Brief's family. If I can just do that and they take me into their home that houses not only the two-star Dragon Ball but also the ancient documents which I am seeking, then….' Zayn started weighting his options.
On one hand, the only result waiting until tomorrow would yield him is a higher chance in meeting the Brief's. However, if he were to act on his plans of fainting as he comes into their premises, with their nature, he is confident on gambling his chances of whether they would nurse him until he wakes up or not. For on the off chance that they don't, the worse that would happen is him delaying his meeting with them. But if he does step foot inside, he can and will search for the ancient documents of the Dragon Balls and any records made on them. Even procuring the two-star Dragon Ball may possibly be within his reach if he successfully infiltrates the Capsule Corporation's basement.
Zayn's right hand grabbed hold of his left rest where he laid two fingers between the bone and the tendon over his radial artery to sense the blood pulsing through it and then he raised his both hands towards the side of his neck where his free left-hand finger's were placed to the side of your windpipe on what he assumed were the carotid arteries which circulated blood from his hear to his brain.
Keeping the strange stance of his hands to keep count of his pulses. He began running.
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(Approximately 40 minutes after)
"Ahh huf…huf…huf.." Zayn was feeling the blood and supplements to his body being more deoxygenated with every minute that passed. His vision was getting dangerously unclear but thankfully he had finally reached his destination. He came before the intercom and absentmindedly pressed on all the buttons repeatedly without stop, or at least for as long as he could before he fell unconscious.
That was when Bulma who was annoyed by the constantly ringing bell came to confront the rude guess
"ENOUGH YOU UGLY STU- St-tt. Oh.?"
"...."
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
The girl screamed as she saw what she assumed was a dead corpse of a man lying in front of her doorsteps.
Mrs. Brief immediately went on to check on her daughter after she heard the latter screaming when she went to check on the door.
"O Bulma my darling why are you screaming? Are you okay?" Asked Mrs. Bried in concern.
"Mom! There's a dead person in front of our house and you're asking if I am okay? Of course I am not!" Replied Bulma impatiently.
"Well, that not very nice, I was worried about you dear. And it is not nice to say bad things to our guest. He looks like one adorable sleeping little boy to me." Bulma's Mother said while clasping her hands to her cheeks.
"Aaaah Mom!! Won't take this seriously for once!"
Needless to say, everything for Zayn went all according to plan thereafter.
(Flashback Ends)
***************
(Back to Zayn)
'From looking outside the window earlier I would assume that I am currently In the first floor, closer to the left side of the building. I must keep an appearance of someone confused or searching for a toilet in case I run into someone or if I was monitored through cameras, they would at least not suspect me too much.'
It looked to Zayn that the building's residents all went to sleep as his walk through the first floor seem to have gone uninterrupted. Whenever he walked into a dark room or an alley, the lights would automatically turn on, this told Zayn that there are potentially heat sensor inside the house detecting his movement.
'This is strange, there doesn't seem to be any security personal anywhere around. It's likely that there's an AI currently tracking my movement and is most definitely making decisions even in this very moment, deciding on whether I am a threat or not. Do I continue studying the estate? I tried opening a few doors for some of the rooms here, yet they were all locked. Could the AI have prevented me from accessing them? If so, then there's more risk than reward in moving forward from here as the area I am currently is most definitely not one where anything worth while would be kept. Or at least it would make sense that a stranger such as me wouldn't be let near anything valuable.'
As Zayn's train of thought came to a halt. He decided to stop studying the estate and return to his room as not to bring to much attention than necessary to him. Even if the AI watching his movement in the house reported his behaviour of looking around, he could simply blame it on being confused finding himself in a strange place if he were to be questioned tomorrow.
Entering his room and turning the lights on, Zayn immediately located the door at the of the bedroom leading to a bathroom. Zayn hurriedly moved towards it, closing and locking the door behind him. He chose to put an act as he entered the bathroom of someone in need of relieving themselves so that in the case that he is still monitored inside his own room, his act of leaving the bedroom and searching around the first floor earlier could also be attributed to him trying to find a toilet.
Zayn's actions though they appeared to be paranoidal, for Zayn however they were nothing but perfectly reasonable. Every virtue for Zayn is a sweet-spot between two vices of positive and negative behaviour that alternate based on circumstance. In the case of his current paranoia, it is nothing but a virtue of the extreme end of due diligence, the other end being complete recklessness.
Setting in the toilet seat, Zayn looked around the toilet for any sign of tracking devices but decided to put that thought aside since there's no point in doing so. There's already a high likelihood of heat sensors been placed in the house so it wouldn't make a difference to him if there's anything more.
'Let's stop wasting efforts pointlessly, for now at least I should plan ahead for tomorrow's meeting with the Brief family. Actually, do I still have my stuff with me?'
Checking his pockets, Zayn couldn't find neither his phone nor his wallet. Exiting the bathroom, he looked around his ensuite bedroom for his possessions and found both items resting on a desk along with a written note that says:
{Food and drinks are in the fridge in your room and there's some clothes for you because you smell. Also take your medicine so you don't die on us and don't you dare ring the doorbell 100 times in a row again you hear me!}
{Bulma.}
'I wonder how old she currently is.' Zayn thought wondering about Bulma's age so he can quickly determine the point in the timeline he is in.
Zayn laid his back against the bed making him face the ceiling. He took off his glasses and decided to rest for a little while. He has been calculating his every move for a quite a bit now and the stress seem to have taken a toll on him.
Closing his eyes. He went back to sleep quickly after.
***************
Sunlight streams golden through the window in a well-mannered announcement of the rising sun. Birds in bright feathered plume, chirped collectively, calling to one another in that beautiful way they do, each chirp becoming as soft as a blossoming bud in Zayn's waking thoughts.
Zayn got up from the bed yawing as he moved towards the toilet to wash up and start his awaited morning. He took a shower and swapped his sweat-soaked old clothes with new ones that were generously provided by his host.
Leaving his room, he moved in accordance with the layout he memorised last night of the first floor and headed towards the stairs. As he reached the ground floor, a robot servant intercepted his way and said:
[Dear Mrs. Brief instructed me to guide you to the kitchen once you wake up and then meet Mrs. Brief after. Please follow me.] The robot said in a mechanical voice.
"Sure, lead the way." Zayn replied in kind.
'What a fascinating world.' Zayn thought as he followed the robot. Zayn had already come to terms with the extent human creation could reach in this world. A normal AI robot is nothing to be surprised at when he knows androids and android hybrids with infinite Ki generators can be made.
'There's even a robotic God of Destruction in one of the universes here. Truly, what a fascinating world this is.' Thought Zayn as he reached the kitchen.
"O' hello there, what great timing! I just made some tea; would you like to have some?" Zayn found himself coming across the mistress of the house. Mrs. Brief.
"Yes please, I would be delighted to have tea."
"Well that's great! I also made some sandwiches; would you like to have some too?" Mrs Brief excitedly asked.
"Yeah, that sounds delicious I was actually craving some sandwiches"
"Really! Then would you like to have some cup cakes as well as drink some refreshments with them after we finish breakfast!" Once again, Mrs. Brief continues trying to fill Zayn's stomach with food and they've not even started eating their breakfast yet.
Zayn found the situation quite funny as well. This was the first time that he interacted with a character from the anime and seeing them acting like their anime counterpart but in 'real life' in front of him felt surreal to him.
"I would be a happy man if do madam."
"O' how lovely." Mrs. Brief who was satisfied with Zayn's answer, invited him to the dining table in the kitchen where she placed the Sandwiches on and poured a cup of tea to him.
Reaching to the teacup, Zayn felt the teacup bringing a sweet heat to his palms as they hug its teal clay. Taking a quick sip, Zayn showed a surprised expression as he drank the tea. It wasn't a fake expression he made to please his host, instead he was genuinely surprised by the taste, aroma and sweet yet balanced equilibrium achieved in the tea.
"This is without any exaggeration, one of the best teas that I have had the chance to taste in my life."
"How wonderful then! Would you like to have some more? Actually, just come and have some more!" Mrs. Brief said cheerfully.
"Haha I definitely will, just let me finish this cup first."
Zayn and Mrs. Brief started eating their breakfast as Mrs. Brief asked his opinion on the food and whatnot. Towards the middle of their meal, Mrs Brief asked Zayn a question.
"So, handsome young man, I still don't know your name. Oh, my name is Panchy Brief but you can call me Mrs. Brief."
"Sorry for the late introduction Mrs. Brief, My name is Zayn El Dean, you can call me Zayn. You may have already been notified but I came here yesterday morning to-" Zayn took a quick pause, stopping himself from finishing his sentence. When Zayn woke up early at midnight after walking around the first floor of the building, he intended to plan what he wanted to say, but unfortunately, sleep took the better of him and he never got to plan much of what he wanted to say. He was about to confess that he wanted to meet Dr. Brief about his new tech, but is that really a convincing enough reason to justify how he requested audience with both the wife and daughter of the genius professor instead of booking and waiting for an official appointment with him? Zayn didn't think so.
Therefore; instead of continuing on talking to finish his sentence, Zayn with his hands started taking off his glasses and began to wipe tears that he was somehow able to force out of his eyes.
"Mrs Brief *sniff* excuse me for this inappropriate display. Three days ago, my father died of a heart stroke and left me with this device." Mrs. Brief watched the disheartened Zayn taking out the iPhone 13 Pro inside of his pocket.
"This *sniff*, this is my father's legacy, and he told me that if there's one person who could continue spreading and improving on his legacy it would be no other than Dr Brief! *Sobs*" Said Zayn in a Shaken and husked voiced.
Zayn nervously waited for the effect of his performance to take place. Truthfully, he had never expected to be able to cry instantly on command but the stress that had been piling on him was enormous enough it would seem. Also, this spontaneous plan to gain sympathy wasn't something that the normal Zayn would ever resort to so perhaps the warmth of Mrs. Brief may have influenced his actions, but now that the act has already been done, he must go all the through.
Zayn heard nothing been said by Mrs. Brief. Looking through his hands that were covering his eyes from his earlier act, he saw something he never expected to see. Mrs. Brief's eyes were opened wider than they have ever been drawn in the anime, and they were completely moist.
She got off her seat and wrapper her arms around Zayn's neck, holding him in her embrace, Mrs. Brief started sobbing. Zayn's shirt became moist with the tears that she'd shed. As if her sobs could bleed an ocean through her eyes, that was the enormity of her sobbing.
Zayn was taken back by her action. 'Is she serious? Was she really tricked?' were Zayn's continuous thoughts as he tried analysing the situation but stopped shortly after. For he felt her actions were oddly most sincere for him. Mrs. Brief actually didn't care about the specifics of Zayn's story anyway, she only cared that she felt genuine feelings of bitterness and longing when she saw Zayn crying.
Influenced by the atmosphere, Zayn too wrapped his arms around Mrs. Brief's waist, though this time, it wasn't an act.
He felt that this will be one of the few moments that he will get to drop any pretences self-defence, to feel the ridden waves of loneliness and grief from transmigrating to this world dissipate and witness their passing. Zayn embraced Mrs. Brief tighter when all the sudden
"Mom where's my Sandwi-ch-ch…...oh."
Bulma who bulged into the kitchen stopped talking as she tried processing the seen happening in front her. Zayn who was still embracing Mrs. Brief was about to let go to explain the situation when he once again heard something coming from the same direction that Bulma came from.
"Honey, why is the tea taking so lon-n-ng…...oh." Dr. Brief also paused to try and process the seen in front of him.
"Meow meow meo-o-oow...meow?" Even the cat in Dr. Brief's shoulder stopped meowing.
'Oh....shit.' Zayn, the unfortunate one, who got caught intimately holding someone else's wife and mother right in front of their eyes, thought in his mind.
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