Tokyo city was a large area, much more modern than anything Mamoru had ever seen.
“Ugh… did humans really advance this much? It’s so hard to navigate through here…” Mamoru walked across the roads and concrete sidewalks. There were tons of plants that gradually invaded the buildings. Mamoru finally began searching, starting with the trash bins.
“Why do humans make these so small… how are they going to fit dead bodies into these?” Mamoru was unsuccessful in finding a healing elixir, so he moved on to the work buildings. There were tons of them, meaning it would take an even longer time to search. But he doesn’t have that much time to spare.
“How am I gonna check all these buildings…?” Mamoru groaned, entering the first building. As always, there were dead bodies everywhere. But these ones were different, they were modern humans.
“That’s not right… there shouldn’t be so many modern humans here. The Mirror Realm openings are usually in ancient eras where humans don’t usually exist.” Mamoru examined some of the bodies, they looked intact for the most part. Each human had different positions they were in before they were killed, but there was one thing that they all had. A look of fear on their faces.
“What even killed them? There’s too much blood on them… blood that’s not their own.” Mamoru took one of the bodies, checking under the shirt, pants, and then behind the hair.
“...A gunshot…” Mamoru checked all the other bodies, it was just as he thought. Gunshots to all the heads, Mamoru quickly grabbed someone’s jacket, covering himself. He looked around from a hole in the jacket, trying to find something flammable.
“Please, please, please let there be something I could set on fire!” Mamoru blurted out, before he could do anything about it, someone’s arm popped out of the inside of one of the large desks, pulling Mamoru in. It was pitch black, until a match was lit.
“D-did you survive t-t-too…?” A timid woman, covered in blood said. “Wait… y-you’re not o-one of my c-co-workers…” Her hand began shaking.
“No, I’m not. But, I promise I’m with you. Can you explain what happened?” Mamoru noticed how shaky the woman’s hand was, so he took the match, making sure he wouldn’t drop it.
“I-I don’t know! Everyone w-was just w-w-working until there was th-this loud bell chime and th-the building just t-tilted over! But it gets worse!” The woman began breathing heavily. “THERE WERE JUST GUNSHOTS EVERYWHERE! I-I-I… I just h-hid here… there was s-s-screaming… and then it just s-stopped…” Her face was pale, her eyes were wide open. She was terrified.
“Calm down… it’s going to be ok–” Mamoru said right before he got cut off.
“BUT IS IT?! I’M A SINGLE MOTHER WITH TWO DAUGHTERS AND A SON! M-My baby boy just w-went missing a week ago…” The woman wept. She pulled out a picture of herself and her three children.
“Wait, can I take a closer look at that picture?” Mamoru reached his hand out, taking the photo.
“...HARUTO BUSHIDA?! Wait– you’re his mother?” He looked closer at the woman.
“You know Haruto?! Is he ok?! Is he alive?!” She began bombarding Mamoru with questions.
“He’s alive! But… he lost his arm. I’m trying to find a certain healing potion that helped him last time. Let’s get out of here, know your way to your house?” Mamoru handed the picture back to her.
“Yes. Follow me… uhm… I haven’t asked what your name is yet, would you mind telling me?” She peaked out of the desks.
“Mamoru. What’s yours?” He grabbed the jacket again, covering both Mamoru and Haruto’s mother.
“Akiko Bushida.”
“I don’t think we really have another way to get out of here without being caught by whoever slaughtered everyone here… listen, just hold on TIGHTLY to me, I’m gonna jump out the window.” Mamoru waited for Akiko to hop on.
“WHAT?! Are you insane–?!” Before Akiko could finish, Mamoru grabbed her and ran out of the building, breaking the glass. It was a ten story building, they were on the fourth floor.
“DON’T WORRY! I HAVE A HIGH PAIN TOLERANCE, I’M NOT HUMAN SO I WON’T DIE FROM THIS!” Mamoru yelled out, though it was kind of hard to hear because of the strong wind currents in the Mirror Realm. When Mamoru hit the ground, there was a sound of a gunshot. The two were in open hunting grounds on the road, there were a few cars that had collided a while ago, still on fire.
“Y-You’re not a human…? How do I know I could even trust you now that I know that?” Akiko backed up, but Mamoru pulled her near the fire.
“WH—” Mamoru covered her mouth, pointing at the eyes on the wall. It was hard to see for Akiko, considering how foggy it was.
“He doesn’t have very good hearing, but if you scream, he’ll definitely find us.” Mamoru took his hand off of Akiko’s mouth. She slowly nodded, still unsure of him after admitting he wasn’t a human.
“But why are we near the fire?” Akiko squinted her eyes because of the intense heat, sweat dripping down her forehead.
“He has sensitive eyes, because everything appears brighter than it really is through his eyes, he can’t see anything near fire. But, if you hide in the dark, he will find you easily.” Mamoru explained, looking for another fiery area. “How close is your house from here?” He looked at Akiko, awaiting an answer.
“About ten minutes away if we’re talking about walking there. But if we could find a functional car, we’ll get there in about four minutes or less.” Akiko stepped a little out of the area with flames, looking around.
“Akiko…” Mamoru whispered, nudging her shoulder.
“Hold on!” Akiko elbowed him to stop.
“NO TIME!” Mamoru grabbed Akiko’s arm, running. Before she could ask why they were running, she peeked behind her only to see a beast with six eyes, six arms, and six wings. Akiko was still running at a slow pace for some reason even though she’s seen the beast now.
“We’ve been discovered! Come on!” Mamoru pulled Akiko onto his back, carrying her. Surprisingly, he ran faster, running into a room with a functional lockdown function.
“Cover your ears.” Mamoru set Akiko down, grabbing a grenade from one of his pants pockets. He waited for the beast to catch up before he set the grenade up, throwing it out into the hallway. Mamoru quickly pulled down the lockdown trigger, causing a metal door to shut. Even though the metal door blocked out the explosion, the sound was extremely loud.
“We have about a few minutes at max in here if you want to keep your life… because of the fire out there, it heated this room up. It’ll only continue until we air out the room… our only option is out those doors.” Mamoru looked at the metal doors.
“He probably backed out of the area considering how bright and hot it is. We still have a chance, let’s go.” Mamoru walked towards the door, but Akiko only sat on the floor.
“Akiko?” He kneeled down.
“...here. This is my address, just follow the road signs and look for this number.” Before Mamoru could say anything, Akiko took his hand, using her blood to write the address on his arm.
“This blood…” Mamoru took another look, finally realizing that she had been shot awhile ago. The moment they both jumped out the building. “N-No! Haruto… your daughters… they still n-need you!” He tried to stop the bleeding from her abdomen, where she was shot.
“I’m s-sorry honey… I-I won’t be m-m-making it o-out of this one… let my b-babies know I l-love them.” Mamoru watched as the life in Akiko’s eyes faded away.
“Why… why is human life so easily lost…?” Mamoru muttered, looking at the address on his arm. He took one last look at Akiko, closing her eyes.
“Rest in peace… I promise I’ll protect your son and find your two daughters. Goodbye now.” Mamoru opened the metal doors, walking out of the room. He grabbed another grenade, but this time, he planned to destroy the whole building, not just the halls. He watched his step, making his way through the rubble. A tear rolled down his face, even though he didn’t know Akiko for that long, it still saddened him to see such a loving, innocent mother die.
“This is for you.” He prepared the grenade, dropping it down the hole in the floor, immediately running to find any sort of exit. As he broke through the window, from the bottom to the top, the building exploded, collapsing seconds later.
As soon as he came into the open area, gunshots left and right, he managed to dodge because of his speed. Before he could look, The Watcher was right in front of him, holding Mamoru to a gunpoint.
“Every creature must fight for survival, yet some don’t succeed.” The creature said, his voice sounded a little raspy. Right before the gun went off, there was an extremely loud chime, teleporting Mamoru elsewhere.
“That was too close for comfort… wait… BUSHIDA?!” Mamoru yelled, panicking.
“OUCH! YOU YELLED RIGHT INTO MY EAR!” Haruto pushed away from Mamoru, right into Yukio.
“God! You scared me! I’m just glad you two are safe.” Mamoru examined Haruto for a brief moment.
“I’m fine… I’m fine. Surprisingly, my sorry excuse of an arm doesn’t really hurt that much, I just feel a little light headed…” Haruto looked at the blood dripping from what’s left of his arm.
“Where are we even?” Yukio looked at the blood smears on the walls, the ‘employee of the month’ names. The strangest thing was that there were no clocks or mirrors.
“No clue. Here, grab onto my hand Bushida. I’ll help you up.” Mamoru extended his arm out to Haruto waiting for him to grab on.
“Thanks… wait, what’s that?” Haruto said, shortly after he got up. He looked at the blood smear on his hand, grabbing Mamoru’s arm.
“That’s my home address. Where the hell did you get that from?” Haruto became fidgety, making direct eye contact with Mamoru. He didn’t say a thing, Mamoru only looked back at Haruto, his eyes seemed colder than usual.
“Come on, let’s take a look around here. It’s not norm–” Mamoru stopped as he saw writing on the wall written in blood, which read: WATCH YOUR STEP, THE CURRENT WILL RIP YOU APART.
“Current? What current?” Mamoru was puzzled, but he wasn’t the only one who didn’t understand what the current was. Mamoru looked around on the ground, spotting multiple holes in the ground, along with blood splatters and smears everywhere, yet barely any bodies. It would’ve been a better idea to stay put, but curiosity seems to always win over safety. Haruto, Yukio, and Mamoru began walking through the halls, coming across more and more dead bodies, a majority of them torn up. They clearly fought for their lives, but lost in the end. Everyone was careful not to step on the weapons and watch for holes.
“It looks like all of them died around the same time… some were even trying to protect each other.” Mamoru observed.
“Look, there’s a bulletin board over there. Let’s take a look.” Haruto pointed over to the area, some papers were soaked with blood, but some were perfectly fine besides minor rips in the paper. It was only some stuff about new staff...
“Ugh… there’s a few parts that are ripped. Still, useful information. I think.” Mamoru held up the paper. Yukio remained silent, staring at the squad's one general code name.
“Guys, I think I know why there was a warning on the wall, read this.” Haruto handed Mamoru a paper.
ATTENTION NEW EMPLOYEES!
Welcome to the Time & Space Protection Agency! We are very happy to have you here with our community, I am your director, Alpha. First, before we get into the fun stuff, let’s go over safety precautions.
This is a highly dangerous area, if you fall out of the building, you will be ripped apart by the time current or by the unknown monsters out there. Very few employees have survived the current and the beasts, but that’s why we have these protective walls and windows, and strong metal floors as well! Don’t be too concerned about this as long as you follow the rules.
Another safety concern is the portal coordinate machine. If you insert the wrong coordinates or refuse to listen to the generals, you will likely get stuck in the portal or in another multiverse far from here. It is also possible that you could end up falling into a time current. If you need any help or concerns talk to one of the four squad leaders, Corvus, Blaze, Snowfall, or Shockwave! You could also come and visit my office if you need anything.
Sincerely, Time & Space Agency Director, Alpha.
“This looks outdated compared to the other ones. The squad generals are different, so is the director.” Mamoru folded both of the useful papers, putting them into his pants pockets. As for the history of this place there weren't any papers on it so the three would only hope they could find records on it elsewhere in the building.
“Come on, watch your step. Let’s look for a library.” Mamoru leads the two, looking for a library.
“Yukio, should we still trust Mamoru?” Haruto fell back, whispering into Yukio’s ear.
“I don’t see why we shouldn’t.” Yukio said.
“It’s just that he’s a bit suspicious, he won’t tell me how he got my address and why it’s written in blood on his arm…” Haruto rubbed his head, feeling even more light headed from his blood loss.
“Good point… but this guy is all we’ve got without the book.” Yukio explained. Haruto nodded, catching up with Mamoru, still feeling uneasy.
“Bushida, how are you holding up?” Mamoru turned his head, looking at Haruto from the side of his eye.
“Fine, I guess. Just light headed. Maybe a little sleepy too.” Haruto rubbed his head again.
“Ok. Whatever you do, don’t close your eyes for too long, that sleepiness is death knocking at your door… we need to find a healing elixir.” Mamoru decided to stop looking for a library, but instead, for something to heal Haruto, or at the very least, stop the bleeding.
“Come on, I think it’s over here!” Yukio ran in front of Mamoru, swiftly dodging all the weapons, bodies, and holes. Mamoru offered to let Haruto climb onto his back, and of course, Haruto wouldn’t refuse the offer. Yukio was surprisingly fast, as if he knew the layout of the place by heart. Upon catching up with him, there was the infirmary.
“Woah. Guess you have a pretty good sense of direction, great job!” Mamoru kneeled down, allowing Haruto to get off of his back safely.
“Is this the stuff you’re looking for?” Yukio held up a bottle of healing potion, though it wasn’t much.
“That’s it–!” Mamoru was about to grab it and give it to Haruto, but he was already a step ahead.
“THANK THE GODS! MAYBE I DO HAVE A CHANCE OF SEEING MY FAMILY AGAIN!” Haruto immediately began chugging the liquid. His arm felt much better, healing up. Even though his arm didn’t regenerate that much, at least it was now covering the bone and was no longer bleeding.
“Huh? What’s this?” Mamoru noticed a notebook with blood smeared on the cover. The words written on the front said: Medicine Formula Experiment Logs.
“...By, Alpha.”
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