If learning my parents were getting blackmailed wasn’t worse enough, this definitely was. We had arrived at the underground Shibuya Train Station, yet it wasn’t what I had expected. Sure, I’d been to a few train stations before, but nothing to the scale of this. It was gigantic, with shops and restaurants lining the inside, it almost reminded me of an airport.
Now, getting back to the bad part, here’s one little thing I should probably should mention about myself:
I. Hate. People.
Not in the aspect that I find them annoying or a disgrace to the world, but I have a really bad fear of talking to strangers. It took my mother’s every effort just to get me to speak up for the ice cream flavor I wanted as a little kid. To add to that, my claustrophobia was having a terrible meltdown inside the train station. There were obviously large masses of people everywhere, going to or from the train terminals. Yet the sight of them being so close together and packed along the halls of Shibuya made me sweat. Why I was lucky enough to be born in Tokyo, one of the most populated cities in the world, I have no idea.
Millie always told me my public anxiety was a silly thing to be afraid of. “Why would you be scared of someone who’s just like you or me?” She had said. Easy for her to say, she had seemingly no trouble making conversation with strangers.
As we walked through the long hallways and went down slow escalators, I squeezed Tora’s hand and skirted out of the way of adults passing by. If only Mama was here, maybe I’d feel just a little safer. My aunt looked down, her eyes resting on my nervous face. “Is there something wrong, Haru? Your hand is squeezing me quite hard..”
I abruptly let go of her arm, embarrassed. “Nope. Sorry, I just… don’t like to be around a lot people. It makes me nervous.” I tried to make it sound like a joke, yet Tora was still eyeing me with concern.
“It’s okay to be afraid of something other people would find silly, you know. And just so you’re aware, these people aren’t even real. They’re just like ‘background characters’ in the game, so to speak. They walk aimlessly around, and if you ask them something they’ll just keep on drifting. I just assumed you had figured that out by now though.” Tora remarked.
“W-wait, they are?! You mean, I won’t have to interact with anybody during the simulation?” I sighed in relief, grateful my mother had thought to add that detail to her game design.
Tora put her arm across my back, letting her hand rest on my shoulder. “I think so, at least.” She shrugged. “I worked on this game too, you know. The last I heard of it was that background characters are unable to interact with, but your mother might have put… let’s just say, ‘guide’ characters in here. You’re lucky you tapped my shoulder and not some hollow walking body.” She made a puking motion with her tongue.
Millie spoke up for the first time in minutes. She was on the other side of Tora, holding on to her dress. “You worked on Tengoku with Mama too?! What happened then? Why didn’t anyone mention this?”
Our aunt took in a deep breath, her eyes seemed distant in thought. I could tell she had a lot of explaining to do for the second time that day.
“Jín and I were never close, sibling rivalry was a popular sight in our family. We always fought for our parents’ attention, so when we were old enough we attended the same college too. There we learned to code and program games, yet our sister competition didn’t end. We both got jobs at Motoyo, fighting over who could design a better game. Yuito, our boss, seemed to favor Jín more, but little did I know he was just dating her. I eventually gave up, giving my sister the silent treatment, but things still got worse when a new engineer also got jealous of your mother’s popularity at Motoyo. Apparently she was Jín’s old friend from school, but now she wanted to be the top of the top, the highest engineer of the company. Some other employees even called her Yuito’s ‘teacher’s pet’. This woman took every opportunity she got to take advantage of Jín, trying numerous times to sabotage The Game of Tengoku. She even persuaded our design board to scrap it, all because she wanted Yuito’s full attention for her projects…Ah, I’m getting sidetracked you see.” Tora reprimanded herself. I could see from the way she looked at us that she was desperately trying to hide something else. Millie caught on to that too apparently, for she asked, “And? What happened next, Aunt Tora?”
The sun hat woman didn’t reply. Her eyebrows were lowered in irritation, but not from us it appeared. Recalling old memories seemed to torture her, and it wasn’t like I wanted to provoke my mother’s older sister anymore. Abruptly, Tora leaned down and grabbed a piece of a torn newspaper, crumpled on the station’s floor. “Look at this, children. This is what’s important.” Just as she enclosed it in the palm of her hand, it disintegrated into thin air. She opened her hand again, but instead of a torn piece of paper it revealed a shining clear diamond. Millie and I looked at each other with surprise, yet our aunt seemed to know exactly what she was doing. “Put this in your backpack, Haru. If you keep collecting these, they’ll help you level up.”
I nodded, unzipping a pocket on the side of my backpack and tossing the small gemstone inside.
“Millie, where’s that phone of yours?” Tora turned to ask my sister. Millie pulled it out of her jacket, passing it to her. “It’s right here, Aunt Tora.”
Our aunt sighed. Her lip quivered ever so slightly, as if she was hesitating to turn the the phone on. She slowly hit the power button, revealing a message on the front of the screen.
“Danger: She’s close by. Please take care of them for me, Tora. This is my only way of communication.”
Millie and I got on our tippy-toes, desperately trying to read what the message said. Yet, the world seemed to stop for Tora. She looked like a ghost, her hands were shaking and her face looked pale and lifeless. “Jín… I promise to do my best.” She whispered to what seemed like the phone. What? Who was she even talking to? What did the message say?! I didn’t get time to answer myself before Tora said, “Haru, Millie… The engineer is here. Stay by me… please.” Though she addressed my twin and I both, her eyes lay on me. Fearful, dark eyes, squinted in worry. It made me want to shudder. Just as we were staring at each other, another woman appeared in front of us. Tall, blonde hair, blue eyes glimmering in the artificial light seemed to taunt us. “Kon’nichiwa, little twins. And kon’nichiwa to you too, old colleague.” Wren sneered. “It’s good to see I’m now in control of things, isn’t it?”
. . .
Standing in the middle of a vast under ground room right beside trains coming into the station might not be the best place to confront the family you had just so carefully blackmailed, but Wren and her wicked smirk didn’t seem to care. Millie on the other hand looked betrayed. She clutched her tiny hands close to her face, her eyes widened in shock. “W-Wren..? It was you?!” She cried.
“Do you have a problem with it being me?” Wren shot back. “I never planned on being nice to you, Millie. Sometimes it’s best just to keep your ignorant little mouth shut.”
Tora’s face was flushed in anger, yet pale as could be. Her hands hadn’t ceased to shake, even as she tried to hold my own. “Wren, you should’ve stayed out of Tengoku. This isn’t your game to play around with.”
“Oh, but it is,” The blonde woman drawled, walking threateningly closer to our trio. “This is my simulation now, not Jín’s. I plan on toying around with all of you, it’s just a matter of time after all.”
I wanted to scream. I wanted to shout and tell Wren how much I hated her for doing this. I wished more than ever in that moment I could be older, or at least taller, then maybe I could’ve done something about the situation. Yet all I could do with my young childish voice was say, “But it’s my mother’s game!! Tengoku means so much to her!”
Wren’s evil plotting smile turned into a scowl of hatred. “Your mother..” She spat on the station’s cement ground. “Your stupid mother who stole my role. Yuito promised me he’d one day publish my games, my ideas. Little did I know he was just some lying rat who prizes his wife’s projects over someone else’s better one. I tried for years to be nice and cordial to him, yet he still ignored me. I’m done being ‘sweet little employee Wren who bows at the feet of her superiors’. I’m the head of engineering now, I do things my way from here on.
At that point she was within reach of us. She grabbed my arm, pulling me away from my aunt and sister. “Let me go!” I shrieked. Wren grumbled, pinning my arms behind my back. For such a thin lady she was incredibly strong. I felt all the anger she had towards my mother in the grasp of her fists, squeezing my arms till they were red.
“DON’T TOUCH MY NEPHEW!” Tora screamed. “You won’t hurt him again!!”
“A-Again?!”I managed to yelp. I had just met Wren earlier that day, what did my aunt mean by ‘again’?!
Wren looked down at me, her sinful grin had returned to her face. “Oh Haru, my little experiment. You surely don’t remember that day at Motoyo Inc long ago when you were so little, do you?”
“What day!? What are you even talking about, Wren?!”
Tora ran towards me and ripped me away from Wren’s grasp. She held me close to her chest, her entire body was shivering. “Haru, p-please. Please tell me you remember that day, so many years ago. You have to, you just have to..” She repeated over and over, tears starting to pool in her eyes. “You remember what Wren did to you that day, don’t you?” My aunt’s eyes pleaded with mine. I tried so hard to remember, yet nothing was happening. My brain was swirling and swirling like a rip current out at sea. I didn’t understand any of this, How could I? I had not one clue as to what they were talking about. Instead of trying to think, I squeezed my eyes shut. Maybe, just maybe, this was all a bad dream. Maybe I’d wake up at a moment’s glance and be home again in real Tokyo with Mama. But even then, however odd the situation was, it felt terrifyingly real. “Tora… Please tell me what’s happening.” Was the only thing I could manage whisper.
She looked down at me, her arms still wrapped protectively around my shoulders. But instead of an explanation from her, Wren began to talk.
“Haru… young child,” She purred menacingly. “Of course you don’t remember that day long ago. Back then I knew I’d get my revenge on Jín one day, so what did I do? Take her poor little son… her weakest child. After that wretched family had gone to see Yuito for the day, I took him to the laboratory that they test people in for new simulations, but inserted a small bomb inside his hand. I knew this day would come, when that boy would play his mother’s game. And if he don’t comply to what I say… I won’t hesitate to blow the helpless boy up.” Wren stared directly at me, her bright blue eyes seemed to pierced my heart.
“Then why don’t I remember that! Why doesn’t Mama know of this!?” I yelled back, thinking it was a joke. How could any of this be real? Life now was very much indeed advanced with technology, Japan along with most of the world now had robots and games like this that felt very real. Yet this, I just couldn’t wrap my head around. Wren and Tora and even Millie who was on the brink of crying didn’t seem to be toying around however.
Wren cackled, seeming to pleasure in my confusion. “I brainwashed you afterwards, giving you a poison that makes you forget the past 24 hours... it's simple as that. I’m sure little five-year-old Haru just thought he had a bad dream, and suddenly woke up back at home. I did the same thing with your mother and twin, fool. When will you realize we live in the day and age when things like this can happen all the time now?” Wren was inching frighteningly closer towards us again, her right hand buried in the pocket of her black jeans. “Oh but I think your aunt forgot to mention one thing… She knows about that day, the day I put a bomb in your hand, Haru. She came in hopes of rescuing you and Millie since Jín didn’t remember, but I can’t let that happen, can I?” Suddenly, she pulled a pistol out of her pocket, aiming it straight at Tora’s heart. She laughed, saying, “I can’t have any witnesses.”
Tora made a reflex, leaping at Wren to protect Millie and I. Somehow in the heat of the moment the thin woman with short blonde hair managed to wrap her arms around Tora’s neck, holding her at gunpoint. “Look where I have you now, old colleague.” She whispered in my aunt’s ear.
Millie screamed. I suddenly noticed how red her face was, tears had stained her cheeks. “You can’t kill my aunt, Wren!! Mama said we can’t die in this game, that’s why it’s called ‘heaven’!!” Her brown eyes were furious, filled with both anger and fear at the same time.
“Oh, silly you. You think I would’ve forgotten about that, hmm? Maybe I was doing some last-minute programming to the game in Norwegian for a reason.” Wren spat, glowering at my twin and I. “I recoded it so you can die in this game, and I did it in my native language so Yuito couldn’t understand. Must I explain everything to you idiots?” She finished.
Tora struggled under the weight of Wren’s arms, making hopeless attempts to grab the gun that was aimed at her head. Suddenly, a shiny white train screeched into the station, halting many feet behind us.
“Haru.. Millie, get on the train called ‘Seikatsu’. Just trust me, please.” My aunt said, ceasing to struggle in the Norwegian’s grasp.
“NO!” Millie cried. “I’m not going to leave you to be hurt by this terrible woman! You have to come with us Aunt Tora, you have to!!”
“Hurry up and go before I kill you too,” Wren laughed at my sister. “Three kills is better than one, you know.”
Tora’s eyes were filled with tears, her bun was ruffled and messy from trying to fight back. “Millie.. you have to go without me. Protect Haru, you’re his strong and brave twin sister. This is the the only way, children. Now go..” She said, seemingly accepting her grim fate so easily. Millie grabbed my hand. Though tears streamed down her face, she had listened to our aunt and had put on a brave face for me. We ran towards the train labeled Seikatsu, as it’s narrow doors slid open. All I heard over the crowds of mechanical people was a gunshot, louder than words could express. There was no cry from Tora, no scream of agony. Millie kept on running without turning around, yet I couldn’t help but give in to my urge. I glanced behind me just in time to see Aunt Tora’s lifeless heap collapse onto the cold cement. Her head was cradled in her arms, her hat lay beside her. Millie threw me along with herself inside the train, just as the doors were closing shut once more. I banged my head on a metal seat, and suddenly things were just as black as the entrance to Tengoku again.
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