The three assistants walked me inside the dark room as Wren herself closed the doors behind us.188Please respect copyright.PENANA7okF7xCvrM
She sneered in my direction right before she left, spitting on the ground. 188Please respect copyright.PENANAyVlrh6a0CL
“I’ll be back to deal with you, but for now I must think up my next plan to defeat the stupid Motoyo’s and their game."188Please respect copyright.PENANAcZ85flIjK8
The man with dark brown hair pulled rope out of his pocket and tied it around my hands, he then took a handkerchief and wrapped it around my eyes while I continued to scream for my family back. The last thing I saw before the clothe went over my head was the woman with hair like lavender flowers, her face did not look like the others. It was fearful and trembling, her lips were shaking and her eyes looked like they would burst into a waterfall of tears at any second.
“What’s the matter, Hachi? Can’t handle getting paid to do this job?” I heard the woman with scruffy pigtails snicker. Looks like she finally caught on to the look of horror on her friend’s face too. 188Please respect copyright.PENANAjlkWdo3Avw
“Nothing’s the matter, Cleo…” Hachi said, her voice quiet and meek. “Mind your own business.” 188Please respect copyright.PENANA0th2INjX1L
At that very moment the man pushed me to the ground. I could tell it was him, for his hands were big and stronger than the other women’s. He laughed as my face smooshed to the cold damp floor, the thick air surrounded me as I gasped for breath.
I heard Hachi stutter as she talked to her fellow henchmen. “Cleo, Ramil, you two can go join Wren with… Whatever she’s doing. I’ll watch the child, he shouldn’t be too much trouble for me…” She said.
The man now known as Ramil tapped his boot to the ground as he teased his friend with enthusiasm. “Come on Cleoooo, let’s go see what Wren is doing, hmmmm?"188Please respect copyright.PENANAyVJwsZdjU4
“You’re a weirdo,” I heard Cleo scoff, she probably rolled her eyes too. Though she sounded like she was annoyed, she giggled on their way out of the room.188Please respect copyright.PENANATL6Ni4suVI
I lay on the floor shivering as Hachi’s soft steps got closer.188Please respect copyright.PENANAXkTD2txkJs
“Don’t hurt me!” I said instinctively, curling tighter into a protective ball. 188Please respect copyright.PENANAmT0hKrnclr
The woman’s steps got closer, reminding me of the dream about Wren and what had happened to my bomb hand. 188Please respect copyright.PENANAXuhpeEq34O
“Shhhhh,” Hachi said. “My love, I’m not going to hurt you.”
'My love'. That’s something only one person had ever called me. I didn’t know whether to be afraid or not, my breathes of air were coming out in frantic exasperated gasps. Before I could think, the woman had sat me up beside the wall and was untying the handkerchief from around my head. 188Please respect copyright.PENANA6qylE0Vun9
“It’s okay,” She whispered close to my ear. “Just stay still.”188Please respect copyright.PENANAg6NgXV4jQR
She took a pocket knife from her belt and cut the rope off my wrists, her hands worked fast and swiftly as she continued to unbind me from the restraints. Once Hachi was done, she took me by the shoulders and looked straight into my eyes, her quiet voice floating into the air.188Please respect copyright.PENANALt7xuIyYJ4
“Oh Haru, what have they done to you?” She whimpered.188Please respect copyright.PENANA6DNhKU94IB
I squinted through the darkness as I tried to make out the woman’s face, replying with a question of my own.
“Do… Do I know you?”188Please respect copyright.PENANAtTHQsUOJxC
That seemed to had shattered Hachi’s heart, the tears that had swelled in her eyes finally trickled down her soft porcelain cheeks. Something deep inside my heart told me I had seen that look before. 188Please respect copyright.PENANAMOJyL0p0iK
“No,” She replied. “I know you can’t tell who I am, or why Wren has taken you right now, but… Listen to me.”188Please respect copyright.PENANAWv459cZTcD
The hood Hachi wore shadowed her face of sadness, tiny shoulders heaved silently in the dark. She took my hands in hers and whispered the two words I’d never forget.188Please respect copyright.PENANAYLPpqTKeYA
“It’s me, Mama.”188Please respect copyright.PENANAhEX67SioVZ
Before a word came out of my mouth, Hachi flung her hood off and grabbed her hair, ripping it away from her head. The long wavy lavender color was no longer apart of her but simply a wig, what lay underneath was a thick black blanket of short hair that I knew was indeed my mother’s.188Please respect copyright.PENANAZ7AHpzm3sx
“M-mama…” I choked. “Mama where did you come from?!”
Hachi squeezed my hand tighter and bit her lip in fear. “Don’t cry, baby… I came just to see you.”188Please respect copyright.PENANA3aIpRyUwa8
“B-but how, where?! Where is Papa?! I don’t understand!” 188Please respect copyright.PENANAQbtF947zNr
In my confusion I suddenly became angry at everything. Angry at how I was too young to understand what was happening, angry at why Wren had so much hatred towards my family to do what she was doing, even a small part of me wanted to be angry at my parents for letting me go to Tengoku in the first place. 188Please respect copyright.PENANAiaxXfD4zvS
“Mama, won’t you take me home?” I asked.188Please respect copyright.PENANA1aaONFrbiD
Hachi or Mama or Jin or whoever the person who’d raised me for eleven years was shook her head from side to side.
“Haru, I can’t… Wren stopped that from happening, she’s trapped you here for good. You couldn’t even leave once you finished all the levels, Im sorry baby…”188Please respect copyright.PENANADFYiVSWDNz
I saw the guilt in Mama’s eyes. All she’d ever wanted when she was younger was for someone to play her game, yet when it was thrown away by Motoyo’s design board her dreams had been crushed. Now that I was finally here to play it for her, everything had gone wrong. 188Please respect copyright.PENANA9qCtiz58LF
“Just explain everything, please…?” I asked in a whisper. 188Please respect copyright.PENANAac5JPzI3ig
And so she did, that was the only thing she could do really, both of us didn’t know when Wren would be back to ‘deal with me’ once she was done doing her plotting.188Please respect copyright.PENANA44oKZmIcVF
“Goodness, how do I say this…” My mother started. “Wren got anyone from Motoyo Inc who wanted to share in the profit once she took over the business, she promised them lots of money in return for helping her. I knew this was my only chance to see if you and Millie were okay, so Papa let me come here as long as I made a disguise and went by a different name to stay secret. He's trying desperately to reprogram the game again so that we can leave this place. Aside from that, I joined Cleo and Ramil on their rampage to destroy the Motoyo company with Wren, but… I don’t know if I regret making that decision or not, watching your sister and the rest of our family be dragged away earlier was more than I could handle…”188Please respect copyright.PENANAs0kd9ltC4w
I thought about all the unanswered questions I still had, but that was usual for me. Plus, that was probably the best Hachi could muster for now in her broken state. I wrapped my tiny arms around her as we huddled in the corner of the room together. 188Please respect copyright.PENANAlRHHmqGudl
“Please don’t regret it Mama,” I said softly beside her ear. “I’ve never been so happy to see you.”188Please respect copyright.PENANAtxhap5He8V
She kept me warm under her embrace as we reunited for the first time since I had been back in the real world. For that one moment in time, I didn’t think about anything but holding my mother tight. 188Please respect copyright.PENANAiYmDsHIh4R
Suddenly the door handle started to jangle. Mama jumped up so fast she made me fumble into the wall, I wailed as she ran to the other side of the room and through her wig on as she pretended to guard me with her pistol. 188Please respect copyright.PENANACwZ0S6SwY8
“Haru, you need to hush, alright? Nobody can hear us speak.” She put a finger over her lips as I looked at her in despair.188Please respect copyright.PENANAMiH9ZWRXMS
The person I hoped would not come through the door did, eyeing my mother suspiciously.188Please respect copyright.PENANA6mNUOV0cSC
“Doing your duties alright, Hachi?” Wren asked.188Please respect copyright.PENANAC6xZ5wFs7a
Mama nodded her head over-enthusiastically, her eyes got as huge as Millie’s when she was afraid.188Please respect copyright.PENANABixtRicLTn
“Good,” The Norwegian looked pleased as she eyed me in the corner. “Don’t think I forgot about you, Little Experiment. I’m almost done planning the kidnapping of Millie now, I just needed to make sure you weren’t causing my friend here any trouble.”
“Friend? Yeah right…” I mumbled.
Wren shut the giant doors behind her for the second time, Mama looked like she was holding her breath on the inside for so long she’d faint.
Immediately she ran back to where I sat and swept me up from the ground. Though I was a decade and a year old, I still managed to be small enough to be carried by mostly anyone… Maybe the karate lessons Rissa and Anna had taught me wouldn’t help in the end, my limbs were way too short to kick or hit even when I tried.188Please respect copyright.PENANAHAfezwLkP4
“Where are you taking me?” I asked my mother as she slowly peaked her head into the hall of Kaneiji Temple with me still in her arms.
“Saving you from this place,” She replied. “No biggie my love.”
Mama tiptoed down the corridor, her high heel boots clicking quietly as we went. I heard echoing laughter from Cleo, Ramil and Wren down a different hall as we stepped back into the giant foyer I had originally come through. Aunt Tora and Jude and Millie were all gone, probably kicked out and chased by the wonderful Miss Nilsen herself. I had no idea what she was planning to do with me locked in an old Japanese temple, but it definitely wasn’t going to be a good thing.188Please respect copyright.PENANAaw1hiL9CnN
Hachi opened the giant rusty doors of the entrance as silently as she could.188Please respect copyright.PENANAv5N5S8tyxT
Creeakkkkkkk.188Please respect copyright.PENANA8csAl274ln
We froze. Had anyone heard that? The laughter ceased to ring out from the halls, almost as if someone had heard us…188Please respect copyright.PENANAxBh5fDcuQt
Mama didn’t waste anytime. She slid her slender graceful body through the partly opened door, putting me on the edge of the temple’s staircase.188Please respect copyright.PENANAb2tD5VK1TT
“Alright baby,” She began as quickly as she could. “I’m going to need you to run with all your might. I don’t know if they heard us in there but I’m not going to risk it. Go find the rest of our family and make sure they’re okay, they couldn’t have gotten too far from here.”
“But can’t I tell them about you?” I looked up at my brave mother while she stroked my cheeks. 188Please respect copyright.PENANA2DlohFax6T
She shook her head sadly. “You can’t. My sister Tora is stubborn and will want to come save me, whatever the consequences… She’ll probably end up wasting her Life Cards too. Just trust me when I say that no one can know I’m Jin Motoyo here, is that understood Haru?” 188Please respect copyright.PENANAKhFcBrcaJb
I had to nod my head, Mama was acting way too serious all of a sudden to make me bother her further. 188Please respect copyright.PENANAG7mnQtmFnA
“But… I just want you to stay with me! I can’t do this alone!” I cried. I tried so hard not to pout and be a little kid about it, but sometimes my immaturity got the better of me. 188Please respect copyright.PENANAbZ7cmgUF3y
My mother nodded her head understandingly as she tried to calm me down. “I know lovey, but this time you h-”188Please respect copyright.PENANATafGX06Tr0
Footsteps were heard running to the door, It took my every effort not to scream in surprise for the second time.188Please respect copyright.PENANAda1XKclTtu
“GO!” Mama yelled, she pushed me gently off the side of the tall stairs as the door started to heave open. 188Please respect copyright.PENANAgAob7d0cPe
I shrieked and cried and called my mother’s name all at the same time as I tried to scramble out of the giant courtyard, Ramil and Cleo finally shoving their way through the temple’s entrance.188Please respect copyright.PENANAltxCasDg2t
“He’s getting away!” Cleo screamed and pulled her pistol off her hip.188Please respect copyright.PENANA98fl0zwoba
Hachi started to play her act, yelling at her fellow henchmen of how I had managed to escape the room they’d put me in as she had tried to chase me all the way to the outside of Kaneiji. I never knew my mother could be such a good actor, but in the heat of the moment she pulled it off amazingly. By the time the three of them had exchanged some quick words I was already out the courtyard and running down the beautiful suburban streets. I felt lost and confused and heartbroken all at once, so I ran as fast as my little legs could take me.188Please respect copyright.PENANAdfCXfwJSLf
“OBAAAAA! Doko ni imasu ka?!” I called for my aunt. If Wren was on her way to hunt me down again, I didn’t want her to hear the familiar sound of my voice. So I spoke in the most different voice I could muster, trying to match the pitch of my childish voice to one of a teenager’s.188Please respect copyright.PENANAZxjnDRGIff
“Maybe it would just be easier if I somehow managed to die and end up on The Train of Seikatsu again,” I told myself. “Tora said that train knows where one needs to be the most.” 188Please respect copyright.PENANAiaXz032oJK
I looked down endless streets and dead-ends as I wandered for my family, maybe they were back at Jude’s apartment or trying to find a way back in Kaneiji Temple. I continued to call their names and walk along the sidewalk until a thought hit me like a ton of bricks... I was very much lost.
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