A bomb implanted in my hand was the least of my concerns at the moment. For the second time that day, I groaned and lifted my dizzy head off the floor of the train. Millie was laying on the ground a few feet away, her back facing towards me. Peaking out from under her skirt were several bruises on her knees and even a cut on her arm. I assumed she had hit a metal seat or two just like me, but even then I had no idea if she was still conscious. Instead I looked at my own body. My chin-length hair was all over the place, curling straight into my eyes and tangled with no hope of looking neat again. My hands were scratched from skidding on the floor, and my arms were still red from the anger of Wren’s grasp. Physical injuries aside, my heart felt emotionless and empty. Had I really just watched someone die? Not even just a ‘someone’, but my own aunt I had just met earlier that day. I wondered if this even was still the day we had been sent to Tengoku. Was there even a sense of time in this place? I couldn’t estimate how many hours I’d been here, time felt nonexistent in this fake city. A window was right across from me on the other side of the train car, it’s small glass poured in artificial light from inside the station. I probably could’ve seen where Tora lay too, yet I didn’t get up. I had seen enough for now considering I had been so sheltered growing up. Watching someone get shot right before your eyes was not a fun awakening to the real world indeed. The train hadn’t begun to move yet, so I crawled over to where my sister lay. Her cheeks were still red and her eyelashes looked wet from crying. “Millie,” I whispered, gently shaking her shoulders. “Are you okay?”240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡULJYNa16BA
Millie’s eyes slowly fluttered open, they were puffy and tired. “Ouch…” She softly whined. She tenderly sat up on the floor of the train, inspecting her bruised legs. “I think I threw myself in too hard. I was just… scared.”
Well that was for sure. By the way she had thrown me in, I could tell she wanted to get out of the underground station as soon as Wren had pulled the trigger. Millie examined me, her eyes filled with worry. “Ruru, you look terrible! Did you hurt yourself too?” 240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ12Mjz8Trgy
I only managed to nod, for if I were to talk I’d start sniffling like the weakling Wren thought I was. Even still, my twin sister knew exactly how I was feeling…She always did. She wrapped her arms around me, tucking my flyaway hairs back in place. “It’s okay to cry… You don’t have to keep it all inside if you don’t want to.” She said gently. I felt a rush of emotions in my heart. My body yearned to let the tears come out, but I was not going to cry again, I refused to. I think Millie had said that only to comfort herself, because before I knew it her body trembling. This time it was me who she buried her head in, saying “I miss Aunt Tora… I know she said I have to be strong for you… It’s just so hard.”240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeewAdhQhzE
“But you are strong Millie,” I reassured. “Stronger than I’ll ever be. You did what Tora wanted you to do, and did it bravely. If anyone can defeat Wren it’s you.”240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHlV0XlFxsF
Millie heaved a loud sob. “I know, b-but… I didn’t even know she blackmailed Mama and Papa by putting a bomb in your hand!! I only remember bits and pieces from that day… I should’ve done something to save you.”240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLYS6hQWOi9
“You were only five, I don’t think you could’ve done anything in the end, really…” I squeezed my sister tighter. “But Millie, we both know how much Mama and Papa are counting on you now! If the whole world could see you, they’d be so proud.” 240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwcJZGc5cv1
I astonished myself with my own words. When had I ever been the one to comfort her? Yet I knew that’s what my sister needed. She looked me straight in the eyes and smiled though tears continued to trickle down her face. “You’re right, Haru,” Millie nodded. “Our parent’s need our help.” 240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB4FhTxoTdC
Just at that moment the train jolted. It creaked and rolled out of the station, picking up speed slowly. Nobody else seemed to be in our train car, the inside was just as shimmering white as it appeared to be on the exterior. “Have you ever seen a train so clean?” I said, trying to distract my sister from the pain of the previous events. Millie didn’t answer, picking herself up from the ground and climbing onto a chair so she could look out the nearest window. Though I could only see the back of her, I knew exactly what she was looking at… more like ‘who’.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoNNkKxGMlz
“Tora…” I heard her whimper. Her shoulders were drooped in sorrow. I knew if she could’ve gone back in time, she couldn’t have done anything better, neither of us could have. Even then, her eyes were glued to the glass. 240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo4lf6JQxay
“Um… Haru?” Millie’s change in voice broke the silent whoosh of the train leaving the station. “Wren disappeared! She’s not there anymore!”
“What?!” I explained as Millie motioned for me to come look by her window. Smushing my cheek to the glass, I only managed to see where we had been inside the station earlier for just a few seconds. I was too late. The train was already picking up more and more speed by the second, and everything was starting to look like a blur of light. “I missed it… But if you say Wren is really gone, I believe you!” I shrugged, trying to be optimistic for once.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa80BybHLj2
Millie waved her shoulders in confusion. “I could’ve sworn she wasn’t there anymore…” Suddenly her brown eyes widened quicker than I could blink. “Can she teleport?!”240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe0TEa14QTP
I laughed in the sudden moment, thinking she was joking. “You’re not serious, are you? Did people suddenly start teleporting and I didn’t know?”240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDBOPPJOrBa
“I was being serious.” My sister rolled her eyes. “What if she has a map of Tengoku… and could teleport anywhere she’d like?” 240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0VtEYokFhn
I mean, that was a good guess I thought. But even I didn’t get so see this Norwegian’s disappearance with my own eyes. Dropping the conversation, Millie’s phone gave a distracting ‘buzz’. She reached into her pocket and turned it's small bright screen on.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVHSHpYwCgm
“What does it say?” I said, taking a seat on the opposite side of the train. The air inside was crisp and cold, and everything was spotless as could be. I wondered if those ‘background characters’ Tora had told us about were on other train cars too. 240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHZBJnKTQNl
Millie recited what was on her phone’s homepage. “Oh no! It looks like you’ve died. Reviving yourself again means losing a Life Card.”240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu1XbQFCnyH
I blinked. “I might not be a genius or anything, but did any of that make sense to you?"240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrUV09B6j6M
“Not a bit!” Millie wailed. “I’ll assume this is referring to Tora though, because she’s the one who d-”240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwT5sO1xfXU
At that very moment, a woman who hadn’t been there seconds ago appeared on the very end of the train car.
“You called?” She said, the shadows covering her identity. 240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwfjBI7E6TZ
I may not know what a heart attack feels like, but I think getting surprised that abruptly had given my eleven-year-old heart one. “Wha-” I sputtered, falling out of my seat and onto the floor again. “Who on chikyū are you?!” 240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPzhrtCX58S
The woman laughed, her voice was soothing and familiar. Her body started to take form out of the shadows as she walked down the long car's chamber towards us. “Don’t scare yourself, Haru… It’s just me.” She reached down to help me up from the ground, and suddenly I knew exactly who it was.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtlur1ZnN4P
“AUNT TORA!” Millie screamed before I could say a word, jumping off her seat and throwing herself at the woman wearing a pale brown sun hat. “I thought you died!!!”240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZJkcrh2AAM
“I did,” Tora said, embracing my sister back. “But I used one of our Life Cards instead.” 240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmsXyDbjmcw
My aunt picked Millie up and twirled her around, watching her giggle with joy. I couldn’t believe it as I lay there on the floor, was she truly alive again?That gunshot had sounded pretty fatal to me. I struggled against my urge to ask a million questions, remembering what my aunt had told me earlier.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEUxKZ949mp
“That bright mind of yours never ceases to work, ah?”240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqXd1W3RTWg
Maybe she really was right, my parents always told me to stop worrying all the time. Whatever the case, I spit out two small yet important inquiries. “Aunt Tora, How are you alive again? And what’s a… ‘Life Card’?”240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡliMwodf76z
“Come here, child. Let me show you.” Tora’s beam was warm and inviting, the same way it had been when I had met her on the streets of Tokyo. She put Millie back on the ground and wrapped both of us in a tight warm hug, then took the backpack off the floor where I had left it and dug her hands inside.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuFs2OZ7M8M
My aunt pulled out two small objects that looked like playing cards, yet both had a heart printed on it and was labeled with a “1+”. 240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyb5rp1gQyu
“Wren forgot about these when she had her little reprogramming fun. This was a feature I made when I worked on Tengoku, it’s foolproof and indestructible. The players are given three lives, and I just used one of them. If we can make it through the whole simulation without running out of these last two lives, you should be safe Haru. This also means Wren can’t blow you up… for now at least.”240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7N7jpugChN
I marveled at these cards that had so quickly revived Tora’s life. “So all I have to do is make sure we don’t use up these last two lives? Sounds easy enough, I vow to never let Wren hurt you again.”240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ65vpEeRNP
Tora laughed. “You’re not the one who has to look out for me, I’m an adult sweetie. Jín made me promise to take care of you both no matter what, remember? I intend to do that.”240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBvl3l4m0f9
“But why would you do that for her even if you two didn’t get along?” Millie asked as she gently placed the Life Cards back inside my backpack.240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnA2tb5LB9H
“Because we’re family, and I’m over our petty fights.” The woman said. “We all have to forgive each other in the end, kindness is worth everything.” 240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4VGZo68Q8F
Millie nodded. Who knew our aunt suddenly taught life lessons? 240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0hTglBFGJK
“So Tora,” I coughed, trying to break the awkwardness of me standing alone as my aunt and sister spoke to each other. “Why did we get on this train?”240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLAkZeIJHm4
Tora gave a small smile and rubbed her hand on the side of the train car, it’s smooth metal making no sound.
“It’s no ordinary train. It’s called seikatsu for a reason, meaning 'life’. When you die in the game and use a Life Card, you respawn here. The train will take you where it thinks you need to go in order to continue leveling up. Our fate lies on these very tracks.” 240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡosqXxTIqlv
I made a face. “Yippee, like I would trust this suspiciously clean train to bring me back home to Mama and Papa as soon as possible. Sounds legit, huh…”240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVmLwZGw34q
Tora laughed again, seeming to be in a great mood despite being dead a few moments ago. “Child, don’t be like that! Don’t you remember that this is the game your mother made? She’d probably want you to enjoy it to the fullest, don’t you think?”240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx7QUZPE7qD
I glanced at the floor, the flood of emotions awakening in my heart once again. How silly everything felt, Mama’s project and Wren’s jealousy. Why couldn’t people just all get along for once? No? Because the earth is flawed and people will always have a reason to hate each other? 240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhc7WMPP4vD
“Well too bad.” I said to myself. “Haru Motoyo isn’t living in real earth anymore. He’s gonna make the most of this game, he’s going to try and make it the heaven his mother wanted it to be if it’s the last thing he does.”240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTySmU9V4G2
“I get it Aunt Tora," I said, feeling a sudden rush of strength. "She would want me to have fun here. I accept that we’ll have many trials in the future to come defeating Wren, but I’m ready… ready as I’ll ever be.”
“That’s my brother!!” Millie ran and embraced me with her pride. We toppled onto the floor, fumbling and grinning as Tora put her hands over her mouth, chuckling with delight. 240Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFRqdr23wag
And that is how little Haru, Millie, and their aunt headed for an unknown destination, but with renewed strength and courage to conquer Jín’s engineer rival.
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