It was becoming extremely difficult to understand what Suzuki Sensei was saying to me. When I realised that his questions were becoming increasingly similar to the questions the interrogators used to ask in the torture chambers, my mind went into emergency shut down mode. I didn't know how people woke their special abilities. Who did?
For my protection and for the protection of those around me, I had to close myself off. Just like that time in interrogation. This way nobody would get any information out of me, true or false. I would be able to conserve energy to survive the siege.
Perhaps Suzuki Sensei sensed that. Maybe he didn't. Either way, he began to hurry, jogging me uncomfortably on his back. There was a long silence. Long enough for me to regather myself and some of my energy again.
"We've heard rumours that there was a man in the city called Red Eye. He has extremely strong mental abilities and is able to mimic some of the abilities or types of attack of his enemies upon seeing them. They say that he was a one man army, well versed in a myriad of skills. Did you know him? Have you met him?" someone asked me, breaking the silence and my attempts to recover some energy before my body shut down as well.
"What about his friends? I heard there was a famous trio. What were the names of the others? Snake Eye and Tiger Eye. Did you know them? What were they like?"
"Dead," I gave a soft laugh. "They're all dead. Red Eye died defending the city, never deviating from what was right. Tiger Eye was captured by Snake Eye and went mad. Crazy. Pervert. Murderer. Snake Eye was a traitor. Sold his own people. Sold his own agency. Sold his own country. Controlled people. He deserved it. Deserved to die." I gave a few more huffing laughs before running out of energy again. "They all deserved to die. Except for Red Eye. But he wanted to die anyway. Stupid. Idiot. Why die for a promise? Why die with the city because you failed in protecting it? Why die for the people who betrayed you over and over? There has to be a limit."
There was a long silence after that, while the agents processed what I had just said.
Then Suzuki Sensei asked with confusion, "I thought Shigure-Kubo-kun was Red Eye?"
That made me laugh. He wasn't wrong, but I was also telling the truth.
"Red Eye died defending the city he promised to defend," I repeated in a soft voice. "He got buried in the earthquakes. He died."
"Oh," Suzuki Sensei faltered for a step and then continued walking. "I understand. Is it just like how the agent, Kim Na, as his partner, died and was buried together with him there?"
"Yes," I replied with a sigh, speaking very softly. "We really did die, you know. We were meant to die and prepared to die, but I begged the Creator for a way, any way for my husband's life to be saved. We had made a mistake and lost the right to lead our survivors. I begged for a way for the innocent tribes people to be saved too. I wonder if any of them managed to escape and whether my warning had been in vain or not. We didn't have to die. The Creator had given us another choice but my husband wanted to fulfill his promise to his master, the Shigure before him. My husband chose the death route and I chose to go with him although he tried to send me away. I wonder where everyone is now and how they are."
"Everything seems to be tied up together with your god," Suzuki Sensei mused.
"You could say that. If you ask me about anything else, I can tell you very little," I whispered. "I can only tell you that corruption and moles in our leadership enabled our city to be invaded. Snake Eye may have been planted in the organisation from the beginning. He let the invaders in the first time and betrayed his friends. He pretty much organised the second invasion, although I have no evidence. That's just my guess. Tiger Eye gave up his life to help Red Eye and Kim Na break free from his control. The area guardians used them as conduits to strike at the enemy in order to protect the Land and all its peoples. That should have killed them there and then. The combined power of four area guardians is no joke, you know. The one living in the enemy's land was almost dead, but she still joined in the attack and died after her energy was expended. Our brains were almost completely burnt out. We should have died. I was the main conduit channel, Red Eye pointed and the guardians destroyed. We were just convenient vessels for the area guardians to use. It was only because of the Creator that we survived and recovered at all. Then just when I was getting better, our own people betrayed us and wanted to give us up to the enemy. So we ran away and nearly died in the desert. Again, it was only though the Creator's intervention that we survived and made it back to the City in time to defend against the last and most sinister invasion of our enemies. The Chief of Police, the Director's husband, betrayed his wife and all the special ability users. He had captured them all and was going to deliver them to the enemy. The Creator told us the whole Land was going to be destroyed this time. I begged to go warn the tribes but they tried to kill me. In the end the city was bombarded and we could only try to save and rescue as many people as possible. Try to buy time for the remaining people to evacuate."
I took a few moments to try and catch my breath, noticing the other two agents had drifted close to hear my story.
"There. That's what you wanted to know, isn't it? And that's not even going into detail what happened when we were caught, tortured or interrogated by the enemy and those who were meant to be our own people. All we did was do our best to defend the city. And our best gave those corrupt pigs the opportunity to trample on our blood, sweat and tears."
"I'm sorry," Suzuki Sensei said after a very long period of silence, while my blood was still singing through my ears after getting riled up, recounting the end of the City of the Blue Gulf. "I'm very sorry."
I didn't know what he was sorry about or for, but that didn't matter. At least he was being sincere in his apology.
"Red Eye and Kim Na died in the defence of their city and were buried in the subsequent earthquake. Only their bodies were recovered by Red Eye's family and were cremated. Their ashes were buried within the remains of the land they had defended," Suzuki Sensei declared in a steady voice with an air of finality, making me realise he had far more authority than I had expected. "Nodoka-san, you and your husband need new names and identities. Would the two of you like to build your background or would you like us to build it for you? Once it is done, the two of you will become Nihon citizens. What do you think?"
"This type of thing, please ask my husband," I said tiredly. "I cannot make the decisions. I don't know enough or understand enough."
"What do you want to do in the future?"
"I don't know. Ask my husband," I repeated.
"I'm talking about the near future. After we get to the Five Colour Courtyard and you have recovered from your fever," Suzuki Sensei told me. "I don't know. Ask my husband," I repeated again.
"Would you like to study? It seems you struggle with even basic knowledge now."
"Do you think I want to study?" I snorted. "You saw what happened to me after just one day of intensive study while doing simple sums. You try study and retain knowledge when you've been killed multiple times and your brain has been injured and reinjured so many times without giving you a break. How many years do I have to keep trying to recover and force myself to improve? Can't a girl take a break? Haven't my husband and I earned a break yet?"
I practically yelled my questions to the sky, which sadly enough, hadn't been as loud as I had hoped. It was just loud enough to break through the night's silence but little more than that.
My tears dripped onto Suzuki Sensei's neck.
"I was just a barrel scraper with a learning disability," I whispered. "I could barely pass the annual assessments. How did I survive when so many others didn't? Shigure was pretty much the only one who kept me alive. What did I do besides get in the way, get captured and injured all the time?"
There were a few coughs.
"I'm pretty sure you did more than get in the way, Nodoka-san," Suzuki Sensei coughed. "I'm pretty sure you helped lead the way and break new ground."
"No," I shook my head. "I didn't."
"You aren't the reason so many people around you became strong multi-ability users? You aren't the one who helped the city connect and make agreements with your area guardians? You aren't the one who enabled the area guardians to reach across the sea to defend your city? You aren't the one who led a group of lizards and desert creatures to defend the city? You aren't the one who helped bring criminals back into the fold to help in the defence of the city and helped find the traitors hidden in your midst?"
"Huh," I said after being rendered speechless. "You've heard a lot of stories."
"True stories," said Suzuki Sensei. "Aren't they all true?"
"No," I said quickly. "That was Kim Na. That was Shigure. Those people are dead."
Suzuki Sensei shook his head and gave a soft laugh.
"Their names are dead but the people are still alive. Nodoka-chan, we need your help. We want to protect our people too. We want to protect our special ability users, normal people and our land too. We want to be able to partner with our area guardians as well," Suzuki Sensei said in a passionate voice. "We need experienced and specialised help for that. So do many other countries. Those countries who are blessed with many normal people awakening their special abilities are being eyed by the countries who have very few or none. Since you are here, won't you and your husband help us? Please help us," he pleaded. "We need your help desperately. You both have been brought up in special environments and amongst special ability users. You will know more than we do about what to be careful of and what rules should be put into place for everyone's safety."
I was silent.
That night, after we arrived at the courtyard, I bathed in hot water, put on dry clothes and was helped to bed. Not long later, the sky rumbled to herald the arrival of a thunderstorm.