30 / 03 / 2019 - Daito, Prefecture Osaka, Japan.
Five Days After, 10 AM, Saturday, Living Room.
"Go on."
Crimson-ash eyes are half-lidded and lazy, leaning on the sofa's backrest, hands crossed above his chest. Facing the screen, a countdown of 60 seconds begins.
Some morning light falls through the big open glass window, which is probably 6 m each, offering a panoramic view of the whole city, but then again, 'What a hassle…'
The first time he saw it, it was probably elegant and fit his aesthetic; you could overlook the street, shops, park, and the city's skyline from this edge.
Now, he just wants the curtain to be closed, though it is still morning, as the light is very annoying!
But alas, he knows that the world doesn't work like that, and his voice weighs nothing in this household, probably.
Then again, what is he? A shrimp? He feels like he is being dried here! He can't imagine how hot it is in the summer — better be closed all day!
"Huhhh…" Letting out a sigh as his side remains silent and answerless, he takes a breath and, with his right hand, brushes up the messy strand that covers his left eye.
Flicking his head to the right wing of the sofa, a woman, probably 158 cm, so short — at least in his imagination — since he is 140 now, the same as Ayato, while Irina is 135.
'If Aunt knows this, she would probably beat me up.'
But alas, once again, it is in his mind, so he is free to do what he wants. Through the narrow slit of his eyes, her silver-white hair extends to her waist, slightly wavy.
The bangs covered one eye, blue like the sky and particularly clear, then it is, 'Are you perhaps a witch?' looking at that small and delicate face, like no more than 17 or in her 20s.
Eyes gleaming red, the corner of his mouth twitching wildly as he struggles to hold a smile on his face at the thought of this.
As if never aging, and forever a girl, with a faint blush on her cheeks and fair skin, she seems like a fine lady, but…
Now, she is smiling stupidly, engrossed in a tablet, this fair lady, eyes glued to the screen.
'Is my decision to give her access to the Dark Network wrong?'
He is reevaluating his decision to give them next-level entertainment — for Ayato, Irina, and his aunt, and yes, for himself.
One of its values is entertainment, just like a cartoon for Irina.
As it was his second thought before granting access, he doesn't want his sister to become bored, so he gives her an account.
And then, he doesn't want to be impartial to everyone, so in the end, he gives an account to the whole household.
And right now, they are particularly addicted to this new world, scrolling, doomposting, in a "Social Section" probably with a random extraordinary on the internet.
Is this how the future would unfold? Isn't it supposed to be bloodshed, carnage, and conspiracy?
What? In the end, they are harmonious, bickering with each other, and the anticipated war of interest is actually an information war shifted onto this particular new media called Dark Network?
Well, his imagination was crushed to dust — out of this world, begone — and anyway, let's leave the rant at that.
Seconds passed in his mind as always, since mental computation had improved after he became a Treader; it's kind of laughable that advanced cognition is being used for this kind of thing.
'Then again, like he has any other things to do with his mind.'
He is done with everything in these lately peaceful days, no more urgency, no more need to think hard.
And a second after he is done with it, the other side, on his left, spoke as if answering his lamentation and ranting, probably knowing his habit; she just took a second to mock him.
"It's, 22#6!05… 9@37%18… &49$33^…"
Tilting his head to the right for a bit, reflecting in the luminous clarity of his eyes — white-silver hair also reaching straight to her waist like her aunt's, a different kind of soft and fluffy.
Looking at it absentmindedly, he seems to have an urge to pat and ruffle her hair. The corner of his lip twitched at the idea, but eventually he kept himself at bay.
Moving his gaze for a bit, the soft bangs partially covering her forehead, a few loose strands on her small, soft face, and her sky-blue eyes were bright.
Her face is quiet and calm, her thin lips reciting a mix of symbols and numbers as the countdown reaches its end.
Then—
"…*:5$63^" Right as she finishes and closes her mouth, the bell rings, awakening him from his stupor as he turns his gaze back to the screen.
The countdown is on zero; the game or the test has ended.
"How is it?" Smiling smugly and puffing her non-existent chest through a white shirt, she puts her hands on her hips.
'Well, this at least confirms something.'
Silent as his lips churn, his head leans against the backrest, his mind formulating his words, ignoring her entirely.
And instead he chose to refocus on the matter at hand; her recitation earlier was also a hundred percent correct.
So what needs to be confirmed here? "Now, now, at that time, do you remember what I said?" His head facing to the side, untying his hands, now resting above his stomach.
After a while, he said this to evoke the memory of the day she explained Rhythm to him, and after his words, she too decided to ponder calmly, fingers on her chin and one hand still at her hip.
This too turned out to be ongoing for a while, and even he waited a minute for a response, which returned nothing, as she is still musing over it.
'This kid.'
He shook his head and, with a sigh, his eyes darted around, leaving her to do what she wanted to do, and precisely by this, he caught his aunt eavesdropping.
Caught red-handed as his gaze and hers locked with each other, she flinched and then focused back on the screen, lifting it to cover her face. 'Are you a kid? Who are you trying to fool!'
Despite his plain face, the urge to complain is as strong as always.
Then again, he took back his gaze and faced the screen. Looking at his aunt reminded him of five days ago when he revealed everything to her — well, not everything though, just barely.
'It is kinda funny,'
As she is in shock and a mix of emotions, that evening turned the atmosphere weird; she washed up, ate up like the human she would be,
'I don't even know how she can eat after witnessing that.'
She often got caught staring blankly like a crashing computer; this was going on all night, until the next morning, when she was back to her normal self.
Of course, in the past five days, there have been other detailed reasons that led to the transformation she is now, but as he wants to delve further…
He is reminded of the current tasks at hand, "How could it take so long…" his tone a bit desperate at this moment, rather than his usual flatness.
Looking back to the little gremlin, she strangely stared at him, like she was looking at an idiot, which confuses him but raises irritation deep inside,
"You said many things, so how could I remember what you were talking about?"
The anger then begins to cool down as fast as it appears; it is still his fault after all, "Oh…" a long syllable drawn out, and he moved his hands to rub his face in frustration.
The little gremlin at the side is smiling widely, her eyes narrowed. It seems that annoying him and making him angry is the first and foremost thing she has to do Every. Single. Day.
"It's about your
It is truly exhausting; if we follow the laws of conservation, every useless interaction adds entropy and contributes nothing to the world by analogy.
Placing his hands at his side, he pushes his body upwards, ignoring the giggle at the side, just letting her be, and closes his eyes while he leans back on the backrest.
After giving the context, he just needs to tell her about his in-depth hypothesis.
"Just treat this as a hypothesis of mine, as there isn't enough data yet, so… just treat it with a grain of salt."
Eyes open after a while, he let out a sigh and then faced her. Now she sits obediently, hands on her lap, head tilted as she is also looking at him, back to her innocent ladylike self.
"Rhythm of yours is actually an act of subconscious extraction and prediction of temporal patterns within a limited perceptual field."
Paused for a moment as the corner of his mouth trembled and his eyes lowered. He was also thinking inside while he voiced out his conclusion, so she could understand.
Though his aunt will probably hear this too now, he won't mind at all, so he decided to ignore her for the time being; as much as he wants to know, his attention is limited now.
'Like she can understand it.'
Irina is now also listening attentively, nodding her small head and humming thoughtfully.
Knowing the time and place of a serious matter — though she won't mind making him annoyed at other times — she is a bit afraid that if he truly stops explaining, so she listens with full ears and holds her breath.
"This allows you to detect a deviation from expected sequences. And as you said, you form a pattern, and from this baseline pattern, you could detect an anomaly."
Hands on his chin, he leans his head back against the sofa, his mouth still churning, mulling over what had been said, his eyebrows drooping.
As he is still a bit unsure about this, 'This can explain some of her characteristics, but leaving the Rhythm disruption out of the current equation.'
Based on this, her ability is more internal and projected to Reality as a result of her own Rhythm as an anomaly detection or temporal pattern, but then what about her external capability?
What about that day when she tried to stop or disrupt the rhythm for a mere second? This proof cannot be faked after all.
'Something is missing, but if we follow through, there are also many reasons I can give, so let's hear her opinion first.'
Irina, at the side, let out a breath of disappointment, dejected as she pursed her lips, head lowered like a hurt kitten, her face covered by her hair,
"So it is just like that? I thought it was something more than this…"
Murmuring in a small voice, Akane's eyebrows furrowed instinctively for a bit after he saw her like this.
And then, while Riscia at the side is screaming internally, she can only lower her head the same.
Probably trying to disappear like air, or having been treated so by Akane and Irina, but regardless,
'Irina? And then Akane? Then maybe Ayato is also the same?'
She thought her head felt blank once more; as Akane said it himself, her cognition of the past few years had been impacted greatly.
This is also connected to the past few days, as she has actually been trying to gather more information about these things from the Main Family,
'Why are they ignoring me?'
Biting her lips, her eyes flashed with coldness and incomprehension;
Met with rejection and no one to rely on, this is the main problem, but she is sure that the Family wouldn't forget about this matter at all, so why?
The strange disappearance of her sister and her sister's husband nine months ago.
All her efforts in the past years have led to nothing; every piece of information seems to disappear into thin air.
Combined with the main family's unusual silence and everything that happens after, rendering her powerless as she knows nothing, no hint or anything.
Her hands paused, grasping the edge of the tablet hard enough. Everything was unusual in every sense, which is why she never thought about all of this nonsense in the first place.
Because it is like a fairy tale that her sister would probably adore after all, it is just baffling; now she is like a fool when a new lead appears.
"Hey, hey, you don't have to be disappointed about it, the road ahead is still long enough for you to tread, little Irina… you are still a kid after all."
Moving his hands to ruffle her hair, while the corner of his mouth is upturned, patting her soft and fluffy hair, she also raises her head to look towards him,
"In my opinion, you are now stuck between 'becoming' and 'unbecoming', as your ability is now on the verge between these two; you also know the reason for this, right?"
She pouted, her sky-blue eyes now a bit wet, as if she was about to cry, but still he did not stop, just smiling softly while his eyes gleamed red,
"Furthermore, you are a bit the same as mine; the ceiling for now is clear, what you need to do is refinement and practice, that's all."
Taking back his hands — rather than be slapped later when she realised what he did — he placed his left hand on his chin, eyes up, as he thought further about her ability.
'This Flashing Pattern practice is good, but there's more to this for later.'
Thinking of some practice for her, there could be many variations and directions to go since her ability is so rough and often uncontrollable, and right as he is in the midst of thinking,
The corner of her mouth upturned, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand, she is back to smiling,
'After all, what he said makes sense, and I think for now it is good enough.' Yes, it is enough; she took back her gaze.
Then again, leaning on the backrest the same as him, she thought about it again, her hands on her chin,
"Then what about Aya-nii, is he the same as me?" voicing what she thought, she asked her brother with sparkling eyes, curious about Ayato's ability.
Turning her upper body towards him, her two little hands grasped Akane's hand and wobbled it left and right.
And Akane found that the left hand on his chin had been grabbed by his little sister, rocking him like a pendulum, snapping his thoughts; dizziness built up inside his head.
His right hand swung and then grabbed her little hands to stop, "Stop, stop, I understand, I understand, so stop rocking me!" With so little strength, it is like a pair of pliers.
He wonders for a bit — she never actually grabs his hands, so to grip this hard is surprising; his body stops in motion, gasping as he leans on the backrest, stomach heaving.
After a while, he turns his head to the side, facing his sister, his face still, expressionless, just locking with those sky-blue eyes that are now flinching and lowered.
In turn, she quietly released her grasp and flashed a slight smile, casting a furtive glance towards him, her lips pressed as if trying hard not to grin.
'The day I snap up is the day you will regret it,'
Complaining for a bit, he shook his head, and in silence, he fixed his wrinkled shirt; Irina at the side just sat in zen above the sofa waiting for him.
And Riscia, still at the right wing, is looking at this with a smile on her face, deciding to forget about her own matter for a while to observe their interaction.
Furthermore, this also confirms her doubt that her niece and nephews are actually not so normal, and if she tries to trace it back…
Her head began to ache once again as the implications are so wide. She shook it for a while and let out a small sigh.
"Your brother Ayato is simpler than this; for his, I'll call his ability a 'Field'."
"In short, he is basically detecting a 'signal' or 'excitation' that is happening continuously in the area around him."
Pausing for a moment as he is done, shifting his slumped body to a better position, he lets out a pent-up sigh.
He narrows his eyes as if tired, hands resting above his stomach.
"Then the feedback on the area around him is reconstructed inside his mind, limited by his focus and cognitive capacity."
"Well, take it with a grain of salt once again, this is my perspective of your and Ayato's ability through my lens."
And as he is done, pressing his head into the soft comfort of the sofa, he is easily tired like an old man after all these events; a sly glance towards his aunt, who is still listening.
"What do you think, nee-chan?"
Abruptly, Irina's head snapped towards her aunt, who she probably knows has been listening but pretending not to hear anything.
Again, his eyes twitched slightly, as he probably knew her intention — abruptly addressing her aunt now, despite having ignored her for the whole conversation.
'Flaunting your knowledge, huh? What is this? You know much, and then you tease your aunt's mental capacity?'
He lowered his eyelids, leaving a narrow slit. Once again, he let out a breath of weariness and decided not to care, ignoring his aunt's surprise as she stuttered.
"Ahh…. Ummmm…."
Her brows slightly drawn together, her eyes then snapped up to Irina, her body flinching as she was called; she didn't know how to respond, and just said random words.
And the little devil is smiling smugly, watching her aunt, teasing her further, "Nee-chan, who do you think is the more powerful one between Aya-nii and me?"
Well, she doesn't count him in. He is a bit hurt — well, he is weak after all, and focused more on information processing rather than fighting with his bare hands.
As composed as she will be, she stays silent this time, her lips pursed inwards, head lowered, but then, as if reminded of something, she cast a pleading gaze at Akane.
Clearly, a 'Help me please!' Well, what can he do? He lifts one of his eyelids for a bit — he is air, he is tired, so the air decides to sleep and disappear, goodbye!
But the little gremlin caught the clue after all and sniffed her way back to Akane, her head turning towards him slowly, eyes bright and narrowed, an asymmetrical smile.
"Well, how about you, onii-chan!" Finger on her cheek, she asked him playfully while rolling her eyes, leaning forward as her face was inches away from his.
He just stays silent for a while, pretending to sleep or taking a nap as his body relaxes, but…
Her breath tickles his nose, a bit sweet with the clean smell of shampoo and floral scent of soap; his sensitive nose wrinkles, and she notices it too, playing with his nose.
'Leave me alone.'
Slowly opening his eyes, he lets his mouth agape and lets out a breath as if the world owes him; he is not built for this.
Moving his eyes to the little gremlin at the side who pulls her head back, her long hair brushing across his face, and as he wanted to refute, anger flared up.
Ring….
A giggle as she is back in her position; her face is also a bit curious as she thinks it is unusual to hear a notification on her brother's phone.
Casting a warning and cold glance towards her, he clicked his tongue and decided to ignore her for the time being, looking at the phone in his pocket.
Taking it out, a notification on the screen reflected in his eyes — it is from Dark Network, an urgent notification.
Unlocking the screen, his heart unknowingly begins to feel heavy, his face crumpled for a bit, then he proceeded to move his fingers, opening the Dark Network app.
This is actually the perk of LEVEL-2, as various features and content begin to be unlocked; it treats you like a stranger at LEVEL-0, and then begins to be intimate as you rise higher.
Giving various conveniences for extraordinary after you have confirmed yourselves — notifications, apps, and then even services listings available as you please, many more of them.
But, he scrolled past them and entered the "General Section / Ground Zero," flashing in red and pinned at "Billboard".
'Oh no…'
His hand clenched the phone hard enough as his gaze was glued to the screen. Just by looking at the title, he was already sure of something.
…
[ Announcement: This is a game, a game called Wild Hunt!]
Greetings, my dear advanced beings,
On this beautiful day, I hereby invite all of you, the whole of Osaka, the whole world to see! Our determination, our ideals, and then our sincerity for humanity itself!
Despite your futile resistance and bonds, what can it do amidst this forsaken world? So let's rejoice! The seed has been germinated, the pestilence will come!
The weak will be cleansed, and the new world will start over again.
Will your indomitable spirit and compassion eventually claim victory over this war of nature? We'll see.
Then I declare, for the Wild Hunt to officially begin from now on!
Regards,
Marten Albrecht, Bishop of Life.
…
This time for sure, leaving him no choice and no right to get out of this whirlpool — for the whole of Osaka itself is probably doomed.