"So how much is this job worth ?"
The question sounded cold, felt cold, it was freezing as if layers of thin ice just permeates the skin. An agreement was made black on white with a fountain pen. One that will noticeably be a weapon like none other. Upon that, Azuma Shoichi was sold to a hope of a better future. For money and a cure.
The first route was harsh. He was new and too brash. Too naive. His mind was cold and calculating as always but he always made the first mistakes. The second which ended his life. Beheaded by a chainsaw.
"I cannot die here."
23.
He opened his eyes to a strange green liquid. He breathes but his lungs felt too wet. He cannot feel his head. He felt the world was spinning before him. In a snap, something was inserted inside his head. It hurts, but it felt less hurt. It was not as bad as the first.
The first ?
Shoichi began avoiding people. Having a phobia that some of them used to kill him. He flinches from touch, but never did he screamed. He was here for a reason is he not ? He cannot remember who or why ? It hurts too much if he tried. If it does not hurt him in his head, it was always a pang in his heart.
Every sessions where he was asked to talk to a human being felt like a business deal. He was talking but it was not him. He could see his mouth moved but not hearing anything. When he looked at the mirror he saw himself, but he was not himself. Something felt odd, misplaced. Was it the glasses ? Or the gaudy gray uniform that he was supposed to wear? What time is it ? He tried to check his watch only to find that it was replaced by a bracelet.
"Was there something wrong, 23 ?"
Shoichi shook his head.
He continued.
But it was not him.
Not being Azuma Shoichi started to feel comfortable for Shoichi. His body moved on his own, he ate, speak and sleep automatically. Soon Shoichi was just a small whisper in his own head. Resting comfortably in a corner of his own mind.
"You are being incredibly obedient, 23. I suppose you can have this."
Shoichi woke up. He felt shaken as he got control of his own body. It was a rose gold framed cell phone which he almost forgotten he had. He tapped in the password that his finger knew by heart. It opened up to the main screen.
My daughter…
The man known as Shoichi wept. He kept it as composed as he can as he tapped in his contacts and stopped at the word "home". He looked at the man in the researcher's gown hopefully.
"May I take a phone call?"
You may try.
He called the number.
His hands were shaking.
There was no reception.
He tried for the hundreth time.
Until his cell phone died.
The look in his face can only be described as devastating. He accompanied the researcher for a smoke and a stroll. It was an odd sight, for a subject to walk side by side with a researcher. Most researcher will be scared to do so, but for Shoichi, all he needed to do was ask. Ask and you shall receive.
That night Shoichi could not sleep. He lost count how long he had been staying in thia place. He missed his beloved daughter. He did'nt even remember her voice anymore. Sometimes, he forgot that his name was Shoichi. If it were'nt for the fact that they kept his business card beside his data, he would remember his name as 23.
The next session draws near and he could'nt remember how he made allies or even teams. One time he was sleeping, the other it was noon talking to Barbara regarding her inventions. Since when he knew her ? He did'nt remember such details.
One time his hand moved on his own, feeding himself horrible food to swallow. He spit it out and choke on them. It was quite a sight to see. His hand quickly brought himself up as if nothing had happened.
Shoichi thought he might be going mad.
It was dark inside.
He ran towards the light and everything made sense.
Death. He was a part of a survival game that he had to win.
For his daughter.
Yet he recalled his death and shuddered. He ran to the least noisy place which looks like an abandoned school. He walked up the stairs and hid himself thinking, why was he here in the first place?
He trembled in fear as if he had never done murder before.
He heard footsteps.
He dashed out but slipped at the last moment. The other subject heard the noise and went into him. He was stabbed in his chest.
He gasped and countered them by stabbing their neck. He held his wound and ran as quickly as he can. His vision was getting faint as he settled in an abandoned factory. At least, he thought it was abandoned.
He heard a crying noise and he stopped breathing. There was a young woman who seemed to be as shaken or more shaken than he was. She looks terrifying.
As soon as the bleeding stopped. He ran back to the school to find that the man that stabbed him had died in someone else's hand. He muffled a scream as he clutched his head in fear. He wanted to get out of this nightmare.
"Shoichi."
"Shoichi snap out if it!"
He looked up to see he was not in the school or those dreadful sessions anymore. It was dark yet comfortable. And in front of him, he saw… himself.
"This is as much as I can do to help you, Azuma Shoichi"
Shoichi's opened his mouth but no words came to him. He was facing himself ?
The other Shoichi produced a blanket out if thin air, and wrapped them around him. "Your weak mind will only take as much before it breaks. And I am here to protect what was left of you."
"What was left….of.. ?"
The "fake" Shoichi pulled up his signature smile. It send shivers down his spine knowing that it was his smile. "Everything will be alright, Ichi. You dont need to kill anymore. I will do it for you~"
"Y-you.. will?"
"Yes. I will break your mind before anyone else does. That way, nobody else can have you but me."
Shoichi eyes widened in fear. "N-no! I-I do not w-want that."
"Oh but it is so easy to do it here~" he pulled out an awl. "Once you are dead, you are free~" he took a step closer.
"NO!" Shoichi yelled. He stood up and staggered. He crawled away from himself.
"Well then SHOW ME WHY YOU EVEN TRIED RUNNING AWAY!"
A stab.
Shoichi's neck broke.
"Why…? Why am I even here..?" the other Shoichi slumped beside the original. He whimpered as blood pools out between them.
"I need to win this… for Azuko." he said.
"Azuko...Is… is that… my daughter's name ?"
"Yes 23. That is our daughter's name."
"I cant even remember why am I here… or where I came from…"
"I am sorry. I remembered now."
"I cannot do this alone, Shoichi. I only know… how to fight… like an...animal. I… no purpose…"
Shoichi laughed. "Let's make a deal,shall we ? We finish this, and we return to Azuko."
"I would like that…"
For one knows, the only one to trust in survival, is themselves.
Shoichi woke up to the restricted area horns blaring. He knew he had'nt slept too long for the corpse still smells new. He used the only weapon he had to stab the giant crow feasting the corpse. He looked at his fountain pen, feeling a vigorous new energy surging inside him. Something felt like…no more doubts clouding his head. It felt clear.
He sighed.
"Once I am paid, I am getting out of this shitty job."
-end-