Shizuka stood quietly, watching Hibiki work on an English assignment. She struggled a bit with verbs and the order of the words in the sentence.
"Are you sure you don't want my help?" He asked, his eyes seemingly closed with his black hair hanging in front.
"I can do this myself Shizuka." She raised a hand and waved him away.
A small smile appeared on his face and he moved back, watching her before leaving the room. With nothing else to do, he went to his mother's room.
She was lying on a futon, her blind eyes closed as usual. Hearing the door open, she said "Shizuka? Is that you?"
"You always know." He said with hints of laughter in his voice.
"You're footsteps are different from Hibiki's." She says. "How is your sister doing?" She turns her head towards Shizuka, even though she cannot see him. Her blind eyes have not been able to see since the car accident shortly before Hibiki was born.
As Shizuka sat down and started talking with his mother, he had no idea what would take place seven days later.
There was only one way to avoid the entire situation, but would Shizuka, with Hibiki's help, decipher the cryptic messages in time? Would they realize how important it is before it's too late?
An hour later, Shizuka returned to his room, where he noticed a message appearing on his computer screen. Letter by letter a message appeared on a blank black screen, the white letters in a standard typeset.
Do Shinigami exist? Do you believe in them?
Hibiki's message was different from Shizuka's message starting from that point onwards. It read:
In seven days, you will die. You will become a shinigami. Should you reject your fate, decide not to become one, your brother will die. There is no guarantee for the future. Choose your destiny wisely.
Meanwhile, in Shizuka's room, his message read:
Choices need to be made. In seven days, you will lose your family and be accused of their murder. There is a way to save them before that, but you must erase this message now. Do not let Hibiki know. She is being told of the fate she will be forced to face if you cannot amount to the challenges that lie before you. Here she comes...
Shizuka, thinking quickly, didn't hesitate to erase the message. If what the white words meant was true, he wasn't going to take any chances. With the lives of his family at stake, this isn't a joking matter.
There's definitely something weird about this, he thought, listening to Hibiki's footsteps as she came down the hall towards his room. Whoever is writing this knows who we are, or, at least, they know Hibiki by her first name...
"Shizuka!" She crashed through the doorway, a look of panic on her face. "You have to see this!" She took his wrist and dragged him through the hall and back to the living room.
She pointed to the computer screen with a shaking hand. He read the message, silently mouthing the words to himself. He remembered what the words that had appeared on his computer screen said, and, knowing that he could not mention the message he had seen to Hibiki, he feigned ignorance and told her, "It's probably just a prank. Someone hacked the computer and wanted to screw with you sis." Leaning over, he hit the 'delete' button, and the message disappeared. The screen remained black for a few seconds, then returned to its original, pre-message state.
Ruffling her hair, he looked down at her with a smile. "But how-" The fear in her eyes was clear and bothered Shizuka, though he knew he couldn't do anything else to reassure her. The words he wanted desperately to say hovered in front of him.
"Hibiki, it's nothing but a hacker." His hand rested on her head for another moment before he let it fall. "Don't worry, no matter what happens, I'll protect you." That was as much as he could say without letting anything out about the message that had appeared on his own computer screen. He wanted to return to his room right away and see if anything else had appeared on his computer, but he knew he couldn't leave too soon.
All those years he had played the part of the caring brother, more than that, he was a caring brother. He knew that if he didn't continue trying to reassure her, she would know something had happened to him too.
However, there was one thing he was counting on. Hibiki was dependent, but she liked to act independent. She liked to act strong and make herself believe she didn't need anybody else's help.
"Do you want me stay with you a while?" He asked, placing his hand on her head in a reassuring way. He already knew she would refuse his offer, and he was counting on that as an excuse to leave.
She waved him away, saying "I have a paper to write." She sat back down at the computer screen and clicked on the symbol for the word document she used to write in English. Normal, black on white background words appeared on the screen and she resumed her work.
He took that sentence as his excuse to leave and return to his room.
The screen was still black, but a new message had appeared.
You have obeyed the first instruction. Good. This means you can be trusted. Throughout the next seven days, different tasks will be asked of you. If you complete them, your fate and the fates of everyone in your family, and even others that would have been influenced in the current future, will be changed forever. Now that you have started this, there will be no going back.
Will you make the right decisions? Are you ready to start?
YES NO
Shizuka sat down at his computer, staring at the screen with his hand hovering over the mouse. The message said his decisions would influence the lives of more than just his family. Who else will be affected? Will it be for better or worse?
Thoughts of his parents and Hibiki filled his head. What would happen to them if he clicked 'no'? Would they actually die?
Or is this really the work of a hacker?
If it is a hacker, they are watching both of them at that exact moment, or they know exactly when they use the computer and how long it would take for Shizuka to return.
Even if it is because of a stalker, what's the worst that can happen? As long as the tasks don't involve hurting someone else or doing something illegal, they can't do too much damage.
Slowly moving the mouse as he reassured himself that everything would be fine and that he couldn't risk the lives of his family and the others, he clicked on 'YES.'
The message disappeared and was soon replaced by:
You have made the right decision. Nothing can be done for today. Your first mission out of seven will appear tomorrow. Get rest and prepare an excuse to miss school for the week. People would get suspicious if you ditch spontaneously.
Do not draw attention to yourself. Do not act suspicious. If you tell anyone about these messages, everything will fall apart. Be discreet.
He kept staring at the computer. Is there a hint in the message? Is there something in there that will tell him what will happen tomorrow?
He knows that whatever will happen is going to place from morning to mid-afternoon, maybe later.
He deletes the message; for fear that someone might come into his room and ruin the plan. When lives are at stake, mistakes cannot be made.
A normal person would be under any extreme amount of stress, with all the pressure that is being put on him, the weight of other people's lives would crush anyone. Shizuka Aida, of course, is not normal. He didn't know this yet, but if the plan the unknown messenger does not work, he will be forced to fight for his and Hibiki's lives. In that battle, he will have to use every ounce of wit and logic he has. Facing up to that lets the world know that he has the ability to think quickly and logically through any situation.
The message writer knows this. The message writer knows everything that Shizuka will go through in the future.
That night, at dinner, Shizuka forces a smile on his face and pretends as though everything is fine. Hibiki, however, is nervous. The look of distress is shown plainly on her face, but her father is not home and her mother cannot see.
Shizuka glances reassuringly across the table at her and smiles, though it's an empty, fake smile.
He goes to bed that night with thoughts running through his head and dreams of what will happen. In no way, however, can he possibly imagine what will befall him on the coming day.