The End of the Dragon Sphere
June 12, 2003, 14:30
The heat of the day was unbearable. Spring had left, the pollen had settled, only for the glaring sun to take its place. All sorts of people were busily crossing the streets of Shinjuku, and despite it being smack-bang in the middle of Thursday, both businessmen and students alike could be seen strolling the streets. There were parents with their children walking down the city lanes, as the young schoolkids were luckily enough to have a pupil-free day. Amongst the throng of rushing people, there existed two particularly important wanderers; a father in his late thirties and a daughter around the age of ten. The young girl gripped the older man's hand tightly, not wanting to get separated in the surprisingly large crowd of people.
"Daaaaad," she whined, looking up at his sweating face, "how long until we're at the ice cream place?"
"Don't worry, Yonah. It's not much farther from here," he replied, squeezing Yonah's hand. The small girl squeezed it back, bringing a smile to both their faces. They were both uncomfortably sweaty, yet it wasn't as hot as they both made it out to be—but 24° can feel like 50° when surrounded by so many other people. It actually surprised both the father and his daughter to see so many of Shinjuku's citizens out on a Thursday; after all, Thursday just didn't seem like a popular 'let's-go-out-and-have-fun' kind of day. Mayhap it was due to the pupil-free day at Yonah's school, but it didn't explain all the young adults and office workers roaming the city roads. Whilst the grey-haired father was lost thinking about how unusual the whole situation was, he felt Yonah falling slowly behind. He stopped and turned to face her, hearing heavy breaths escape her lips.
"Sorry, dad…" she panted, bent over with her hands resting on her knees, trying to regain her composure. "I'm coming… Just a sec…" Her dad furrowed his brows at how hard Yonah was struggling; he loathed to see her in any form of discomfort in the first place. It appeared that her seasonal hay fever hadn't quite left her system, leaving her breathless and vulnerable to an asthma attack if she were to overexert herself. The silver-haired man knelt in front of his tiny daughter, holding her other hand with his free one.
"How about a piggyback?" He smiled, and Yonah returned his smile with a pained one of her own.
"Aren't I too old for that now?" She laughed, quickly gasping for breath after her small chuckle came to a close. Her father simply shook his head.
"You're never too old for a piggyback, Yonah. Hop on!" He spoke enthusiastically, letting go of the girl's hands and turning around to allow the young girl to climb on top. She grinned, climbing and clinging onto her loving father's back with sweaty palms. All through that moment, everyone in the crowd had dodged them, and the middle aged man stood up to go with the flow of sidewalk traffic. Yonah rested her chin on the older man's head, whistling as she gazed at the people all around her. She could see far ahead now, no longer blocked by the torsos of the sea of people due to her height. She loved being able to see what her father could, and she just loved his piggyback rides in general. As she let her arms hang over his broad shoulders, she decided to ask a question she had been thinking about for a while.
"Hey, Dad," she started, receiving a short 'hm?' from the person below her, "Why are we going to an ice cream shop so far away?"
"Well, the place we're going to was your mum's favourite," he replied, eyes softening at the thought of his long gone wife, "and they've actually got some really nice ice cream. I reckon it's my favourite place, too." Yonah let out a long 'ooo' at the mention of it being her mother's favourite ice cream place, raising her chin from atop the greying man's head to get a better look of her surroundings.
"If you like it, I'll like it!" She hummed, ruffling her dad's white hair, "What was mum's favourite flavour?"
"Chocolate chip cookie dough," he replied, adjusting his arms as to not let Yonah slip, "your mum had pretty good taste." His silver-haired daughter gasped, raising one hand to cover her mouth.
"They have cookie dough flavoured ice cream?!" She shouted, both in disbelief and excitement. Her father simply nodded. "That's awesome! I've never tried it before!"
"How about we get the biggest size of cookie dough they've got, then?" Her dad chuckled, and he felt Yonah laughing from on his back.
"Yeeees!" She cheered, both arms in the air. "Hurry up, dad! It's hot, and I wanna eat ice cream!" The pale girl shouted, pointing forward. Much to her surprise, what met her at the end of her finger was the very ice cream parlour they were headed for.
"Alright, alright. We're almost there." He replied, picking his speed up and swiftly dodging through the crowd. To Yonah, it felt like she was in an awesome car chase—her dad chasing down the ice cream store, and all who stood in his path the bystanders to the awesome feat that was her agility-talented father. They were met with the store almost immediately, but much to Yonah's dismay, there was a slow moving line up between the father-daughter duo and their much wanted ice cream. Both Yonah and her father groaned in unison, comically so. They took their place in the line, impatience evident on their faces.
The greyed man suddenly realised he had yet to ready his wallet, and tilted his head up to meet with Yonah' big, grey eyes. "You'll have to come down for a bit, Yonah. Just while I buy our ice cream." She nodded, and at her nod of approval he knelt on one knee, allowing his daughter to slide off of him with ease. She then resumed her previous position at her father's right side, holding his hand and grinning in anticipation for the frosty delicacy that she knew belonged in her stomach. By the time it was time for them to order, it was already ten-to-three, meaning half the time that had already passed was spent by the massive walk from their house to the store, and the two of them standing in line.
"This better be worth the wait," Yonah muttered uneasily, young feet exhausted from the walk and standing around for which felt like a million years to her. Despite her near silent voice, her father picked up on her small sentence and chuckled.
"Trust me, this is gonna be the best thing you've ever eaten," He spoke with confidence, shooting a genuine smile her way. Yonah crossed her arms, but quickly pressed them against the glass barring her from her sweet and delicious chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.
"Oh! Nier!" The person in front of him spoke, causing the older man's head to snap up. The ice cream man wore a friendly expression, and the father of one returned his smile. He hadn't heard his name in a long time. "You didn't come here for so long, I thought you left us for another business! Glad to see you're still loyal to the best ice creamery in Shinjuku." Nier just laughed and waved his hand, oddly embarrassed at the fact that he had been recognised at an ice cream vendor.
"You know I would never leave this place for any other ice cream shop." He replied, then proceeded to order the large cup of ice cream for him and Yonah. Nier didn't bother buying a separate cup for himself, fully aware that his petite daughter would never be able to eat the massive amount of ice cream he bought. The vendor waved him and his daughter good bye, and proceeded to serve the next customer. The middle-aged father passed the giant ice cream to Yonah whilst he grabbed two spoons for the both of them, and guided her to an unoccupied table for them to eat at. Plastic spoon in hand, the ten-year-old girl shovelled the cookie dough ice cream into her mouth. Her expression changed to that of pure bliss, bringing a wide smile to Nier's face. He loved seeing her so happy.
"Dad! This is the best!" She shouted, swooning over the dessert in between the two, "Why didn't you take me here sooner?" She questioned, scooping more and more ice cream into her tiny mouth. The single father spooned some of the ice cream into his mouth, nostalgia flooding over him. In truth, he hadn't been here since before Yonah was born. He remembered frequenting the parlour with his wife, and remembered her making the same exact face their daughter was making. In truth, it was hard for him to come back here. The love of his life passed away when Yonah was only young, and the only way their fair-haired daughter remembered her was in the form of years old photographs. So much time had passed, and he still hadn't fully recovered from his loss. He suddenly remembered that his daughter had asked him a question, and quickly snapped back to his senses.
"The weather hasn't been hot enough lately," Nier responded, reaching for some more ice cream, "and hey, we had to do something on your big day off!" He spoke, chomping on his small plastic spoon. Let's face it, everything was small compared to the muscular man that was Yonah's father.
"Let's come here again!" She cheered through a mouthful of ice cream, chocolate chip bits threatening to spill out past her lips. The older man could only smile in response, just happy to see his most precious person enjoying herself so much.
"Yeah." He replied, eating some more of the ice cream. Nearly ten minutes had passed, and the two of them barely made a dent in the dessert. Yet Yonah pressed onward, trying to eat as much as she could. But as the clock struck three, something horribly unnatural appeared above Tokyo Tower. Yonah dropped her spoon, the spoon that had been so big in her hands, and it landed with a soft clatter on the ground. Instantly alarmed by her sudden change in demeanour, Nier stopped eating at once and stuck his spoon in the cup of ice cream.
"Yonah? What's wrong?" He asked, worry evident in his voice. All Yonah could do was stare past her father, and rose a single arm to point over his head. Nier turned, following the direction of her pointer finger, and his eyes widened in shock at what he saw.
A giant, white light had appeared above the city. What fell through it, however, was much more unsettling. What looked to be a giant grey statue fell from the heavens, landing heavily and loudly atop the Shinjuku city buildings. Distant screams could be heard coming from the direction of the giant stone woman, and soon after a horrific sound began to resonate throughout all of Shinjuku.
The sound of bells. Horrible, horrible bells.
Yonah pressed her hands to her ears, trying her hardest to block out the sound. The sound reverberated through Nier's skull, like the sound was actually inside his head. He got up quickly, rushing to Yonah who sat opposite him and grabbed her by the arm, freeing her hand from her ear. She quickly grabbed onto her father's hand as they began to run from the noise, from the giant woman, and from the red dragon that followed the statue from the white light. Those bells sounded like they were from Hell itself, and both father and daughter thought their heads were going to explode. The sidewalk traffic quickly became a mess, people running through and past each other with no regard for other's safety. Yonah was nearly washed away in the confusion of the crowd, and Nier lifted her up to his chest with nothing but swiftness. Yonah's whimpers were drowned out from the cacophony of the bells, but her father could feel her body tremble against him. He began to run with the crowd, Yonah peering over his shoulder to see what in the world was going on.
"A… dragon…" she muttered, eyes squinting at the bizarre sight before her. The ringing was too loud for anyone to hear her words, and she herself would not have realised she had spoken if she wasn't the one to speak in the first place. What commenced above Tokyo Tower was what seemed to be a battle—the giantess emitting light and shadow from her horrendous mouth, only for the dragon to retaliate with light and shadow of its own. When the two forces collided, even louder bells rang throughout the city, making Yonah tremble in pain. She felt like her whole body was about to fall apart. The grey-haired Nier felt her pain, and pushed through the crowd, trying to find a place far enough away for the noise to disappear. Yet no matter how far he ran from the horrific giantess, the church bells yet still resounded throughout his body, giving him the feeling akin to his entire self being ripped in two.
Finally, two minutes had passed; the short time seemed like two years for everyone exposed to the monstrous song. Fighter jets could be seen in the sky. Nier turned around to face where the humongous statue once stood, and turned just in time to see the red dragon be shot down from the sky, only to be impaled by the Tokyo Tower. Where the statue once stood was instead what looked to be crumbling sheets of stone, carried by the wind and falling to the streets. The whole scene was wrong. Unnatural. And everyone in Shinjuku thought the same. But this was not the end of the chaos.
It was merely the start of the end of humanity.