So I'm currently on holiday with no Internet nor even just a computer (seeing as my laptop shares Kiyotaka's infuriating sense of mean humor and decided to die the day before I left) but I thought of all my desperate readers and decided I simply could not leave them hanging, begging, crying, etc.
(coughs)
Actually it's just that I'll be very busy and Internet-missing again after the holidays and, even though I'm a bit stressed and on edge because my comatose laptop has the only copies of the latest versions of the next chapters on it, I love this baby too much not to update it in a whole month. So you're getting this out of pure selfishness on my part. Hope this doesn't stop you from enjoying your read. :)
Before you start, though, you should note that I've long decided that Kousuke should always get horribly and unfairly abused and this site should have a "disturbing" category alongside with "romance", "angst" and all. God knows it would be useful.
And now, have fun ! Don't let the random title fool you, this is only the beginning.
Mwa ha ha.
Asazuki Kousuke was born in Eden on the 21st of July, 2070, of 'newcomers' parents — meaning the Asazuki couple were not among the first wave on Eden pioneers, but moved in to the city later. His family had lived in district 18 for as long as he can remember.
He was eleven the year an experiment rat, on which a virus vaccine was tested, escaped from a lab in neighbouring district 19. He remembers the announcement on TV that this particular rat, instead of dying from the virus like most others, had seemed to get stronger and smarter ; he remembers how his mom freaked out and how his dad laughed and said it was nothing.
Over the next few weeks, the virus mutated and started affecting humans. Then it spread.
The contagion occurred by any possible way - sexual encounter, blood transfer, saliva, cough, even, it seemed, simple physical contact. It had the peculiar effect of destroying any organ it affected — and most times, it spread to most of the body and reached vital organs quite quickly — by cutting it down to pieces ; not by eating it, nor by corroding it. Cutting. You woke up one morning spitting up your own blood and bits of your insides. Because of that (and the impossible pronunciation of its actual scientific name), it got vastly known as the Blade virus.
Kousuke had just turned twelve when he caught it.
---
His parents had tried to leave town, of course — then it had been discovered that Kousuke's school had been infected. No treatment had been found yet (no treatment was ever found). Quarantine was declared, with armed guards assigned to keep watch on the district boundaries and strict forbidding for anyone to cross them, one way or another. But the thing was, it had taken everyone a couple weeks to realize how dangerous the illness was. Two weeks, precisely. And during those two weeks, the virus was already there, already getting passed on, already developing without showing any symptom and waiting, patiently, to strike out.
Many other children had caught it alongside Kousuke. Strangely, though, unlike all the other kids, he didn't die.
His parents did.
And in the months following, so did all his classmates, his teachers, and most of his neighbours ; and before dying in turn, younger siblings of his schoolmates had allowed it to spread to a close-by elementary school.
At this time, of course, the democratically-elected government had all schools in Eden closed down, gave money to schools staff and handed out surgical masks and gloves for citizens to wear when going outside.
For district 18, though, it was much too late.
---
Kousuke's district was successfully cut off from the rest of the city as soon as the epidemic started. He doesn't know if people outside are aware that everyone here (except him) is dead by now, but he's sure the virus found a way to spread outside his district anyway. It's a smart thing.
Proof : he didn't die. He caught the damn thing, he's certain of it, he didn't show many symptoms and not quickly, but he's probably the one who passed it on to his parents. Yet he didn't die. Instead, he's realized that he's become more resistant to infection, cold, malnutrition, and everything that comes with living on your own for a twelve-year-old kid ; he's gotten stronger.
So he can pass it on to more victims.
Smart thing.
(Except there isn't anyone around for him to contaminate anymore.)
So before that terrible summer is over, he's alone in a dead district. He's long figured out how to sneak past the quarantine barriers in the early morning, when the watch shifts and the guards aren't quite awake yet ; but he keeps coming back anyway. No one bothers him, except the animals that have been gradually taking over the neighbourhood, and he doesn't have to pay anything for the food he takes from the supermarkets and restaurant fridges, doesn't owe any rent to anyone for the nice house he's settled in. (His own was bigger, but it was too big and it hurt too much every time he passed his parents' room ; so he moved. He's closer to the old shops and fast-food restaurants now.)
The problem with the houses is that while, of course, they're fully-functioning and deserted, there are often bodies still inside ; not everyone made it to the local hospital, which was full anyway. Kousuke burned his parents' bodies, because better that than leave them to the animals, but he had to stay close to make sure the fire didn't catch to the whole house, and it stank and the smoke made him cry. He doesn't want to do it again. No one died at work, though, or at least no one's body was left there, so the offices, shops and other business buildings are fine.
But the bodies are the only problem, really ; it's easier to take care of yourself when you're all alone than among other people. For one, he probably wouldn't be let in the shops, seeing as he keeps forgetting to bathe and change clothes. And well, whether or not you have any money, it's difficult to get anything from a shop if you can't even get in.
So Kousuke finds an empty, clean and rather comfortable house, teaches himself how to cook and takes to constantly letting the TV on just to break the silence. That's how he learns the latest news about the mutating virus.
---
They finally figure out that not everybody who gets it dies. Survivors are rare, but the Blade virus makes them stronger ; they resist to most illnesses along it, and their physical strength, reflexes and senses develop. They are contagious, and the people they contaminate will die from it, but they are immunized. They do not seem to suffer any kind of pain or disability in return. It is possible for one not to even notice it before a long time.
It hasn't been verified, the journalist says, survivors being around pre-adolescence for reasons yet unknown, but it is probably transmissible to progeny.
A month later, the Hunt begins. That's when they announce its start, anyway, although they obviously don't call it that.
Survivors of the disease, children of the Blade virus, are declared a danger, as they are able to roam the streets free and contaminate everyone, sometimes without even knowing it. Anyone that keeps going on with their usual life while knowing they are contaminated and contagious, is nothing short of criminal. Citizens, especially pre-teens, are encouraged to get health checks ; if they are found positive, they will be taken care of in a special hospital. They will be well treated, fed and occupied, and it will be ensured that they have no way to contaminate anyone until a treatment is finally found.
Officially, that's what is said. Kousuke wonders who will be stupid enough to go give themselves over and get themselves locked away in an asylum. He can't believe it when the next day, a little girl appears on TV (though her face is blurred), interviewed from behind a glass panel, saying she came on her own to "get protection".
And to protect others, she adds ; then, and only then, does Kousuke realize that other "children of the Blade" are probably not in the same situation as he is : they have to chose between their freedom and other people's lives. He doesn't have to worry, everyone in his vicinity is dead already. It's different for this girl.
"I don't want to hurt anyone," she whispers, just before the screen fades to black and switches back to the journalist.
---
About ten days later, he's starting to really think about going to that hospital. He'd be taken care of, there ; his freedom in exchange for warmth, fresh food and company, it just might be worth it. He's starting to feel really lonely, after all. He misses his parents.
His brooding is suddenly interrupted by a loud crash and a weird sound, which he needs a few seconds to recognize as a scream. He isn't much used to hearing human voices not coming out of loudspeakers anymore. He springs up and runs to the window, and stops dead at what he sees.
Then he rushes downstairs, jumping down four steps at a time, and only stops for a second to grab a kitchen knife on the way.
The girl outside screams again and he runs.
---
She is lying on the dirty pavement, her skirt riding up her thighs and her shirt torn and stained red at the shoulder. A man has a foot pushing on her stomach, holding her down while he's loading new bullets in his gun.
Kousuke's fingers clench on the handle of the knife and he's long stopped thinking.
---
Of the next few minutes, all he will ever remember is screaming. He won't ever be able to remember who did, though : the girl, the man, or himself.
---
He steps aside afterwards, has to lean against a wall in order to keep himself up because his legs are threatening to give way. His fingers are smearing red on the concrete wall. He bends over and throws up.
When he finally looks up, the girl stares back.
It is Takamachi Ryouko. She was in his class at school. She was violent and not cute and she used to fight him all the time when he tried to protect her from the bullies. He liked her a lot, even though he hid it well.
He'd thought she'd died like everyone else.
Her eyes are wide, her irises circled with white and her pupils contracted to narrow slits. Her hand is shaking as it wipes the blood splattered on her face, and her voice is no better.
"Kou-Kousuke ?" she whispers, low and hesitant and scared, and Kousuke can't blame her for not being able to say anything more.
"Yeah," is all he can answer. He looks at his hands, literally covered in blood, and throws up a bit more. He is twelve and he has just killed a man.
---
"Child of the Blade ?" he asks her when he finally finds the strength to talk, because that's the most obvious reason a girl this age would be wandering this neighbourhood.
She cringes, her face contorting in a painful wince and her shoulders tensing up, like she thinks he's going to hurt her, even though what he's just done has saved her life.
"N-no," she blurts out unconvincingly.
He snorts. "Right. 'Ts okay, me too. C'mon." He grabs her hand, the one of the uninjured arm, and she looks shocked as he helps her up. "What ?" he mumbles.
She lets out a nervous little laugh. "Ah, nothing. It's just that... people haven't touched me much for a long time." She smiles bitterly and squeezes his hand, and he doesn't manage to fight off the blush completely. "Thank you, Kousuke." Her smile widens just a little bit.
He can't really answer anything, so he just says "Let's go."
She nods and they run off, together.