"Join the Guardians."
"What?" I asked, looking at Uncle Nikaidou.
"You heard me," he said coldly.
I looked down to my lap as he was driving me to Easter.
"It's so I can get information from them, isn't it? And to eventually steal the Humpty Lock away."
"Yes," he answered curtly.
I clenched my fists in my lap.
Koori flew into my line of vision and gave me a worried look. Normally, she would have suggested something like, "You know you can just refuse, right?" But she didn't. She didn't want to disappear. I didn't want my brother's hearts egg to be affected either.
Why are people cruel?
"We're here."
I stepped out of the car, not really watching where I was going, but following Uncle Nikaidou from behind. He had opened doors for me and let me through first, but I didn't really register my surroundings. I just numbly walked.
"Yukari, I brought her," I heard him say.
I briefly snapped out of my trance and looked up. She wore the same clothes as the last time I had seen her.
"Lets hurry this up. I have things to do with Utau," she said.
She turned away to lead me further into the scientific room from before when I asked, "You work with Utau?"
She turned to look at me briefly. "Yes, I'm her manager. Now come." She turned back and started walking. I quickly followed her. Uncle Nikaidou stayed behind.
"What are we doing?" I asked.
"We're going to see if you can Character Transform on your own," Yukari answered.
"Oh..." I replied, lowering my head as I followed her.
"Enter here," she instructed as she stopped in front of this confined area. It had glass barriers all around it so people could see inside. At this point, I felt like a test subject.
I went in without a word and heard the door close behind me and auto-lock itself.
Yukari went to the control area of the room and spoke over the intercom, "Can you hear me, Ream?"
"Yes," I replied.
"Then we'll begin, but you might feel some pain," she warned.
I flinched and felt myself freeze a bit. "What do you mean...?"
"We need to put you into a dangerous situation in order for you to get into the mindset of transforming. There's nothing to worry about. It's all controlled," she reassured.
I swallowed hard, but nodded.
"You know you don't have to do this..." Koori said quietly.
"It's okay. I'll be fine," I said, but mostly to comfort myself than comfort her.
"We're starting."
I nodded.
I stood there and waited for something to start. At first, it felt like an eternity to wait, and I almost relaxed, thinking that maybe nothing would happen after all, but I suddenly felt a jolt. It felt like those times when you accidentally got shocked by someone else. You know, being shocked from static electricity.
Then I started to feel more of those shocks, and they hurt more each time they touched my skin.
Memories started to flow into my head that I had kept pushing back, but it was hard to keep them at bay when I felt pain.
"What has gotten into you lately?" mom shouted. "You have been a complete jerk recently!"
"Nothing! Leave me alone!" dad shouted as he started to storm upstairs, but mom followed him.
"No! I won't leave you alone! I want an explanation, Kenta!"
"Just shut up!" he yelled, backhanding her.
She tumbled down the stairs and my eyes widened. I screamed, "Mom!"
I looked to dad and our eyes met. He looked horrified, but then his face hardened and his eyes seemed to cloud over. He lifted the can to his lips and took a swig before walking off.
The pain started to intensify, and I couldn't keep the small cries of pain to a minimum anymore.
"Dad, what's wrong?" I asked cautiously as I entered the room.
He smelt horrible, and had those familiar cans laying all over the place. He didn't look himself at all.
"I won't let your mother leave me, or you, or your brother."
I felt afraid. We wanted to leave only because he had suddenly become so violent. None of us knew why. It was like one day he was fine, and the next, he'd snapped.
His face twisted into an ugly, angry expression. "I won't let her leave me for that scum," he spat.
"Who are you talking about dad?" I asked, not quite understanding what he was getting at.
But that was a big mistake...
He slammed the can on his bedside table, some of the contents sloshing out onto it.
"How can you not know, Ream? You've met him! You've met him god dammit!"
He stormed towards me and I backed away. I tried slamming his bedroom door in his face so I could run to some other place in the house, but he had caught it in his hand.
I screamed. It hurt so bad, and the memories of the beatings, and the fights, and the fear; the courtroom, the judge, and all the people just sitting there listening... I couldn't get it out of my head now! It just all came flooding back so fast that it was becoming a mushed up blur.
I collapsed on the floor of the confined glass room and screamed as I held my hands to my ears, "STOP IT!"
Then suddenly, the painful shocks were gone, but my body ached. I slowly removed my shaking hands from my ears, and realized that my cheeks were wet and my eyes hurt.
"Ream! Ream!"
I turned.
"U-Uncle Nikaidou?" I asked.
He quickly embraced me.
"This wasn't what we agreed on, Yukari! We weren't going to use this method!" he shouted. It made my ears ring.
Yukari replied over the intercom, "It was the best approach to take that would have brought the best results."
Uncle Nikaidou didn't say anything further, but I imagined that he was glaring at the woman.
"We're going home, Remy," he said.
"Okay..."
