There's screaming from shoppers in the store as the windows shatter inward, scattering the bits of glass into small diamond shaped shards sprinkling across the floor. People cover their heads and drop to the floor.
The pain subsides to a dull ache. Umie slides her hand under her jacket and feels for the wound to make sure it's not bleeding. Thankfully it'd not but the force of the gunshot knocked her, Nari and Kenshi down, so she had to have been hit with something. Umie runs her fingers over her shoulder, and feels a hard bump where the skin used to be smooth, even with it stitches.
There's a ringing in her ears, and Umie feels lightheaded. But the thought of Nari and Kenshi makes herself push to her hands and knees. She slowly looks around and finds Nari lying beside her.
She reaches for her when there's a crack against the floor. Umie drops to the floor as she hears the crack again next to face, and a metallic cylinder about the size of her hand rolls to a stop against her head. Before she can move it, white smoke sprays out of both ends. Umie coughs and throws it away from her, out more toward the windows of the store. She instinctively pulls the collar of Kenshi's borrowed flannel over her nose and pretends to collapse onto Nari. It isn't the only cylinder, though – they are everywhere, filling the room with smoke that does not burn or sting. In fact, it only obscures her view.
Move!
Her heart skips a beat as she feels Nari stir beneath her hands and coughs sharply. Umie gently brushes her fingers against the lump rising out of Nari's skull. Thankfully Nari blinks open her eyes, and the girls manage to make eye contact long enough for Umie to pull Nari's collar over her nose. The smoke obscures their view for a few seconds before evaporating completely. Umie coughs, carefully swiping tears from her watering eyes as she scans her surroundings.
Lying on the floor all around them are the shoppers and cashiers with their eyes closed. Umie frowns as she looks Kenshi up and down – he doesn't seem to be bleeding. There's no wound near his vital organs, which means he isn't dead. Nari looks over her left shoulder where a woman fell in a strange, half-curled position. She's also unconscious.
The girls lock eyes and think the same thing: Knockout Gas. So why aren't they affected? Even though they had pulled their shirts up, surely the effects of the gas would've activated shortly over time.
The sound of glass crunching beneath a heavy boot makes both the girls drop their heads, flipping their hair to cover their faces. Heart pounding, Umie wants so desperately to reach out and grasp Nari's hand, but she doesn't risk it.
Peeking through the strands of their hair, the girls watch as men dressed in black walk into the store, guns held up. And they're big guns, rifles and shotguns and machine guns. Umie's heart jars in her throat and sees Nari shift a little in nervousness. They decide to do what they always do when they're not sure what's going on: Act like everyone else.
The girls hold their breath and close their eyes. Their heads pound as the men's footsteps come closer, and closer, squeaking on the tile floors. Nari bites her tongue to suppress a cry of pain as one of them steps on her hand.
"Not sure why we can't just shoot them all in the head." one of them says. "If they're not the ones we want, what use are they?"
"Now, Tobias, we can't just kill everyone." A cold voice says.
The hair on the back of the girls' neck stands up. They know that voice. It matches the man they encountered at the museum, the one with long hair and spectacles, almost looking like an anime character.
"The boss wants the girls alive and . . . mostly unharmed. No bloodshed for them. Once we have the girls, I'll leave you and the men to do whatever you want."
"Does that include the girls, Daisuke?" by the way he speaks, he must be grinning.
Daisuke's voice rises. "Half scour the left of the store, the other on the right! Go!"
There's a security guard with a gun sitting in his loosened grip off to Umie's left. If she opens her eyes, she could grab it and fire at him before he knew what hit him. But there's no guarantee she will be able to touch it without panicking.
The girls wait until they hear the last footsteps disappear behind an aisle or until they've moved towards the back of the store before opening her eyes. Everyone in the front section of the store with the checkout aisles appears to be unconscious. Whatever they gassed them with had to be knockout gas, but that still doesn't explain why the girls are the only ones awake. It doesn't make any sense, but they don't have time to think it through.
Umie gets up and crawls over to Nari and quickly shake her shoulder, seething a whisper. "Nari, Nari get up!"
Nari jerks and gasps as Umie helps her to her feet. Umie tries to ignore the pain in her shoulder as he carries the weight of Nari before she can regain her balance.
"What do we do?" Nari asks.
"I don't know. The police have to arrive somehow. That explosion is sure to have attracted attention." Umie says. She glances around back to the security guard and quickly goes over, dragging Nari with her, afraid to leave her behind.
Nari watches as Umie loots through the guard's belt. She takes his pair of handcuffs and his gun. Nari swallows her nerves as she fumbles her phone out and calls the police. She constantly looks around in case one of the men come back.
"There's someone here at the grocery store and they've blown the windows out and they've knocked everyone unconscious." Nari steadies her voice while on the line.
"Girls!" someone says. Nari gasps and Umie turns around, gun in one hand and handcuffs in the other.
Kenshi stands behind them. Umie springs up and goes over and immediately hugs him. He stares at the gun in her hand, and takes it. Umie lets him. Nari can see that she has another, smaller one tucked in the waistline of her jeans behind her back.
"Thank god," Umie says. There is not time to be shocked.
"We should get out of here." Kenshi says
"No, we can't!" Umie immediately denies. "We have to do something!"
"The police will handle it." Kenshi calmly says. "We need to get out of here."
"You want to run away before you know what's going on?" Umie scowls at him.
"I know what's going on. They want you girls, and now they are dangerously close to it!" Kenshi argues.
"Look, Kenshi, if these men don't find us, they're going to kill every other person here! We need to do something until the police arrive!" Nari explains.
"And what do you propose we do?" Kenshi says as he sides up to the girls. "You can't risk hurting your shoulder more." he says to Umie, then turns his head to Nari. "And you don't even want to hold a gun."
"You're a fireman, what do you do?" Umie challenges.
"I'm usually leaving buildings, with unconscious people on my shoulder." Kenshi bickers.
"The police station isn't far from here. We can just shadow them. Maybe they'll explain more of what their boss wants with us . . . Seeing as how our grandfathers were just so helpful." Umie grumbles.
Kenshi looks around and sighs as he leads the girls towards where the first half of the store where the men have gone to inspect. As the girls pass the first aisle, Kenshi holding the gun in his hands, they wonder what on earth they intend to do. There are bound to be more of the men in the building, and what if more are outside and somehow manage to beat the police? Most of all, what do the girls expect to gain from submerging themselves in an army of evil men?
Nari was more than eager to side with Kenshi on leaving while the authorities handle it, but a small bit of conscience inside her persuades her that she can't afford to leave with the cost of so many innocent lives on her shoulders. Umie, who would normally care for her own safety, seems all too eager to see what it is the men are planning. But why? She knows the risks that could happen. And it's something more than her simply using her 'value' to the men as an advantage. She's not much of an ego-holder. Even if she wanted her so-called, 'boring life' to be more spectacular, there's something more to it. Something she's not confessing to Nari, or even herself maybe. It's as if she's somehow ditched her common sense for life in exchange for a more adventurous and irrational fantasy.
Deep inside of them both, they know the answer: Umie is being reckless. She will probably gain nothing. She might even die.
And more disturbingly still: They both know Umie doesn't really care.
It's just like things were at the museum. When Umie so normally put the gun to her head in an attempt to get the men to cooperate. How she spoke that she can and will so easily end her life if it means the extension of Nari's.
"The moment we hear sirens, we bolt." Kenshi whispers.
"Fine." Umie agrees.
"Okay." Nari says.
They walk down the aisles, stepping over unconscious people. Nari steps over a draped arm and a woman with her mouth hanging open. They each scan faces and bodies as they walk, searching for irregular breathes, flickering eyelids, anything to suggest that the people lying on the ground are just pretending to be unconscious. So far, all the breathing is even and all the eyelid are still. Maybe the three of them really are the only ones unconscious.
"Daisuke!" they hear someone shout from further down the long stretch of tile that connect the meat deli to the bakery. It sounds urgent. Kenshi grabs the girls and they duck behind a stack of water packets as Daisuke strides past them. Umie and Nari lean their heads out slightly as Kenshi checks their perimeter. They see one of their men kneeling over a woman wearing a white t-shirt and jean shorts.
The man carelessly grabs the unconscious woman by her ponytail, earning no response, and lifts her head enough.
"This the one?" he asks. "What's her name? Umie?"
Daisuke stares at the woman for a long moment, then he shakes his head. "Similar, but I'm almost sure. Bring her towards the front. We'll decide which ones are the real ones. Kill the ones who aren't."
Umie jerks her head to Kenshi who stares at Daisuke with anger and hatred. Daisuke continues down the aisle, away from the trio, and Umie tries to ignore the nausea in her stomach, a part of her relieved that the woman is unconscious. Her hair trapped in the first of the man in black, if she were her shrieks and begs of fear would've made Umie and Nari sick.
Kenshi takes the lead in following Daisuke, moving forward with a purpose. The girls watch each person to see it they're awake, but it's taking too much time. So the next unconscious person she come across, Umie steps hard on her pinkie finger. No response, not even a twitch. Umie steps over them and finds the next person's finger, pressing hard with the toe of her shoe. No response there either. Nari carefully steps around Umie and nudges the next person. Still nothing.
"There's no point to this, almost." Umie whispers to Nari, and they continue on. "But what do we do? We can't leave without risking these people getting shot, and we can't shoot them dead without alarming them, and still risking the lives of these people."
"You think they'll turn this whole thing into a hostage situation?" Nari asks.
"It's a possibility. And if they don't find us, they could shoot them all dead anyway." Umie ponders. "What do we do?"
Nari can only shake her head. She gets a feeling of what Umie's thinking. She wants to shoot all of them. Maybe not dead, but hopefully wounded enough that it's difficult for them to run. They hear someone shout, "Got one!" from a distant aisle and start to feel frantic. Nari hops over a fallen man after fallen woman, over children and teenagers and the elderly, stepping on fingers or stomachs or ankles, searching for signs of pain. They barely see their faces after a while, but still they get no responses.
"Why are we doing this again?" Nari asks.
"We were planning to find out what it is they're planning, but I don't think we'll have time." Umie answers.
"We'll have to just break for it." Kenshi says. He peers out from behind a stack of water packets and motions the girls to head down the aisle and the girls toggle over, keeping their positions crouched.
They manage to make it to the front end of the aisles, and as Kenshi scopes out ahead, Umie's foot bumps into another unconscious body. Though she isn't paying attention to trying to find people still conscious, she then steps on a tie connected to the person, and her throat tightens. Tatsuro.
His cell phone is cast aside from his hand and he lie on his stomach. Umie gasps and covers her mouth. She attracts Nari and Kenshi's attention and Nari looks down with wide eyes. Umie motions Nari to help her move him, but Nari is hesitant. Rolling her eyes and sighing in annoyance, Umie takes Tatsuro's wrists and drag him towards the exit. Kenshi, after scoping out the area, helps Umie in carrying Tatsuro's ankles.
As they carry him towards the doors, of which they have to use the manual exits since the power is out, Umie spots shadow movement behind Nari. As they come closer, Umie and Kenshi hurry up their retreat and manage to sneak with Tatsuro and once they're outside and out of sight, Umie narrows her eyes and aims her gun at one of the men she can still see. Given she's near-sided, she doesn't really care since most of the other citizens are unconscious.
"Umie!" Kenshi hisses.
But Umie fires a shot and sees one of the men jerk back and fall with blood arching in the air. The others look around frantically, unaware of the bullet hole in the window, and Umie fires again and sees them clutching their arms.
As if on cue, as Kenshi snatches her gun, the police car arrives and Kenshi hurls them back behind shelter, leaving Tatsuro on the sidewalk in plain sight of the police. As the police gather around, and storm into the building, Kenshi leads the girls round the back and leads them away from the scene. All the while he grips Umie's arm tightly, and Nari remains quiet.
None of them speak for at least thirty minutes, with Kenshi constantly looking back to make sure they're not being followed. They still need to get back to get their car, but that doesn't seem likely since the scene is now most likely going to be roped off. And if the police decide to track Kenshi through the license plate number, it could arise suspicion as to why he fled the scene. But perhaps Takuto can take care of that.
Once they reach a park, of which is deadly quiet, Kenshi releases Umie and practically shoves her into a bench. "What the hell is wrong with you? Why did you fire? We were out!"
"You heard them Kenshi, they would've killed everyone if they hadn't found us. I had to do something to distract them. Besides the police arrived with impeccable timing!" Umie argues.
Nari sits quietly on the bench with her hands in her lap. She fiddles with the pink tassel of her bracelet while Kenshi and Umie argue, still keeping their voices low so no one will be able to overhear.
"That was based on pure luck! Don't you realize you could've endangered them more?!"
"Yes."
"Then why do it?" Kenshi harshly says.
"Because I -!" Umie struggles to find the right answer. Why did she do it? Digging deep, the answers are there, but they're almost too cruel and insane to say out loud, and she defiantly doesn't want Kenshi to hear it. Umie lowers her head and defensive position and submits. "I don't know."
"You don't know." Kenshi repeats, and Umie can hear the disappointment in his voice, but really his assumption isn't that astray from Umie's answers.
She wanted to kill them. She had little regards for Nari's life . . . and perhaps her own. The men could've easily shot out everyone from her stupid mistake. The police coming was based on pure luck. Umie just wanted to end them; right then and there. But now going through what she did, she also endangered Nari as well.
"Fine." Kenshi waves off irritated. He paces back and forth in
She was being reckless, and that is Kenshi's thought of her. But Umie would rather have that than to have him think of her being a cold-blooded killer; because then she'd be no different than the men at the market.
But disturbingly enough, Umie's only concern is whether or not this stunt will change Kenshi's mind on teaching Umie how to shoot.
Her shoulder throbs but the adrenaline still finishing it course through her body numbs it down, and Nari still stares off at the ground. Umie places a hand on her shoulder and she looks up her face seems normal, perhaps she was in deep thought. Umie feels a tug of guilt when she fins Nari a little bit shaky and rubs her shoulder before pulling her into a hug.
Nari allows it, but Umie can't shake the feeling that she's off somewhere else. There's no sound of gunshots, and Umie can only hope that the men either got arrested, or they escaped but no one else had gotten killed. With her free hand, Umie fiddles with the bracelet on her wrist as he simple strokes Nari's back.
"Are you okay?" Umie asks.
Nari shrugs, and Umie fears she might be in shock. Umie looks to Kenshi with worried eyes. Kenshi looks to Nari and sighs. "Alright, let's just head back to the bar and I'll figure something out from there."
"Okay." Umie softly replies. The walk back to the bar isn't so bad, and with the police occupied with the store, they can slip away unnoticed.
They nudge their way through the crowd and Umie keeps close to Nari while Kenshi talks on his phone with Boss. He doesn't mention about Umie shooting the two men, and when they make it back to the bar, the rest of the guys are there seated at the bar.
Takuto had his laptop set on the bar next to a cup of tea with a lemon wedge. Hiro gets up from his seat and goes over to Nari, who allows him to give her a hug. Umie can't stop the sickening feeling tugging of guilt as Nari continues to wander over to the bar. She takes a seat and simply folds her fingers together. Umie feels nearly sick, but would rather apologize to Nari when they're both back in their rooms. So, as much as her instinct denies it, Umie sighs through her nose and wanders back upstairs to the rooms.
Kenshi watches after Umie as she mounts the steps, her long braid swaying behind her. Riki who was behind the bar saunters over to Nari and leans forward enough to speak to her. He must've asked her something simple because he merely nods his head and goes into the back room. Kenshi catches Takuto looking at him, and with a simple incline of his blonde eyebrows Kenshi sighs and shakes his head. Takuto simply resumes his work.
Sauntering up to the bar, Kenshi waits until Riki gives Nari a simple glass of water and walking out of the bar area and takes a seat next to Takuto. Kenshi takes a seat on the stool next to Nari and asks, "Are you okay?"
Nari is silent, swallowing a couple times before answering. "How could she have been so stupid?"
Kenshi sighs and shakes his head. "I don't know. I figured you knew her better than me."
"I guess not." There's silence again, and then – "I know she's wanted excitement in her life, and I know in a way, she's excited for all of this, but I hate how she's going complete balls to the wall into trouble, with little regards for her life and the lives of others!"
As she speaks, her voice rises; loud enough that Kenshi has to shush her because Umie is directly upstairs. And there's little noise and thickness of walls to prevent her from listening.
Nari shakes her head and takes grips the straw with her shaking hands. "I just don't get it. It seemed like she could've gotten us killed, and she didn't care! Just so what, she can die a hero?!"
"She's not really a hero if she gets you killed." Takuto chimes. And while Kenshi shoots him a warning glare, Nari nods.
"Yes! Exactly! I – I don't know. I don't know what the hell she was thinking." Nari sighs. "But, any luck on deciphering the code yet?"
"Not yet." Takuto breathes with exhaustion. "I'm pretty sure I've tried everything; and none of it has worked."
Nari can tell. There are purple marks starting to form under Takuto's eyes, signs of little sleep. His skin also seems to be paler, and in a way, it gives Nari a form of happiness. In a way, it just shows how dedicated Takuto is to his work, and shows just how much effort he's willing to put forth in discovering hers and Umie's grandfather's secrets. Nari would thank him, if she knew it wouldn't end with a snarky comment, and in turns making her regret even bothering to thank Takuto in the first place. And with her head still spinning around Umie's recklessness, she doesn't feel emotionally strengthened to deal with anything else. So Nari simply lets Takuto work in peace we she stirs her water with her straw.
Upstairs, Umie is seated on the top bunk with her laptop out in front of her. The only way she can get her mind off of her rather stupid mistake and attempting to be bold and brave, she started to look upon the internet of any openly youth groups named: The Alumi.
To her dismay, there isn't just one, there are tens of thousands. Most of which are just groups that help troubled teens with drugs and abuse. Sighing, Umie closes out the tab and reopens a new one. Her grandfather had said that this certain Alumi group has a certain symbol that each of the members have assumingly tattooed on them, so she tries to think of the next search words for her engine and goes at it again.
But her mind is elsewhere as she tries to browse. Despite the shock she might have just shoved her best friend into, Umie can't help but be worried that Kenshi will suddenly want to disagree with training Umie how to fight and shoot. She wants that more than anything.
Even if it is a stretch, Umie can see herself getting stronger, bulkier, faster. Sprinting at full speeds without having to stop for breathes; twirling blades and taking on men that would laugh at her challenge, only to have her prove them wrong. She sees herself fighting and finally walking around with the confidence she so desperately wants.
Of course, each fantasy includes her wielding knives and swords instead of the modern guns, but this is a result of the dreams she's had.
Her dreams are filled with ancient battles, by swords with eyes, by cloaked figures that swirl around her, their blackness clinging to her skin. She can see the gleaming blades of the shadow warriors, hear the tearing of flesh and feel the warmth and stickiness of blood on her hands. The smell of the blood and rotting corpses all around her. Carnage trails in her wake as she is victorious. Umie shudders.
The dreams themselves being her main motivation to get healthy and do almost anything to keep this deal true.
What can she do, though? She's truly not sorry for trying to kill the men, but she is sorry for endangering everyone. Maybe that's all they need to hear; just hear her apologize for her mistakes. But the only thing is, thanks to the multiple bitter disputes with her mother, Umie has learned not to apologize, at least when she doesn't think she did something wrong.
As she clicks through the browsers, she types in Alumi organizations with the members by the name of Elena Adams. It narrows down the results, if only by a few tens. As she scrolls through website after promotional website, she hears the door click and in steps Nari. Looking at the clock, it's well past midnight, and while both girls can feel the emotional exhaustion, their bodies feel revved enough to go jogging around the lake twice.
Nari looks up to Umie, who makes a move to close her laptop. "Hey." She says, before her friend can look away and plunk into bed.
"Hi." Nari mumbles quietly. Still, she moves towards the bed and Umie sighs as she closes the laptop and climbs her way down the small ladder.
"Listen," she says when she's in front of Nari. "I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to scare you. I didn't mean to make you think I was crazy or reckless, but I was. And I'm sorry I had acted so stupid." Umie babbles.
"Why would you, though?" Nari asks. She stares at her with damning annoyance.
Umie sighs and plops down onto the carpet color. "Because I wanted some excitement. And while I know it's stupid, I just can't help myself from trying. I mean, my boring life is finally getting a twist on things, and now . . . now I guess it feels like I can do anything."
"But that doesn't mean you should act stupid." Nari says harshly, causing Umie to cringe. "This isn't a movie, this isn't a video game. When you shoot a gun, real people's lives are in danger."
Umie sighs and fights the urge to roll her eyes, if only Nari is sounding like her mother right now; but she needs to hear this. She deserves it because Nari is right.
"I mean you're the one who has the common sense here, I don't. And if we both don't, then that can be bad." Nari recovers. Umie chuckles. "Look, I know you want to be a big badass, and save the world and prove you're not so innocent and frail looking, but remember you're still inexperienced."
"Alright, alight." Umie sighs. "I promise."
"Okay. Thank you." Nari says. "And now that we got that out of the way, Takuto still hasn't cracked the code of the gramophone."
"Our grandfathers." Umie says as she pushes to her feet and readies to climb back up the ladder. "Always too smart for their own good."
"I'm starting to think it doesn't have any other purposes." Nari says as she plops down onto the mattress. "I mean, after the message, nothing else seems worth keeping."
"Well, you never know." Umie says as she climbs up the ladder again. "I'd say keep it. Maybe we can figure it out instead."
There's a moment of silence, and then Nari says. "I'll see you in the morning."
"Good night, Nari." Umie says.
"Night."