Chapter 6: Newcomers
Hope City was completely empty. Kaede was sure of that now. She and Kaito had spent the entire morning walking through the silent streets until their legs were burning and their hearts were hopeless. Hopeless. That was a good way to describe it, Kaede thought. With no idea what had happened and no idea what to do next, it was hard to feel anything but hopeless. How ironic, considering the location of their despair was in a city with a name the opposite of it.
Regardless of that, Kaede forced herself to keep her spirits up. Both for her sake and Kaito's. Speaking of her best friend, he was beginning to lag behind. The soft footsteps of his galaxy-themed slippers had slowed, now a faint dragging noise on the concrete sidewalk. Kaede stopped her march and turned around.
"Come on, Kaito. I thought you were supposed to be an astronaut-in-training," she laughed lightly.
Kaito looked at her and smiled. "Sorry. Didn't sleep well, I guess." He hastened his steps to catch up with her, then yawned as she continued walking.
"Really? I thought the guest bedroom was comfortable," Kaede said, watching the street ahead of them. A rat scurried across the road.
"It is… it's just…" Kaito sighed as he scratched the back of his neck. "It's weird, you know? Something about all of this," he gestured to the empty street around them, "isn't right. I don't feel right, at least." His voice echoed between the steel and glass buildings on either side.
"I know…" Kaede said quietly. She didn't want to admit it to herself, but the city felt like something out of a horror movie. She didn't think she would even feel surprised if a monster suddenly came running out from around a corner. She shivered and made sure to watch her left, where darkness shrouded the alleyways between buildings
"But don't worry about that!" Kaede found her bright smile again. "We're gonna figure out what happened eventually. We have to! Anyways, we've got each other. Nothing can beat us when we're together, right?" She lightly punched Kaito's arm.
The taller boy grinned back. "Right!"
Kaede was glad she could lighten the mood for a bit.
It was only a few minutes before the pair entered the "office district". That was what most people called it. It was the infamously dull corner on the edge of Hope City which contained a majority of the office buildings in the city. It was mostly dead silent, even when things were… normal. It had somehow become even more dull with the sudden change of events. Kaede practically felt her eyes grow bored with staring at the identical beige, gray, and black buildings they passed.
"What do you think we'll find?" Kaito asked suddenly.
"What do you mean?" Kaede said.
"Like… do you think we're actually gonna find anything out here?"
"I'm sure we will… eventually."
"I was thinking, maybe we should meet up with-" Kaito abruptly fell into silence. "Kaede, look!" He whispered, pointing up at one of the buildings. Kaede's gaze followed.
In one window on the second-to-top floor of an office building across the street, a light was on. The yellow ring was more ominous than comforting, though. Kaede shivered at the sight of it. No figures moved in the room from what they could see, but they guessed someone was inside, either now or had been before. In all of the buildings they had explored, absolutely no lights were left on. So why now? Why this one?
"Let's go," Kaede said, jogging across the street to the glass doors of the building.
"Wait, wait, Kaede!" Kaito rushed after her, grabbing one of her arms while the other rested on the door handles. "We don't even know who's up there! What if it's a violent person, or a ghost, or… something?" Kaito frowned. "Just because Shuichi was friendly doesn't mean anyone else we meet is going to be."
Kaede stared into her friend's purple eyes. He was confident and determined, like her, but definitely more cautious. He wanted to figure out what was going on just as much as her, but knew they couldn't rush into danger head-first. Kaede knew that as well, but she was blinded by her own optimism sometimes. To her, in a situation like this, there was no time to wait around and plan things out. It was time to act.
"It'll be fine, Kaito," Kaede assured him. "If someone attacks, both of us together can handle them." His expression changed only slightly.
She pulled open the doors and stepped into the building. It was as basic as the exterior, with the only bit of decoration being the fake potted plants on various surfaces. She looked down the hallways leading off of the entrance room, eventually finding the one which held the elevators and stairs. She opted to take the stairs after a moment of consideration. Her legs would hate her later, but the caution she retained agreed with her decision. She heard Kaito mount the stairs behind her. They took the steps two at a time.
Eight flights, and more aching muscles, later, they had reached the fourth floor, where the light had been. Kaede and Kaito placed their hands on the metal door which would let them out of the dark stairwell. They nodded to each other before pushing the metal bar together, opening the door with a horribly loud clank.
They entered the carpeted room wordlessly. Kaede crept past the rows of desks, separated by half-walls that were only slightly taller than Kaito. There were no signs of life, only blackened monitors and stacks of paper. As she moved forward, Kaede could see the warm glow coming from one cubicle against the left wall, near the end of the room.
In a few minutes that dragged on slowly, Kaede could finally look into the cubicle holding the single lamp. There was no one there. Only the golden lamp on top of the desk, a black cord connecting it to an outlet. With a small gesture, Kaede told Kaito to stay where he was, crouched in a cubicle diagonal from the lamp. Kaede stood fully and walked across the room, to the cubicle against the windows
She flicked off the lamp, dousing the room in the dull gray which covered everything else. Outside, small raindrops had begun to fall. Kaede sighed. It would be a long and wet walk back home. She could see her own reflection, albeit faintly, in the reflective glass. She wore the same clothes she had the day before, not seeing a need to- Wait, was that movement behind her?
Kaede crashed against the desk when a sudden force hit her from behind, knocking over the lamp with a loud crash. She immediately tried to push herself up with her hands, only to find that they had been tied behind her back. How in the world did that happen so quickly?
"Kaede!" Came Kaito's cry from a few feet away. Then, a loud grunt and thud. Kaede spun around and saw the scene before her.
Kaito was on the ground, his jacket flung off of the shoulder it rested on, and some of his purple hair falling from its signature style. He stared up, wide-eyed, at another boy, whose foot rested on the center of his chest. The boy who stood over him was fairly tall, with green hair and darker green eyes. He wore a plain sweatshirt and jeans, nothing out of the ordinary for a teenager, which Kaede presumed he was. Except for his piercings: it seemed like one in each ear and another above his eyebrow. The other boy, who Kaede almost didn't notice, was standing next to her. He was maybe half a foot shorter than her, and looked like a child, with his round purple eyes and wide grin. He was dressed more strangely than his partner, in a white suit and checkered scarf. She wondered how that kid had managed to take her down in the way he had.
No one spoke. For what seemed like an hour, they all stared at each other, measuring each other up and evaluating the next move. Kaede bent her neck at an uncomfortable angle to view the binds on her wrists. It looked like a normal rope to her.
"Sorry, you can't break out of that!" The small boy laughed at her. "It's made from my special super strong steel!"
"Really?" Kaede gasped. Her shoulders began to ache as much as her legs.
"Who the hell are you guys?" Kaito said in as tough a voice he could muster. He shoved the green-haired boy's foot off of him, jumping to his feet. Kaito was a couple inches taller, and used it to his advantage, glaring down at the attacker. His hands tightened into fists at his sides. The green-haired boy let a smirk show on his lips. Kaito let a fist fly, but the other boy dodged it, ducking to the side with ease.
This apparently angered the small boy, since he took a few steps forward, his grin turning to a scowl. "Don't you dare touch Rantaro!" He shouted. His rage seemed extreme, almost exaggerated.
"Relax, Kokichi. He can't hurt me," Rantaro continued smiling. In one move, Kaito was on the floor again. Rantaro had won. Kaede took the chance while they were both distracted to tug harder on her binds. Strong? Yes. Special super strong steel? Definitely not. She felt them loosen a bit as she pulled.
"You guys are pretty stupid to walk right up to us," Kokichi laughed again, his anger gone as quickly as it had appeared. "It saves us a lot of trouble, though, so thanks!"
"Trouble?" Kaito groaned from the floor. "What are you planning? What do you want from us?"
"Oh, nothing, I was just sent by my evil organization to kill you two for your crimes!" Kokichi's expression darkened.
"Kill us?" Kaede exclaimed.
"Our crimes?" Kaito exclaimed.
"Yep!" Kokichi said.
Rantaro rolled his eyes with a sigh. "He's lying. Just give me anything you've got on you, and we won't have to hurt you." He held out his hand to Kaito, who stared at it with a venomous look.
"Why should I? I don't even know who you guys are!" Kaito yelled.
Rantaro pulled his hand back. It was his time to become serious. His eyes narrowed, and his smile turned downcast. "That's none of your business. You just need to know that we have complete control right now, and it would be wise to listen. Unless…" He turned to Kaede. "You wouldn't want me to hurt anyone, right?" His hand slipped into his jeans pocket and produced a small pocket knife.
Kaede watched as Kaito's eyes widened. He pulled out the contents of his coat pockets with regret. She watched Rantaro's knife go back into his pocket, only its outline showing through the denim. She let out the breath she was holding. Kaito handed over his cellphone and a few crumpled dollar bills. Next, Rantaro approached Kaede. She forced herself to stare up into his eyes. Don't show weakness, she told herself. The earlier fear and shock she felt was replaced by burning anger, a want for revenge.
She cringed at the feel of Rantaro's hands on her back as he opened her white backpack. She couldn't see, but knew by the greatly lessening weight that he was taking everything she had in there. Her cellphone, keys, wallet, snacks, and drinks… All of it was going to be gone. After he was done and began to walk away, Kaede saw her chance.
Sprinting with her hands tied wasn't easy, but she managed. She charged towards Rantaro, who had turned his back on the girl he guessed wasn't the fighting type. She crashed into his stronger form with all of her weight, sending them both to the floor. The contents of her backpack flew out of Rantaro's arms, scattering across the ground. She heard shouts behind her, but tried to focus on the boy she had to keep pinned.
She glanced up for only a few seconds, during which she saw Kaito on his feet, charging towards Kokichi. Kaito extended his arms to grab the much shorter boy, but for what he lacked in height, he made up for in speed. Kokichi easily ducked, ran underneath Kaito's legs, and was next to Kaede in a split-second. Then, Kaede felt cool metal against her temple. She froze. It was a gun.
During her hesitation, she was flung off of Rantaro, who stood up with a flustered look. Kaito stood frozen on the other side of the duo. Kokichi still pointed the gun at her. After brushing himself off, Rantaro picked up the items he had dropped and tossed them into his own brown backpack. He slung the bag over one shoulder and gestured for Kokichi to come. Kokichi carefully followed, not lowering his gun by much.
Before he exited, Rantaro paused, with one hand on the door. "Good luck out there, guys. You never know what could be waiting just around the corner," he said without turning. He walked into the stairwell, leaving only Kokichi with their victims.
Kokichi stuffed the gun into a holster on the side of his white pants and looked up with a playful smile. "See you later!" He said with a wink. He followed Rantaro into the stairway, and was gone, along with a chunk of hope that Kaede and Kaito had been holding onto.