Chapter V
Our Lives on Your Head
At first it was startling, which is to be expected. When an ominous man breaks into your home its only natural to be a little anxious. But for me and with this man, it was a bit more.
The man—Amarao I believe—was in my eyes the bearer of bad news. Every time we'd met in the past he's only have something to say concerning Haruko, which in turn meant something dire was bound to happen.
His presence here undoubtedly meant something awry. But Haruko was gone and so was Medical Mechanica. So why was he here?
"What do you want?" I asked him. I noticed his eyes had locked on to mine as well as those of his partners. Her gaze was nervous and she sweated even though it was cool inside. Not turning her head to look at me, she watched me from the corner of her eye, as if she was trying to avoid my own gaze. I wondered why.
"How's your head, Naota?" He calmly asked; grinning with his hand on his chin and elbow set still on the table.
"It's fine," I responded brusquely. "Not that it's any of your business."
"What's with the bandage then?" He asked.
"I bumped my head at school. That's all it is."
"Why so tense, Naota?" He asked with a glare. We're friends right. What's with the attitude?"
"What are you doing here?" I retorted. "Where is everybody?"
"There's no one here but us, Naota. Sit down. We have to talk."
"About what?"
"About you." He said. "It's all about you. It's always been all about you."
I had no reason to trust this guy; however, I had no reason no to either. My body seemingly against my will began to move its way into the kitchen, to the table and seated itself across from the strange man. He grinned a sinister grin and nodded calmly as I did so.
We sat there for only a moment before Amarao began explain his presence to me. A short silence but an odd one. As I sat there without words my entire body seemed to relax in an instance. It was like my brain literally sighed in relief. I shook my head to comfort myself and in the shaking, I noticed that the woman who stood by the door was now gone. I thought nothing of it though.
"So what do you want?" I asked.
Amarao hesitated to answer, closing his eyes and laughing to himself. "You've groan up a little." He said. I mumbled something sarcastic to myself about his own maturity. I don't know whether or not he heard it. "How's everything at home?" He asked.
"What's that have to do with anything?"
"Nothing." He said. "I was just curious."
"It's fine. Everything is normal."
"Good. What about school?"
"The same." I answered.
"I see. Well, how's your love life been treating you?"
"….Did you come here to interrogate me?" I asked in a snap.
"I just need to make sure everything's okay." He said. "Make sure your head stays in shape."
"My head is just fine."
"If your mental condition drops below a certain level, N-O can be utilized. But you already knew that right?"
"Yeah." I answered. "You told me about that before."
"Yes. I did."
"What? You think something is going to happen?" I asked. "Medical Mechanica is gone. Nothing else is going to come out."
"They might not be here anymore but they certainly aren't gone."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"The plant was destroyed yes but that has nothing to do with the real Medical Mechanica. That plant was only here to serve a failed purpose. The building itself wasn't Medical Mechanica you know. The real Medical Mechanica is still out there." The intensity in his voice was obvious making the importance of his words clear. The way he spoke, with such passion for the subject, it intrigued me and I grew curious.
After a break I asked, "So what is this real Medical Mechanica that you keep mentioning?"
"They're not of this world. I can tell you that much." He responded as he began to stand "Think of them like mosquitoes or vampires if you prefer. Once you're bitten, your life is drained. Once they're done with you, they get rid of you."
Again, his passion made his peculiar response clear. Even though it wasn't the type of answer you'd expect from an adult, it got the point across. Not that I cared much though. I knew that there was nothing left to worry about. Amarao's fear was nothing besides him being unable to let go.
"That makes sense I suppose." Though it really didn't, I agreed as to not provoke him to go on any longer with this nonsense.
"I'm glad to see you understand. You're acting like a mature adult." He said. I looked ahead to the position he walked to and paused. It was where that woman had been standing just a few moments before. Now she was gone and I wondered to where. "Anyway," Amarao continued. "They're pretty angry having lost track of Atomsk. Now they're looking for him and I have a gut feeling they'll start with you."
"Why me again?" I questioned.
"It was just a coincidence Medical Mechanica built they're plant in the same city Atomsk chose to escape to. You're just a victim of fate." He said.
"Well you're well informed." I said wearily and sarcastically.
"I try to stay on top of things." A response made to avoid my inquiry. I didn't question it though. "At any rate, we've picked up N-O activity from within the city lately. I just came by to check on things."
"And how did you do that?" I asked in a drowsy manner.
"It's all in the technology." He said. "You look tired."
Amarao noticed it as well. A weary feeling fell over me. My body felt drained of its energy and my movements started to become sluggish as we went on for the next few minutes. Soon I developed a mild headache. The small pain didn't bother me but it made me hot, which made me tired. I couldn't say for sure but I knew it had something to do with the bump on my head.
"I'm not feeling well, that's all." I said to the man. "It's just a little headache."
I noticed Amarao look up at the ceiling, "You should take some medicine and rest a bit. We're almost done here anyway. There's just one more thing left. Something I have to give to you."
"What's that?" I curiously asked. In response he set down two small rectangular objects, mixed a green and brown color. A pair of those odd eyebrows he fashioned and had slapped on me once before. "I don't want those!" I remarked.
"It's just a precaution. I don't want anything else coming out of that little head of yours." Turning away from me at the sound of steps, Amarao gave his attention to the woman who now reentered our presence from the upstairs where she apparently fled to holding in her arms a blue guitar. "Is that the one?" Amarao asked of her. The woman responded with a nod, keeping her eyes firmly locked on the item.
"Why….are you taking that?" I asked with a yawn.
"Kitsurubami thinks its best of this isn't left in your possession and I agree. I actually don't know why I didn't think of that." With a shrug he turned to the woman again ordered their retreat, making his final comment that he would be in touch and then they were gone.
/\
After that I fell asleep right there on the kitchen table. With those eyebrows in my hand as I rested I got to thinking.
Two things bothered me about what just happened: the most important being that Amarao was so well informed about thinks. It seemed strange that he knew so much. Either that or it was all just an overdramatic hypothesis. But seeing as how I knew little to nothing about what actually went on, I had no choice but to believe what he had told me.
Aside from that I was troubled by the fact that I was just robbed. For whatever reason, the guitar Haruko left behind was confiscated. Why was it a good idea to do so? I had no answers. I decoded to put it aside for the moment and just rest.
/\
When I awoke it was late and dark out and for the first time in a long while I realized that I had awaken without any pain or outside party provoking it. I almost laughed to myself with the thought.
I stood to go to the cupboards to fetch a snack before I went upstairs to lay down for my night's rest. As soon as I stood though the front door came bursting open and Mamimi rushed in carrying a large pizza box with a big smile on her face. But for whatever reason, the smile faded when she saw me. She suddenly looked puzzled and slightly appalled.
"Ta-Kun," She said. "What's wrong with your face?"
