AN: In the original edition of the story, the Gnosis was a tablet rather than a smartphone. Upon reflection, I realised it would make more sense if the device was more portable, thus the change.
Chapter 2: Knowledge of Disaster
|Totsuka – Bella Donna|4:11 pm|
Totsuka was mostly known as a high-profile business district, full of corporations dotting the skyline with their towers, but it had plenty of other notable characteristics. For example, near the south end was the city council's main build, the Kibo-Jo, a brilliantly tall bronze-coloured monolith. Every hour of the day, officials were walking in and out, and the building's blue lights shone in the night sky.
The youth of the area, such as Shintaro and his friends, preferred the thrills of the sprawling shopping area, known as the Bella Donna. The place was named after the beautiful golden statue in the centre of the main square, which was of a beautiful woman, clothed in a gorgeous gown and carrying four shopping bags. The owners of the land had hired Italian architects and designers, to create an exotic and memorable experience.
With the elaborate red and black marble floors, the silver elevators going up and door all three floors, and the myriad of artwork and statues, the place felt more like a museum than an outdoor shopping mall. On the highest floor was where the expansive food court was, while clothes, electronics, furniture, and everything else was being purchased everywhere Shintaro looked.
"Oh Kei, look, they've got a RainBow!" Kohaku said, pointing excitedly to the expansive candy store on the ground floor. The logo and the interior decorating was full of rainbow colouring, and there was a rather cheery lady dressed in a rainbow maid outfit handing out free samples of green-tea flavoured chocolate.
"Thank you for coming to RainBow, where we bring colour to your smiles and your tummies!" The maid said, slightly drowned out by the bubblegum pop song blaring in the background. "Would you like to try some of our new spring treats?"
"Of course!" Akari said, taking a sample. "Oh wow, this is good!"
Shintaro tasted one of the sweets and smiled. "These are delicious. I'll purchase some, my mum loves green tea in most forms. So do I, of course..."
"Aww, you're so sweet. You're always getting gifts for her." Kohaku said, smirking. "I'd get something for my mother, but she gets back late most nights anyway, so..."
"It'd still be a nice gesture, right?" Kei asked, while looking at a bag of Viennese Truffles.
"The red bean candy would be perfect! I think..." The maid said.
"You think correctly!" Kohaku said. "Okay, that settles it, I'm gonna get her something."
After a short period of browsing – and tasting the samples – the four had picked out various sweets and chocolates and paid for them. Akari had picked out some nice raspberry flavour treats and offered the others some.
"Thanks, Akari-chan. Although I might need to go on a diet after all of this..." Kohaku said.
"I hate dieting..." Shintaro said.
"Really? You look pretty rake thin to me..." Akari said, clearly a master of tact.
"He might be skinny, but...I wouldn't go that far." Kei said, chuckling. Shintaro, however, wasn't feeling quite so joyful about this.
"Actually, I used to be a chubby kid throughout middle school. Got a lot of teasing for it. So my mother put me on a diet, and here I am. Now people tease me for being skinny instead..."
"Really? You're not bad-looking, if you don't mind me saying so. Those teasing you don't know what they're missing." Kei said.
Wow, that's strong praise from someone I've just met. Or maybe she's just trying to lift my spirits.
"Wow, Kei! Don't hold back or anything!" Akari said, grinning mischievously.
Shintaro went red in the face, scratching his head. "Well...hehe. I like the way I look now compared to back then. Anyway, I should forget the past. It's the future that's important."
"Forget the past...?" Kei said, somewhat sombre.
"What's the matter?" Shintaro asked.
"Nothing at all," Kei said, composing herself. "Let's look around."
|Book Wyrm|16:35 pm|
The group had explored various stores on the ground floor, and admired many different goods. This included curiosities such as decorative carved candles (a craft that had originated in Germany), a pet store with many cute guinea pigs (Akari already had two back home, Shiro and Kuro, but took at least ten pictures of each one), a jeweller's, and much to Shintaro's delight, a book store. There he was in the back of Book Wyrm, which had a huge section devoted to manga of all genres.
"I need to read more manga. They're actually quite entertaining." Kei said, admiring some of the shonen titles. Akari, the more feminine of the girls, was more interested in the shoujo material.
"You got a lot of manga back home?" Shintaro asked.
"A few books, yes. Wish I'd taken some of them with me..." Kei said. "Too late now, right?"
"How far is Yokohama from here?" Kohaku asked. "I'd love to see it someday."
"At least four and a half hours via train. It's a tiring journey..." Kei said, sadly.
"Sounds fun!" Akari said, having chosen a few manga volumes. "Train journeys are great if you're with friends."
"...I suppose you're right." Kei said, smiling. "These look interesting."
"I know, right? Way better than the boring stuff Shintaro reads!" Akari said, master of tact once again.
"Oh, come on! My taste in literature isn't that bad! Just last week I read the entire series of books on marine life in the Japanese islands. You'd be amazed what you can learn about sea slugs." Shintaro said.
"Those things are actually quite cute..." Kohaku said, blushing. "Anyway, how about we look at that computer shop here? Digital Domain, I think it's called?"
"That'd be nice. My phone's always running out of battery, so I might just get a new model..." Kei said.
After Kohaku dragged Shintaro away from an 'invigorating' book on the Phoenicians, the four of them left the store, and walked across the red stone floor to the staircase, flanked on either side by two elevators. However, while they began to climb the steps, Shintaro and Kei noticed someone standing in front of the steps. A tall young lady, wearing an outfit that certainly didn't match any school uniform.
Huh? Is she looking at us?
Her ebony hair seemed to be gleaming in the many yellow lights around and above them, and her piercing black eyes seemed to be staring straight through the shoppers passing by. Her lips, coated with blood red, curled up into a smile. For some reason, she was wearing black long gloves with orange ribbons around the sleeves, a short dark dress with a silver lining, a silk red scarf that billowed in the wind, and high black boots, with red stripes and heels on them.
Strange, no one else is looking at her. With those clothes, she'd stand out a nautical mile, but only me and Kei seem to be looking at her. Can't anyone else see her?
The lady seemed to laugh, sweeping her long black locks from her face, and looked at Shintaro and his party. She quickly shook her head, and walked away with a rather arrogant-looking swagger – it was only then that Shintaro noticed something. She was carrying a large black box in her right hand.
"What are you two staring at?" Kohaku asked, confused.
Kei was quiet, her lips trembling. "Oh, nothing in particular. I'm just starting to realise how impressive this building is."
She began to climb the stairs. Concerned, Shintaro followed her. As he did, he couldn't see any sign of the raven-haired lady above, only regular shoppers. It was as if normality had been 'switched off', and someone had switched it back on. Kei didn't comment on this strange sight. Instead, she matched to the Digital Domain – almost as if she knew where to find it.
Wonder if this has anything to do with that weird text from this morning?
|Digital Domain|16:46 pm|
"Wow," Akari said, intrigued by a pink laptop. "This is me in computer form. Wish I could afford it. So much better than the old machine my dad's using..."
"Old computers are so ugly," Shintaro said. "That off-white colouring, the big CRT monitors, floppy drives, crap like that...ugh. Thank god for modern technology."
"When did you ever have a computer like that?" Kohaku asked.
"I...I don't remember." Shintaro said, trying to think about it. "I'm sure we did, though..."
"Still, it's quite fascinating how technology has changed. Now we have the power to search through the world's knowledge with a tiny little box." Kei said. She began to walk over to the smartphones, and glanced at them. Yet she didn't seem to be reading any of their specs, or trying out any of them. Whether they were Android or iPhones, she just didn't seem enthusiastic about a single one.
"Nothing catching your eye, Kei-san?" Shintaro asked. "Was there a model you were looking for?"
"Not really. I simply can't decide. There's a lot to choose from..." Kei said.
"How about some of the ones in the second-hand display? Could be some good deals there!" Kohaku said, pointing to the glass case. Kei immediately looked over to her, and went to the case. There, sitting on the top shelf, was a black cardboard box with a red lid, and there was only one piece of white text – reading Gnosis. Displayed on the box, of course, was the ebony phone itself, a work of electronic beauty. Sleek, thin, huge screen, yet with an air of mystique.
"Second-hand?" Akari said. "Wouldn't a newer one be more reliable? You don't want to end up with one loaded with trashy adult videos. Happened to me once. It gave me nightmares involving car washes for a week."
There were a lot of odd looks when she tried to return that phone. Especially since she had turned the volume up loud.
"I don't think that'll be a problem with this one, somehow," Kei said, determined. "I've made up my mind. I want to take this one."
"How come?" Shintaro asked, curious.
"Intuition," Kei said. "The same intuition that brought me here."
"I get it! Us girls always know best, don't we?" Akari said, with a sneaky smile.
Kei quickly paid for the Gnosis, an expensive purchase, but she seemed to have no qualms about the cost. With that, she put it in her now-full bag, and the group left. There seemed to be no more sign of the black-haired woman, thus Kei relaxed, and began heading up to the food court, on the third floor – an open-air eating area full of different restaurants.
"Oh, you want to have dinner here too?" Shintaro asked.
"It's not like my parents can make me a meal in this city," Kei said. "And none of my relatives live here, either. So it's either eat here or have a microwave meal at my dormitory."
"Tough decision. Why don't we eat here too?" Kohaku said. "My parents will be working late tonight, anyway."
"I'm up for that too!" Shintaro said. "It'll give my dad a break from cooking."
"Pizza is the best!" Akari said. "I'll have all the toppings they've got!"
The four of them entered the large food court, and found their table.
|Bella Donna – Golden Dining Theatre|17:11 pm|
Somehow, the developers here had managed to keep this place affordable, yet glitzy, without falling into sheer tackiness. Shintaro and the girls were eating a pizza each, a rather thin and crispy one. The beautiful aroma, the lashings of tomato sauce and cheese, the perfectly baked base, all combined to make marvellous taste ecstasy.
"That was amazing," Kohaku said. "I just hope it doesn't put too many pounds on."
"Oh, come off it. You're the best looking girl in class." Shintaro said. "Although, Kei's not doing so bad herself in that department..."
Kei raised her eyebrow, but shrugged, trying to maintain composure. Akari looked up expectantly, but no compliment seemed to be forthcoming, so she sighed and looked away. After their plates were taken away, she took out the box containing her Gnosis. Even though she didn't have access to an electrical outlet, she seemed to want to test it out anyway. She opened the box, and removed the phone – ignoring the micro USB charger cable and adapter.
"Can't wait until you get home, can you?" Kohaku asked, amused. "I just hope it works.."
"Actually, Haku-chan, it doesn't look like it's ever been used," Akari said, looking at the spotless screen and back cover. Kei, not listening, switched it on – and after the brief green Gnosis screen, she was soon on the home screen.
"Hmm. This looks like a custom OS." Kei said, confused. "I wonder who had this before me?"
"Who knows? I dunno why they'd never use it. It's better than the one I've got." Shintaro said, staring at his somewhat aged white phone.
"And mine, now that I think about it. Hey, what's this?" Kohaku said, noticing something in the centre of the round table. It was a blue circle, but it seemed to have a QR code on it. Shintaro blinked – he had never noticed that until now. What it was for, he had no idea. He tried to scan it with his phone, but despite Kei's frightened eyes, he only got an error.
"Huh...maybe it's not picking it up properly," Shintaro said, shrugging. "Or perhaps it's just a promotional stunt to advertise some new meal deal. I dunno."
"Looks kinda creepy to me. Uh, be right back!" Akari said, rushing off to the bathroom.
"Let me try. This camera's supposed to be 14 megapixels. It won't fail." Kei said, holding up her Gnosis phone over the code. Her screen turned bright blue, and a dim blue light lit up on the north side of the machine.
"What's going on?" Kohaku asked. Text appeared on screen, and the letters seemed to be in stereoscopic 3D. Shintaro examined it closely, and stared at it in confusion.
Welcome to Gnosis.
The time has come to test how far you are willing to go.
To reach insight into the world, your friends, and yourself.
From this moment on, you have a duty you must uphold.
You must work hard, young one, for many humans will be depending on you.
Don't be afraid.
You will see the world in a different 'light' now.
But you will not be alone.
"What is this talking about? Why would 'many humans' be depending on us?" Shintaro said, rubbing his eyes.
"I have no clue!" Kei said, shocked. "Look, forget this weird app! It's just a stupid prank! I know, maybe I can find a funny video to watch instead! Yeah, something not creepy at all-"
"Look!" Kohaku shouted, frightened. The light was getting brighter, and soon began to envelop the seating area in a blue mist. All Shintaro could see was a bright white light, and the sounds of the food court growing dimmer, replaced by a howling, ferocious wind.
"Taro-kun! Kei-san! Where are you? Don't leave me behind...!"
Kei! Kohaku! What's happening to us? Where are we going?!