"Ungh…" I moaned aloud as if I was sleep-talking, wondering why I felt so uncomfortable; my head, woozy.
Being the lazy person I was, I only opened my eyelids by a fraction and looked unsteadily around me, not unlike a tipsy drunkard.
Sluggishly observing my surroundings, I realized semi-consciously how blur and unfamiliar it was. I seemed to be in a room which walls were only coloured a boring dull grey; It even had a tasteless black metal door, with no designs whatsoever on it. Seriously, did anyone even put in effort in decorating this rat-hole?
The place was truly completely monochromatic and it's only saving grace was the bright light which poured through the window.
"Good grief, where the world am I?" Was the second question that popped into my head, whilst narked at the killer headache I had.
Of course as per usual, I acted like the fool I was and utterly overlooked the fact that I was in a mysterious place I knew nothing of, had no information about, and gave more priority to how to rest comfortably instead of being worried about more major things; Like, about what in the world could had happened to land me in a situation which I knew nothing of.
I struggled internally, torn between the choices of waking up merely to make myself more snug, or continue my slumber, ignoring the discomfort. I was just about to choose the latter before finally becoming aware of how heavy my wrists felt.
Cranky with how awkward it felt, not to even mention how it delayed my z's, I attempted to shift my arm in a certain way to see it properly. Hearing some clinking noises, I felt as if that both wrists were somewhat connected, for I could not move the right without moving the left. Cursing, I angled my head instead to peer at my wrists, only to see it handcuffed.
Oh, great, wonderful, trens bien. Not only the Lord Almighty gave me a killer headache, he just had to grant me extreme discomfort while being chained?
"This had to be one of the random dreams that made no sense whatsoever," I thought, ignoring the cuffs altogether, hoping it was just a nightmare and tried to continue sleeping on the hard cold floor, wishing I had a quilt blanket to ward off the cold.
"Maybe a nice magical girl will pop out of somewhere and give me one…" I thought drowsily and snickered at my own tasteless joke.
Abruptly, the creaking of a door opening broke the silence, only to be followed by the sound of clacking footsteps. The sound soon grew louder, successfully irritating the weariness out of me through simple anger.
As abruptly as the footsteps came, as suddenly it stopped. Lethargically estimating the clacking to stop around me, I had half a mind to completely get up to berate whoever it was for disturbing my slumber but was too knackered to.
Despite my closed eyes, my brain finally started functioning logically. I whimsically pondered why there were footsteps. After all, I was sleeping in the sky, so there was no way it could have been a human. Maybe a spirit, but I have never met another spirit yet... No, moot point; I'm not the sky anymore, am I? If I remembered correctly, I was in this graceless bright room. Come to think of it, where am I? Ah well, who gives a dam –
Both the silence and my thoughts were disrupted by the creaking of a door again. Yet this time, it was the door before me that opened. A single person entered the room I was in and silently closed it.
In truth, I was relatively curious about who had entered the room, or rather; who would willingly enter such a mundane room like this. Yet I made no movement. Perhaps that was my instinct or maybe, it was simply sheer laziness.
"Are you awake, Miss Rin Kagamine?" A voice rang out, one which was as clear as crystal bells. One that was emotionless and moderately low.
In fact, quite interestingly, that voice was so similar to mine that I wondered "Mayhaps this is what I would sound like if I were a male."
"Are you awake, Miss Rin Kagamine?" he repeated, his voice echoing off the walls.
Giving whoever it was the cold shoulder; I proceeded to act dead, hoping that I would be left alone to sleep in peace. I mean, that was not very much to ask for, was it?
A shadow suddenly fell over me. "Did he bend down?" I thought.
"Wha?-"
Catching me by unawares, cold metal touched my right ear and a ear-splitting (literally) ringing sound burst forth from it; undoubtedly killing my eardrums and fully waking me up.
Hopping mad with whichever nincompoop it was who had awoke me; I sat straight up swiftly, turned to face the imbecile to give him his worst lecture of his life and got a surprise.
It was Len Kagamine.
He was calmly squatting in front of me, his face as unreadable as ever, looking as if he was merely observing me, comparable to how one would observe an animal at the zoo.
At the sight of him, I instantaneously recalled the 'fabulous' memories I had of him and realized at once why I was in such an unfamiliar place. After he had apprehended me, he had probably dumped me in a jail or something. The further I remembered and thought, the more outraged I became. And so, I vented it.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR? WERE YOU NOT TAUGHT ANY MANNERS?" I screamed, infuriated by the fact that he had not only managed to arrest me, he just had to add insult to injury by pulling off the stunt he did earlier.
In my furor, I rashly attempted to punch him with my right hand which was already clenched into a fist. Unfortunately, I neglected the fact that I was still handcuffed and the chain which connected them together forced my left arm to move forward as well.
"Oh crap," I thought as stared shocked at the handcuffs whilst I lost my balance and fell sideways, in the north-east direction. Closing my eyes as I tensed up, I prepared myself for the incoming impact.
Before my face could reach the floor, I felt an arm stopping me from falling forwards. I opened my eyes slightly, wondering apprehensively what had happened, yet already guessed. Sure enough, Mr Kagamine had caught me using his left arm.
Looking up at his face, I noticed his expression had changed to a slight frown as I met his eyes and immediately averted them. Damn, I must have looked like a total airhead and blushed, embarrassed. First, I try to punch him and then I end up losing my balance, only to be helped by the one which I was going to punch. Seriously, what am I doing?
"…Than -" I said on reflex, yet stopping halfway. Wait, wait, wait. What the heck was I thanking the enemy for?
The small voice of reason came out, reminding me that it was nice of Mr Kagamine to help me, despite the fact I had been treating him like an insect ever since I met him.
But once again, my pride reminded me that being helped by the enemy was a grievous insult.
Reason and Pride battled it out for a while before Pride trounced and triumphed over Reason.
"I mean, I don't need your help, you idiot!" I snapped, backing away from him and promptly switching my 'thanks' to a glare, acting like a total bitch. Perhaps I was a tad too rude…but I was certainly not going to be polite to a guy who arrested me; Who would?
But seriously, what was I doing? I was completely not being myself, becoming this weak little girl who only knew how to bark..
My eyes still fixated on his, he sighed, sounding demoralized and closed his eyes, furrowing his brows. "Miss Kagamine, would you please stop treating me like a pest? All I seek is your co-operation on your case."
Rolling my eyes at his density, I retorted sarcarstically. "Riiiigght, only thing is, you forcibly arrested me, knocked me out and placed some stupid i-don't-know-what on my ear which killed off my eardrums. 'Sides," I added cynically, "since you were making my 'crime' look so freaking serious, I bet I'll get the life imprisonment or death penalty. Under all these conditions, you expect me to co-operate?"
"Yes," he replied, his tone still sounding calm, but now laced slightly with exasperation. "In the normal cases, murdering a number as large as yours would without a doubt, lead to the death penalty. However, assuming you told me the truth and you were really not warned beforehand – no, do not interrupt yet please, let me finish."
I scowled in response at him. All I tried to do was to say 'yes' to the fact I knew nothing and he stops me.
What the hell.
"As I was saying," Mr Kagamine continued, ignoring the looks I was giving him, "due to your unique circumstances, your case might become one of the rare exceptions. The worst scenario would be that you will still be charged as guilty and sentenced to death but best case, you might be declared as innocent and yes, you'll be released free of charges."
I stared at him apprehensively, trying to fathom his motive for becoming such a decent person all of a sudden. Wasn't there a saying about how a leopard doesn't change its spots? "There has got to be some evil motive for this strange behaviour," I thought, as I tried to study him for hints.
However, as per usual, his expression was just the same as ever.
"Perhaps,he is just toying with me by lying to get my hopes up and then snuff them out cruelly. That must be it."
Nevertheless, the voice of angelic reason popped out again, like the annoying fly it was and whispered to me, "but what would he gain from such pointless acts? It would be more trouble than it is worth. Perhaps he really is trying to help. Plus, he was semi-reluctant to forcibly arrest you, and you were the one who resisted."
"For God's sake, shut up already!" I yelled silently to myself. "He is evil," I reminded myself, "Evil."
"After all," I thought, recalling my past memories bitterly, "all people are selfish. They only 'help' when it is convienent to."
Like my past 'friends', who all abandoned me as if I was dirt.
Yes, the fleeting happinness I used to have when my parents were with me were gone, vanished. My laughter had died along with them and misery overflowed. Why did they not try harder to live? If they did, perhaps I would not even be here right now and instead, still be living the carefree happy life I had.
Life sucked, I had pretty much nothing to live for, save for revenge. Furthermore, now that I had gotten bored of it, there was truly nothing left, nothing at all. I was a bottle that was emptied and remained emptied.
If so, why was I clinging to life?…
In the end, I decided to co-operate after great consideration, but only to truly understand my circumstances and pry for information. He did say something about a Reincarnation Stream and me being a vengeful spirit and all. It did sort of hinted that spirits can be classified or something, and it made me somewhat curious. And the more I know, the better.
Breaking the silence, I told him that I agreed to co-operate, albeit sounding reluctant. " But you owe me an explaination about what is going on."
"That was what I wanted to give on the way here," he replied stonily. "You opposed, leaving me with no choice."
I glowered and shot daggers at him which said 'shut up and just answer already'. He glanced at me and apparently received the in a deep breath, he sat down on the floor and started.
"The Reincarnation Stream is exactly what its name implies. It is a stream of souls which connects the three dimensions. They are the Physical Dimension, the Spiritual Dimension and the Neutral Dimension."
Looking at my confunded face, Mr Kagamine frowned (at least, I think he did), apparently understanding how little I knew and continued. "Firstly, there are five types of sentients. Souls, Guides, Humans, Spirits and God."
"God is real?" I interjected, unconvinced.
"Yes, unlike what you read on the Physical Dimension which you might know as Earth, God is just one type of sentient but it is special in a way. Now can you let me explain accordingly?" he said, still looking exasperated.
"Fine, go on." I said nonchantly, pretending that I didn't do anything wrong.
"A soul is what can only be found in the stream or the Neutral Dimension, a place you need to pass through to get reborn into the Physical Dimension. They have no feelings, no awareness of themselves. They only contain life and nothing else."
"Naturally, Souls would flow from the Reincarnation Stream to the Neutral Dimension. To determine which Souls are allowed to pass through the Neutral Dimension to be reincarnated in the Physical, there are Guides. Guides are creatures created by God. All their minds are linked and thus, they share one self-awareness."
"The criteria to pass is to be balanced. Some souls have suffered too much damage and thus, lack energy whilst those who have been too blessed, possess too much."
"Uh, damage, energy? Explain?" I asked uncertainly.
He sighed as if it was a pain to do so but nontheless, clarified.
"Souls suffer damage when they are humans or spirit by feeling pain. For example, the pain of losing a loved one, through being tortured, etc. When pain is felt, energy is depleted. However, this energy can also be recovered by feeling joy."
Pain…and joy. Figures, the basic emotions of life. Kind of like yin and yang, tears and smiles.
A thought flashed across my mind.
"Then what happens to the spirits which are not balanced?" I questioned.
He answered, "That are what Guides are for. They take the excess energy from the ones which have too much and put it in those which lacks."
"How?"
"I'm unsure about the specifics, but they just do."
"What?" I exclaimed, "why don't you know?" This was perfectly unbelievable. It was the place he lived, he should know!
Looking as if he was abouted to snap, Mr Kagamine retorted, "Well Miss Kagamine, you don't know why the Earth is round but you know it round, right? Same Logic."
All right, maybe it was not so unbelievable now.
"Anyway, back to the topic." He said impatiently, "I am sure you know what Humans and Spirits are so I'll skip that. Moving on - "
"Yeah," I cut in his sentence and snapped grouchily, " sure, I know what spirits are but I don't know how they are formed and the part where you said I'm a vengeful spirit and all."
Yeah, I knew I was a bit discourteous for interrupting like that but he really deserved it. He was looking as if it-is-such-a-pain-to-explain-so-many-things-to-this-turkey, and totally showing the attitude.
If I didn't know better, I could swear he was picking a fight.
He stared at me coldly for a short moment and answered, "I'm sorry. I should not have assumed."
Wait, did my ears really die from the blaring ring I heard earlier on or was I dreaming? He was apologising, even though he did nothing wrong (well, except for the attitude he displayed) and I was the one being rude?
Crap, now I started to feel bad for being so unpolite to someone so irritating. Did my personality change whilst I was sleeping?
Restarting his explaination again, he said "Spirits are -"
Before he could even say the third word, he was again interrupted, only it was not by me. It was a soft but resounding buzz which came from his pocket.
Looking extremely irritated, he rolled his eyes. "Please excuse me," he apologised albeit with a trace of irritation in his voice as he took what I assumed was a yellow cellphone from his pocket. Flipping open his phone, he clicked a single button and answered professionally.
"Hello, this is Len Kagamine. Air Marshal Meiko needs to see me in her office immediately? Is it urgent? I understand, thank you." With that, he hanged up and slotted his phone back into his pocket trousers.
Turning to face me as he stood up, Mr Kagamine said, "Sorry about this, but I need to attend to something urgently. I will explain the rest after that so I'll be seeing you later."
Pouting, all I could do was to accept the fact that my explaination would be delayed as he deftly took out a bunch of keys from his trousers, unlocked the door and exited the room. His footsteps grew distant as I stared at the black door.
Muttering curses under my breath, I positioned myself to face the window, which was on the opposite wall of the door. Basking under the sunlight, I started to reminsce about the happy times I had when I was still human, and compared my current life to the previous one.
"From a student to a mass murderer," I mused languidly and let out a hard laugh."I wonder what my parents would think."
Letting my voice bounce off the walls and back at me, I stared unwaveringly at the window and at the red sky for quite a few minutes befor the door swung open again.
"Back already?" I thought as I turned towards the door, "the office must have been really close…"
To my complete shock, it wasn't Mr Kagamine. I was startled to see two people I did not regonize enter the room instead.
The first one was a middle-aged female. Furthermore, she was one of the most ravishing ladies I had ever seen. Surrounded by an air of elegance, her presence was truly charismatic. Simply by standing under the crystal-like orange light, her rust-coloured hair revealed an amazing shade of red, one that was not unlike a blazing fire. That belle's exquisite eyes gleamed a magnificient venetian red which appeared to glow a slight shade of crimson. Morever, her skin appeared to be full of colour yet pale all at once. I did't even wish to mention her shapely figure…but let's just say it made me jealous.
Behind her was a man of similar age. He looked normal, perhaps even plain standing beside the beauty. Yet he too, had a extraordinary demeanor that managed combine his devil-may-care attitude and his serenity together. That man's dull duke blue hair shimmered a radiant columbia blue and his ceil eyes became mysteriously darker under the orange light.
The red lady smiled a captivating smile upon seeing me. "Are you Rin Kagamine?" She queried smoothly, in a voice which reminded me of honey
Stunned at their sudden appearances and quite somewhat throughly bewildered, I was dragged into their flow and could only nod my head in response.
"Awesome, jackpot!" The blue man cried out happily, his face glowing with joy and sure enough, displaying the attitude I expected from him.
"Of course," replied the female confidently with a noticeably happy visage, as they gave each other a hi-5. "I made sure to double-check all particulars. Wouldn't want our covers blown for nothing, right?"
Recovering my senses, I posed a question; the most basic question you'll ask to utter strangers who starts chatting you up.
"Um, who are you?"
Both swiveled their heads to face me as I asked the question. The red lady walked towards me, smiled and offered her hand to me, as if requesting that I stand.
"Sorry for intruding like this. My name is Meiko, just Meiko, no surnames, nada. This guy behind me," she said as she pointed to the blue man behind her, who also happened to be mouthing 'nice to meet you' at me. "Is Kaito. Same as mine, no surnames. And you don't need to use honorifics with us." She finished, as I took her hand and stood up.
"Sure, got it. Meiko and Kaito," I said as I gestured towards them respectively. "So, what were you talking about?"
Meiko's smile turned slightly mischievous as Kaito's grin became even wider and a sense of apprehension washed over me.
"What we are talking about is you," Kaito announced jovially, looking as excited as a child with a whole shop of new toys. "Rin Kagmine, our Maiden of Prophecy."