LIBERI FATALIS: The Therianthrope Chronicles

by Eddie-E

A crossover between Ace Combat, Katmandu and another, surprise famous furry comic. A Japanese scientist during the onset of World War II in Europe devises a groundbreaking theory of evolution whose effects will resonate not only on Earth but also throughout the universe for centuries to come. Rated M for language and mature situations.

7. DAYS OF WRATH (PART 1)

ACT VII: DAYS OF WRATH (PART 1)

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

Buddha

August 22th, AD 2305, Hanshin Koshien Stadium, Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan

-"HOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!"-

The public at the Koshien Stadium screams with excitement when the ball leaves the stadium. And you can't blame them, since the hitter's team that made that home run had bases loaded and thanks to the home run they had scored four valuable runs, leaving the rival team with no chance of winning.

-"INCREDIBLE! THAT'S JUST INCREDIBLE, GENTLEMEN! Tokyo's Saionji Municipal High School has just scored a powerful home run in the final inning, leaving the game 12-8 to the Tokyo youngsters. It is very difficult for their rivals, Nagasaki's Mugyou High School, to beat them at this rate."- One of the commentators, very excited, recounted the game, while his colleague gave his point of view.

-"You're right, buddy. Mugyou will have to make a huge effort to defeat Saionji with such a gap in points. And Saionji should thank his star batter for being able to win right now."- The other commentator, equally excited, although somewhat more reserved, watched the game unfold in favor of Saionji.

Obviously, the opinions of how things were on the baseball field were quite interesting to hear, especially from the losers...

-"Oh...shit."-

-"Now we're really fucked."- Another Mugyou player cursed his luck after seeing his rival's home run.

And while this was going on, all the Saionji players who were in their bases ran home, along with the player who did the home run.

-"Yeah, that's right. The star hitter of Saionji Municipal High School, Ryuji Morisawa, is responsible for the home run that will likely give victory to his team and thereby win the Summer Koshien."-

-"It is rumored that Morisawa is being scouted by the Yomiuri Giants to join the team once he graduates from school, although I have also heard rumors of proposals from major league teams in the United States to sign him, including names such as Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, Texas Rangers, among others."- The commentator kept explaining both the game and Saionji's hitter responsible for the home run. -"Although I must admit it's the first time I've heard of a Japanese player being signed in since graduating from school to play in the US. without going through a NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball) team. Not even during the 20th and 21st centuries, when many NPB players migrated to the U. S. MLB, there was a case where a local player went directly to play to America."-

And while the game commentators discussed the possible future of Ryuji Morisawa in the major leagues of both Japan and the U. S., the aforementioned player enjoyed his fame quite relaxedly, as if none of it was disturbing him at all times, which was obvious given that the game was not over yet. On the other hand, fans of the player, especially girls, chanted his name throughout the stadium.

-"GO GO RYUJI! GO GO RYUJI! GO GO RYUJI!"-

-"Morisawa does have a lot of support from the stadium public, especially the girls, which is not uncommon considering there is a very large fan club in his own school, and seems to be winning over girls from other schools as well."-

Meanwhile, Morisawa's own teammates could not help but feel some envy for him, given the strong support of the female audience for him.

-"Hey, Morisawa! You really do have all those chicks biting on your hand, don't you?"-

But for some reason, Morisawa kept silent on this.

-"C'mon Morisawa!"- Another teammate, who was a close friend of his, suddenly approached him. -"You're not going to keep quiet while you see how everyone cries out your name out there."-

The batter finally answered his partner's questions, with some obvious discomfort in his face.

-"Does that matter at all, Hashiba?"-

The player who asked that question was Tsutomu Hashiba, who was a friend of Ryuji Morisawa's since they both went to junior high, and who was the team's pitcher. Hashiba was a teen of about 17-years old, light brown hair, freckled, and compared to Morisawa, who was the same age as him, but with black hair, good-looking and taller, was shorter in height.

-"Eh? What do you mean?"-

-"I'm here to play baseball, not to model for girls and, for my part, I want to win this game. Any other question?"-

-"Well, if you say so,"- Hashiba replied somewhat annoyed at his friend's reply. -"but I don't think Saori would like what you just said."-

The person Hashiba referred to was Saori Ogura, who was the captain of the school's Kendo team and who was also participating in a national competition in Tokyo, while they were at the Koshien in Nishinomiya. Saori was an old friend of Morisawa and Hashiba, well known throughout the school for having a very quiet character and not speaking much, but despite that, she had a great heart, and above all, a great sense for justice, being her greatest trait that she hated bullies who abused weaker people. Because of these qualities, many people in the school nicknamed her "The Last Samurai" due for her stoicism and the fact that she practiced Kendo. Other less kind people, especially her enemies, called her "Ogura The Ogre".

-"And what the hell does she have to do with this whole thing?"- Morisawa replied, while playfully swinging the bat. -"Besides, I guess she is busy bustin' some heads in Tokyo as we speak."-

-"You know very well that Saori doesn't like it when you just ignore the people around you and at least you know that there are people who admire you, and who would die to be in your place."- The pitcher blithely replied to his friend, as he played with the ball in his glove. -"Aren't you aware that several teams from both here and the U. S. are doing everything they can to sign you? Also, how many Japanese players do you know who have been signed up since high school to play in the American Major Leagues?"-

Upon hearing this, Morisawa grumbled. The last thing he wanted to know was about his sporting future, since he had more important things to think about than being signed up for in the major leagues.

-"I suppose you don't like being told about the subject, do you?"-

Then, the young star batter looked at Hashiba without losing sight of him, while his face showed a grimace of depression and some anguish about the subject they were discussing. It was evident that Morisawa's future was something bigger than just playing baseball. For that young Japanese baseball player, the prospect of playing in the big leagues, whether in his country or in the United States, was not something that attracted him at all. He believed that there was something bigger than just breaking his back every day in playing a sport just to please a group of people, while feeling that his life had no meaning.

But, at that time, Ryuji Morisawa did not feel courageous enough to tell his best friend what he really thought about the issue.

-"Look, Hashiba, we'll talk about it later when I have time to discuss it."- The batter finally replied to his friend. -"For now, the most important thing is that we have a game to win, and I'm not in the mood for silly talk."-

And then, Morisawa raised his bat to the air as he shouted to his teammates with the intention of encouraging them.

-"LISTEN, EVERYONE!"- Morisawa yelled at every single member of the Saionji team. -"DO YOU WANT TO WIN THIS GAME?"-

-"YEAH!"-

-"DO YOU WANT TO WIN THE KOSHIEN?"-

-"HELL YEAH!"-

-"DO YOU WANT TO WIN IT FOR THE SCHOOL FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER?"-

-"YEAH!"-

-"THEN DO YOUR BEST AND SHOW THESE GUYS WHAT WE ARE MADE OF!"-

-"YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"-

With those words of motivation, Morisawa and the rest of the team return to the pitch with the intention of winning the game, and by default, the Koshien once and for all.

And after several hours of hard play, the Saionji Municipal High School baseball team managed to beat their Nagasaki rivals on a 15-10 score, taking home the championship flag for the first time in the school's history. Obviously the stadium celebrations became noisier in favor of the Tokyo team as fans chanted the school's name throughout the venue.

But before receiving it, the traditional farewell greeting among the participating teams would begin first.

-"All right, the game ended 15-10 in favor of Tokyo's Saionji Municipal High School over Nagasaki's Mugyou High School. Greetings may begin."- The umpire commented to the players.

-"THANK YOU VERY MUCH!"-

Players from both teams bend over each other in respect as part of the tradition at the end of the tournament that players should respect each other as gentlemen.

Though, for obvious reasons, the losers were not happy to lose the Koshien at all, at least in private.

-"SHIT!"- A Mugyou player loudly cursed in the lockers -"How the fuck could we have lost the game to those STUPID Tokyo rookies, EH?"-

-"Well, that's life for you."- Another player from Nagasaki, somewhat calmer, tried not to give too much thought to the defeat at the hands of Saionji. -"At least they didn't wipe the floor with us, if that's any consolation."-

-"Besides that, haven't you read what they say about their star batter? They want him to play in the big leagues in America without him having to play here in Japan for the NPB."- Another player explained the team's defeat to the presence of Morisawa, a player who was in sight of several teams from Japan and the U. S., which resulted in an explosion of disbelief among other Mugyou team members.

-"WHAT?! That can't be possible!"- The rest of the team exclaimed in utter disbelief at the news.

Leaving aside the losers, the sports commentators were already preparing to give their final conclusions to the game to their online audience who were watching the game most likely from any device in all Japan.

-"Well, ladies and gentlemen, with this we conclude the broadcast of the 390th National High School Baseball Championship, a tournament that has been celebrated for more than three centuries since 1915 with only two interruptions due to the Second and Third World Wars. Saionji Municipal High School is taking the championship for the first time in its history, something worthy for a school that was founded just 10 years ago."-

-"Yeah, that's right. It's amazing that such a new school was able to send such a good baseball team there in such a short period of time, and yet they were able to win the Koshien in their first attempt. We have no doubt that Saionji's management must be more than happy to see how these young boys achieved their goal in such a short time. Especially noteworthy is the excellent work of some young players, including batter Ryuji Morisawa, pitcher Tsutomu Hashiba, right-fielder Takuma Hoshikawa and others."-

-"And now that you're talking about Morisawa, right now this lucky kid must be getting proposals from all over Japan and most likely from the MLB in America to play professionally. Regardless of his decision, Morisawa will most likely have to wait until he graduates before playing in the major leagues within two years."-

Ironically, and with respect to the above-mentioned baseball player, the last thing Ryuji Morisawa wanted at the time was fame, for the first thing the young student from Saionji did was to secretly leave the Koshien Stadium to avoid fans and journalists alike, especially the fan girls who chanted his name nonstop, and who at that time would have wished they had a piece of him... metaphorically and literally speaking, of course.

Already at the back door of the stadium, Morisawa, who was accompanied by his best friend Tsutomu Hashiba, was waiting for them in a car by team coach Hideo Matsuzaka, who already knew beforehand how displeased his student was to be the center of attention.

-"What's up, Morisawa? And you too, Hashiba. Ready to get out of here before the fan girls eat you two?"-

-"You don't need to say it, coach."- Replied Morisawa with a snarky smile in his face. -"Let's head back to the hotel quickly."-

-"As you command."- Matsuzaka replied to his student. -"Computer, make a shorter route to take us to the hotel avoiding the best known routes, to avoid the paparazzis."-

The coach orders his car, a computer-controlled vehicle, to take the fastest route to get to the hotel without being disturbed by journalists, fans and other intrusive people on the road.

-"Yes sir."- The car's computer responds with a feminine voice. -"This is the shortest route to downtown Osaka and from there to the hotel. Would you like to use that route, sir?"-

-"Yes, that's the perfect one."- The couch replied to the car. -"Then, let's get going!"-

And without further ado, the car started its engines and proceeded towards downtown Osaka, leaving Nishinomiya and the stadium as quickly as possible.

---

August 22th, AD 2305, Hotel Palazzo Reale, Naniwa Ward, Osaka, Japan

After a few hours of driving through the streets of both Nishinomiya and Osaka, the car makes it to the hotel where the school team was staying, a very elegant five-star hotel in the city downtown, which was unusual for a high school baseball team. The reason why the school decided to stay in a more expensive place was partly because they felt that their students deserved better and partly because they wanted a place away from the attention of the onlookers, even if they had to travel more to reach the stadium, which was very practical for people like Morisawa, who did not want to be the center of attention at the time.

-"Well, we got to the hotel."- Coach Matsuzaka notified his students. -"The only problem with being the first to get here is that we're going to wait for the rest of the team that's still in Nishinomiya, but I think that's no problem for you guys, right?"-

-"Well, to be honest, coach, I wouldn't have minded my fifteen minutes of fame, but I think someone else wouldn't have liked that. "- Hashiba smirked and replied, while his last indirect remark was addressed to his friend next to him.

Indeed, Morisawa did not seem to enjoy the fact that he had won the Koshien, nor the fame of such feat, especially for a relatively new school team in the world of high school baseball like Saionji. In fact, the young batter seemed to be more annoyed than pleased, and that he only wanted to get to the hotel and rest before returning to Tokyo.

-"Hello? Earth calling to Morisawa..."- Hashiba began to try to get the attention of his friend, who had not uttered a single word during the entire trip to the hotel.

But Morisawa, far from reacting to his friend's teasing, the first thing he did was getting out of the car and head for the hotel lobby.

-"Geez! He has little sense of humor!"- Hashiba replied somewhat annoyed by the attitude of his friend.

-"Well, Hashiba, leave him alone."- Matsuzaka replied to his student, trying to understand Morisawa's cold attitude at the time. -"Most likely he must be very tired after the game, and he doesn't feel like talking to anyone. Anyone would be after playing and winning a game as important as a Koshien."-

-"If you say so, sir. But he's been like that the whole game, even though we were winning."- Hashiba explained to his coach, regarding what happened between them during the game, especially during the last inning. -"He looked like something was disturbing him."-

-"Well, I didn't notice that when he was playing, though I don't blame him for that."- Matsuzaka gave his own version about Morisawa's state of mind to Hashiba. -"Anyone would feel this way knowing that their professional future depends on what they do in a Koshien. I felt the same way when I played mine when I was Morisawa's age, and when I won it, I felt the same way, especially when I got all the offers to be signed up for a professional team."-

-"In a way, you're right, but I think he has more in mind than just playing baseball. At least that's what I think."-

But before they could continue their conversation, both the student and his coach noticed something strange at the lobby entrance of the hotel. He seemed to be a person who was waiting for Morisawa a few minutes in advance.

In this case, it turns out to be a girl.

-"Looks like you got here faster than expected, doesn't it, Ryuji?"-

The girl was a woman of foreign origin, long blonde hair with curls and blue eyes, not to mention she was rather tall and of the same age as Morisawa. Despite this, her Japanese was flawless and she already seemed to know both Morisawa and Hashiba personally.

-"Oh, Hi, Annika!"- Replied Morisawa to the foreign girl. -"Don't tell me you came all the way from Tokyo just to watch us play baseball? I thought you didn't like it."-

That girl was Annika Stefansson, who was not only an old friend of Morisawa's, but also Tsutomu Hashiba's girlfriend for several years. Annika was a girl who hailed from Stockholm, Sweden, but resided in Japan for personal reasons since childhood, and she was also a student of Saionji, who was in the same class as both boys.

-"Well, I don't like baseball, but I didn't want to be alone in Tokyo either, so I came to Osaka to spend some time here, not to mention buy some things."-

But before Annika could continue her conversation with Morisawa, Hashiba suddenly appeared on stage to greet his girlfriend.

-"YO, WHAT'S UP, ANNI?"- Hashiba loudly greeted her. -"What brings you here to Osaka?"-

-"TSUTOMU-SWEETIE!"- The Swede quickly leapt at her Japanese boyfriend lovingly. -"I heard from the Net that you won the Koshien, and I bought you some things as a reward for my sweety sweety sweetheart!"-

While Annika filled Hashiba's face with kisses, both Coach Matsuzaka and Morisawa could not help but laugh at the sight of such a romantic and amusing scene in the middle of the street, something that began to grieve Hashiba for obvious reasons.

-"Anni, please knock it off! You're making a scene here on the street! Can't we discuss this in private, for god's sake?"-

-"Oops, sorry!"- Annika replied embarrassedly as Hashiba remarked on the latter. -"The thing is that I was very happy that you had won the tournament along with Ryuji and the others, and I bought you some stuff, like an obento lunchbox, an okonomiyaki, some perfumes, and..."-

-"I get it, I get it."- Hashiba replied somewhat sorry to see all the trouble his girlfriend took in Osaka over gifts for him. -"At least you could have waited for me to get to the hotel first, and we both could have gone to see all that together tomorrow."-

-"Sorry again."-

-"Not to interrupt you lovebirds, but I don't think there will be a "tomorrow" for you two."- Coach Matsuzaka interrupted the two students regarding their plans for a city tour. -"Tomorrow we have to go back to Tokyo as soon as we have breakfast because I don't want to have the paparazzi and reporters hanging around here pestering my dear students. I think you should know that very well by now, don't you, Hashiba?"-

-"Oh, Coach, gimme a break!"- Hashiba complained hard towards his mentor. -"Can't we go at least sightseeing around the city? I think we deserve that after winning the Koshien, don't we?"-

-"Nope."-

-"Oh, man."-

Morisawa could not help but make a very large smile on his face at the sight of his friend's dilemma, something that Hashiba didn't find it funny at all.

-"I must assume it's your fault that we have to return to Tokyo so soon, right?"-

-"Hey, don't blame me!"- Morisawa amusely retorted to his friend. -"I have no power in the decisions my teachers make regarding the trips we do. If they want us to come home, it's their choice and that's it. I can't do anything about the whole issue, you know."-

-"I think he's right: The school board asked us to return to Tokyo the day after the game, regardless of the outcome."- Matsuzaka defended his student from his friend's criticism of whether or not to stay in the city. -"And believe me, I would have loved to have stayed in Osaka, since I was born here, and I had shown you guys some things about my city, like the Dōtonbori avenue, Nanba..."-

-"That would explain why you have such a pronounced accent, Coach."- Annika commented about Matsuzaka's southern accent, which was very remarkable for her, being a foreigner living in Japan since childhood, but for most of her life she has lived in Tokyo, in the Kanto region, when she has seldom visited the Kansai region, where Osaka is located.

-"HA HA HA! You got me on that one, Annika. But don't believe that I am the stereotypical idiot from the south, because I wouldn't have been a coach or a professional baseball player if I had been one."-

But before Matsuzaka could continue talking with his students, he noticed that several people were crowding around them, noticing that Morisawa and Hashiba were part of the Koshien's winning team that year. Seeing that they intended to ask for autographs from them, the coach proceeded to protect his students from the prying eyes.

-"OK, guys. Show's over!"- The former baseball player turned coach shouted as he took his students to the hotel to defend them from fans who wanted autographs of both players. -"We'd better get into the hotel before the fans eat you guys."-

Meanwhile...

-"HEY, RYUJI SWEETIE, GIMME YOUR AUTOGRAPH, PLEAAAAAAASSEEEE?"-

-"NO WAY, RYUJI IS MINE!"-

-"WHO THE HELL TOLD YOU RYUJI IS YOURS, YOU FAT, UGLY BITCH?"-

-"WHAT!?"

As this happened on the street, Morisawa and the other Saionji students headed to their rooms to evade their fans, while they listened those events from afar.

-"I never thought I'd live to see the day girls would die for a piece of my ass. Right, Morisawa?"- Hashiba cheerfully commented to his friend, who hated being the center of attention, while everyone went to their rooms once inside the hotel.

-"OH, SHUT UP!"-

---

August 23th, AD 2305, Bullet Train (Shinkansen) bound for Tokyo, 1:30 PM Local Time

The next day, all players from Saionji Municipal High School, along with Annika and the rest of the team's technical staff, headed home to Tokyo, Japan's capital city. Due to their recent fame in winning the Koshien, the team had to leave once they had finished lunch to avoid the prying eyes and press.

As the train made its way to the capital, all players were chatting with each other, including Tsutomu Hashiba with his girlfriend Annika Stefansson, about what happened in Osaka the day before. But there was someone who didn't want to talk to anyone at that moment of happiness, preferring to see the local landscape through the window of the train while ignoring his other peers.

And that person was Ryuji Morisawa.

Obviously the attitude of that person did not go unnoticed by both Annika and Hashiba, the latter his best friend, who tried to talk to him to see what his problem was. This was noteworthy because Morisawa already had that attitude since the day of the game, and although everyone had rested, it was unmistakable that there was something not quite right about him.

-"Hey, buddy, I thought you'd be more relaxed once you'd rested, but apparently you still look the same as yesterday..."-

Hashiba got no answer from his friend, who only looked at the scenery from the train.

-"Is there something bothering you, Ryuji? You don't seem very happy to have won the Koshien, do you?"- Annika follows her boyfriend's conversation to Morisawa, trying to get a response from the hitter.

-"No, it's nothing. I'm just a bit depressed."- Morisawa finally responded, with a very deadpan voice coming from his mouth.

-"Why are you depressed, man? Anyone would be happy to win the Koshien for the first time, but you don't seem happy about it."- Hashiba replied in a worried tone towards his friend. -"Is there anything we don't know that you're worried about?"-

-"Not exactly."-

-"Eh?" - The pitcher exclaimed quite surprised after hearing that. - "What do you mean with that Not exactly thing?"-

Morisawa once again remained silent after such strange statement coming from him.

-"Hey, at least say something about it, goddamn it! You're starting to worry me already!"- Hashiba replied annoyed when he saw that his friend remained silent.

-"Look, Hashiba,"- Morisawa finally responded to his friend, though already somewhat annoyed by his insistence. -"I'm not in the mood to discuss this right now. We can discuss it when we're back in Tokyo, okay?"-

-"But...!"-

But before Hashiba could discuss the matter further, Annika took him by the hand as a signal to stop the chat, and preventing her boyfriend's argument between him and Morisawa bigger.

-"Tsutomu, please leave him alone. I think Ryuji is very tired after all the ruckus for the game and all the fame he got. After all, I think he's going to get a lot of proposals as soon as he gets home."-

Hashiba started looking at Annika and obviously realized that she might be right.

-"Well, I think you would be right."- Hashiba replied to her. -"But as soon as we get home at least tell me what's haunting you, man. Your attitude is already starting to creep the hell outta me."-

But Morisawa seemed to pay no attention to what his friend said, while he saw the Japanese countryside, with Mount Fuji in the far background, in front of him. He watched as all those things happened in front of him, as he just waited to get home and forget about the Koshien and everything related to the game.

And while this was going on, both Hashiba and Annika had risen from the seat where they were standing next to him, so they could leave him alone, and both decided to go and talk to the rest of the other players on the school team, who were talking about the game, and what would happen after they returned to Tokyo.

-"...and you had loved to see the faces of those idiots from Mugyou after we won in their own faces, dudes! I bet they never expected us to beat them in the Koshien's mere final."-

-"Damn right!"- Takuma Hoshikawa, Saionji's right-fielder, replied with a devilish smile in his face. -"And with regard of the game, what the hell happened to Morisawa? Since the game's over, it looks like he doesn't want to talk to anyone. In fact, he returned to the hotel in Osaka along with Hashiba before us."-

-"To be fair, Morisawa had never acted that way before, although when we were playing, it seemed as if something was tormenting him."-

-"Does he have any personal problems, by chance?"-

-"I really doubt it, if you ask me."- Hoshikawa replied to his friend. -"As far as I know about his family, he doesn't seem to have any problems at all, since his dad was just promoted, and his mom seems fine, just like his younger sister who is just entering junior high. He doesn't seem to have nothing to complain about."-

-"If so, why is he giving us the cold shoulder?"-

-"If I have to assume something, maybe it has something to do with the fact that he is being wanted by several baseball teams both here in Japan and in the US. In fact, I heard rumors that several American teams want to sign him once Morisawa graduates from school, without having to play at the NPB first. One of those teams was the Texas Rangers, based of what I saw at the end of the game, when I saw several American scouters from that team roaming the stadium."-

-"Wow! That's a huge milestone for a player from this country, to be signed in as soon as he graduates from school. But, I guess if he's going to play in America, then that means he's going to have to study college there, right?"-

-"I don't know, judging by his attitude at the moment, I think he doesn't feel like talking about it."- the right-fielder finally concludes his chat. -"And the truth is I wouldn't blame him, because anyone in his shoes would feel the same way."-

-"Right."-

While both players were chatting, Hashiba and Annika returned to their seats...

-"Yo, Hashiba! And you too, Anni!"- Hoshikawa greeted them. -"Did you two manage to get anything out from Morisawa?"-

-"Nope."- Hashiba responded rather annoyed, shrugging his shoulders as he sat in his seat.

-"There seems to be something tormenting Ryuji, I guess,"- The young Swedish girl also gives her point of view about her friend and his silent attitude since they were all in Nishinomiya and later in Osaka. -"but until he decides to talk about it, it would be best to leave him alone."-

-"We already know that, although I think it has something to do with the recent fame gained from winning the Koshien, at least that's what I think about it."- Hoshikawa retorted, while playing with a baseball in his hand. -"But we've still never seen him act that way before."-

-"Sorry if I'm in other people's business, guys, but I agree with Annika."- Hideo Matsuzaka, the coach of the school baseball team, responded by meddling in the conversation among the four youngsters in order to give his views on the young star batter. -"If Morisawa doesn't want to talk about it, it would be best to leave him alone, so that he can put his mind in order and know what would be the best decision for him regarding his future. Keeping on talking about it will only going to stress him more than he already has."-

-"Well, if you say so, coach, but I hope Morisawa's not going to do some stupid thing he might regret later."- The young student replied in somewhat worried tone regarding his partner to his coach.

-"Heh! I really, really, doubt it, that's for sure!"- Matsuzaka replied very proudly to Hoshikawa, as he pointed his finger at Ryuji Morisawa's seat, who seemed unaware of what his mentor and companions were talking about him. -"Because if he starts doing something out of the ordinary, I, as his teacher, will take care of straightening him out. You guys can be assured about that."-

---

August 23th, AD 2305, Tokyo Station, Marunouchi Business District, Tokyo, Japan, 4:00 PM Local Time

After a few hours of travel, the bullet train arrives in Tokyo without any inconvenience. Knowing that the press and many fans of the team would be waiting for Saionji's players at the station, and especially for Ryuji Morisawa, the player's parents were waiting for him at the rear of the station in their own car, to avoid the spectators.

-"All right, Ryuji, get in the car, and let's get out of here before the girls want to use you for decoration in their houses."- Morisawa's father answered, who was behind the wheel, while his mother was in the other seat.

-"Understood."- Afterwards, Morisawa addressed to Hashiba and Annika, who had accompanied him to the rear exit of the station. -"Sorry if we have to say goodbye this way, but I'll see you guys tomorrow at the Budokan to see Saori."-

-"No problem, see you tomorrow, buddy."- Hashiba hastly replied, while his friend got into the vehicle.

-"See ya, Ryuji!"- Annika also said goodbye in the same way.

After the farewells, the vehicle proceeded, according to the route given by Morisawa's father, to his home. But despite already being with his family, the young baseball player still couldn't help but be depressed as he had been all the way from Osaka.

-"We're very happy with what you've done. You've won the Koshien as it was your dream, and I imagine you must be happy, right, son?"-

Ryuji's father, Masaru Morisawa, congratulated his son on his triumph in Nishinomiya. Mr. Morisawa was an executive of a very important life insurance company in Japan, which had barely been promoted to regional manager of the Kanto region last week, so Ryuji's father was more than proud of his son's accomplishments.

But at that time, the young Morisawa was not eager to talk about those accomplishments .

-"Is something wrong, Ryuji?"- Natsuko Morisawa, Ryuji's mother, asked somewhat worried when she saw her son's depressed face.

-"It's nothing. I'm just tired."- Ryuji finally answered.

-"That was to be expected, considering that you won along with the Saionji team the Koshien of this year. Not bad for the first time, if I have to say so myself."- Masaru commented.

But Ryuji didn't feel like talking, much less to his own parents. Still, they seemed to understand the reason for his attitude, believing that it was fatigue.

-"Well, I don't blame you if you don't want to talk about it. With so much physical and mental effort to be able to win the championship, it is not surprising that you feel very tired right now..."-

But what Ryuji's parents didn't know was that what the young student felt at the time was something more than just plain fatigue...

---

August 23th, AD 2305, Nerima Ward, Tokyo, Japan, 5:00 PM Local Time

-"Welcome home, big bro, and also congratulations for winning the Koshien!"- Tae Morisawa, Ryuji's younger sister, congratulated her older brother for his deeds after he and his parents reached home.

-"Thanks, Tae."- Ryuji politely replied to his younger sister as he took off his shoes before entering his home.

-"I prepared the food beforehand, so today we will eat smoked Sirloin, sashimi, fried chicken..."-

But before Tae could go on describing what was going to eat that day, Ryuji went straight to his room, ignoring his sister. Obviously, she felt annoyed to be ignored that way by her older brother, seeing all the trouble she took to prepare the meal.

-"What's wrong with him?"- Tae scratched her head after watching her brother ignore her and her food.

-"I think he must be very tired after all the physical and mental effort on winning the Koshien, and I really don't blame him for that. Remember that we basically had to sneak Ryuji out of the station to keep his fans from eating him alive, so it's more than obvious that he doesn't feel good about all the attention he's getting."- Masaru, the father of Tae and Ryuji, thus justified the attitude of his son, while he was preparing to eat on his own.

-"Yes, I think the best thing to do would be to let him rest first and when he's more relaxed tomorrow, I think he'll eat, so better save some food for your brother."- Natsuko followed her husband's opinion regarding Ryuji.

-"OK, if you say so, mom."-

After ignoring the food, Ryuji Morisawa proceeded to his room to rest, something he needed urgently after all that had happened in Nishinomiya.

The Morisawa family home is located in the Nerima Ward, in northwest Tokyo. The house is of medium size, which is remarkable considering that the Morisawa family is middle to upper-middle class and they have the resources to have their own home, which is usually a luxury in Japan. With respect to Ryuji's room, his is relatively medium sized as well, full of baseball memorabilia, books and what you would normally see in the room of a young boy of his age.

-"Net, please turn on the lights."-

-"Understood, Ryuji."-

The Morisawa's home, like almost every home not only in Japan but around the world, is an smart home, where a central computer, commonly known as simply "The Net", controls all the functions that take place within a home and beyond, from cleaning floors, ordering food from a convenience store, to controlling cars, planes, trains and even spaceships.

This revolutionary computer system was created at the beginning of the 22nd century, fifty years after the end of World War III that devastated large portions of the world. But thanks not only to the Net, but also to a group of scientists and researchers who had come out of the ashes of such terrible conflict, both the Earth and humanity could stand on their feet again, when it seemed that it would be the end of it.

But more than 255 years have passed since the end of that conflict, and almost nobody remembers the exact causes of how it began in the first place. The only thing mentioned in the history books regarding World War III is that that war was an obvious extension of the War on Terror that began in the early 21st century after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, AD 2001. After that date, an almost uninterrupted succession of wars, terrorist attacks in the Middle East as well as in several Western countries and their implicit allies of these, among them Japan, along with the resurgence of ancient ethnic hatred, exploited by extreme right-wing leaders around the world, in order to consolidate themselves in power on their homelands.

The last straw in this cycle of wars and ancestral hatred was an attack in an ancient city of what was formerly called the "Middle East", which caused almost all the countries of that region to raise arms against the Western world and its allies. No one knows exactly who exactly was responsible for the attack, and whether the perpetrators were really from a Western country. The only thing known was that those responsible claimed to be right-wingers, and that the attack was in retaliation for several attacks carried out by various Middle-Eastern terrorist groups that had stricken Europe years ago, and that city was completely destroyed by the use of an atomic bomb that was placed in the sewage system of that city. Nobody knows how those terrorists managed to get an atomic weapon in their hands, the only thing that is known is the explosion was so powerful that not only destroyed the city completely, but also each and every one of the inhabitants of the city died along with it.

What happened next was a genocidal war that devastated almost every country in the world, and even countries like Japan, South Korea and other more peaceful Asian countries could not escape the fury of that conflict, which mainly took the form of terrorist attacks organized by people from the Middle East and who were willing to give their lives in order to end with the Western nations, their culture and all those who were their allies. For them, this was not only a world war, but it could be said that for them it was the last holy war.

And what began with terrorist attacks quickly degenerated into military attacks by several Western countries, mainly in Europe, against various targets in that region of West Asia in retaliation for those acts. One of these attacks was the daring kidnapping of the Pope by a group of Middle Eastern terrorists, who managed to breach the Vatican's security controls by killing every guard who had crossed their path. Once with the pontiff in their possession, the terrorists proceeded to torture him in the most brutal ways possible. And by the time both the Italian security forces and the NATO tried to rescue him, they realized that he was already dead, but not before the terrorists had taken with them as many western soldiers as they could by using explosive vests.

In retaliation, many people from Western countries, like their allies, undertook a genocidal campaign against any inhabitant of the Middle East, regardless of whether they agreed with what their compatriots did or not. Mosques, churches, and anything related to one side or the other were destroyed and hundreds of people, especially innocent people, died at the hands of religious fanatics of whatever religion were the perpetrators in question. It didn't matter if they were children, women or the elderly, whoever was of an enemy culture or religion of the opposing side had to die in the opinion of the aggressors.

A few years later, seeing that the Western nations and their allies seemed ready to erase them from the face of the earth, the nations of the Middle East, especially those of the Arabian Peninsula, decided to create a military alliance to defend themselves and at the same time fight against the Western world and their "perfidious" allies, as they called them. That alliance only had the Arabic name "Al-Tahaluf", better known as simply "The Arab Alliance". Their objective: to protect the Middle East and destroy the Western civilization once and for all, by any means possible.

Strangely, there is not much information about what happened once the Arab Alliance was created, except for a few important details: Despite being the target of attacks from several Western countries, Iran decided not to participate in the war, despite having several reasons to do so. No one knew the exact reason for the refusal of a nation reputed for sponsoring terrorism, but possibly Iran's enmity with its Arab neighbors could have been one of the causes. Another nation that refused to participate was Pakistan, perhaps because of its geographical proximity to India and the fact that India has traditionally been an ally of Western nations since its independence from the British Empire, not to mention the fact that the Indians possess nuclear weapons. India did not participate in the war either, possibly for the same reasons as Pakistan, and also for its policy of neutrality in foreign conflicts.

Another odd participant who fought alongside the Arab Alliance was North Korea. Despite the fact that the Middle East was outside its sphere of influence, the former North Korean Communist regime decided to participate somewhat discreetly in the war, partly to obtain help from the Arab nations with respect to their own military and nuclear programs. No one knew up to that point to what extent North Korea's participation in World War III was, except for the way that war could have ended, and the way the conflict ended was as strange as it was brutal, not to mention that are many questions about it to that date.

The only thing known about how the war ended was that several atomic explosions destroyed many cities in the Middle East, including Baghdad, Damascus, Abu Dhabi and others. What made the situation extremely puzzling up to that point was the fact that no one knew who was responsible for dropping those bombs, albeit everything seemed to indicate that North Korea was to some extent responsible for those attacks. Why and the reasons the North Koreans nuked their own allies was a mystery for a long time, but it is believed that they decided to betray their allies when they saw that the Western nations had them cornered, and used atomic weapons as a last resort.

Due to the use of these weapons, the war ended suddenly in favor of the Western world, although it could be said that it was a rather Pyrrhic victory for Westerners and allies, as well as a crushing defeat for the Arab Alliance. Decades of constant wars and conflicts, coupled with the use of the aforementioned atomic weapons and the indiscriminate use of other weapons of mass destruction, such as chemical and biological weapons, at least by some of the countries of the Arab Alliance as a way to compensate for the lack of military power against the Western world, caused regions that were once prosperous to become in a few years into little more than radioactive and toxic wastelands, a kind of gigantic tomb that still serves as a continuous reminder to humanity of the brutality of that conflict, which left approximately 100 million dead, just in the Middle East.

And what happened to the rest of the inhabitants of that region who survived the war? Leaving aside Israel (which strangely did not participate in the war, apart from some isolated actions in defense of its territory, which was therefore attacked by some lonely members of the Arab Alliance as well as the traditional internal enemies of Israel, such as Hezbollah, the PLO, and others), Lebanon (which did not participate either), Egypt and the great majority of the countries of North Africa, along with the aforementioned Iran, Pakistan and other Muslim nations, who were barely or never affected by either atomic or other non-conventional weapons in the first place, the Arab world, as it has been known for centuries, ceased to exist as such.

Millions of that region's inhabitants, having lost their ancestral homes to war, took refuge in neighbouring countries, mainly in Europe, East Asia and Africa, but that situation soon became untenable, since the hatred provoked by war were still alive, and many refugees were massacred in several of the receiving countries as revenge for the atrocities committed by the Alliance. It was more than evident at that time, it seemed that humanity was determined to annihilate itself in a sea of ethnic, religious and social hatedom.

North Korea, the allegedly responsible for all this tragedy, also suffered from the consequences of the conflict in a much more prolonged way: Due to its alleged responsibility in nuclear attacks against its allies in the Middle East, the North Korean communist regime was cornered by the US, South Korea, Japan and even their eternal ally China in an attempt to end the regime that subjugated that nation once and for all. Without nuclear weapons to defend itself from its enemies, and losing many of its men and armaments in the Middle East, the communist regime ended up falling under its own weight due to a coup d' état, where the leaders responsible for the nuclear attacks were executed and their bodies devoured by dogs as an exemplary punishment.

Soon after, a transitional government was created that would take charge of organizing a more democratic and free government, and, after decades of communist yoke in the hands of a single family, and then several decades of many sacrifices, misunderstandings and other problems, by the beginning of the 22nd century, the two Koreas were unified and a new nation, the United Republic of Korea, was born.

Meanwhile, in what appeared to be a distant event from the war, humanity not only managed to set foot on the planet Mars in AD 2030, but began the first steps to terraform the red planet, so that it could colonize it, something that, after the war, became a high level priority, taking into account the large number of refugees from the Middle East that were in Western countries, Africa and Asia. But it was more than evident that a project of that scope would normally have taken centuries to complete with the technology available at that time, which caused many people to begin to reluctantly accept the idea that humanity would first eliminate itself in another war before it could colonize Mars.

But when everything seemed lost, a group of scientists from different countries, who suddenly appeared from nowhere, developed a technology to speed up the terraformation of Mars, along with another group of related technologies. Although the foundations of that technology had existed since the 1950s, it was not until the 2040s that the means to develop it were sufficiently advanced to implement it in a massive and cost-effective way.

The name of that technology was no other than nanotechnology.

Thanks to the use of nanotechnology, it was now possible to terraform a planet like Mars in less than 20 years, instead of the centuries it would normally take by ordinary methods, by accelerating the greenhouse effect necessary to warm up the Martian atmosphere and thus gradually achieve, through other nanotechnological and biological methods, such as genetically engineered bacteria, to make the atmosphere of Mars more suitable for human life.

By AD 2060, ten years after the end of World War III, Mars went from being an uninhabitable world to a more suitable planet for human life, a feat that decades ago would have seemed impossible, and by 2080 the planet's terraformation was almost complete. By AD 2090, the first human settlers began moving to the red planet as soon as it was possible and safe to do so. The great majority of human settlers, for obvious reasons, were inhabitants of the ancient Middle East, who took advantage of the opportunity to have a new home, even if that meant having to leave Earth, but considering the discrimination they suffered as refugees on Earth, many had no other choice but to make a new life on Mars.

Another very important technological advance that came alongside nanotechnology was the sustainable development of nuclear fusion energy. Thanks to the use of this energy, another important development was achieved: Faster-than-light travel (FTL). Being able to travel at the speed of light now allowed a trip to Mars to take only a few hours, rather than the months it would normally take with traditional methods, and a trip to, for example, Pluto would now take only two days at most, rather than decades it used to take with conventional means. This caused the colonization of space to advance much faster and in a few decades, humanity not only managed to colonize and terraform Mars, but also managed to colonize planets and moons as far as Ganymede, Callisto, the moon itself and even planets outside the solar system, achieving mankind to expand beyond their home planet in a way that no one imagined possible.

There was another equally impressive technological advance, which has also left its mark on humanity: The development of artificial intelligence progressed to such an extent that it was feasible to create a computer with an intelligence equal to that of a human being. Thanks to this, a new computer network was created that soon replaced the old "Internet" that existed up to that point, since this new network could not only do the same as the old WWW, but also do other things that were impossible to do before, such as control vehicles like planes, ships and even spacecraft with incredible ease. Technically speaking, the name of this new computer network is called "Advanced Neuro Electronic Network" (ANEN), albeit, as already mentioned above, is normally known as The Net by almost everyone.

Thanks to these technological advances, humanity was able to more or less recover from the ravages of war, and in a few decades, much of what had been lost by almost a century of uninterrupted conflicts, coupled with World War III, was recovered...

...Or at least, this is what Ryuji was reading up to that point on his holographic computer, which projected an educational program about world history from World War III through the 24th century, while resting in his bed. He had always liked to see and read things about world history to expand his horizons beyond just playing baseball, as he planned to be a professor of world history once he graduated from university.

But suddenly...

-"Ryuji, you've received several emails in the last few hours since you came home."-

The Net's unmistakable voice informed the young student that he had several emails he had to read, which Ryuji grinned in disgust.

-"What kind of emails are they, and who are the senders?"-

-"OK, Let me see. You have received emails from the following baseball teams: Yomiuri Giants, Nippon Ham Fighters, Chunichi Dragons, Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, Matanzas from Cuba, Sultanes de Monterrey from Mexico..."-

-"Geez! Do I have offers from teams of Mexico and even Cuba?"-

-"That's right."-

The young Japanese baseball player was more than surprised to see that basically he was getting offers from practically all over the world, even from countries that he was never expected to receive signing offers. It was self-evident that what he and his team did at the Summer Koshien had left a lasting impression on the opinion of many scouters from teams around the world, and he was having trouble dealing with his new popularity.

-"Computer, I want you to send all senders the following: Thank them for the hassle of looking for me, but I will make a final decision once I finish high school. Before that, they should respect my privacy, and I will not make any early decisions."-

-"Understood, I will get your answer to them as soon as possible. Do you have anything else to say?"-

-"No, that's about it. I only ask you to be as polite as possible, so that they may take me into consideration when I finish my studies later."-

-"Roger that, Ryuji."-

The Net sent Ryuji's reply to the corresponding teams, while the young student could not help but think about his new fame acquired at the Koshien, which, while not unexpected, was not something he wanted either. He then proceeded to try to get some sleep after a long and busy day, since it was 9:00 PM already.

-"Computer, also let my family know I'm going to rest and I don't want to be disturbed. Good night."-

-"Good night, Ryuji."-

---

August 24th, AD 2305, Nippon Budokan, 2305 All Japan Kendo Championship (Women's Division), Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, Japan, 12:00 PM Local Time

-"HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

With an accurate strike with her shinai, the female kendoka standing on the tatami hits her opponent's head, causing the opponent to lose her balance and fall to the ground.

After getting off the floor, both the contestant and the winner bow to each other and shake hands in a sporting and gentlemanly manner. Later, the audience began to cheer both competitors.

-"The winner of the 2305 All Japan Kendo Championship, Women's Division, is Saori Ogura, from Tokyo."

The announcer gives the name of the winner of the tournament, who is none other than Ryuji Morisawa's friend who has been mentioned before. Saori Ogura, the captain of the Saionji Municipal High School's Kendo team, is a young woman of the same age as Morisawa, with long black hair, brown eyes and medium height, but with a face and visage somewhat frightening to those who did not know her.

-"Hey, way yo go, sir!"-

-"Yeah, you did it!"-

Those words of congratulations came from Saori's classmates, who deeply admired her for her ability with the shinai, but above all, for her air of nobility that she radiated with her sheer presence. And it was no less, since she came from a very prestigious family of martial artists dating back centuries, and it was to be expected that she could not only win the national championship, but also qualify for the World Kendo Championship to be held in two years in Parlermo, Italy.

-"Thanks, girls, it's good to hear that. Now we'll go to Italy to win the world championship, and I hope we can all do our best."-

-"YES, SIR!"-

After the awards ceremony, which was rather brief, Saori went to her locker, dressed in her street clothes and proceeded to leave the Budokan in a more relaxed manner. Although she had many admirers on her side, she didn't have to worry about men and women swarming over her, so she didn't have to try to avoid the general public, apart from greeting her classmates and some fans. After all, it wasn't that kendo attracted large crowds in the same way as baseball, at least in comparison to how it used to be in the past. At that time, it would have been a miracle if at most 5,000 people had come to see the national tournaments, and the audience was reduced even more when it came to local tournaments.

Saori knew that perfectly well and it was something that depressed her quite a bit. She knew that one day, kendo would become so irrelevant that the only people who would practice this ancient sport are the traditionalists like her and her family... and the elderly. And when that day comes, she'll become just as unimportant as well.

-"Hey, Saori! Congrats for winning that Kendo tourney, you deserved it!"-

The young kendoka girl heard a voice very familiar to her from the Budokan's parking lot...

-"Oh, hi, Ryuji! And you guys as well!"-

Saori returned the greeting to her childhood friend, Ryuji Morisawa, along with both Tsutomu Hashiba and Annika Stefansson, who were waiting for her in the parking lot.

-"We saw your last fight and I must say it was an excellent duel. You did really trained a lot to win so convincingly, as you managed to wipe the floor with your opponent in less than 15 minutes, a new record for you."- Ryuji explained about what he saw during Saori's last bout in the tournament.

-"Come on, Ryuji, I don't think it's a big deal."- Saori tried not to overemphasize her victory. -"She did really give me quite a fight, believe it or not, and the duel could have lasted even longer if she had spent so much time on the defensive, and she later decided to go attacking once and for all. That allowed me to find a good way to beat her, by breaking her concentration."-

-"Yeah, maybe you're right, but a victory is still a good victory, and now you will represent Japan in the world championship in Palermo."- Hashiba happily congratulated her friend.

-"And I guess you must be very happy about that, huh?"- Annika added her own twist on the barrage of congratulations from the rest of Saori's friends.

But in response, the kendoka kept silent and her face grimaced in sadness...

-"Are you all right, Saori? Did I say the wrong thing?"- Annika asked Saori quite worried after seeing her face.

-"Uh, no, I'm fine."- Saori finally replied to her Swedish friend. -"I just wish my parents were here to see me win the tournament."-

-"Now that you mention it, you're right. Are your parents still out of the country?"- Hashiba asked about the whereabouts of Saori's parents.

-"Yes. As you guys know, my parents work for the Japanese government in the diplomatic service, and they are currently working for the Japanese embassy in Brazil. And they plan to return home in another five months."-

-"And, regarding your family, what about your grandpa?"- Hashiba keeps asking Saori about her family and the reasons why they weren't in Japan to see her win. -"I understand he's a kendo master and he taught you to fight, right? I would have figured he'd be the first person to be there to see you win that tournament, wouldn't I?"-

-"Well, that's a little more complicated to explain. My grandfather, as you know, also works for the government as a bodyguard chief and his job demands a lot of his time, so I understood him if he didn't come to see me anyway."-

-"Oh, my. That must really sucks for you..."- Annika pitied her.

-"Heh, I'm already used to that, Annika, but thanks for worrying about me anyway."-

-"But I think, apart from your family, the other reason you're depressed is because you know very well if kendo is still worth practicing, considering that very few people practice it nowadays."-

Morisawa, who had not said much apart from greeting Saori, gave his point of view regarding his friend's attitude regarding the status of that martial art in the world today.

-"I can't deny that kendo is currently in trouble,"- The young kendoka girl nodded her head slightly to what her friend said about kendo, but at the same time, affirming what she was saying with a sense of pride that came from the deepest parts of her soul. -"but at the same time I can't stop practicing it. Not only has kendo been part of the Ogura clan for generations, when my ancestors, who were samurai, practiced it, but I also want to inherit that martial art to my children and for my children to do it with theirs as well. Kendo is part of my family's DNA and I will not give up that art so easily, and even though I am the last person on earth to practice the way of the sword, I will not stop practicing it. You can have that for sure, Ryuji."-

But before Saori and his friends could go on arguing, there was applause in the distance, which had an obvious rhythmic and very mocking sound.

-"Well, well, It's no wonder that there are still people bothering on practicing almost extinct martial arts at a time when we don't need them anymore, right, samurai babe?"-

Ryuji Morisawa had already heard that voice once in his life, and it was a voice he would never forget, even if he wanted to. It was a voice that spoke in Japanese with a certain German accent in his voice, and it was a voice of a person who did not expect to see him again in his life, and that he would have wished he had never stood there in those moments.

-"EDGE!"- Ryuji yelled furiously when he heard that voice.

Suddenly, a young man appeared on the scene in the parking lot. He was somewhat tall, with one half of his hair dyed blonde, and the other half dark brown, light brown eyes, very thin and dressed in very quirky clothes.

-"Oh, Ryuji, what a way for you to welcome me after so many years without ever seeing us, my good friend! At least you would have called me by my first name or at least by my last name, if you'd had a little more courtesy."-

-"The only courtesy I'd like to give you as a welcome gift would be a knuckle sandwich on your filthy face!"-

-"My, my, you're as violent as ever since we were in junior high"- The young man with a German accent replied with a smirk in his face. -"I thought you'd grown up a little over the years, while I went to Germany."-

-"And you are still the same old asshole since I've known you, Eiji Yajima."-

Morisawa's friends were surprised to hear that name, as he was also a distant acquaintance of them years ago, and they did not expect to see him in Japan again.

-"Yajima? It's that you?"- Saori asked with a surprised tone. -"What the hell are you doing here in Japan again? I thought you went to study for a scholarship in Bonn with your family."-

-"Well, at least it's good to know that even Ryuji and the samurai sweetie still call me by my name rather than Edge."- Yajima replied sarcastically to his "friends".

-"And you should thank me that I can't think of any better nicknames for smug jerks like you. As far as I'm concerned, you would have rotted yourself in Europe, and no one would mourn your loss."- Morisawa continued lashing out against Yajima.

Yajima remained silent for a few seconds as he saw the cold welcome he was receiving, but his attitude had not changed at all.

-"Well, at least I didn't expect you to be so rude to me after several years without seeing us,"- Yajima answered with the same arrogant demeanor. -"and the same goes for you, my dear Saori."-

-"Who the hell gave you permission to call me like that, Yajima?"- Saori responded furiously to her interlocutor, due of the intimacy with which he was addressing her. -"As far as I'm concerned, you're going to call me by my last name, understand? Or maybe all those years in Europe made you forget your manners?"-

-"I can address people as I please, my dear. And no samurai girl like you is going to stop me,"- Yajima replied to the female kendoka with the same smug attitude, while looking down to her. -"and as for your question, the reason I'm back in Japan is for personal reasons."

-"What kind of personal reasons do you mean?"- Morisawa angrily asked him.

-"Do you remember Yui Nagamori, my friend who was with me in the same class?"-

Upon hearing that name, both Morisawa and Saori began to remember, for that name was well known to both of them...

-"Now that you mention it, isn't Nagamori the girl who was always with you when you were both in junior high?"- Saori asked Yajima about that girl he mentioned.

-"Yeah, actually, she's graduating from college in two more years."-

-"If I remember correctly, she went to study to Todai (University of Tokyo) out of high school just two years ago, and I believe she told me once she was studying a biology degree, didn't she?"- Morisawa asked Yajima as well.

-"Exactly,"- The young, arrogant man confirmed. -"And I came to Japan with the express purpose of greeting her."-

-"Then, what the hell are you doing here at the Budokan?"- Tsutomu Hashiba, who remained silent during the whole discussion up to that point, asked Yajima about his intentions. -"I don't think you've come all this way just to annoy us, or do you have other reasons in mind?"-

-"I have no other reasons. I just heard that Saori won the national tournament and I figured the rest of the gang would meet with her, so I decided to come and say hello to all of you."-

All the other teens, except Annika, who didn't understand what was going on between her friends and Yajima, began to groan in disapproval.

-"Well, I know you guys don't believe me, but I just came to say hello in my own way, so if you'll excuse me, I'm outta here. See you later, dudes."-

And Eiji Yajima disappeared from the scene as quickly as he originally appeared, leaving the rest of his friends with a bitter taste in their mouths due to his sudden presence in their lives. They could not believe that someone they detested had returned from Germany, and whose attitude seems to have changed none at all.

-"I hope I'm not butting in, but, who the hell was that jerk?"- Annika asked Morisawa, since she had never met Yajima before, and she had no knowledge of the long history between her friends and that man from Europe.

-"He is Eiji Yajima, nicknamed Edge by us because of what his name sounds like."- The young baseball player explains to his Swedish friend about Yajima and the story they shared. -"He's always been this arrogant and pretentious, and when we were in junior high, he, Saori and me had a lot of fights with him because of his attitude."-

-"And why did he go to Germany? And who is this Yui Nagamori he was talking about?"-

-"Even if he doesn't seem so, Edge has always had very good grades, in part because he has always been a very perfectionist kind of person, which helped him get a scholarship to study abroad, and go to Germany. It also helps a lot that he has cousins living there and he already knew how to speak German since he was a kid."- Morisawa keeps explaining about Yajima's background. -"And, as for Nagamori, she was our senior when we were in junior high, and she was very close to Edge, although if you ask me, I think he and she were more than that."

-"Oh, I see."- Annika replies. -"Boy, that guy sure does have a very interesting story, especially with the three of you. I didn't know any of this, since I was at another school in Yokohama before I met you guys in Saionji."-

-"Well, to be honest, Yajima is not a bad person at heart."- Saori also gave her opinion on Yajima as well, as much as he hated him. -"His only problem is that he has a very big mouth, as well as his ego, and I think that living in Europe made it grow bigger than it was when he was still in Japan."-

-"Right. And we'd better get home before our families start worrying about us seriously."- Morisawa finally concluded, after watching his clock and figuring out it was already late after their discussion with Yajima.

-"OK, Ryuji. I just hope that one of these days, his ego doesn't get him into a very big problem that he can't get rid of easily. That would be a terrible thing, and even I wouldn't be able to wish that on my worst enemy."- Saori also gave her final thoughts on the topic as well...

---

September 15th, AD 2305, Sakurazaki Elementary School, Tomimura City, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, 11:30 AM

-"STAND UP!"-

A group of elementary school children who were sitting for only a few moments rose from their seats, and the reason for this was because their teacher had entered the classroom, and the students respectfully bowed to their mentor...

-"SIT DOWN!"-

...And again the children returned to their seats.

-"Hey, kids, how you been today?"- The teacher, named Kaoru Inamura, a middle-aged woman of short black hair, somewhat chubby and with glasses, greeted her students in a cheerful and lively way.

-"Very well, Miss Inamura!"- All children answered to their teacher in unison.

-"I hope that you are ready for the school trip we will make to Hiroshima in the next seven days'as we will be walking a lot and seeing many interesting things there."

-"YES, SIR!"-

But Ms. Inamura noticed something strange about one of her students standing in front of her, especially a 5 year-old girl with long brown hair, same colored eyes, tanned skin, and white dress, who seemed not to have paid much attention to what she had said a few moments ago about the trip.

-"Is something wrong, Yumi?"-

The girl seemed not to respond to her teacher's words, as she looked out of the window of the classroom.

-"Hello? Earth calling to Yumi Tachibana..."- The professor tried to get the girl's attention to her, without success.

-"Yumi, please, Ms. Inamura will be angry if you don't answer her..."- A boy, who had a very strong physical resemblance to the girl, though her hair was totally shaved and dressed in more casual clothes, tried to convince her to listen to her teacher.

The other children in the room began to laugh at such a situation...

-"Keita Tachibana, would you be so kind as to convince your little sister that the class is about to start? You know very well I don't like to be ignored."- The mentor replied, while keeping the same demeanor on both kids.

-"OK."-

The boy got up from his seat and tried to tell his sister that the class had already started by tapping her shoulder.

-"Yumi... Yumi... are you paying attention? The class has already started, for god's sake!"-

The girl, who at that time was daydreaming, quickly reacted to that stirring...

-"WAI-WHAT?!"-

Everyone in the classroom, including the teacher, started laughing at the girl's cute reaction as she returned in her senses again. Yumi did not know what to say about it, except to see that her twin brother and the entire classroom were watching her.

-"Welcome to planet Earth again, Yumi. I hope you had a good trip, because now we're going to start the class, in case you haven't noticed that."- Ms. Inamura, who was very amused to see the girl with such a confused face, "welcomes" her with a tone of sarcasm and delight on her part.

-"Sorry about that, sir..."- Yumi apologizes to her, while her face was blushing in shame.

The rest of the rest of the classroom began to mockingly laugh at the lovely girl, who was ashamed of herself for being distracted in front of her teacher.

-"OK, let's put aside the jokes and get back to the subject I was talking about a few moments ago."- Ms. Inamura put a more serious face toward her students. -"As I mentioned at the beginning, children, we are going to Hiroshima in seven more days and I need you to be ready to go there. I also need permission from your parents or guardians for the trip, so don't forget to ask them beforehand."-

-"Yes, Ms. Inamura!"- All the kids replied to her.

-"Good,"- The mentor said. -"Well, if there's nothing else to say, let's start class. Now we will begin with world history..."-

---

VIII

Ms. Inamura's class went by without incident, and everything seemed calm and normal at school, in what seemed like an any other day. After school was over, the children, by tradition, began cleaning the classroom before returning home.

-"I'm gonna sweep today, folks."- Yumi warned her friends about her duties from that day.

-"And I'm gonna take out the trash."- Keita also did the same.

-"Then, let's clean this place, guys!"- All the kids replied in unison.

Once with all the assigments already decided, and without further ado, all the children began to clean the classroom in a conscientious manner. But Keita, Yumi's twin brother, after returning from dumping the trash in his proper place, noticed something that began to worry him about his sister.

-"Eh, Yumi, are you alright?"-

Since they both came to school and since they entered the classroom, Keita noticed that Yumi, who was usually a very hyperactive child, as well as him, was seen to be somewhat depressed and sad, something he hadn't seen in a long time. The fact that she didn't pay attention to the teacher at first, and that even after she started working she didn't seem very happy, was cause for concern to him.

-"Yes, I'm OK."-

Yumi replied, as she continued to sweep the floor, despite the same depressed face she had from all day long. Obviously that response was not very convincing for her brother, who couldn't stop worrying about her.

-"Really? For I don't see you feeling very well today, Yumi."-

And without warning, Keita puts her hand on Yumi's forehead to find out if she didn't have a fever that would indicate if she could be sick.

-"What are you doing, big bro?"-

-"Whaddaya think, you dummy? I'm checking you if you don't have a fever".-

After touching her forehead for a while, Keita didn't feel anything unusual with her sister, but the girl was not very happy to see how her brother had touched her without even warning her, even it was for a very good reason.

-"Are you happy now? I don't have anything."- The girl angrily replied her brother.

-"Then, why are you depressed? You've been acting really weird all day since we got to school."-

Yumi remained silent to her brother's question.

-"Aren't you going to answer my question?"- The boy began to feel somewhat frustrated by the attitude of his younger sister, who seemed to be avoiding his conversation.

-"If you want to know, I have nothing. I'm just tired."-

-"OK, but if you have a problem, let me know."- Keita reacted, not very convinced by Yumi's answer. -"Don't you want to talk about it with Grandpa Ichiro back home, or the teacher after school?"-

-"No, it's alright."-

-"Well, if you say so."-

-"You two, stop talking and get to work!"-

Keita and Yumi received a warning from their fellow classmates that they talked to each other instead of continuing to clean the classroom...

-"Okay, okay, we're coming!"- Both twins replied at the same time.

And without further ado, both brothers began to continue cleaning the classroom, trying to put aside the discussion a few moments ago for another time.

---

September 15th, AD 2305, Downtown Tomimura City, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, 2:00 PM

After finishing cleaning the classroom and saying goodbye to their classmates and teachers, the Tachibana twins left Sakurazaki Elementary School and headed for downtown Tomimura to their home on the other side of town, near the sea.

Tomimura City is one of the newer cities that were born after World War III at the beginning of the 22nd century, after many people who had left the northern and central regions of Japan, after a large population growth occurred at the end of the war. That city was originally a humble fishing village north of Okinawa, in front of the Pacific Ocean and before the war it was a practically insignificant and irrelevant place, with the only exception of being near some of the military bases that the U. S. Army has on that island. For various reasons, mainly the need to have a place to live near the military bases and to avoid a disorderly growth of Naha, the capital of the prefecture, that fishing village first became a small town and centuries later, it became a worthy city over the years.

But despite the city's accelerated growth over the centuries, Tomimura still remained a fishing city, where many fishing boats, both from Japan and the rest of the world, docked at the city's docks to take and ship sea products to other parts of the country and the world, leaving a very important money flow for the city's inhabitants. And its inhabitants have not lost their village spirit they had since the city was originally a village in the mid-21st century. This is reflected in the fact that almost everyone in the city knows each other, and anything that happens in the city soon becomes important news, including social events such as weddings, funerals, graduations and others. And that also includes scandals as well.

Faced with this atmosphere, Keita and Yumi headed home on a bus, whose driver knew the twins long ago.

-"Hello, Mr. Izawa!"-

-"Hi, kids! How'd you guys do in class?"-

-"Fine, thanks for asking!"-

-"Well, then if there's no other problem, we'll go to your home."-

-"OK."- The twins replied to Mr. Izawa.

The bus driver gave orders to the vehicle computer, and without further ado, the bus headed for the destination indicated by the human driver. Although the technology has advanced enough so that a vehicle can go from one place to another without human intervention, due to the restrictions imposed on the use of artificial intelligence over the years, especially after World War III, the Net can only operate in conjunction with a human being and cannot function without the explicit authorization of a human operator. This is to avoid what happened in that conflict, where unmanned vehicles and drones were used en masse, causing enormous numbers of casualties, and as a result many restrictions were imposed on their use to prevent the Net from taking control of the world and trying, hypothetically speaking, to destroy the human race.

Once on the bus, Keita saw the city streets from the window of the vehicle, but Yumi didn't seem to be too interested in what was going on around her, as she still seemed depressed about something she didn't seem to want to share with her twin brother, which caused Keita to start worrying about what was going on with his sister.

-"What's going on with Yumi that she won't tell me?"- Keita thought to himself as he saw Yumi's lost gaze.

After half an hour of travel, the bus stopped at a bus stop near a hilltop. Behind that hill was the home of the Tachibana family, which in turn is facing the sea. The house was a traditional, somewhat small but cozy residence with a small port where two fishing boats were moored at the time.

And at that moment, in the port was an old man already gray-haired, but with a very cheerful personality, who was apparently inside one of the boats making some adjustments before he went fishing.

-"Hi, Grandpa Ichiro! How are you?"- Keita greeted the old man, who was the twins' grandfather.

-"Oh, hi, Keita! And you too, Yumi! How did you two do at school?"-

-"Fine, grandpa!"- Keita happily replied to his grandfather -"And what are you doing right now?"-

-"Well, I'm planning to go fishing today, and I'd like you two to join me, once we finish eating first, of course."-

-"Well, it's no problem for me, Grandpa, right, Yumi?"-

The girl remained silent and did not respond to her brother's words or those of her grandfather.

-"Yumi, are you OK?"- Keita finally started to freak out due of Yumi's attitude since school. -"You've been like this all day and you're starting to creep me out. Do you have some kind of problem?"-

-"I'm OK. I'm just tired."- The girl answered in a flat tone of voice towards her family.

-"Well, I wouldn't call that "being OK", little girl."- The old man also reacted at Yumi's mysterious attitude, and he put his hand on his granddaughter's forehead.

-"HEY, CUT IT OUT, GRANDPA! I'M NOT SICK!"- The girl responded violently when her grandfather touched her forehead.

-"Well, after seeing that answer of yours, it doesn't look like you're very sick, heh heh!"- Ichiro replied in a joking manner.

-"That was not funny for me, grandpa."-

At that joyful time, the stomachs of the three Tachibana family members began to growl, indicating that it was time for lunch.

-"Gee, it's lunchtime."- The old man responded sardonically about the hunger he was having at the time, a feeling shared with his grandchildren. -"Before we go out to sea, let's eat something good beforehand and then we'll talk about it, children. Waddaya think, kids?"

-"YEAH!"-

-"Well, let's go home and eat some grub!"- The old man Ichiro responded -"This time it's your turn to cook today, Keita."-

-"OK, Today I will cook something really good that you are going to enjoy it, grandpa!"-

-"Well, I hope so, because the last time you cooked, you got your noodles burned, and your nattou tasted like donkey piss."-

-"GRANDPA, THAT WAS GROSS!"-

Yumi shouted to her grandfather at the eschatological answer regarding her brother Keita's cooking style. Keita, for his part, recognized that his grandfather was somewhat right about the way he cooked, although even the old man knew he couldn't demand much from a couple of five-year-olds who barely learned to cook from him a few months ago.

Once at home, Yumi and her grandfather Ichiro set out to prepare the table before lunch, while Keita prepared the food, a fish soup with curry and spices that the boy drew directly from the Net's culinary database. In spite of being only five years old, the child was able to cook without much difficulty thanks to the help of computers integrated in the household appliances, which were connected to the aforementioned Net, and automated many of the most difficult and risky functions (for a boy of his age), while Keita concentrated on cooking without having to worry about being hurt when using the stove or the cookware. Similarly, inside the kitchen there were several mini-robots that took care of other functions, such as cleaning the floor, throwing away trash, among other things that made the housework easier.

And returning to the dining room, Yumi looked back at a photograph with a black frame and several flowers and candles around it, which was in front of the table. For that girl, that picture was very important to her... and to the rest of her family.

-"Hi, mom, hi, dad. We're going to eat something delicious right now. Wherever you are, I hope that you too will be well."-

Yumi pronounced these words with some melancholy and somewhat sadly, though she did her best to conceal what she felt about it when she saw that photograph...

That day would have been two years since the parents of the Tachibana twins, Masato and Kyoko Tachibana, died in an accident on a spaceship bound for accident was one of the few accidents involving a spacecraft bound for another planet, and one of the very few where there were no survivors, as the spacecraft exploded in the middle of space. No one knew the exact reasons for that accident, and even after all those years, the only reason that the ship was allegedly destroyed was probably due of a terrorist attack, which was highly unlikely even at that time, since the last terrorist attack on Earth was in AD 2105 and since then there have been no major armed conflicts outside of regional unrest either on Earth, or its colonies. And not to mention that no person or group took responsibility for that incident, assuming that it really was an attack in the first place.

Masaru's father, Ichiro Tachibana, was left in charge of the twins as he was the only living relative who could take care of those orphaned children after the deaths of their parents. The old man was originally from Tomimura, along with his late son, and after the due funeral rites, the old patriarch took both children from Tokyo to Okinawa to live with them in his seaside home, where he fished like many inhabitants of that peaceful city of Japan.

The children, thanks to their grandfather, were brought up by the old man to stand up for themselves, especially on the day he could not be longer with them. One of those skills was being able to fish in the waters of the Pacific Ocean along with the veteran man, and despite their young age, they were able to do as well as many adults.

Meanwhile, at the Tachibanas' house, the old man also observes with his granddaughter the photo of his deceased son and daughter-in-law, and several memories came to his mind.

-"I bet your parents must be very happy right now."-

-"You think so, Grandpa?"-

-"That's right, Yumi. I believe that, wherever they are now, they must be very proud of you kids."-

-"Thank you, grandpa."-

-"You're welcome, sweetie."- The grandfather replied to his granddaughter, who kept looking at the photograph. -"Now you finish setting up the table, so we can eat before we go fishing."-

-"Yes, grandpa!"-

While the little girl was finishing her last preparations before she started eating, Ichiro Tachibana looked at the photograph in the same way, and couldn't help but shed a tear for his son and daughter-in-law, who died in such unjust and cruel circumstances, and to this day no one has been able to tell him what caused that tragic accident where they lost their lives. All these two years trying, along with the other relatives of the other victims of the space accident, to demand explanations about what caused that tragedy have been unsuccessful, and he feels that he would first die before he could know the truth.

And in that regard, there was the elephant in the room of the whole thing: What would happen to Keita and Yumi the day he is no longer present to care for them? Ichiro was the only surviving relative of the Tachibana family, as his wife Masami died of a heart attack years ago, and there were no known relatives of his deceased daughter-in-law Kyoko, so most likely the day he died, they would be given up for adoption by the state.

-"Masato, Kyoko, even if it costs me my life, I will take care of your children that you left me to care for. And I hope you can at least rest in peace wherever you are."- The old man glanced thoughtfully at the photo of his deceased relatives as he watched his grandchildren happily cooked food for everyone.

Minutes later, the food was ready and the three Tachibanas sat down at the table to eat it before going fishing. The meal was a mix of Japanese and Western food, including fish soup, fried noodles, Cordon Blue, blueberry juice, among other dishes.

-"BON APPETTITE!"-

And to say the least, Keita, Yumi and Ichiro began to cheerfully eat their food, devouring it with pleasure knowing that everything tasted great.

-"MMM! I must congratulate you this time, Keita."- Ichiro congratulated his grandson about the taste of his food. -"At least this time your food tastes a lot better than the last time you cooked."-

-"Oh, grandpa! You don't have to be so mean with me, just because I screwed with the nattou yesterday!"- The kid complained in a playful tone about the criticism his grandfather gave to him.

-"Yeah, I know that, but you made the nattou, which in itself has a very strong flavor, taste like a dead man's open coffin yesterday."-

-"YUCK!"- Yumi grossed out on the extremely tasteless (pardon the pun) comparation her grandfather Ichiro did about her brother's food. -"That's really gross, grandpa!"-

-"HEH HEH HEH HEH!, Sorry about that, Yumi dear,"- Ichiro apologized. -"but I couldn't resist making a very fair comparison of how the nattou tasted yesterday."-

-"I wouldn't call that a very fair comparison, if you ask me."- Keita snarked on this.

-"Well, if you don't want me to criticize you,"- The old man continued to lecture his grandson on the subject of food. -"you should at least follow the recipes to the letter instead of adding whatever crap you think is right. Just because the Net is helping you cook doesn't mean you can't put a little effort on your part when preparing food."-

Keita remained briefly silent when he heard these words from his grandfather, as he knew he was right.

-"Well, I guess you are right."-

-"Now, don't take it so hard, kiddo. In ancient times, children like you couldn't do the things you can do now in the kitchen without the help of their elders. And in the old days, without computers and robots, they had to make all the food by hand, and that could take hours, sometimes even days, depending of the dish in question."-

-"But that didn't mean that at least they were trying their best when it came to cooking, did they, grandpa?"- Yumi complemented her grandfather's words on the subject.

-"You just hit the right spot, little girl! Right now everyone cooks with the help of computers and robots, when in the past the only help you had was from either from your family, the kitchen assistants in the case of restaurants, and your kitchen tools, and sometimes you had to figure it out on your own."- Ichiro ranted about the current state of modern cooking in his time. -"The last time I ate a handmade meal without the help of computers, robots and other stuff was when I was a teenager, and since then I've never eaten anything like that again."-

...And what began as a commentary on food, degenerated into a sharp and unabashed criticism of the things that the elderly Ichiro Tachibana felt were wrong about the world around him.

-"Damn! Sometimes I miss those days. Now everyone relies on computers to do everything for them, from cooking to walking their damn dogs, when before then people would go out on the street to do something as damn trivial as that. Since World War III ended, I feel that the world has become more complacent every day just because there have been no more major wars and everyone worries about living their lives as comfortably as possible."- The old man keeped with his ranting. -"What the hell happened to the adventurous spirit humanity had when the war ended and space colonization began? It is true that we have not even found sentient life in space, and the only thing we have found on other planets are fish, plants, crustaceans, microbes and other crap, but that does not mean that we should be satisfied with what we have today. Now we are using the planets that we have discovered out there as vacant lots to build houses as if they were luxury residential areas, when before what was being done when discovering a new planet was to investigate it in everything that could be found out about the place, before using that planet as a glorified suburb..."-

-"Grandpa, don't you think you're going a little off track?"- Yumi began to feel tired from her grandfather's long and tired ranting on a subject that had nothing to do with food.

-"Oh, you're so right! Sorry for ranting like an idiot, dear."- Ichiro apologized about his off-topic rant. -"I think a lot of things popped into my head at the last minute, and I couldn't help but get them out as soon as I had them in mind."-

-"The last time you did that, you did a three-hour lecture on us about everything that was wrong with the world, from religion to pets."- Keita followed his sister about his grandfather's previous outrageous rants.

-"Oops! Sorry again, kids. As you know, I don't have many people to talk to at this hour about more mature topics, but I must at least acknowledge that you kids are mature enough to follow my ridiculous rantsome nonsense at times."-

-"What about your neighbor, Mr. Carlson?"- Yumi asked.

-"Ah, you mean Jake? That American guy? He lives far away from here, and I don't feel like going so far just to talk, when I have my grandkids for that."-

The twins began to look at each other when they heard this, since even they were beginning to annoy them with those outings that their grandfather sometimes incurred when something bothered him. They were acquainted with Jake Carlson, a former colonel of the U. S. Navy Special Forces, now retired and living with his wife in Japan, since he worked for many years in Okinawa, and who was a good friend of his grandfather Ichiro since years ago. Thanks to him, the twins were able to perfect their English and he could also practice his Japanese in return.

Despite being a member of a secret unit, calling that unit "secret" could be said to be an exaggeration even for Mr. Carlson himself, since he had no problem in commenting with the Tachibanas on his "secret missions". And his secret missions were nothing more than boring spy work, doing stupid errands like bringing things from one country (and sometimes planets) to another, like food, wine, and even women for either politicians or VIPs, which Ichiro knew what kind of women the old man Carlson meant. After all, it's not that there were any major wars or conflicts that today's leaders should worry about, now that the world had been at peace since the end of World War III and it seems that the only thing the leaders do with that intelligence information was industrial espionage, at best, or stupid gossip, at worst.

And as the Tachibanas continued to talk at lunch, the sound of a lightning sound that seemed to come from far away was heard. The old man Ichiro rose from his seat, for he knew that sound meant nothing good when it came to fishing with his grandchildren.

And indeed, his fears were confirmed when he saw a number of dark clouds on the horizon, which indicated that at any time a storm would fall on the coast of Tomimura, which made it very dangerous to go out to sea, much less with children on board.

-"Kids, I don't think we're going to be able to go fishing today, the sky is starting to get dark and I think there's going to be a storm. It would be very dangerous to go out like this."-

The twins couldn't help but be disappointed that they couldn't go out to sea, but at least they understood that it wasn't a good idea to go fishing in such adverse conditions either.

-"I see, grandpa."- Both twins replied to their grandfather in unison. -"But can we at least go out and play outside?"-

-"I don't see why not,"- Ichiro replied, trying to at least try to please his grandchildren with something by seeing the weather suddenly become so unexpectedly adverse. -"but when it starts raining, I want you two to go back to the house. I wouldn't want you guys to catch a cold and miss school."

-"YES, GRANDPA!"-

Keita and Yumi set out to play outside the house in the direction of the hill west of the Tachibanas' house. That hill was neither too large nor too steep, which allowed anyone, including children, to climb to its summit without any difficulty or risk, which was perfect for children as young as the Tachibana twins.

And while the children went out to play, Ichiro Tachibana received an e-mail on his cellphone from Kaoru Inamura, the teacher of both children from the school where they were both studying at that time. The mail talked about the school trip to Hiroshima that would take place in a few days, and about requesting permission for the children to travel out of town. Ichiro had already heard about the tour from the kids, and he had no objection to them going on a trip.

-"At least it would be interesting if Keita and Yumi went on a trip once in a while instead of listening to this poor old man's nonsense like me."-

The old man recognized his own mistakes as a person, seeing that he had to let his grandchildren have a little freedom so that they could know the world. Especially on the day he's no longer there so they could continue to have that freedom.

---

September 15th, AD 2305, Tomimura Hill, Tomimura City, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, 3:30 PM

Keita and Yumi played hide-and-seek on the top of the hill as the sky began to darken. Yumi stood at the back of the hill, while her brother Keita was on top trying to find her, but she had hid very well on a stones that were around the hill so Keita could not easily find her.

-"Ready or not, I'm gonna find you!"- Keita warned his sister.

-"Then find me if you can, big bro!"- Yumi warned his brother as well, from her hiding spot.

Keita began to search for her sister conscientiously all over the hill, unsuccessfully, while the girl was still hiding in her place without any problems. Yumi knew she only needed a few minutes before she could beat her brother in the game of hide-and-seek, and mock him in his face.

-"Let's see if Keita can find me here in this place."- Yumi though for herself

Suddenly, the girl began to feel somewhat dizzy in a way she had never felt before...

-"Wha-what's wrong with... me?"-

Feeling all that, Yumi thought that what she probably felt was probably due to the region's humid climate, considering that the Tachibanas lived near the beach, and she and Keita had been playing a few hours ago.

However, Yumi started to feel a sensation that was well known to her...

It was the same sensation that she had felt when she was at school in the morning, albeit very mildly in that time, but that caused her a very noticeable depression, which drew the attention of her brother, Ms. Inamura and her grandfather Ichiro...

Except that time, there was a very dramatic difference from what she felt at school compared to what she was feeling on the hill in those moments.

When the girl was able to regain her sense of composure for a moment, she saw something extremely unusual in front of her eyes that she hadn't seen before...

-"Who are those two people?"-

She saw what appeared to be two persons, a boy and another who seemed to be an adult, standing in front of Yumi's hideout near the rocks. At first, Yumi thought that those people might be tourists who wanted to see the sea from the top of the hill or just neighbors who came to rest in the shade of the place. After all, Tomimura Hill was a more or less well-known place in the city to look at either the city or the ocean from there.

But there was something very unusual about those visitors who had begun to greatly discomfort the girl, which caused Yumi to come out of her hiding spot to speak with them, and aid them if necessary.

-"Excuse me, do you two need some help?"-

But as she looked at the "visitors," she noticed four extremely bizarre and unusual things in them: The first was that the visitors did not seem to pay attention to Yumi or notice her presence. The second was that they spoke in a language she had never heard in her life, but it was neither Japanese, English or any other language known on earth. The third was that they seemed to be seemingly terrified as if they appeared to be running away from something or someone. And the fourth and most terrifying of all things was that both visitors looked like human-looking cats.

For obvious reasons, the poor girl was horrified to see that, thinking that she had seen aliens or some strangers with malicious intentions disguised as animals to commit a crime in the area, so without further ado, Yumi left that place to ask for help from her brother or grandfather.

And as for Keita, the boy was already preparing to come down from the hill to look for Yumi in the vicinity of the place, when he saw his sister running towards him, visibly frightened, something Keita didn't seem to care about.

-"HA! Found you!"-

For more than obvious reasons, Yumi was not in the mood for that kind of nonsense at that moment...

-"What's wrong, sis? Looks like you just saw a ghost..."-

-"I saw two very strange people near the hill, dressed like cats, hanging around here!"- Yumi yelled at him while panting after running a bit from the place she saw the people she was talking about. -"Didn't you see anything strange on your part, Keita?"-

-"WHAT?! Two guys dressed as cats?"-

-"Yes, big bro! They were a child or a small person, and an older man accompanying him! I saw them with my own eyes!"-

-"Hey, Yumi, wait a sec, please!"- Keita incredulously reacted to the words of her twin sister regarding what she saw a few moments ago. -"I haven't seen anyone approaching the hill since we got here, nor have I seen anyone like that! Are you sure you're not playing a joke on me?"-

-"Of course not, you dummy! You think I'd joke about something as serious as that?"- Yumi replied furiously as she saw Keita doubting her words. -"Maybe they're thieves in disguise or bad people."-

-"OK, let me come with you to see if we see anything, and if it's something risky, we'll talk to the police or Grandpa."- Keita answered, still skeptical about his sister's words.

Both children came down the hill as Yumi took her twin brother to the place where she saw the humanoid cats, or at least those people who might be disguised as such. After wandering around the place for a while, the Tachibana twins found no one there, which caused Keita to start wondering what kind of problem his sister had at the time.

-"That's strange,"- Yumi wondered. -"I swore I saw someone here near me a few minutes ago."

-"In that case, the best thing to do would be to climb up the hill and see if the people you saw went somewhere else."- Keita thought of an idea to find the strangers his sister saw at the base of the hill.

-"Right!"-

Next, the twins climbed the hill again to the top to see if they could see anything from there. After half an hour of observing the surroundings of the place, the only thing they saw, apart from the sea in front of them, was the road leading to the city, but outside of that, there was not a single soul wandering around Tomimura Hill.

-"Well, we haven't seen anyone around here."- Keita asked to himself and then he looked up at Yumi. -"Are you absolutely sure you're not imagining things?"-

-"Of course not! I saw those cats or those people in cat costumes hanging around here, that's for sure!"-

That strange situation was as embarrassing for Yumi as it was annoying for her brother Keita, who no longer knew what to think of her, so the boy decided to ask his sister some questions.

-"Normally I'd believe you, Yumi, but since morning you've been acting very strangely lately. You didn't seem to pay much attention at school, and at mealtime you looked distracted..."-

Yumi remained silent at that.

-"Do you have a problem you don't want to tell me about?"-

The girl nodded her head in a negative way.

-"Then?"-

Yumi finally answered with a scared voice to her brother...

-"When I saw those cats, I felt the same sensation I had when I was in school, and that's the reason I was distracted..."-

-"What kind of sensation did you have at school?"-

-"I felt as if something really horrible had happened in those moments, like when you saw something terrifying and you can't say anything else, like in a horror movie."- Yumi tried to describe what she felt in the school to Keita, who tried to grasp her words in a way he could understand.

-"Something horrible, you say?"-

-"Yes,"- Yumi nodded him. -"moreover, when I saw those cats, I felt the same sense of terror back then. And from what I got from their faces, they also seemed to be afraid of something, but it wasn't from me, but from something else."-

-"What?"-

After hearing such words, Keita was deeply puzzled by the context of the problem his sister was having in that time...

-"Well, at least that's what I perceived at the time."-

After hearing what her sister said, Keita sat on the ground and began scratching his bald head, intrigued by the situation Yumi was having at the time.

-"Haven't you been watching too much TV lately, Yumi?"-

It was evident that Keita was beginning to doubt his sister's words, which caused the girl to explode in anger at him.

-"Keita, you're such an IDIOT!"- The girl cried in rage. -"Don't you believe anything I'm saying?"-

The boy was silent in the face of this question from his sister. It was obvious that Keita didn't want to argue with his sister about something as silly as having seen strange things, so his silence was interpreted as a "no" for her.

-"Don't you believe me, right?"-

-"Look, If you ask my opinion, I think you might have seen two cats hanging around here."-

-"No! I swore it wasn't just any kind of cat, they even looked human!"-

Before the discussion could continue further, the sky began to get darker, the clouds became increasingly gray, and a few drops of rain began to fall on the hill, not to mention the sound of lightning that was beginning to be heard on the horizon. Everything seemed to indicate that a rain would fall at any time and Keita didn't want to be there when the storm hit both children's heads.

-"Looks like it's gonna rain."- Keita stretches out his hand to feel the raindrops that were beginning to fall. "We can discuss this at home with Grandpa, because I wouldn't want him to start worrying if we didn't get back in time. Besides, I don't want you or me to catch a cold."-

Yumi knew she had no choice but to listen to her brother, and leave the discussion for another day before the storm fell on them at any time.

-"Okay, whatever you say..."-

After the discussion, both children ran quickly to their home near the beach, when a very intense storm with lightning began to fall on Tomimura's shores.

---

September 17th, AD 2305, Channel Eser (Channel 10) TV Studio, Nazareth, Israel, 01:00 PM

-"Rachel, we're on the air!"

With these words began one of Israel's most popular talk shows,"Talking with Rachel", whose host, Rachel Friedman, was in charge of making the right presentations.

-"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Talking With Rachel. I am your host, Rachel Friedman, and this day we will have a very special guest of international renown, not to mention he is also Israeli as well."-

Next, a middle-aged man of average height, almost bald except for a small wreath of black hair and glasses makes his presence felt in the television studio, while cheerfully greeting the audience, as the talk show was recorded live. For some reason, only a few applause were heard, as if the presence of that person was not greatly appreciated by the audience.

-"Ladies and gentlemen, Please give it up for Dr. Simon Cohen, head of the xenobiology department at the Weizmann Institute of Science."-

Despite Ms. Friedman's efforts to animate the talk show, it was more than evident that man was not well received, for put it in kind words, and some boos were heard from many members of the studio audience.

-"Who the fuck came up with the idea of inviting this quack?"-

-"Yeah! Of all the people they could have thought of inviting here, they had to invite this bozo!"

Some insults began to be heard, obviously directed at the Israeli scientist.

-"Hey, doc! Did you find any little green men out there yet?"

-"I think he's already found them, but on URANUS! Get it? HA HA HA HA HA!"-

-"Or better yet, perhaps he came here to say that maybe they are going to send him to Uranus!"-

Dr. Cohen did his best to ignore all the ridicule he was getting from the audience, and proceeded to sit in his spot, while Rachel Friedman does the same.

-"Thank you so much for coming here to Nazareth to attend our show, doctor. We know that you must be very busy right now with any important research you are doing."-

-"On the contrary, Rachel, I'm very grateful that you invited me to your show, and that we can have a very nice conversation today."-

-"First of all, let me introduce you to the audience that has just tuned in to us on your TVs and computers at the moment."- The host said while addresing towards the cameras. -"Dr. Simon Cohen is one of the most important exponents in xenobiology on earth, who has written several books and theories on the subject for several years. His books have been translated into more than 100 different languages and have broken sales records, both in their physical versions and the corresponding ebooks, being his most famous book "Life Beyond This Galaxy" , which was published five years ago."-

-"That's right, Rachel, and today I'm presenting my new book named "Unsolved Enigmas About Alien Life", which went on sale in both physical and ebook form in May."-

-"Very interesting, doctor, but what does your new book talk about?"-

-"Well, as we all know, although more than two hundred and fifty-five years have passed since the beginning of human colonization of space, beginning with Mars, we have yet to find any intelligent life in any known place in space where the human race has set foot to live, apart from having found only flora and some species of fish and crustaceans on more than one planet. We all hoped that by colonizing space, we would find some vestige of intelligent alien life, or even some ancient ruin, but so far nothing has been found, for the misfortune of all mankind."-

-"Well, well, I think I understand that, doctor, since just a few days ago, a group of Chinese scientists began to doubt the possibilities of finding some kind of intelligent life beyond what we have found so far, and they even came to suggest that human colonization may have disturbed the natural processes that could created any kind of advanced lifeforms."-

-"Forgive me if I interrupt you, Rachel,"- The Hebrew scientist interrupted the woman somewhat abruptly. -"but while I would not like to be critical of my Chinese colleagues on the subject in person, I do not entirely agree with the hypothesis they put forward. First of all, we all know that sooner or later the colonization of outer space would have been necessary, even if World War III had not occurred, since the many social problems the world was suffering at that time were such that we had to choose between staying on Earth and perishing with it and finding new places to live, bearing in mind that the Earth's population was growing more and more each year, and climate change threatened to make things worse in that time."-

-"I see, Dr. Cohen."- The female host replied.

-"Secondly, although I have never agreed with what the leaders of that time did in due course, it must be recognized that they knew how to take advantage of the opportunities created by the technological boom that took place at the beginning of the 21st century, and use them in a way that would benefit the whole world, the most notable advances being the democratization of nanotechnology, FTL travel, and the creation of the ANEN system that replaced the old Internet in place at that era..."-

-"That's something... audacious what you just said, doctor."-

-"Apart from that, if it hadn't been for legendary businessmen like Elon Musk, Richard Branson, along with that famous group of scientists who appeared after the end of the war, and with the help of many other people who contributed their bit to all this, there would be no colonization of space, and possibly we wouldn't be here talking so happily about this topic, Rachel."-

-"Well, at least I won't deny that you're right. Dr. Cohen,"- Ms. Friedman agreeded with him. -"What does this have to do with your new book, if I may ask?"-

-"Oh, excuse me, Rachel! I think I may have strayed from the point."- Cohen apologized the host. -"As the title of the book describes it, there are some theories about whether any kind of alien civilization has ever made contact with humans, or even influenced events in history..."-

By mentioning this last part, the audience began to boo Dr. Cohen in a very noteworthy way...

-"GO HOME, YOU FUCKING FRAUD!"-

-"YEAH, GO TO SUCK SOME ALIEN BALLS, DUDE!"-

-"What are you going to say now, quackhead? That Moses was born on Mars and that he came to Earth in a flying saucer, and that he splitted the Red Sea with a laser beam?!"-

The audience began to insult the doctor in increasingly vulgar and demeaning ways, to the extent that Rachel Friedman, the main host, also began to get upset about what was happening in the studio.

-"Please, I ask the entire audience to remain silent. You can send your suggestions and criticisms to the usual mail as always, but first let our guest speak to us."- The woman said, already irritated by the unruly audience, and in less degree, with her own guest, as she didn't believe anything he was saying, but due to professional courtesy, she had to play along with the doctor. -"Forgive me about the outburst of the audience, and also excuse me if I have to contradict you, but as far as I understand it, many of those theories about the influence of extraterrestrial civilizations in human history have been debunked centuries ago."-

-"Don't worry, I figured something like this was going to happen."- The scientist kindly retorted to the show's hostess. -"As proof of this, we have the discovery made last year in Xian, China, near the same place where centuries ago the famous Terracotta Army in Emperor Qin Shi Huang's tomb were found, of what appears to be the body of an alien. There are several theories that suggest the possibility that this alien may have worked at the Emperor's command, and when the alien died, he was buried with him near the same place."-

-"But according to what I have heard, it turned out that this "alien" was actually the child of one of the emperor's concubines, and that alien shape was due to the fact that the child died of tetanus, which left his corpse deformed over time."-

-"Well, there is that possibility that the body was of a child who died of some disease that left him deformed before he died, but none of the bodies found in that region, both of the emperor himself and his family, seemed so similar from those of that "alien"."-

Dr. Cohen replied to his interlocutor, trying to ignore a public fact of which there was already convincing evidence that what he had just said was not true. Ms. Friedman tried to question him further.

-"In that case, can you tell us about the results that examination showed about the origin of the corpse, in which it was shown that body was 100% human, and its supposedly alien shape was actually a product of tetanus?"-

-"Oh well, one could say that alien had DNA similar to that of a human being, and so the results came out that way, but it still doesn't explain why that so-called child, as you call it, ended up so deformed that way. Even if we take into account the quality of Chinese medicine at that time, I don't think anyone can end up with such...deformities in such a short period of his life."-

-"Yeah, right."- The host tried to continue the conversation, despite how absurd it was turning out, at least from her point of view. -"I think similar things were said by some your predecessors such as Giorgio A. Tsoukalos, Jaime Maussan, Stan Romanek, George Adamski..."-

-"Please, Rachel, don't compare me to all those charlatans, frauds and con artists who called themselves scientists or experts in the field!"- Dr. Cohen countered quite annoyed at such a comparison with those infamous people. -"First of all, I'm a xenobiologist, not a ufologist, nor a UFO fan, or any kind of ludicrous quackery like that. Besides, my mission is to seek life in other worlds through hard evidence, not cheap scams such as flying saucers, alleged encounters of aliens to people with mental problems and other kinds of nonsense. All my studies, theories and evidences are based on biological aspects, and not so much in technological aspects, because it has been demonstrated for a long time that this kind of things are the first proof that are easy to falsify by unscrupulous people who claim to be scientists."-

-"Excuse me if I am skeptical about your work in this matter, Doctor, but there have already been several cases where several of your supposed..."investigations", if you can call them like that, have lead to no conclusive results."-

-"Well, it's obvious that there are many people who, out of envy, have tried in the past to discredit my work, and have invented thousands of excuses to justify their ideas and thus damage my reputation."-

After several hours of discussion, where the audience kept booing Dr. Cohen, the talk show came to an end. It was evident that both the show host and Cohen were tired of both talking and trying to defend their ideas, with no results.

-"I've just been told the show is over, so I'm gonna end the program today. This has been "Talking With Rachel", with its hostess Rachel Friedman, and my guest today, Dr. Simon Cohen. I hope you enjoyed the program. Have a good afternoon and see you tomorrow!"-

Once the farewells were done, the program goes off the air and both Ms. Friedman and Dr. Cohen breathe of relief. The experience was especially exhausting for the Hebrew scientist, who had to endure more than two hours of booing and insults from the audience, who had already left the studio when the show came off the air, and never imagined Cohen had so many haters in his own country.

-"Hey, Isaac, are we already off the air?"-

-"Yeah, Rachel, the cameras aren't rolling anymore."-

In the meantime, Dr. Cohen was drinking a glass of water to quench his thirst after several hours of nonstop talking.

-"Phew! Good thing it's all over."-

But before he could rejoice any more, Rachel Friedman rose from her seat, enraged as never before she had been in her life and confronted the scientist in his own face, taking advantage of the fact that she was already off the air.

-"I just want to make one thing very clear to you, you cheap, low-life scumbag: I don't believe a damn word of what you just said in my show, since I have a very clear policy of not inviting asswipes like you who still believe in little green men or other fantasies out of their drug-induced imagination from their fucking brains."-

-"But, but!"- Cohen stuttered in surprise at the sudden and violent attitude of the woman, who wanted to punch him at any moment.

-"And no buts, you idiot! The only reason you were on my show was because of my producer's idea, who offered to pay me craplots of money for having you on the air. If it was up to me, I would have kicked you out of the studio from the first moment you started booing your lousy ass, because I can't stand phonies and ufologists like you!"-

-"I told you I'm a xenobiologist, not a goddamn ufologist!"-

-"And you think I don't understand fuckin' semantics, doc?"- the hostess vulgarly replied to the doctor on his face, seeing that the doctor continued with the same stance he had on the show. -"Everyone, from Mount Sinai to fuckin' Mount Fuji, knows that you're a fraud. Even my mom knows that your famous alien from China was a child who died of tetanus, and many of your cheap-ass ideas about life on other worlds have been disproved by better scientists than you. I don't know why there are still assholes these days who believe in your bullshit! And I don't care if you're a ufologist, a xenobiologist or the tooth fairy, as far as I'm concerned, you should be locked up in a nuthouse for life, and put your name along with all the other maniacs before you who said the same bunch of nonsensical shit centuries ago!"-

Cohen did not know what else to say in the face of such harsh, vulgar criticism from that furious woman. And considering that she was a very famous TV star in Israel, the best thing for him was not to contradict her anymore.

-"Now, get out of here before I seriously regret it!"-

-"OK..."-

With no more words to say to the arrogant woman, Cohen left the television studio, while Rachel Friedman took a cigarette out of her pocket and began smoking it in an attempt to calm the anxiety of having to deal with someone as unwanted, from her point of view, as that doctor.

-"Fuck, what a drag!"- The hostess talked to herself as she vacuumed the cigarette smoke into her mouth. -"Ene, tell Itai that if he invites another Fox Mulder-wannabe, I will rip his balls off with my own hands! Did you hear me?"-

-"Yes, ma'am!"-

---

September 17th, AD 2305, Downtown Nazareth, Israel, 03:00 PM

Simon Cohen hadn't had a good day. Not only had he been humiliated on national television by the live audience, but the show host also insulted him at the end of the show. Because of this, all the people who had watched the program on TV and on their computers and mobile devices started mocking him on the street.

-"Hey, doc, you gonna keep looking for little green men in China?"-

-"I hear they're looking for actors for the Israeli remake of The X-Files..."-

-"I also heard they're publishing his book on Uranus. Or maybe in Hisanus! HA HA HA HA!"-

Unable to stand listening to all these insults, Cohen went to a public park, which at that time was almost alone, where he could rest without being harassed by anyone. Once there, the doctor sat on a bench, while he saw a fountain in the center of the place, something that helped him relax after all the outpouring of criticism he had received on television.

But that moment of peace lasted only a few minutes, when the unmistakable voice of the ANEN system, better known worldwide as "The Net", was heard throughout the city of Nazareth.

-"Attention to all the inhabitants of the city. You're notified that a chemical and radioactive sandstorm is approaching Nazareth in two hours. All of you are kindly requested to take your precautions and do not leave your homes until further notice. Please use masks or filters to remove dust and in case of further discomfort due to dust aspiration, please call your doctor, thank you."-

Dr. Cohen knew very well the meaning of that warning and its context: The storm mentioned was caused by the winds from the east, mainly from what is now known as the "Special Zone". The Special Zone is what in ancient times the neighboring countries of Israel in that region were known, such as Syria, Jordan and the rest of the Arabian Peninsula. In short, this is the former name of the Middle East.

That name derives from the fact that all those nations no longer exist as such since the end of World War III in AD 2050 after, according to official history since then, North Korea attacked their own allies with nuclear weapons in a desperate gambit to attack the allied armies of Western nations that at that time had the North Koreans cornered in ancient Saudi Arabia.

That nuclear attack, along with the extensive use of chemical and even biological weapons, left the entire peninsula contaminated and turning what used to be a populated region into an authentic radioactive and chemical-biological wasteland, where not a single soul, not even animals, have lived since then. Whole nations vanished overnight and millions of people lost their lives in that terrible conflict that surpassed in magnitude of damage to the two previous world wars. Only a few nations in the region, such as Israel, Lebanon, the North African countries and Iran were spared from the effects of that tragedy, and even so even those nations will continue to suffer the consequences for many centuries, in the form of sandstorms mixed with radioactive, biological and chemical material, which now have been ravaging the region ever since. It is believed that the effects of war will be felt in that region of the planet for at least five thousand years, according with many scientists who researched the area since the end of the war.

And as for its ancient inhabitants, those who could survive fled to the neighboring nations of Europe, East Asia and Africa, and the naïve ones who remained tried to reconstruct their countries into more democratic regimes to the liking of the western nations, but due to the extensive contamination of the region, those ephemeral attempts did not last long and their inhabitants fled like the others, or died as a result of the toxic miasma.

As a result of all this, most people from the Middle East who were able to emigrate to Western, African and East Asian nations were forced to live in those nations under precarious conditions, especially in refugee camps on the outskirts of large cities. Many of these nations, either because they had no space to put refugees on their territory, or because they did not wish to admit them for religious or national security reasons, sent those guests who they considered undesirable to dangerous places such as mountains, deserted islands, deserts or even garbage dumps. In addition, racism, xenophobia and the widespread feeling of vindictiveness due to the war against the people of that region occasionally caused massacres organized by right-wing groups, and sometimes even encouraged or organized by governments who wanted to see all the people of the Middle East dead as a retalation for their attrocities done by the Arab Alliance (and their antecessors, like Al-Qaeda, ISIS, etc.) in their lands. In response, terrorist attacks organized by citizens of the Middle East in retaliation for crimes committed against them were the daily bread and butterflies of many Western countries and allies around them that helped defeat the Alliance, to the extent that it seemed like a eternal cycle of revenge.

But thanks to the colonization of space from AD 2090 onwards, the massive demographic and social pressure that the Earth had suffered for 40 years since the end of the war was gradually relieved, when most immigrants from the ancient countries of the Middle East who were affected by the war emigrated en masse to the new human colonies on the newly terraformed planet Mars. Terrorist attacks began to decrease gradually until, by the year AD 2110 were brought to a complete halt, and other local conflicts also ceased in later years.

Despite the victory of the Western world to the Middle East, the victory was completely pyrrhic for everyone involved. By the year AD 2120, the UN declared the extinction of the last nations of the Middle East, when the few remaining governments that remained standing in that region completely moved to Mars, and the Middle East as it was known at that time ceased to exist, with the only exceptions of Israel, Lebanon, Iran and the aforementioned African nations.

Since then, the Special Zone was created, a kind of no-man's-land where entry to any human being is now forbidden, as the entire region, from Syria to Yemen, is now contaminated by the North Korean atomic weapons used there, along with the use of chemical and biological weapons, for centuries to come.

Other consequences of the war were the gradual and continuing decline of monotheistic religions around the world. Due to the assassination of the pope and the lack of a new chief of the church to replace him, by AD 2145 the Roman Catholic church was completely dissolved due to the gradual decline of believers attending the church, coupled with the disrepute that the church suffered from decades ago for other controversial reasons.

The Vatican ceased to exist as such, and its churches later became museums, and likewise many churches around the world closed their doors. This was not exclusive to Roman Catholicism, since other sects and Christian denominations such as the Protestants, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons and others were also forced to disappear when people no longer went to church. People no longer wanted to believe in either gods or churches, because they thought religion was the cause of the war and that it no longer had a place in the new world that emerged after the war. And it goes without saying what happened to Islam after the war when the Middle East disappeared...

And now, at that time, the existence of that Special Zone caused the city of Nazareth to suffer from a toxic sandstorm that threatened all the inhabitants of the city, who had already begun to take action and began to take refuge in their homes. Cohen couldn't help but say something about that sorry state of affairs...

-"Shit"-

Indeed, for the already depressed Dr. Simon Cohen, the world around him was turning into shit, a shit created by the mistakes of his ancestors who condemned their children to live near a toxic and radioactive dump. Bearing in mind that Cohen was Jewish, he could not help but feel a macabre sense of irony regarding the famous epithet about the Hebrews, the so-called "sons of God" and their promised land, Israel: that land that the Jews fought for centuries to recover with lots of blood, sweat and tears, and now, due of the blunders from the past, was becoming a cursed land through the years, and this was not an overstatement.

Due to the continuing effects of sandstorms, sickness like cancer, ebola, and other diseases were on the rise in both Israel and neighboring countries that were still standing after World War III, which caused many Israelis to start migrating to other countries or colonies on other planets, which accentuated the paradox that now represented Israel at the end of the war, a once promised land, but now its own people is being forced to abandon it definitively in an act of historical irony. Other people, as in other countries, began to abandon their religion after feeling that believing in God was useless and meaningless.

But now, in those very urgent moments, the only thing Cohen wanted to do was to arrive at the hotel where he was staying with his family before the sandstorm hit the city, and after running for several minutes through downtown, Cohen managed to find the hotel and went straight to the lobby as soon as he could.

-"Good afternoon, doctor. Your wife asked me to tell you that she was worried about you."- The hotel receptionist told the doctor.

-"Thanks. Tell her I'm on my way."-

-"Yes, sir."-

Moments later, Simon Cohen arrived in his room, where his wife, Elsa Cohen, was waiting for him with her two daughters Dalya and Anat, quite worried to see that her husband did not arrive at the hotel before the storm could swallow him alive.

-"SIMON!"- The wife asked her husband very frightened and somewhat annoyed. -"Where the hell have you been? I thought you wouldn't get to the hotel in time before the sandstorm broke out."-

-"I'm very sorry, Elsa, but I stayed to rest in a park after the talk show and could barely run enough to get to the hotel."-

-"And why didn't you call a cab?"-

-"I didn't even think of that."-

-"Good lord, Simon, for someone as smart as you, you're just as stupid as well!"-

-"Sorry, Elsa."- The man apologized her with a very quiet voice.

The woman began to look at her husband's sad face, and she quickly deduced that something had gone wrong at the show where he was a "guest", if he could have been called his participation in that talk show as such.

-"Let me guess, Simon, I imagine you didn't fare too well on that show, did you?"-

-"Didn't you watch the show?"-

-"Nope. I was busy doing a videocall to my mother in Dubrovnik, in Croatia."-

-"Good for you, because I don't think you would have liked anything you saw on the show."-

-"Did they insult you?"-

Cohen took a breath of fresh air before continuing...

-"Yes. On and off-air."-

-"WHAT THE...?"- Elsa responded in shock at what her husband had said. -"Don't tell me that whore insulted you on the air?"-

-"Elsa, please mind your language in front of the girls."- The doctor reprimanded his wife for using obscene language in front of his two daughters, of about 8 and 10 years old respectively, who were listening all the conversation their parents were having at the time. -"And regarding your question, yes, she insulted me, but it was off the air, albeit she didn't believed anything I said on show as well. She called me a fraud, a scumbag and above all, an ufologist."-

-"Well, it could have been worse."-

-"What do you mean?"-

-"At least she didn't kick you out of the studio, did she?"-

-"No, but she threatened to if she ever saw me again. She also told me that the only reason I was invited was because of her producer, who for some reason issued an invitation for me and the rest of the family to Nazareth for the show. The audience was also as hostile with me as always..."-

-"Oh, my!"- The woman exclaimed in an attempt to quell her anger at knowing how her husband was treated on national television.

But before both of them went on with the conversation, Cohen heard a sound from his data pad that was on the room table...

-"Wait a sec, it's a video call from home."- The doctor quickly takes his device and answers the call. -"Oh, hello, Davinovitz! How's everything there in Rehovot?"-

Isaac Davinovitz was the name of one of Dr. Cohen's assistants in his hometown of Rehovot, where the Weizmann Institute of Science was located. The scientist, a young man of about 27 years old, wanted to talk to his chief as quickly as possible.

-"Ah, Dr. Cohen!"- Davinovitz replied in a hurry to his superior. -"Good to find you in your room, sir! How did you do on Talking With Rachel?"-

-"Let's just say it didn't go as well as I expected, and let's leave it at that."- Cohen gave his subordinate a slightly bitter answer. -"Leaving that aside, what's the reason you're calling me right now? Looks like it's a very important thing, considering your expression."-

-"You're not going to believe what we just found on the telescope, sir."-

Obviously, anything having to do with astronomy was good news for the Israeli scientist, as Davinovitz was referring to the telescope that the institute had built decades ago on the outskirts of Rehobot to observe the stars and that the department of xenobiology, of which Cohen was the director, was using in conjunction with the department of astronomy.

-"What did you guys just find with the telescope?"-

-"You'd better see for yourself, sir."- The young assistant responded very excitedly to what he was going to show to Dr. Cohen. -"I'll send a video of the incident to your data pad."-

Minutes later, Cohen downloaded a 3-minute video on his device about the event mentioned by his assistant. The video was somewhat pixelated and blurry, due to the distance from where the event happened to Earth, as it had occurred in a very distant area of space, but it was evident that that video showed something that both Davinovitz and his boss had never seen before in their lives.

It was evident that this video showed an event that was completely unusual and showed something that did not match any cosmic event produced by a star or a planet, since the event that Dr. Cohen's Rehobot research team had located happened in a region of the Milky Way that had not yet been explored by either humans or satellites, and from which there were no navigation charts to get there. What both men were witnessing was something that seemed to be completely certain and there was no doubt about it...

What they had seen was an event organized by living beings who lived in that region of space and that was something completely planned and methodical. But at the same time, there was a rather grave implication of what had happened in that distant region of space...

What those scientists had just witnessed was nothing other than a military attack against a planet by what appeared to be other spaceships operating in that region.

-"Oh...GOD!"- Cohen exclaimed as he watched all that, even if it was blurry and hard to see on video. -"Davinovitz, do you have any idea what we just discovered?"-

-"That we've just finally found intelligent life on other worlds, sir?"-

-"Much more than that, my young friend."- Cohen responded, trying to contain his excitement about the discovery he and his assistants made at that historic moment. -"For many years, I have tried to look for evidence of the existence of life on other worlds, searching everywhere possible, from that stupid tomb in China we found last year, to the supposed ruins on Mars that turned out to be the remains of ancient exploration vehicles that still haunt that planet as scrap metal. I have been ridiculed, insulted and even beaten by skeptics who have always doubted my work and compared me to idiots from past eras who have only tried to cheat the whole world with their crap. Now I can say that we have finally found something completely definitive that I can be proud of, and that I don't have to be the laughing stock of the whole world anymore."-

-"But there's something to consider, sir."-

-"What do you mean with that, Davinovitz?"-

-"Considering the distance of the event, everything seems to suggest that... ehem... military attack on that planet happened just at the end of the last year, taking into account the speed with which the light reaches our planet."-

-"Oh yeah, I forgot to consider that! Thanks, boy!"-

-"There is also something else to bear in mind, and I think you have forgotten to consider and it is vitally important to comment on it."-

-"Well, technically these are two things that need to be looked at very carefully: The first one is that we don't know the context of what happened in that place. As far as we are aware of, everything seems to point out that what happened was a planetary bombardment by what appears to be a fleet of spacecraft against that planet, but we don't know the exact reason why that was done."- Davinovitz tried to explain to Dr. Cohen the consequences of what they have just seen in that region of space and its significance for Earth. -"It could have been part of an invasion or a surprise attack, and we don't even know if that planet was inhabited, since we haven't seen any kind of countermeasure from that planet against the space fleet surrounding there."-

-"I think I forgot to consider that point. Thank you for reminding me that..."-

-"There are also another, second important point of the utmost importance that I need to remind you, doctor, in case you don't know."- At that moment Davinovitz's tone of voice became more grim and severe. -"For our sake, our country's, and above all that of humanity, we should keep this discovery in absolute secrecy. We do not know exactly if what we are seeing is the work of a hostile race dedicated on conquering weaker worlds and the human race could hardly face them if they are more advanced than us. The only thing we can do from here is to trying to analyze them and learn what their intentions are, and above all to really find out if they are another intelligent race of living beings or possibly something else which we are not completely sure. Because of this, we must avoid sending any electronic or other signals that might give them a clue about the Earth's exact location and about anything they might find in this solar system, especially our culture, socio-political brackground, etc."-

After listening that grim warning from his assistant, Cohen remained silent for a few minutes, trying to analyze the magnitude of the problem he and all his colleagues were involved in at the time. Everyone knew very well that, after many years of blind searching everywhere, Cohen and the rest of his team had finally found a very likely proof of the existence of sentient life on other worlds, but this time there was a issue he never thought of...

He never imagined that he had probably found was likely to be a hostile race that could conquer Earth at any time, assuming they could find the planet and the solar system first. Not exactly what he was looking for in terms of searching for alien life.

All these events did not go unnoticed by Elisa, the doctor's wife, who was playing with her daughters in another section of the room and was seeing her husband's strange attitude about the chat he was having with his assistant.

-"Something wrong, honey?"-

-"No, it's nothing, it's just something I need to talk to Isaac, my assistant in Rehovot, alone."- Cohen replied nicely to his wife. -"Could you go with the girls to play in the hotel's indoor pool while I talk? I need to talk about very sensitive things with him."-

-"If you say so."- Elsa accepted his husband's words. -"Girls, let's go swimming in the pool, your daddy need some privacy for a while!"-

-"Alright!"-

The girls cheerfuly went with her mother to the pool, leaving Cohen alone in his hotel's room while talking with Davinovitz in his data pad.

-"Was your wife and your daughters in the room with you, sir?"-

-"Yeah, but I don't think they heard anything we talked about so far. They went swimming in the hotel pool, so now we can talk without anyone listening us."-

-"That's good, because I wouldn't want your wife to be alarmed about this."-

-"By the way, I was listening in the weather forecast that a sandstorm is approaching Nazareth, right?"-

-"You're right, but we're safe here at the hotel and I think we'll have no problem getting contaminated, if that's what you mean. After all, we're in a five-star hotel, not in a shack."-

Suddenly, the aforementioned sandstorm began to wreak havoc on the city in a very intense way, carrying papers, trash and everything on the street, while the few people who were outside quickly entered any sheltered place to avoid inhaling the contaminated dust from the storm. Cohen couldn't help but look at that pathetic spectacle he had before his eyes from the safety of his hotel room.

-"Something wrong, sir?"-

Cohen remained silent for a few moments as he watched as the toxic sandstorm ravaged the city as he watched the havoc...

-"Nothing, Davinovitz, just watching how everything's going to hell, nothing else."-

---

September 21th, AD 2305, Hiroshima Peace Memorial (aka Atomic Bomb Dome), Hiroshima, Japan 10:00 AM

-"Kids, please walk in one single line! Also, don't try to run or move too fast."-

The students of Tomimura's Sakurazaki Elementary School were in the city of Hiroshima with their teacher, Kaoru Tanimura, on a school trip to visit that city as part of their curriculum to learn about the effects of the atomic attacks on that city, along with Nagasaki, centuries ago during World War II.

Although those events occurred 360 years ago, they have not yet ceased to be relevant to the inhabitants of both cities and all of Japan, after what happened in the former Middle East, now sadly known as the Special Zone, which is now a radioactive wasteland that now makes the destruction of those Japanese cities in its time pale by sheer comparison due to the socio-political fallout that happened afterwards, especialy for the people who used to live there in the past and for the ancient North Korea (now part of the United Korean Republic), the alleged main culprit of it.

And on this occasion, the trip was even more special, since it would mark the 360th anniversary of that tragedy, and the inhabitants of Hiroshima wanted to be the center of attention, for obvious reasons, so that the children, adolescents and adults of schools of all levels in Japan had gathered in that city for the anniversary ceremony.

But before the commemorative events began, the children went for a walk around the famous Atomic Bomb Dome of the city, that building very close to the place where exactly the atomic bomb fell.

-"This building was not originally obviously named this way, but its original name was the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall in 1933, although it had several different names previously. It was designed by a Czech architect named Jan Letzel and the building itself was completed in 1915. The reason why the building remained standing despite its proximity to the hypocenter of the explosion was because of its peculiar structure, not to mention that the bomb fell at a different point from the city to which it was intended, even though the power of the explosion was such that it killed all the people inside the building that day."

Kaoru Tanimura recited a short history lesson about that landmark that her students had before their eyes, which did not cease to admire the place for its historical value.

But they were not the only students who were contemplating the place with great focus...

-"Tsutomu-sweetie, let's take a picture here, shall we?"-

-"Anni, don't you have any idea where we are?"-

-"Well, we're in Hiroshima. Any problem with that?"-

-"To begin with, for us Japanese this is a place that has a historical value of paramount importance, and much more considering that here fell the first atomic bomb, and many innocent people died for it, so this is not a place to act like a typical stupid tourist, much less on the anniversary of the attacks."-

Those people were none other than Annika Stefansson and her boyfriend Tsutomu Hashiba, who also came to Hiroshima as part of the Tokyo's Saionji Municipal High School representatives for the same event. And Hashiba was beginning to feel uncomfortable about his girlfriend's attitude to the place where they were.

-"Ask me a question, Anni. Have you ever been to Hiroshima before?"-

-"To be honest, no. From the time I came to live here in Japan since elementary school I have lived in either Yokohama or Tokyo, and the farthest place I have visited has been Lake Ashi."-

-"That would explain a lot of things."- Hashiba responded with disgust when he saw that Annika did not know much about Japan outside Tokyo and surrounding regions. -"And what were you doing on Lake Ashi, if I may ask you a question?"-

-"Well, we went hiking with my family, especially in the mountains, and we could see the lake from their peaks, which was something we also did when we lived in Sweden."-

-"I see."- Hashiba responded, trying to put his sights in the building again -"By the way, why didn't Morisawa and Saori come with us on the trip?"-

-"As far as I know, Ryuji hasn't been feeling very well for a few days now, so he asked permission, and Saori also asked permission as well because of her training for the tournament in Italy. At least, this is what I know from the teachers."- Annika explained to her boyfriend the absences of both characters in Hiroshima for the anniversary.

-"Well, that sucks for them. In that case, let's go see something else in town in the meantime."-

-"All right."- Annika replied to him. -"Tsutomu, there's something I forgot to ask you. Normally and as far as I understand, the ceremonies regarding the atomic attacks of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are held in August. Why are they taking place this year in September?"-

-"As far as I know, there were some problems with the organization of the events, since both cities and their respective governments wanted the events to take place simultaneously and not depending on the day the nukes fell. In addition, this year they will take into account the Special Zone and they will invite the mayor of New Baghdad from the Arab colony on Mars. That's why the celebrations were further delayed this year."-

-"Taking into account that all their people live on that planet because of nukes, it's natural to invite them here on Earth for the occasion. After all, Japan was the first country to be attacked by nuclear weapons in World War II, and they were also attacked with them in the third one."-

-"Right, but let's stop talking about sad things and let's see something more cheerful before the ceremonies start, shall we?"-

But when they were going to walk in the direction of downtown Hiroshima, Hashiba and Annika stumbled upon something.

-"What the...?"-

-"HEY!"-

And they realized that they had stumbled upon some children who were also going in the opposite direction to theirs. For obvious reasons, that young couple tried to apologize for what happened there.

-"Oops, sorry kids! We didn't notice where we were going and..."-

-"We're OK, sir, don't worry about us"-

Annika noticed that the children she had stumbled upon were twins of different sex, which caused her to ask some questions...

-"You two are twins, right?"-

-"Yes."-

-"From your accent, you're not from here in Hiroshima, right?"-

-"Nope, we came from Okinawa"-

-"Oh, I see. May I ask your names, please?"-

-"My name is Keita Tachibana, and this is my sister Yumi."

-"Nice to meet you, miss"- Yumi politely bowed to the Swedish girl. -"You're not from Japan, are you?"-

-"Well, If you ask me, I was born in Sweden, I've lived in Japan since I was in elementary school like you two. That's the reason why I speak Japanese so well, in case you ask me about it."-

But before Annika continued the conversation with the twins, Kaoru Tanimura's voice was heard in the distance.

-"Keita, Yumi! What have I told you about talking to strangers?"-

The teacher went looking for the Tachibana twins, and after she found them with the Tokyo couple, she acted more or less defensively towards Annika and Hashiba for obvious reasons.

-"What were you talking about with these kids, you two?"-

-"They weren't doing anything wrong, but they stumbled upon us and they were apologizing."- Yumi defended the high school Tokyo couple.

-"Yeah, we are just asking questions on them, especially on the blonde girl."-

-"That's what really happened as the girl said, miss, honest!."- Annika apologized to Miss Tanimura. -"By the way, my name is Annika Stefansson, and I live in Tokyo. He is my boyfriend, Tsutomu Hashiba and we come on behalf of Saionji Municipal High School. Sorry if we've caused you any trouble on your students."-

-"Pleased to meet you, sir."- Hashiba apologized as well.

-"Oh, I see."- Miss Tanimura saw that those two young people weren't dangerous people and they only wanted to speak with them. -"These two children are my students, and as they ought to have told you, we come from Okinawa."-

-"Geez, you guys come from far away, to be honest."- The Swedish girl was surprised to see that these people came from such a faraway place as Okinawa, considering that she was originally from a European country even further away than the Ryukyu archipelago, from which Okinawa belongs to.

-"You're not from this country either, are you?"- The Japanese teacher asked to Annika about her origins.

-"Well, I was born in Stockholm, Sweden, but I have lived in Japan since I was a child because of my family's work, which has forced us to travel from country to country. For various... reasons that I'm not going to discuss here, I've stayed here, and that's why my Japanese is pretty good, I think."-

-"I must admit that your Japanese is flawless, young lady, you seem to have lived here for many years, from what I can see."-

-"Did you think so? Thanks a lot, sir!"- Annika thanked the mentor for her compliment regarding her fluency in the language.

-"You're welcome."- Miss Tanimura replied. -"Now if you'll excuse us, we have to go. Hope you have fun here."-

-"The same goes for me. See you later sir!"-

-"See ya, miss!"- Hashiba also said goodbye to the teacher and her students.

Once the farewells were given, Kaoru Tanimura and the Tachibana twins proceeded to leave the place in direction of the rest of the students who were still watching the Atomic Bomb Dome, while they waited for her along with Keita and Yumi who had separated from the group at that time.

-"Those two young kids are really nice, especially the blonde one. I wish there were more people like them in this world, unlike some people I know..."-

-"We think so too, sir. They were very nice with us."- Both children added to Ms. Tanimura's commentary in unison.

-"Right."- The teacher at the time spoke with her cell phone, which was a smart bracelet that worked with the user's verbal commands, and was connected to the Net. -"Net, what time is it?"-

-"About 12:30 PM, sir."-

-"Oh, my!"- Tanimura exclaimed quite surprised. -"It's gonna be lunchtime! Keita, Yumi, let's go to lunch with your classmates in downtown. How's the idea sound?"-

-"I agree, I'm already hungry. And you, Yumi?"- Keita asked his sister.

-"Well, I'm not hungry yet, but I don't have a problem eating anything in the meantime."-

-"Well, in that case, let's go to downtown, kids!"-

-"YEAH!"-

---

September 21th, AD 2305, Aioi Bridge, Hiroshima, Japan 01:00 PM

-"Boy, those kids sure are nice, to be honest."-

Annika and Tsutomu were resting on the railings of the Aioi Bridge, next to the Atomic Bomb Dome, as they watched the monument closely from there. The young Swedish teenager had a very nice impression from the Okinawan twins, something she wanted to share with her boyfriend.

-"Well, what did you expect, Anni? It was obvious that they were kind to strangers like us, although the same could not be said of their teacher."-

-"C'mon, Tsutomu, don't be a jerk!"- Annika scolded him. -"She had the right to question us if she had suspected that we were going to do any harm on those kids. I'm surprised you say that, since you're Japanese."-

-"Just because I'm Japanese doesn't mean I don't have the right to criticize someone for being so skeptical. Do you and I look like criminals or some kind of kidnapping thug?"- Hashiba recriminated his girlfriend for such a stereotype.

Annika remained silent, as she knew he was right...

-"Sorry, Tsutomu, I didn't think that would upset you so much."-

The young foreigner apologized for what she said earlier, but Tsutomu wished to end the matter, as it was not the right time to do so.

-"Look, Anni, I'm not mad at you, but if you want it we can discuss it when we get back to Tokyo."- Hashiba tried to calm down Annika about the topic. -"For now. I want to rest for a while before the anniversary ceremonies of the atomic attack on the city begin."-

-"Well, you're right on that, Tsutomu-sweetie"-

-"Oh, PUH-REEEEEEEESE, ANNIKA! Stop calling me that in public! You sound like some kind of possessive girlfriend or something!"-

Annika could not help laughing when she saw her boyfriend blushing in a very visible way, while she called him with very affectionate terms for him.

But at that particular moment, something happened for Hashiba to stop talking with Annika...

-"Something wrong, dear? You look like you saw something unusual."-

Hashiba looked at the Atomic Bomb Dome, and he looked at something that his girlfriend didn't seem to see on her own.

-"Hey, Anni, didn't you see anything weird?"-

-"What kind of weird thing you're talking about?"-

-"I thought I saw a rabbit near the monument."-

-"I haven't seen any animals around here, let alone a rabbit."- The Swedish teen replied. -"And even if it was a rabbit, is there anything weird about that?"-

-"Not in theory, but I thought I saw a very large rabbit about the size of those Okinawan kids we met recently."-

Annika was incredulous to hear that from her boyfriend. It was one thing to discuss stereotypes like a few minutes ago and another was to talk about supposed hallucinations that Hashiba might be having for some reason she didn't understand.

-"Tsutomu, you're not kidding me, right?"-

-"Of course not! In fact, I wish I would be joking about that!"- Hashiba retorted on his girlfriend. -"And that wasn't the strangest thing about that rabbit."-

-"What do you mean by that?"-

-"If I had to make a physical description about that animal, the rabbit had a humanoid shape, and its coat was white, but there was something more terrible about its description."-

-"Humanoid shape? White fur? And something more terrible about it?"-

And suddenly, that humanoid rabbit reappeared to Tsutomu Hashiba's eyes once again in the same spot, but not to those of Annika Stefansson, which caused the young Japanese student to freeze in fear and fall to his knees, since the whole scene changed from the modern city of Hiroshima to another, strange-looking city...

-"TSUTOMU! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!"-

Hashiba could barely speak a word, for what he was seeing was beyond his human comprehension, something that began to terrify his girlfriend.

-"No... no... no..."

-"TSUTOMU, ANSWER ME, DAMN YOU!"-

Annika, without thinking twice, slaps Hashiba so hard in his cheek that the young man violently falls to the ground...

-"Oh crap, I think I slapped him too hard!"-

The young student rose from the ground, somewhat confused after receiving such a slap from Annika, his girlfriend, something that she had never done in her life, much less in all the time that both are engaged. But it was obvious he wanted answers for what happened.

-"What...the fuck... happened?"-

-"Oh, sorry for having to slap you so hard, sweetie, but you were starting to act so creepy suddenly!"-

Annika apologized Hashiba for the slap, but he doesn't look to mind it anyway, since there's more important things to worry about...

-"Oh, man! You really have a tough hand, Anni!"- Hashiba touched his cheek, which was still sore from the massive slap he received from his girlfriend.

-"Just cut the crap Tsutomu, and tell me what happened to you!"-

Hashiba was trying to remember what he had just seen a few moments ago, while pointing his finger at the Atomic Bomb Dome.

-"I saw that humanoid rabbit again, and this time I saw him next to a cat that also had a human-like form."-

-"A human-like CAT?!"-

-"Yeah, and that wasn't the most horrible thing about them."- Hashiba explained what he saw in the Atomic Bomb Dome. -"I saw them in front of the monument, but at that time it seemed to me that place disappeared for a few moments and I thought I felt like I saw what seemed to be a destroyed city."-

-"A destroyed city? Maybe you're talking about here during World War II, right?"

-"I doubt it, because from what I remember from the photos of Hiroshima during World War II, the place I saw did not look like this city, or any Japanese city, for that matter. In fact, it looked more like a city of some western country, although it had an alien-looking shape I had never seen before in my life."-

-"Wha-WHAT?"-

-"And that wasn't all, Anni."- At that moment, Hashiba's voice began to slow down a bit, and he began to shed some tears. -"The rabbit I mentioned seemed to be lying on the ground, completely bloodied and most likely dead, while the humanoid cat seemed to be crying for him in front of what appeared to be his corpse. It was horrible... horrible..."-

Normally Annika, or anyone else, would be shocked to hear that, but after not seeing anything Hashiba mentioned about the cat and the dead humanoid rabbit in the place where he pointed out, it was normal that she was skeptical in her boyfriend's words regarding what he saw.

-"Tsutomu, aren't you pulling me a leg just to get my attention?"-

And in that instant Hashiba looked at the monument again and he saw nothing of what he mentioned, leaving him as a liar in front of his girl.

-"I swear I saw two animals in that monument a few minutes ago..."-

Annika snarled in annoyance at everything that had happened to her fiancé, and she only wanted to end that pointless discussion once and for all.

-"Look, I can imagine that as a Japanese you are most likely highly moved by the fact that this is the place where the atomic bomb was dropped centuries ago and you are probably imagining this what might have happened in this important place for your people."- Annika tried to explain what Hashiba might have seen a few moments ago. -"Many innocent people, including men, women, elders, and children died in this city along with the people of Nagasaki, and it is normal for one to feel terrified and trying to picture oneself what were the last moments of those people before they died, and what happened after the bomb. Possibly that bunny and the cat are some kind of physical representation of the people who died here in Hiroshima and his survivors centuries ago as a less graphic way of depicting what happened in those tragic circumstances."-

The young student remained thinking for a few seconds, and he gives his girlfriend the reason about she said regarding what he saw...

-"Maybe you're right, Anni. Maybe I got a little sentimental about this place and that caused me to start seeing weird things..."-

-"Chances are, that's most likely it was."-

Suddenly, the voice of the Net was heard on Annika's cellphone bracelet, trying to remind her of something.

-"Sorry to interrupt you Annika, but I must remind you that you and Tsutomu Hashiba must eat before the atomic attack anniversary ceremony begins, which will begin at 4 PM."-

-"OH CRAP! We lost a lot of time on this nonsense that I forgot that!"-

-"Right! Let's get something to eat before we're both late."-

-"Well said, Tsutomu. What would you like to eat?"-

-"I heard there's a restaurant where they sell a delicious udon a few blocks from here."- Hashiba explained what he wanted to eat right now.

-"Well, I'm not a big fan of the udon, but it wouldn't hurt to eat some in the meantime.".

-"So what are we waiting for? Let's eat some udon there, but you're gonna pay the bill this time."-

-"And why should I pay the bill this time, Tsutomu?"-

-"You could say we're even for slapping me."-

-"OK, OK, you're right, excuse me for being so violent on your pretty face..."-

-"Heh, heh, apology accepted"-

---

September 21th, AD 2305, Restaurant "Jiiya" near Ota River, Naka Ward, Hiroshima, Japan 02:00 PM

-"BON APPETITE!"-

At that time, the children of the Sakurazaki Elementary School from Tomimura decided to eat in a traditional restaurant before the anniversary ceremonies of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic attacks began. Since the lunch stop was already included in the budget for the school board's trip to Hiroshima, there was no problem for all the kids in Kaoru Tanimura's class to eat whatever they wanted in the restaurant, within reasonable limits, of course.

The restaurant where the children were eating, called "Jiiya", was a fairly old and well-known restaurant in the city. It was founded in 1940, five years before the atomic attack on the city, and despite having been destroyed during the attack at that time, the surviving family managed to rebuild the site from its foundations and has managed to prosper to the current date. Due to its peculiar history, the restaurant has always had a considerable clientele since the end of World War II, both by locals and tourists from other parts of Japan and abroad. The fact that the quality of their food has always been very good to start with and their prices are affordable has helped them a lot.

Among the children who were eating were the Tachibana twins, along with Ms. Tanimura who was at the table with them, who were still waiting for their food at their table.

-"Boy, the food's taking too long..."- Keita complained about the time it took for food to arrive.

-"Yeah, and I'm already hungry."- Yumi, his sister, agreeded with him.

-"Kids, be a little more considerate, please"- Ms. Tanimura tried to calm them. "Keep in mind that the cooks are serving to your friends first and I think we will be the last ones to eat, I guess."-

-"Yeah, but I don't think we ordered anything that complicated to eat. I, for one, ordered ramen..."- Keita explained.

-"And I ordered fish soup with tofu."- Yumi followed him.

-"Good for you, because I ordered some pork onigiris and yet they are taking a long time with something as simple as that, to be honest."- The mentor decided to keep up with her students, seeing that her stomach began to growl from the hunger she had.

-"And what did you say about us being more considerate, sir?"- The bald kid snaked on his teacher.

-"Well, I'm a human too. I'm not that insensitive as you think, Keita."-

-"Heh heh!"-

At that time, Yumi noticed on the wall of the restaurant was a frame with what appeared to be a black and white photograph. In that photograph was the portrait of a couple, a man and a woman, next to a little girl a little bigger in age than Yumi at that time where the photo was taken.

And while the young Okinawan girl was looking at the picture, a waiter quickly arrived at the table with her food like that of her twin brother and her teacher.

-"Sorry for the tardiness, but here's your food, I hope you enjoy it."- The waiter apologized to the children and the teacher.

But Yumi didn't seem to care much about the food and she asked the waiter a question...

-"Hey, mister, who's that girl in that picture?"- Yumi pointed her finger on the already mentioned picture in the wall.

-"Oh, you mean that little girl?"- The waiter was a bit surprised by Yumi's interest in the photo. -"It's a bit of a long story, but the owners have always told it to all of us in the case anyone asked about."-

-"And what's the story behind that picture and the little girl?"- Ms. Tanimura followed Yumi on the photo as well.

-"If I remember correctly, that girl was the daughter of the original founders of this restaurant three centuries ago."- The waiter explaned the story behind the photo. -"Her name was Saeko Yasuda, who was 10 years old when she died with her parents."-

-"That... was terrible indeed."-

Kaoru Tanimura could not help but feel bad about knowing the sad fate of those people who appeared in the portrait. For her part, Yumi was silent when she heard those words, even though it was a centuries-old event.

-"I imagine they died when the bomb went off here, right?"- Keita asked.

-"Apparently they do. As far as the fate of the Yasudas is known to this date, the parents died elsewhere in the city and they never found their bodies, most likely they were reduced to ashes by the bomb."- The man explained the grim details to his guests. -"As for the girl Saeko, they found her charred body in this very place where this restaurant is located right now. No one knows where the girl was buried, and for years it has been rumored that her body may have been taken to the United States by the American occupation forces to find out the effects of the bomb on humans. The only reason this restaurant still exists is because Saeko's grandparents decided to rebuild the place as it was originally a way to pay tribute to their sons and granddaughter who died in such an unfair way in the war."-

The Okinawans, especially Yumi, remained silent over such a dark story about the restaurant where they were eating.

-"Look, I know that was a very sad story, but it already happened in the past."- The waiter tried to cheer up his clients, who looked depressed when they heard that dark story. -"Now I just ask you to eat something and leave the sad stories of World War II for the ceremony, OK?"-

-"OK, sir"- Keita replied.

-"Well, if you'll excuse me, I will leave now, have a nice lunch and a lovely afternoon."-

The waiter left the place, leaving Keita, Yumi and Ms. Tanimura with her food on the table. They just had to get ready before eating it.

-"Well, before we start eating, I want you kids to remember to wash your hands in the bathroom."-

-"OK, sir!"-

Both children replied to their teacher as they headed for the restroom to wash their hands. For obvious reasons, the twins entered the restrooms corresponding to their gender.

While she was in the bathroom washing her hands, Yumi still could not shake off the mental image of that little girl named Saeko who died centuries ago, not only because she died young, but because there was something in the past life of that little girl that resounded through Yumi as she had never felt before in her life.

-"Why do I feel so bad about that girl? I feel like my heart wants to come out of my chest when I hear that name..."-

But, once the Okinawan girl finished washing her hands, she decided that maybe her imagination was playing tricks on her and maybe she was overanalyzing things.

-"I guess it's just my imagination."-

But before she could leave the place, she noticed something very strange that looked reflected in the bathroom mirror where she was washing her hands.

In the mirror, Yumi saw the image of a young woman, somewhat older than 25, kneeling on the bathroom floor in front of the table where a mother would normally put her babies to change their diapers, apparently crying on the wall. This was especially bizarre for her, because by the time she entered the bathroom, Yumi was the only girl there, and she hadn't seen or heard anyone enter the place.

But this was not the strangest thing about it: As she turned around to see who she was, Yumi realized that there was indeed a woman crying in that exact place she had seen in the mirror reflection.

-"Miss, are you all right? Did something wrong happened to you?"-

Seeing the woman crying, the Okinawan girl noticed some strange things about the person with whom she was talking to her: The woman was dressed in a military uniform, her hair was reddish brown of sorts, and she didn't seem to notice Yumi's presence in the bathroom, as if she didn't exist.

Yumi knew very well that on the occasion of the anniversary of the atomic attacks, many members of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces would be present in Hiroshima, and that probably that woman was a member of them who might have drinked too much. But there was one thing that didn't match the typical description of a JSDF member. To begin with, her uniform did not appear to be that of a member of the Japanese armed forces, and since Yumi hailed from Okinawa, that woman's uniform was not that of an American soldier either.

But at that moment, Yumi noticed three extremely disturbing things about that woman who was still crying on the wall: The first was that she couldn't hear her crying, the second was that she noticed that what seemed to be dark skin was actually brown fur, and the third and most bizarre thing about the crying female soldier was that she had cat ears.

Seeing all these things, the girl left the bathroom without a second thought, visibly frightened and horrified by what she saw there. By a strange coincidence, her twin brother Keita came out of the bathroom at the same time as her, and the boy quickly noticed that something bad happened to her younger sister.

-"Yumi, what's wrong with you? You look like you just saw a ghost."-

The girl ignored her brother and she went straight to the table, where Kaoru Tanimura was waiting for both children to start eating. But the twins' mentor also quickly noticed that something was wrong with her student since she left the bathroom.

-"Oh my, Yumi! What happened to you in the restroom? From your face, looks like you saw a monster or something."-

-"MISS TANIMURA, I SAW A CRYING WOMAN WHO LOOKED LIKE A CAT IN THE RESTROOM!"-

-"a WHAT?!"-

Keita quickly arrived at the table and he noticed that his sister was very agitated, trying to explain what had happened to her teacher, while the boy also demanded the same explanations.

-"Miss Tanimura, what happened with Yumi?"-

-"She said she saw a weird-looking woman in the ladies' restroom"-

-"A weird-looking woman?"-

-"Yes, Keita!"- Yumi tried to explain what she saw to her brother as well. -"She had reddish hair, brown fur and cat ears!"-

For obvious reasons, both Keita and the mentor of the twins could not believe what happened to the girl and the most likely thing was the probability Yumi saw something else instead.

-"Yumi dear, wouldn't it be that you saw a foreign woman?"- Ms. Tanimura asked to her student about Yumi saw, somewhat skeptical.

-"No! I swear I saw a cat-looking woman in the bathroom!"-

-"Wait a sec, Yumi!"- Keita demanded some explanations from her. -"Can you at least tell us what that woman you saw looked like?"-

The girl was thoughtful for a few seconds, trying to retrace the physical description of that strange woman she saw in the bathroom.

-"Well, she had red hair, brown fur and cat ears, but no tail or anything like that. I could not see her face, and she was about the same height as Ms. Tanimura. Besides, she seemed to be crying on the wall when I saw her."-

-"OK, let's see: a crying, redheaded girl with car ears and brown fur"- Ms. Tanimura took note about the physical description of that person her student was talking about. -"And what kind of clothes was she wearing?"-

-"She wore soldier's clothes, but it was not the uniform of the American or Japanese army, as far as I remember."-

-"Gosh, for a little girl, you're really into that."- Tanimura replied quitely surprised.

-"Considering that a friend of our family was a member of the U.S. Army and that we live near an American air base, we already know what American soldiers' uniforms look like."- Keita explained to his teacher about how they could knew such tidbit of information about the U.S. Army's uniforms.

-"OK, I'll see what I can do about that."-

The teacher pressed a button on the table to call the waiter in the restaurant and tell him what happened to him so they could take action.

-"Did you command, miss?"-

-"Look, my student says she saw a crying woman, most likely an African-American soldier, who was in the women's bathroom with her. Judging by what the girl said, I think that woman was in an inconvenient state and she scared her off. I want you to see what happened there, in case that person needs help."-

-"Well, I don't remember seeing any foreigners who entered the restaurant, let alone American soldiers. In fact, all the customers we've had today are Japanese as far as I know, but I'll see what I can do about that."-

The waiter leaves the place and sends the notice regarding the strange woman in the bathroom to his superiors, so they could check the place...

-"Well, let's see if they find that weird woman you saw there. Most likely she must be sick or drunk, I think."- Tanimura talked with Yumi about the mysterious woman she saw in the ladies' bathroom.

Minutes later, the same waiter returned to the table of the twins and the teacher, clearly looking a bit annoyed.

-"We sent a person to see the ladies' restroom and we didn't see anyone with those characteristics, miss. It's very likely that maybe that woman left the bathroom after your student left or there was never anyone there in the first place."

-"Oh, I see. Sorry for bothering you, and thanks for everything anyways."-

-"You're welcome."-

The waiter left the table, but he could not hide his displeasure at this situation, because these children had made him lose valuable time and he could not avoid saying something in a conspicuous tone, but with the lowest possible voice to prevent his customers from listening to him...

-"Fuckin' coconut-shittin' hillbilly brats..."-

Unbeknownst to him, the teacher had heard the degrading insult he had uttered to her students, but decided to ignore him in the meantime, as there were more important things to discuss with the children. But before she spoke, Keita first began to criticize her twin sister.

-"Yumi, are you still seeing cats everywhere?"-

The girl was evidently very embarrassed by what happened, as she had wasted someone else's time on a hallucination she had seen again, given what she saw a few weeks ago in Okinawa on Tomimura Hill.

-"I'm sorry, big bro."-

-"Keita, before you keep scolding your sister, how's that she's seen that kind of things before?". Ms. Tanimura asked Keita for an explanation regarding her brother and the incident with the cats she saw in Okinawa near their home.

-"What happens, miss, is that Yumi says she saw some humanoid cats, like the one she saw in the bathroom, near our house, on the hill, but I didn't see anything that day and that happened a week ago."-

-"And why didn't you tell me anything at school?"-

-"I didn't think it was too important to discuss it with you, and I thought that was some kind of silly fantasy coming from her head as well."-

The teacher began to see her pupil worried, as this kind of thing seemed to have a very intimate origin for Yumi, something she knew beforehand, as she knew all the personal background of both twins, especially the girl...

-"Yumi dear, are you still thinking about Mike?"-

Mike (pronounced phonetically as "Mee-keh") was a cat that Yumi and Keita had had since his parents died and that they and his grandfather Ichiro took care of him, and Yumi loved him very much. But that cat was old, and Mike died of a heart attack last year, and everything seemed to indicate that the death of that animal was still too much for Yumi.

-"Well, yes, but I wasn't thinking about him when I saw those cats, I swear it!"-

-"Yeah, right, you still miss him a lot, because you've been talking about him for months. Even Grandpa Ichiro has already scolded you about that."- Keita snarked on his sister on regards of their late pet.

-"And so what?"- The girl angrily replied. -"Can't I just be sad for Mike? Or are you just saying that just to make fun of me?"-

-"Keita, please stop messing with your sister!"- Ms. Tanimura warned the boy after seeing Yumi's angry face and worrying that the children would quarrel with each other. -"Your sister has a right to feel sad about Mike, because she loved him very much, and I think you loved him too. It is very unfortunate that this poor kitten has passed away, but that is life and we must accept it as it is. If you want, I can talk to your grandfather in case you want another pet..."-

Kaoru Tanimura wanted to try to cheer the girl up with those words, but for some reason Yumi was quiet for a while and then her response was very clear.

-"No thanks, sir. But I appreciate your trouble."-

-"Oh, really? It's no bother for me since I feel it's my duty as your teacher."-

-"Ms. Tanimura, I think it would be best if you do not insist on the subject of the cat with her, if you know what I mean..."-

Keita talked to his mentor, trying to convince her to stop talking about it for fear that his sister would get depressed if she kept going on about Mike.

-"Well, I think it would be better to leave it at that."- Tanimura agreed to the idea. -"So, let's enjoy this delicious meal for now before we all get late for the anniversary ceremony. OK?"-

-"OK, sir!"-

The children and their mentor then proceed to eat their food, while the woman ponders some personal matters in her head, especially about some vulgar person...

-"And once I finish eating, I'm gonna talk to the owner of this junk about firing that stupid waiter, because I'm not gonna let some retard insult my kids behind my back!"-

---

September 21th, AD 2305, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, Hiroshima, Japan 04:00 PM

After several hours of preparation, the 360th anniversary ceremony of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic attacks began with the protocol events, but this year would be very different from previous ceremonies of past years. To begin with, instead of each city celebrating its own separate anniversary in August on the days when their respective bombs fell on their cities, it was decided that a single larger ceremony would be held in September. This date also had a certain historical value to some extent, as September 21 was the day when atomic bombs destroyed much of the Middle East and was the beginning of the end of World War III in 2050, just as the atomic bombs that fell on Japan did the same with World War II in 1945. And, like what happened in those two Japanese cities, the wounds of that war are still felt on Earth to this day, beginning with the fact that the Middle East no longer exists as such, but is now a deserted area contaminated with radioactive, chemical and biological material, and will continue to do so for centuries to come.

For this occasion, the mayor of New Baghdad, the capital of the Arab region of Mars, to which the great majority of the inhabitants of the former Middle East emigrated, was invited and it was rumored that he would open the ceremony first in place of his Japanese colleagues.

Also, many tourists, both from Japan and abroad, had gathered in the city for the ceremony and the park was basically bursting due to the large crowd there. In the same way, many students from both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as from other Japanese cities, had been reunited and the young people had a privileged place that day, as they occupied the main places near the ceremony, as it was considered that they had to know what had happened in their respective places of origin so that the tragedy that happened in their countries would never happen again.

Among those young people were the students of Tokyo's Saionji Municipal High School, who were in a more or less privileged location near the ceremony site, along with the city's native students...

-"Well, it looks like the very boring speech is about to begin."- Tsutomu Hashiba, one of Saionji's students, complained in a loud tone about the coming speech.

-"Shhh! Quiet, Tsutomu!"- Annika, his girlfriend, shut him up.

-"Hey, I was just saying!"-

-"And you should be more careful on your words"- The Swedish girl keeps scolding him. -"Can't you see we're at a very important event?"-

-"Yeah, you better listen to your girlfriend, Hashiba, because seems you forgot we were in Hiroshima, buddy! HA HA HA!"- Takuma Hoshikawa, Hashiba's friend, mocked him along with other students.

Annika began to stare at Hoshikawa grimly enough, implying that she was not happy to hear such nonsense...

-"OK, OK, I'll keep my big mouth shut!"-

Half an hour later, the ceremony to commemorate the 360th anniversary of the atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki began. As scheduled, the first person to give the speech would be the mayor of New Baghdad on Mars. Quickly, the mayor of that Martian city, a medium sized man, with a moustache and mildy dark skin, took the stand and began to speak before his Japanese colleagues, but not before being introduced to the public of the city and Japan as well.

-"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Mr. Rashad Ibn Zulema, Mayor of New Baghdad, who will open the ceremony with his speech."-

The Martian mayor began to speak, surprisingly, in Japanese, something that no one expected him to do, since everyone hoped he would speak in Arabic or at least in English, perhaps as a way of indicating that he wanted his speech to reach more people than if it were in his native language.

-"Thank you, thank you, kind people of Hiroshima and all the citizens of Japan. I would like to thank you for allowing this humble man to say the first words to begin this anniversary ceremony, and because of the occasion, allow me to do so in your language of your country, instead of in my own..."-

-"Geez, that man sure can speak Japanese fluently."- Hashiba was deeply surprised to see that Middle Eastern man speaking in his language.

-"As you all know, this city, along with the city of Nagasaki, was destroyed by atomic bombs by the Americans in August 1945, three centuries ago, killing thousands of people at that time, and marking the end of World War II and the surrender of Japan. The same was true for the land of my ancestors 255 years ago this very day in September 2050, when atomic bombs from ancient North Korea were cowardly and treacherously dropped on what was once known to the land of my ancestors as the Middle East. Those hellish weapons wiped out everything in their path: houses, temples, mosques, buildings, living beings. Nothing was safe from its destructive power, just as this city of Hiroshima, as well as Nagasaki were destroyed..."-

All those attending the event were impressed and moved not only by the fact that the man knew how to speak the language of his hosts, but also by the emotional way in which he gave his speech, so that his audience would know all the trauma that his people suffered from atomic weapons in their time at the end of World War III.

-"...My ancestors, who were born in ancient Saudi Arabia, lost everything because of these demonic weapons. They lost their homes, many relatives, their belongings and, above all, their own homeland. For years they were forced to live like beggars in the streets of Seoul, when they could not migrate to some western nation that was kind enough to welcome them. At that time, the western nations and their allies had problems hosting refugees from the Middle East, and in many of those nations, refugees were sometimes persecuted and killed because of the crimes the Alliance had committed in their nations before and for years, it seemed that it would be the end for them and all the people of the ancient Middle East..."-

-"I had heard some of that on the Net before and in some of the history books my grandfather has in the house. That was... horrible, indeed."- Keita Tachibana, who was along with the rest of the students of Okinawa's Sakurazaki Elementary School, his sister Yumi and his mentor Kaoru Tanimura, was also deeply moved by the words of the Arab man.

-"Agreed with you, but keep quiet, Keita"- Ms. Tanimura warned him in low voice.

-"OK, sir."-

-"...And then, when all seemed lost, my ancestors were the first human settlers to inhabit Mars after the planet completed its terraforming in the late 21st century. Obviously the process of moving was a painful and terrible one for many, considering that many people were affected by the side-effects of the bombs and most people yearned to return to Earth, but for many it was more than evident that they would no longer be welcomed there again and it would be best to move to a new world, where they could live in peace without being persecuted for their beliefs, their traditions or for the mistakes that others made in their name in World War III..."-

A mournful silence was felt in the memorial park, where everyone was very attentive to what that man from Mars, whose forefathers suffered for the destruction of their ancient homeland, said.

But Yumi Tachibana, who also paid attention to what the man was saying, noticed something very strange happening behind the scenes, almost literally in this case...

-"Ms. Tanimura, why do all those men in black behind the man from Mars look so restless?"-

-"I don't know, maybe they're checking that nothing bad happens to that poor man..."-

But even the mentor noticed something unusual about those men who seemed to be the Arab mayor's bodyguards, as it seemed as if something bad had happened at the time, as they began to act abnormally when the man began to speak in Japanese.

But there was also the possibility that she might have been thinking too much about things that were too extreme for her...

-"Maybe it's just my imagination..."-

-"...But now I am glad that I have been given the opportunity to share my historical experience about the inhabitants of Mars, who are the descendants of the inhabitants of the ancient Middle East who were once our home in the past and that the reason we live on Mars is because of the tragedy that occurred centuries ago on this planet centuries ago due to atomic weapons, the same one who ravaged this city and Nagasaki. And... it is a pity that there are not many people coming from Mars to hear this speech I have just said, but I understand the reasons why many of them could not attend here..."-

Listening to this last part, Hashiba noticed that there was something missing from his surroundings and that no one else seemed to have noticed it before.

-"Now that that guy mentions it, I haven't seen anyone from Mars seem to come through here in this place."-

Indeed, the young student from Tokyo realized that there was no one of Arab origin coming from Mars both at the memorial park and during his time in Hiroshima. But no one seemed to have paid attention to those words in that context, and everyone believed that the mayor was referring to his family or close friends who probably had not come to Earth for the event.

But there were some people who did pay attention to the words of the Arab man, and those people were the ones who were dressed in black behind the scenes, who looked nervous and angry at the same time.

-"What the hell is happening to those bodyguards? It seems as if something the mayor of Mars said is bothering them."-

-"...I think I have said all I have to say on the subject, and with these words I bid you farewell, kind people of Hiroshima, Nagasaki and above all, of Japan, and I hope that the tragedy that happened to our countries will never happen again. May Allah will be with all of you."-

At the end of his speech, the Arab mayor stepped down from the stage, while a thunderous shower of applause fell on the man as he left the park, congratulating him for his speech.

But there was something Hashiba didn't seem right for him about the event. To begin with, he felt the speech was going to be longer, but for some reason the man stopped and was forced to say goodbye before he could continue. Then there was the matter of the bodyguards who started acting weird as soon as the Martian mayor started speaking in Japanese and when he had said that about the lack of more people from Mars to listen to his words.

But the young student from Tokyo had no time to think about such a possibility, as the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were about to start their respective speeches and decided to ponder on the matter later.

---

September 21th, AD 2305, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park (outside), Hiroshima, Japan 06:00 PM

After two hours of speeches, the opening ceremony of the 360th anniversary of the atomic attacks in Hiroshima and Nagasaki was over and everyone present was leaving the park, although there were some cultural events around the place, such as photo exhibitions, films that talked about the subject, among other things.

-"Oh, boy! Good thing it's over, it looked like these geezers weren't going to finish talking about the bombs, wars and shit."-

-"Tsutomu, it's very important that we learn that kind of thing if we don't want it to happen again, and I think the people of Mars would have liked us to have learned the lesson of Hiroshima."- Annika scolded him, since she could not believe his Japanese boyfriend could say that. -"Other than that, I'm still surprised you said that, since you're from this country."-

-"And so what? We are talking about something that happened centuries ago and I doubt it will happen again. I understand that a lot of people died here and in the Special Zone, but I'm not going to be too concerned about that. And that has nothing to do with me being Japanese, and other than that, I think the people of Mars have suffered more than we have from the nukes."-

-"Even so, you should be a little more considerate about it, since..."-

Annika suddenly stopped her talk with Hashiba and she put her hands on her tummy.

-"What's wrong, Annika?"-

-"I'm sorry, Tsutomu, but I need to go to the bathroom urgently. I think you know why."-

-"Oh, I see."- Hashiba frowned at the knowledge of what Annika meant. -"I'll be waiting for you at the coffee shop on the corner."-

-"Thanks, sweetie."-

The Swedish girl quickly made her way to a public toilet near the park, while Hashiba and the rest of the Saionji students headed to the coffee shop for lunch after listening to the speeches.

-"Damn it! What a bad time to have this!"-

Half an hour later, Annika left the bathroom, relieved of her private problem, and headed to the cafeteria to meet her boyfriend and the rest of the students.

But when she was on her way to the meeting place, she noticed something very strange happening at a restaurant two blocks from the cafeteria where she had planned to meet Hashiba and the others...

-"What a sec! Isn't he...?"-

Annika noticed that the man sitting alone in that restaurant was the mayor of New Baghdad, who evidently looked very worried about how he looked when he was giving his speech in the park. The strangest thing was that the politician was alone without any protection, like bodyguards.

-"I wonder why he's alone? A man as important as him shouldn't be eating in a restaurant in a foreign country on his own, I think."-

Annika decided to enter the restaurant with the intention of talking to the Arab man and congratulating him on his moving speech, as well as asking for his autograph. She knew that was a very silly thing to do, but at least that would make him understand that there were people who appreciated what he said.

-"OK, I'm going to come in here and ask him for his autograph. I think some company would do the man no harm, and I think Tsutomu would understand if I dwell on this for a while."-

But before she could get close to the Martian, three mysterious men in black approached the man in a somewhat aggressive manner and sat next to him.

-"What the hell...?"-

At first, Annika thought that the men in black were the mayor's bodyguards, but she noticed that the way they addressed the man wasn't exactly a nice way to talk to someone who should be their boss. Out of curiosity, she decided to move closer to the place where they were, and to prevent them from noticing that she was listening to their conversation, she asked a waitress for an iced tea to drink right there.

Once all this was done, Annika began to listen to the Martian politician's chatter to the men in black.

-"Mr. Zulema, I believe that you have not honored the agreement that we had originally made before you came to Earth."- One of the men in black began to speak with the Arab man in a threatening tone in English. Luckily for Annika, she can understand that language.

-"I guess the agreement was that I should give my speech in Arabic, wasn't it?"- The mayor responded the man in his own language.

-"Yes, you are supposed to speak in your language, while we take care of the rest of the... communication, if you know what we mean."-

-"So, was there a problem if I did it in Japanese?"-

The men in black hold his talk for a few seconds

-"Technically yes, you could say there's many issues with that..."-

-"What kind of issue you mean?"-

Suddenly and without warning, the man in black hits the table with his fist, and his face showed both disgust and annoyance at the attitude of his counterpart.

-"Don't try to act smart with us, you Martian sandnigger!"-

Annika was horrified on seeing the twist that conversation of those men had taken. It had been years since she had heard such a racist insult in such a context, and if it had been for her, Annika would have come to the defense of that man, but now all she could do was listen to what was happening in that place in Hiroshima.

-"Excuse me, but I don't think that's the best way to address someone in a public place, much less here in Japan..."- The Martian mayor replied in a serious tone.

-"And now you have the nerve to lecture us on civility?!"-

The Arab mayor began to drink a cup of coffee in defiant sign towards those men, especially his racist interlocutor...

-"Come on, gentlemen, I'm still surprised you're still acting like alt-right loonies from the 21st century. I thought that attitude had already disappeared here on Earth."-

-"It's thanks to us that this planet is still standing, you fucking hypocrite! Or have you forgotten your history lessons already?"-

-"No, I have not forgotten my history lessons, and I think you should not forget yours either."-

The men in black began to act in an increasingly threatening manner toward Zulema, the mayor of New Baghdad, but at the same time those men knew that they should not make a big scandal in that place, much less now that there was such an important celebration as the anniversary of the atomic attacks in Hiroshima, Nagasaki and above all, the former Middle East, the land of the mayor's ancestors.

-"Listen, Mr. Smart Guy, your job here was just to talk about the attack on the Special Zone by the North Koreans, and to talk exclusively in Arabic so the Japanese wouldn't know a single shit about what you said, while we translated you in case you said anything outside the script."-

-"I don't think you guys were counting on me speaking Japanese. I learned the language when I was in college in New Damascus, if you want to know the fact. It wasn't easy, but I think it was worth it for the chance."-

The man in black who was talking to the Arab pulled out a data pad so he could check the mayor's data in the Net's database about the inhabitants of Mars, including that politician he had in front of him.

-"OK, let's see."- The man in black said, while lurking in his device. -"Rashad Ibn Zulema, born in New Baghdad, Mars at May 10th, AD 2265, studied political science at the Olympus Mons Martian College at the age of 25, graduated with honors, elected as mayor of his hometown two years ago, speaks Arabic, English, and French..."-

Suddenly, the man realized that there was a fact that did not match with the profile of the Arab mayor that he had at hand from the net.

-"Why this shit doesn't say you studied Japanese in college?"-

-"I don't know, I don't have the ability to modify the Net, even if I wanted to. Maybe it likes me, I think."-

When they realized that the Net or someone else had modified such an important fact for them regarding the personal profile of that man from Mars, the men in black began to feel frustrated and ridiculed at the same time. It was obvious that this seemingly insignificant man was trying to make fun of them in their faces, but at the moment they could do nothing about it, much less make him pay for his daring to face them. They knew that if they tried to do him any harm, all their plans would go down and they would get into an unprecedented diplomatic incident, and the most important thing now was to keep a low profile and pretend that nothing that had happened so far had transpired.

-"You're lucky we can't do anything to you."- The man said with a even more threatening voice -"But we can do this thing: If you don't leave for your planet in 72 hours, we might change our minds and we will make it look whatever that could happen to you as an accident once all this shit is over. Got it, smartass?"-

The mayor remained silent at the threat posed by the man in black, knowing that he now had no choice but to comply with his demands, if he did not want things to get worse.

-"sigh Agreed."-

-"Well, be a nice guy and don't make things harder for us."- The mysterious man continued his threats toward the Arab so that it was clear to him who was in charge. -"Your job here was just to talk, eat and then return to your filthy planet once this was over. Now you've unnecessarily complicated things for all of us on Earth."-

Immediately afterwards, the mayor ordered a waitress to give him the bill so that he could leave the place. Since he only drank one cup of coffee, there wasn't much to pay, but before leaving the cafeteria, the Arab wanted his interlocutors to know what he thought of them and their bosses.

-"Personally I never wanted to come to this place if I was not given the opportunity to say what our people have suffered for centuries since the day we were forced to live on your filthy planet, as you call Mars. Someday the world will know the truth about Mars and the reasons why we have been living on that planet since World War III. That is all I am going to say about it."-

-"And you, Mr. Zulema, should stop thinking you're the next reincarnation of Nelson Mandela and go home before you make us lose our patience. You are not indispensable and we can replace you with another idiot who doesn't want to be another holy man and fuck with the rest of the world. We know everything about you guys and we're not gonna make the same mistake twice. The next time you guys try to be too smart for your own good, we will make sure that you and all of your kind disappear from the face of the universe. Keep that in mind, towelhead."-

Upon receipt that threat, the man from Mars left the cafeteria and headed off on foot in an unknown direction somewhere in Hiroshima. Meanwhile, Annika, who had listened to the whole conversation in a disguised way while she was drinking tea, left the cafeteria as well, once the men in black left the place in the same way and she checked that there was no one following her in the street.

The young Swedish student was deeply shocked by what she had just heard, as she apparently saw what appeared to be a conspiracy and that these men in black could probably be gangsters, although another thing she could deduce, from the accent of that man threatening the mayor of New Baghdad, was that none of them were Japanese, so they could not have been members of any Yakuza (Japanese mafia) group.

Fortunately for her, Annika noticed that Tsutomu Hashiba, her boyfriend, along with the other students from Saionji, were just leaving the cafeteria where they had gone to lunch. Obviously, the Japanese teenager was very worried about where his girlfriend had gone the whole time he was eating.

-"Where the hell have you been, Anni? We were just finishing our lunch and on our way back to the hotel, while you vanished."-

Hashiba realized something was wrong with his fiancée...

-"What happened? You look like you've seen a corpse or something."-

-"Tsutomu, I need to talk to you, alone."- Annika responded in a very dry, blunt voice.

-"What?"-

Suddenly and without even asking for his permission, Annika took her boyfriend's hand and took him to the cafeteria where her Japanese fiancé had eaten a few minutes ago and took him directly to the facility's restroom. Because of their genders, Annika decided to enter the neutral one, normally reserved for transgender people, in order to avoid any legal problems, but that did not prevent Hashiba from feeling uncomfortable with the situation in which his girlfriend was involving him.

-"What the hell is happening to you, Annika? And why do you want us both to go to the neutral restroom? Are you planning on having sex with me?"-

-"Shut up, and do what I say!"-

Fortunately for them, there was no one inside the bathroom, but for added privacy, both teens went into one of the toilets normally reserved for the disabled, where there was enough room for them.

-"OK, Annika, if this is your idea of having wild sex in a public place, I just want to say that I don't like your idea at all..."-

-"Who said we were gonna have sex, you moron? I just need to talk to you alone and this is the best place I can think of."-

-"What do you want to talk about? When you came back from the bathroom, it looked like something terrible had happened to you."

Annika took a breath, as she knew it was going to be a long story to tell...

-"I remember you said there was something weird you saw during the New Baghdad mayor's speech, right?"-

-"Well, yeah, I noticed that there was almost nobody from Mars in the memorial park and that the bodyguards of that guy were acting very strangely behind him. That's what I saw."-

-"Did you see anything else?"-

-"Nope."-

-"Well, let me tell you what I saw a few minutes ago, when I came out from the bathroom."- The Swedish teen then explained what happened to her. -"I ran into that mayor in the other cafeteria two blocks from the memorial park, who was drinking a coffee there alone."

-"What's so strange about that? Maybe he wanted to rest there, didn't he?"-

-"In theory, yes, and I was planning on asking him for his autograph."- Annika kept explaining. -"When all of a sudden some guys dressed in black appeared, and sat down to talk to Mr. Zulema in English with an American accent, and if I may be very specific, their accent sounded Texan."-

-"Okay, guys in black, talking with Texan accents. Obviously, they weren't Yakuza, let alone Japanese."- Hashiba pondered about those men Annika saw. -"The guys I saw behind the mayor also wore black and they didn't look like they were from around here either."-

-"Yeah, I doubt very much they were Japanese, or Arabs for that matter. But that wasn't the most worrying thing about them."-

-"What do you mean?"-

-"These guys started to racially insult the mayor for some unknown reason. They started talking about a deal the mayor didn't honor or something."-

-"WHAT THE FUCK?"-

Hashiba was shocked that those men had the audacity to utter racist slurs on someone as high-profile as that man from Mars.

-"And that was not all. They began to talk about strange subjects, like life on Mars for the Arabs, and they also planned to kill him if he didn't return to Mars and follow their orders, or something like that. I couldn't understand the whole context of their talk, so I can't give you any more details at the moment, apart from the detail from those bastards insulting him more just for being an Arab."-

Hashiba was trying to analyze everything Annika had said about what happened with Mr. Zulema. He could not believe that both she and he, in telling him this, were witnesses to some kind of criminal conspiracy. He also knew that something was not right when the Arab mayor began to give his speech in Japanese and when the politician lamented the absence of more Martians in Japan, not to mention his alleged "bodyguards" turned out not to be what they really were.

-"Do you think it would be good to talk to the police about this? We can't let them threaten someone like him like that and get away with it. If they ever kill that man, this could..."-

-"NO WAY!"-

Hashiba interrupted his girlfriend abruptly from what she was saying, while he looked at her face with notorious fear...

-"I know this may sound stupid, but we cannot risk getting involved in such kind of dangerous stuff."- Hashiba bluntly explained his objections on reporting the threats against the Martian major. -"We don't know what kind of people they might be, but this is something that high school students like us shouldn't get involved with. They could go after our families and then for us later on, and I wouldn't want to play Deep Throat with these kind of assholes, neither you."-

-"So what do you suggest we do, sit around and do nothing while someone as important as him is threatened with death right under our noses?"-

-"Let me think."- The Japanese teen evaluate the seriousness of the whole situation. -"Mmm... If what you said is true and if I understand the context of what those guys told the mayor, chances are they won't do anything unless Mr. Zulema says something else that might make them angry, like what happened here in Hiroshima. Other than that, I don't think it's a good idea to talk about it with anyone, not even with Morisawa, Saori, and the rest of the school, not to mention teachers and staff. The only thing we would do with opening our big mouths would be to make the situation worse and they could kill both the mayor and us, along with anyone else who knew about the whole thing."-

Annika could not believe her boyfriend's words regarding the threats against the mayor. Allowing these criminals to be on the loose was too much for the young woman from Sweden and she could not help but yell at Hashiba loudly.

-"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND? WHAT IF THEY TRY TO KILL SOMEONE ELSE BESIDES THE MAYOR? HOW CAN YOU BE SO INSENSITIVE TO SAY SUCH CRAP?!"-

Hashiba put his hand in Annika's mouth to silence her...

-"SHH! BE QUIET! DO YOU WANT SOMEONE TO LISTEN TO US?"-

-"Oh, sorry. You're right..."-

Both teenagers remained silent for a few moments, trying to weigh everything that they had talked about and what had happened up to that point. It was noteworthy that the two of them were powerless in the face of what appeared to be a conspiracy of some kind and that they could not say a single word to anyone, not even their best friends, families or concerned authorities. The only reasonable thing they could do was to remain silent, although Tsutomu Hashiba thought of something that might help them if anything went wrong at any time...

-"Look, Anni, I have an idea that might be helpful here: What we can do would be to see and hear the news regarding anything that might happen on Mars from this point forward, and if we hear or see something involving New Baghdad, the Arabs of Mars or anything about that planet that has to do with what happened here, then we could talk to the appropriate authorities so they can take action on the matter."-

-"Well, I think that would be more reasonable, although I still think we should talk to the police as soon as possible, in case you ask for my opinion."-

-"No sir. We will be watching the news about Mars as much as we can, and be careful of saying anything about this to anyone else. We can't risk someone listening to us and finding out what we know about this situation. Do I make myself clear?"

Annika had no choice but to heed her boyfriend's warnings about the alleged conspiracy they both witnessed.

-"OK... sigh... if you insist."-

-"All right, if there's nothing else to say, we'd better get back to the hotel, before the other classmates and the teachers start worrying about us.".

Once the discussion was over, Annika Stefansson and Tsutomu Hashiba left the toilet for the disabled and were both about to leave the bathroom, when suddenly...

-"Oh my! I need to take a pee!"-

Before Hashiba knocked on the door, another person suddenly entered the neutral bathroom suddenly. The person was a transgendered woman who urgently needed to use the bathroom, and she saw the two teenagers on their way out. For more than obvious reasons, she couldn't help but comment on the couple she had in front of her...

-"Well, well, well. I must admit, your sex change operation must have been very expensive for both of you."-

The young couple began to shake at the uncomfortable situation in which they had both gotten themselves into because they had entered the neutral bathroom without being transgendered.

-"Eh, ma'am, this is not what you think..."- Annika nervously explained at the woman.

-"Yes, it's true, we're not..."-

-"SHUT THE FUCK UP, TSUTOMU!"-

---

November 2nd, AD 2305, University of Tokyo (Todai), Department of Biological Sciences, Tokyo, Japan, 12:00 PM

-"Oh... my... god!"- a female voice was heard. -"I'm so DAMN hungry!"-

-"Me too."- Another second, more louder, female voice was also heard. -"I'd eat a horse right now if I could."-

The first girl rose from her seat resolutely, knowing that her hunger would not stop so easily...

-"What do you say if we have something to eat before we go home?"-

-"Sound like a plan for me, Kyoko."-

In those moments, two girls, Kyoko Hagimori and Hitomi Shimizu, who were in a classroom studying, left the place to go out to eat something after several hours of classes, since they had not eaten anything before going to school and before going to the faculty cafeteria, both girls passed by the local biology lab, where they usually worked as part of their university curriculum. Kyoko was intrigued to know why her friend wanted to enter that place first.

-"Hey, Hitomi, what are we doing in the lab?"-

-"Looking for you-know-who."-

-"Who? You mean that four-eyed loser?"-

-"Yup. Let's pay a visit to her, shall we?"-

-"But don't you think she'd be busy right now? If we went in there and screwed her over like that, we'd get into a big mess with our teachers and the schoolmaster."-

-"Don't worry about it, Kyoko, it's not like we're going to bully her just like that."- Hitomi assured her with a devious smile in her face. -"Besides, I think she'll be hungry like us, too, so it wouldn't hurt if we reminded her to eat something instead of her being locked up in the lab, and with her eyes glued to that microscope."-

Once in the laboratory, Hitomi and Kyoko met a girl who was sitting in a chair and working with a microscope. That young girl was about 18 years old, had light brown hair, wore glasses, and was of medium height, compared to those two girls, who were slightly taller than her.

-"Hey, Yui!"- Hitomi cheerfuly tried to call her attention. -"Earth calling to Yui Nagamori, respond."-

The girl in the microscope did not respond to Hitomi's calls, which caused the latter to begin to resent being ignored in such a manner.

-"Listen Yui, it's lunchtime already. Put that damn microscope down and come with us before you get lonely here at school."-

-"Wait a second, I'm just finishing analyzing this biological sample brought in from New Haiti."- The girl responded, while trying to finish her work first.

-"Are you still analyzing that crap coming from that planet, Yui?"- Hitomi scolded her. -"I don't think you're gonna get anything useful out of that sample. We've been analyzing that for two months and we haven't gotten any useful data."-

-"But if we analyze this sample carefully, we might be able to find some notable differences in the DNA of the native plants on that planet compared to those we have found in other colonized worlds."-

-"Yui, please, I beg you, put down that microscope and get out of the lab and get some fresh air, before you start worrying everybody."-

Yui Nagamori decided to listen to her colleague's words reluctantly and turned off her microscope, but not without first storing the sample in the laboratory freezer.

-"sigh... All right, girls, I'll do whatever you want."-

Once her microscope was turned off, Nagamori left the lab with the other two girls heading to the cafeteria to get something to eat before returning home. In the meantime, the girls started a friendly chat about their personal interests and their future once they graduate from Todai.

-"Hey, Nagamori, what are you going to do when you graduate from university?"-

-"I don't know yet, but one of my goals is to work in xenobiology on some planet once I graduate and have the necessary certification to work outside of planet Earth."-

Hitomi and Kyoko were silent at the sound of this, for there was a darker underlying tone in her classmate's words that she did not want to say out aloud, but they knew what she meant by it...

-"So you mean you're gonna leave your father here on Earth?"-

Nagamori could not help but keep quiet about this for a few seconds, for she rarely spoke about her father to her fellow students. For her, leaving the Earth was a dream she had wanted to make for years since the day her mother died when she was little, for many personal reasons for that girl.

-"Yes, you might say so."-

-"But don't you think your dad's gonna be... you know... mad if you leave the planet like that?"- Kyoko asked her about the opinion of Nagamori's father about her future plans.

But Nagamori responded in a blunt way to her...

-"I don't give a damn what my father thinks, simple as that."-

Both girls remained silent at her friend's derogative response about her father and what he might think about his daughter's plans for her future. They already knew what her personal background was regarding her father, but they preferred not to say it out loud to her to avoid an unnecessary conflict with her.

-"Well, if you put it that way, I don't think we're the right people to say what to do with your life."-

The young girl in glasses began to look at her companions' surprised and shocked faces when she gave her answer abou the subject on her family, and she realized that her attitude had frightened them in a way that she did not wish for...

-"Sorry about what I said about my dad, but you know I don't like to talk about him here at school."-

-"It's okay, I think we understand."- Hitomi also apologized to the girl. -"To be honest, I don't think we'd like to be in your shoes, not even for a second."-

But that last part caused Yui Nagamori to begin to feel uncomfortable about the implications Hitomi wanted to make clear with it, something she quickly realized for her personal horror.

-"Oops, sorry. I think I talked too much."-

-"Hitomi, you better shut up before you make Nagamori suffer unnecessarily. The best thing would be for us to eat something and forget about all this."- Kyoko warned her friend about keeping with the whole issue.

-"Ok, you maybe be right."-

After that awkward conversation, the three girls were getting ready to enter the cafeteria next to the university library. Although the cafeteria had no name (or if it did, it wasn't very important to them), they did notice the name of the library at the University of Tokyo, since it was the name of a very famous and important person, not only in Japan, but worldwide, because of his contributions that he and his family had made to humanity in the field of science. The name of that person whose name graced the library was a scientist whose contributions were as important as those of scientists like Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Nicola Tesla, among other geniuses.

The name of that scientist and the library was Yoshinori Komatsu.

Yui Nagamori remained silent for a few moments at the sight of the name of that place, for the very name of Dr. Komatsu, whose ancestors had helped humanity at its worst in many parts of history since the end of World War III, was something that caused her a considerable impact on her psyche. One of her cherished dreams was one day to emulate that famous scientist and to be recognized as one of the most important names in science, and for that, she studied very hard to enter one of the best universities in Japan, the University of Tokyo, which was the alma mater of Dr. Komatsu in his time.

-"One day, I'll be as well known as he is, and, who knows, I'd like to work alongside him."-

She began to think about it in her head, imagining what her future would be like if she continued her regular studies, while her friends watched her with some disbelief, as they knew what her goal in life was.

-"Nagamori, if your plans are to become a reclusive, eccentric, half-crazed scientist like Dr. Komatsu, you'd better forget it and you should go to another planet in search of better prospects."- Kyoko made her aware of her life plans to emulate that man.

-"I don't think Dr. Komatsu is crazy. Besides, his whole family's always been like that one way or another. Don't you think?"- Nagamori retorted to her classmate about the man and his alleged reputation.

-"Yeah, I know that, but that doesn't mean he and his family aren't famous for being a bit... weird, so to speak."-

-"Well, they say that to be a genius, you have to be a little crazy sometimes, don't you?"- Hitomi gave her point of view about the topic.

-"That's true, but I've always noticed there's something about him that doesn't seem very normal to me."- Kyoko explained some unpleasant facts about him. -"While other famous scientists in history such as Einstein, Hawking, Newton and company at least liked the notoriety of being famous, this jerk did not like being in the spotlight very much. He doesn't like having his picture taken too much, he always avoids giving too many interviews, he has a unhealthy liking, at least for me, for animals, and the only reason this library is named after him is because Todai's board of directors believed that a Japanese man as famous as he should have his name here. At least that guy gave his permission for them to use his name, something he wouldn't have minded anyway. Besides, he doesn't even work here in Japan, but in the U.S."-

-"Well, about his love for animals, I think it's something that makes him more empathetic, plus, he's a vegetarian, as far as I know."- Nagamori responded on that specific point on Dr. Komatsu's personality.

-"Yeah, and so what? I know a lot of vegetarians who are more sociable than that creep, and who don't spend their lives locked up working in some god knows what in some forgotten place in the U.S. And about his love of animals, I wouldn't doubt that he's a zoophile or something, considering he's not married."-

-"You're so cruel, Kyoko! How could you say such a thing about him?"- Nagamori criticized her friend about what she though about the scientist.

-"Nagamori, admit it. That guy's a first-rate weirdo. Just because he is famous does not mean that we should ignore his quirks, and you should do well not to imitate him."-

-"Hey! Do you have a problem with..."-

Suddenly, a sound and a voice from the Net came from the bracelet that served as a cell phone for Yui Nagamori...

-"Ms. Nagamori, you have an urgent message from Mr. Eiji Yajima."-

-"Yajima, you said?!"- The girl said in a surprised, loud voice.

-"Eiji Yajima?"- Hitomi also responder bewildered at such turn of events. -"Wasn't that jerk supposed to be studying in Germany? What's he doing here in Japan again?"-

Without wasting any more time, Nagamori took some wireless headphones from the bracelet that allowed her to hear the voice message in private.

-"Hello, Yui! It's me, Eiji. I came back to Japan a few days ago and wanted to see you once you got out of school. I'll wait for you in the university parking lot. Love, Eiji."-

-"I'm sorry girls, but Yajima's waiting for me out there, so I won't be able to eat with you. I'll see you tomorrow."-

-"Wait a damn second, Nagamori!"- Kyoko yelled at her regarding Eiji Yajima. -"Are you planning on going out with that slacker again just like that?"-

-"I don't have time to discuss this, but I can only tell you that he is not what you think he is. See you tomorrow anyway. Bye!"-

Yui Nagamori then decided not to eat with her friends in the cafeteria so that she could go with the young man from Germany, who did not have a good reputation with Kyoko and Hitomi. Still, they knew there were more important things to worry about than her hanging out with that man, And one of those things was in the same house as her...

-"I don't know what's worse, Nagamori hanging out with that Yajima guy or whatever that could happen to her back home."- Kyoko talked with Hitomi about her worries on her friend.

-"If it's any consolation, Yajima can sometimes be vulgar and rude, but as far as I know, he's never done anything wrong with her."- Hitomi pointed out in a resigned voice about the fate of Yui Nagamori. -"I would be more worried about her father than Yajima, as you already pointed out, and I don't know why he doesn't do anything about it."-

---

November 2nd, AD 2305, Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, Japan, 1:00 PM

After picking up Yui Nagamori from the university parking lot, Eiji Yajima took the girl in his car to Shinjuku to take her for a ride around the city. Although they were both good friends years ago, for some reason that young man who had come from Germany last month had not spoken since they left Todai an hour ago. This was relevant for Nagamori, since she had not eaten anything since leaving school.

-"Thanks for picking me up from college, Yajima, but could you al least tell me why you came back from Germany? I thought you were still studying there."-

Yajima did not utter a word in response to his friend's questioning, something that was beginning to make her impatient.

-"Could you at least tell me something, like, "How'd it go in university?" or "When are you graduating?" or something like that, right?"-

Again, there is only silence from Eiji Yajima, as he drove his car through the streets of Tokyo and maintaining a certain disgusted face that was becoming very noticeable in him.

-"Yajima, is something wrong?"-

Silence again...

-"It's true that I haven't talked to you while you've been in Europe since last year, but I'm not mad at you or anything, you know I've just been very busy with my studies and my research work at Todai."-

Silence...

-"You don't want to talk to me, do you?"-

No words, no response from the young man...

-"YAJIMA!"-

Suddenly, Yajima drives his car to a sidewalk so he can park there and stop the car safely. The suddenness of the event caused Nagamori to freak out, believing that he intended to do something more sinister with the girl. The voice of the Net also was heard in that scenario.

-"Parking brakes activated."-

Obviously, Yui Nagamori wasn't happy at all after that sudden incident...

-"What the hell is wrong with you, Yajima? Do you want to kill me here or what?"-

But suddenly, she realized that her friend began to shed tears, something she had never seen of him since she met him in high school. That touching scene was too shocking for the young student from the University of Tokyo, who did not know how to react to it.

-"Yajima, did something wrong happened to you?"-

Yajima, who would not stop crying, looked at her in a very fixed way, without stopping looking into her eyes...

-"Yui, please, marry me, I beg you."-

Nagamori was surprised by that sudden turn of events. What she thought was an arrogant and abusive attitude from her friend was actually a marriage proposal made in the most unusual and dramatic way possible, in the middle of the city and in his car, and for obvious reasons, she didn't know how to react to it.

-"WHA-WHA-WHAT?!"-

-"Yeah, I'm not kidding. I want you to marry me, since I don't want you living in that house anymore."-

-"Wait a minute, Yajima! This is too sudden for me, you know! Why are you telling me this so far?"- Nagamori began to speak somewhat hastily when she did not know how to react to Yajima's marriage proposal. -"You just came to Japan to ask me to marry you?"-

-"sob... Yes, I know this is very sudden, and I really wish I'd waited until you graduated from school!"- Yajima continued to cry as he looked at Nagamori. "But I know very well what you're suffering at home, and I want you to go with me to Germany, so that you don't live with that goddamned son of a bitch you have for a father anymore!"-

Yui Nagamori was surprised by the words of that young boy who was her friend years ago. She always considered him to be an arrogant, rebellious, aggressive, and sometimes violent young man, but at the same time he was a very intelligent fellow, who got a scholarship to study abroad and who had now returned to Japan in order to get his friend out of the environment in which she lived.

But despite all that, she knew that the situation she was in was not so easy to get out of...

-"Yajima, I thank you for proposing, and I'll tell you the truth. I love you, too, believe it or not, and I want to get out of it, too."- The girl explained to Yajima, her now-fiancée. -"But to be honest, I can't leave my house that easily. My father is the only family I have left alive and I would like the day I left him here in Japan to be on good terms, and not to be sudden just because I want to marry you. So I'm asking you to wait two more years until the day I graduate and then we'll get married."-

Yajima continued to cry at the response of his now-fiancée, but he knew full well that he didn't want to try to insist on the issue, although at least Yajima had the certainty that she would want to marry him when she graduated from college, but that was a situation that didn't make him happy in the least, because of the hell she lived in her own home.

-"Well, I can't force you to marry me right now, and I know very well that you love your dad very much. But I can assure you that on the day you marry me, I will take you out of that shit-hole where you live and we will live far away from Japan, and if possible, even from Earth! sob"- The young man kept crying for her. -"Just promise me that you will marry me, right?"-

-"Yes, it's a promise, just please wait me two more years. And you should go back to Germany and graduate there too. I wouldn't want my future husband to be a washout without a degree."-

-"All right, I promise you I'll study too and I'll get my degree abroad."-

Yui Nagamori then decides to kiss Eiji Yajima on his lips passionately, sealing their relationship definitively. Then she started looking down the street for a few moments.

-"I have to go home, I think it's getting late and my dad will be mad if I'm not home by now."- The girl checked her clock and she noticed she had to return to her home. -"I'll talk to you later, and thank you so much for the ride."-

Nagamori abandoned the car of her now boyfriend Eiji Yajima and headed home. In the meantime, the young man from Germany watched as the young woman returned home in a resigned way, knowing full well what might be waiting for her there. Then, he got out of his car and started crying at her at the street.

-"YUI, I JUST WANT TO TELL YOU THAT I LOVE YOU VERY MUCH AND I WANT YOU TO BE MY WIFE! PROMISE ME YOU'LL GET OUT OF THAT PLACE AS SOON AS YOU CAN, PROMISE MEEEEEE!"-

---

November 2nd, AD 2305, Odaiba Ward, Tokyo, Japan, 2:00 PM

After walking down the street for a while, Yui Nagamori returned to his home, which was located in the Odaiba ward of Tokyo. Her house where she and her father lived was a small apartment that did not have many luxuries, and when she entered it, the place was a mess, with bottles of cheap beer, sake and other liquor lying on the floor of the place. It was more than obvious that his father had invited some of his party friends and they had been drinking too much at home, without bothering to clean up the mess they left behind.

-"I'm home!"-

She received no response, as her father was probably out home for some reason.

Since they didn't have much money, the Nagamoris couldn't afford either to buy a cleaning robot to clean the house in their absence or to pay a maid for the same work. The little money her father earned as an office clerk for an insignificant company in Tokyo was spent on alcohol, and it was not unusual for her to have her father come home drunk.

-"Oh no, not another mess..."-

The young student had no choice but to clean the house by herself, so that there would be some semblance of order when her father arrived home. Once this was done, something that took about an hour for her to separate the garbage and throw it away, Yui proceeded to cook something for the meal.

-"Well, what are we gonna cook today? Ramen? Tuna soup? Gyoza?"-

When she checked the pantry, she realized that there was not much to choose from to prepare the food, being the only thing there were noodles to prepare ramen with egg and vegetables, with some tofu to complement, if you could call it a complement in any way.

Suddenly, the cooing voice of a man who had too many drinks for his own good and had entered the apartment was heard. That man was Yui Nagamori's father, a middle-aged bald man, who was not particularly attractive, fat, and above all, reeking on sake.

-"I'm hoomeeee! hic"-

-"Welcome home, dad."

-"What are we having for lunch today, sweetheart? hic"- The man responded with a lustful voice to his own daughter.

-"I'm not your sweetheart, dad! I'm your daughter!"- The girl lambasted him at those words -"This afternoon we will eat ramen with vegetables and tofu."-

-"Again?"- The drunkard replied somewhat annoyed at the choice of food from that day. -"Isn't there anything better to eat? hic"-

-"No."-

-"Holy shit."-

-"If you had spent your money on food instead of sake, there would be something better to eat today."-

That man, incensed by the alleged boldness he noticed in his own daughter when she asked him to spend his money on food instead of alcohol, suddenly and in the most cowardly way possible, slapped the young girl in a particularly violent way. The blow send her right to the floor.

-"WHO THE HELL ALLOWED YOU TO QUESTION ME LIKE THAT, YOU FUCKIN' LITTLE CUNT?"-

Yui, who was on the floor from the blow received by her father, touched her cheek to see if she had lost anything more than her dignity that was sullied by that angry, alcoholic and brutal man.

-"Dad, please... stop!"- Yui cried for mercy. -"Understand that we don't have much food right now, but please don't hit me!"-

-"SILENCE, BITCH!"-

That man then began to kick her as brutally and mercilessly as possible on the ground, leaving her bleeding and bruised.

-"NOW I'M GONNA TEACH YOU A LESSON SO YOU CAN LEARN TO RESPECT ME AND NOT TO TALK ME LIKE THAT, YOU LITTLE SMART BITCH!"-

And without warning, the father of that unfortunate young girl took Yui's shirt collar and took her by force to the room of that violent, alcoholic man.

-"DAD, PLEASE STOP, I BEG YOU!"-

The man spitted in her face.

-"WHO THE FUCK GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO TALK, YOU LITTLE CUNT? NOW I'LL TEACH YOU TO BE A REAL WOMAN!"-

Once in the room, Yui's father began to take off his clothes, while she couldn't do anything about it, except look, because she knew what was waiting for her...

-"Stand up, Yui."-

The girl, without thinking twice, got up from the floor, while her father was naked in front of her and the man lay down on the bed.

-"Now take your clothes off."-

Yui Nagamori began to remove her clothes without hesitation, revealing her naked body...

-"Now you know what to do. And you better do it right, if you don't want me to smash your face in."-

The young student, with tears in her eyes and resigned to her fate, had no choice but to obey that deviant man she considered her father.

-"Yes... father."-

END OF ACT VII