Hoshino sat blank with a piece of paper in her hand and a black ink pen. Dripping with the fresh ink, as it was pressed onto the paper.
Days. Weeks. And now, nearly four months.
Everyone had given up. KSPD. SRT. The GSC. The city. The whole of Kivotos.
Everyone but sensei and Abydos. Clinging to an already broken thread that hung helplessly, begging to be released.
Yet they can't. They kept clinging into that slither of hope, that thread for a better tomorrow, where this is just an obstacle they could easily face.
Ayane still clung to it.
Nonomi still clung to it.
Hans-sensei, though he can't come to Abydos like before, still clung to it.
And Shiroko… still clung to it harder than anyone else.
But, Hoshino?
This old fart had been nothing more but a massive disappointment. Her resolve to find her had died out. She kept searching and searching till she passed out over and over… all that they could recover was her ID.
"I-It means she's still out there, right?"
"Nn" Cough! COUGH! "I-I'll keep looking."
"Me too! I'll print more posters and keep KSPD from giving up!"
Hoshino had failed her precious people. She should've been there for her, patrolled harder, beg sensei to do more- to…
…Or push herself to do harder till her bones break.
But Hoshino had let go of the thread.
She even had lost hope of finding a body.
But he is… the best bet she has. Even if it meant selling her soul. She'll save those that are still with her.
"Well, Miss Hoshino? Any second thoughts?" The man in front of her spoke up with that disgusting, charismatic, gentlemanly voice. Breaking through the silence they had before, with only the sound of his drumming fingers and her raspy breathing filling the dimly lit room.
"Give me two days, then I'll come with you."
The man hums. "I see." He then folded his arms before nodding. "See you then."
Hoshino looked back at the contract.
"…Yeah. See you, Black Suit."
Signed,
Takanahashi Hoshino.
Hoshino kept replaying the memory again and again as she sat on the corner of her bed.
Her hands still trembling from the weight of her guilt, growing larger every second.
She had just done it. Signing her own death warrant for everything that is precious to her by betraying everyone.
But that's what senpais do, right? Sacrifice themselves for the future? Sensei would do the same… right? She, she is sure of it. He would do the same.
There's no backing out from this, anyway. What's done is done.
"Haha…haha! HAHAHA!" Her laugh bounced from wall to wall and back at her louder and louder. The world was mocking her, and she was mocking herself.
Serika screamed at her.
"HOSHINO!
DO YOU THINK BY SELLING YOURSELF TO KAISER WILL FIX THINGS?!
YOU- YOU IDIOT! WE'LL FIND SOMETHING ELSE,
A SNAZZY BUSINESS PLAN, OR SOMETHING!
THERE'S GOTTA BE ANOTHER WAY!"
And Yume is disappointed, yet… understanding.
"Hoshino… if you're really sure,
then I can't stop you."
"U-Ugh… sniffle. Ugh… uu…"
Hoshino didn't sleep at all that night.
"U-Um… Hoshino…? Where are we going?" Ayane walked behind her friends, struggling to understand.
For weeks, the clubroom was… cold, with the dark cloud still hung over it, through the past few days. But little by little, the dark was pushed away. All thanks to Nonomi been carrying the torch of rebuilding their clubroom from the dark cloud that was met with success here and there.
Shiroko started to… return more often, keeping her health in check somewhat, by returning to the clubroom exhausted instead on the verge of passing out.
Ayane started to get some more sleep as well from the days of pulling endless all nighters by shifting though cameras, reports, documents, and any single grain of bread trails they had.
But Hoshino? Hoshino had been… distant. Sure, she still joked around, napping around, but everyone felt that… feeling when she entered the clubroom.
An eerie feeling, like something bad is going to happen. No matter how much she tried to be… what was before, they all know nothing will be the same again without Serika. But Hoshino kept trying too hard to make it like she was fine.
No one is brave… or had the heart to call her out, not even Shiroko. Mainly on their agreement to grief in their own way.
Like Shiroko, who kept on searching and placing posters,
Ayane, who at the same time aided Shiroko, started to seek seminars and other kinds of stuff that mainly are… scams before calling them out,
And Nonomi, who is utterly determined to be there for everyone without missing a second. She didn't even… leave for the mall alone anymore. She'll go shopping if Shiroko or Ayane went with her, and she… would always invite them to eat back at Shiba Seki.
Talking about how they WILL find her.
Though it's not the same without Hoshino.
They respected Hoshino enough to let her be. Grief in her own way. If that means keeping herself away and keeping her pain? Their words held no weight.
This sudden change, for her to invite them to travel around to somewhere she said was a secret, is a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.
A glimmer of hope that Hoshino had tried to open up again.
"Uhe… just a few more minutes!" Hoshino answers. Still somewhat giddy. Shifting in her seat as the bus drove deeper into the DU.
"Nn. Hoshino seems excited." Shiroko commented, and glancing back to the passing buildings along with the sleepy senior.
"Oh! Right, Ayane, look!" Nonomi opened her phone, and shows a newly released product here.
"Wow… is that the new L'etranger?"
"Sure is! Hoshino, do you think we have time to check out the mall nearby?" Nonomi continued.
"Uhee… I think we can." She gave a thumbs up. "What do you think, Shiroko?"
Shiroko looked at her and back at the rest of them. "…Nn. I could do some shopping as well."
Then after what felt like seconds, the bus stopped on its destination.
"Ah! We're here!" Hoshino leapt from her chair and spearheaded this moment. Her hands grasped on Shiroko's with a genuine smile on her lips.
A smile that had haunted Shiroko ever since.
Shiroko sat down along with the others. No one said a word. No one knew what there was to say or feel. Anger? Sorrow? Betrayal?
It's all of it, combining into one unexplainable emotion. It all starting to make sense now. The things she said, she did and done yesterday.
The long trip to the new aquarium, the shopping mall, arcade, the photo booth, Shiba Seki, and… them having one great blast in the clubroom.
Two empty pizza boxes, a large pack of chicken wings, and three large empty soda bottles are still present in this very room. Their laughter, their sharing of memories, the tragedy of Serika's disappearance turned into a burning determination.
Hoshino raised her red plastic cup high with a thrust, uncaring at how the soda spilled into her uniform and onto the table.
"To us. To Nonomi, to Shiroko, to Ayane. No matter how hard it is to find Serika… we'll never give up! I won't give up! I don't care if it's fruitless, it's a big time waster, it's just me dreaming… but one day, we'll drag her back here, and share this cup of soda! Cheers!"
"Cheers!" The last of the Foreclosure Task Force echoed their cheers before it turned into a fit of laughter and cries. Stuffing their mouths with pizza and chicken wings till every single one of them passed out with their flame burning strong.
Yet it's a farce.
It's. A. Fucking. Farce.
"HOW SELFISH CAN SHE BE?!" Ayane broke down in fury, yanking the letter from Shiroko's hand before crumpling it into a ball and tossing it out into the corner of the room.
Her hot tears flow down along with her rage. Burning brighter and hotter than Nonomi and Shiroko had seen before. The way she shakes in place, her hands curling into balls, and her eyes would stray away from her friends.
"A-Ayane, please… d-don't there's must be…" Nonomi tried to calm her down, her hand hovering over Ayane's shoulder-
SLAP!
A sting of pain came into Nonomi's hand as it was being slapped away and pushing her down to the table.
"Ouch!"
Leftover food and drinks stumble and spilled down to the creaky wooden boards.
"N-Nonomi- I- I don't-"
Yet her regret didn't last long. The elf bit her lip and yanked open the door before sprinting out from the clubroom.
"Ayane!" Shiroko shouts, but before she could take a step, her eyes looked back at the blonde. Sobbing to herself while mumbling whispers, only her ears could catch.
Shiroko stood at an impasse. To hold Nonomi or to run out and catch Ayane.
Yet her choice doesn't matter.
Anything doesn't matter.
The illusion of choice had already
been broken long ago.
The sands shift, and the entire desert trembles.
Rumbling.
Rumbling.
RUMBLING.
BEFORE IT EXPLODES OUT IN A TIDAL WAVE,
A MAELSTORM OF A PREDESTINED CIRCUMSTANCE.
THE MAW OF THE BEAST KEPT SWALLOWING AND SWALLOWING.
NOTHING IS SAFE.
NOTHING IS SECURE.
NOTHING IS CERTAIN BUT THE ABYSS
THAT IS LOOKING BACK AT HER.
"STORM!" Shiroko shouts, snapping out from shock and immediately pulling Nonomi up, and out from the clubroom as the tidal wave of sand and other rubble it had carried alongside it crashed into the building, shaking it to the core, and shattering unlucky furnitures it had outside.
The walls and windows creak and tremble under the immense stress until it shatters, and destroying whatever left of anything else.
One by one the rooms were drowned by the sand, windows shattered and doors explode out from the hinges.
They're running out of time.
She is begging.
Begging for anyone.
Someone.
For GOD for a miracle for this once. Just this once.
More and more facilities and rooms were torn asunder, and the MAW threatened to swallow the two whole.
Shiroko felt her legs to burn, her heart thumping endlessly, and her hands tremble with Nonomi carried on her shoulders.
It's getting closer.
God.
Please.
GOD.
PLEASE.
GOD-
Then salvation.
Shiroko kicked open the door and shoved them into the room, and pulling the heavy duty doors and tighten it.
THE MAW heard thumping and hammering away on the door. Screaming at them to open it, to let it in and take their rightful place to be among the fallen. To be one with nature.
TO BE ONE WITH THE SANDS.
Yet Shiroko didn't let go of the door. Even with her fingernails bled and her skin turned red from the pressure, ripping her skin apart to show the bleeding flesh underneath, she will never let go.
She will never stop gripping the cold metallic door handle.
Then, seconds pass.
And then minutes.
Nothing more was heard.
Shiroko's heart kept on thumping, as her lungs worked overtime to supply more oxygen into her body. She glanced to Nonomi, who laid on the floor. Her eyes were wide, as if she had just processed all of this.
"Shi-Shiro…ko?"
Then finally… the wolf let go of the metal.
"Nonomi, I'm here."
Immediately, the blonde ran to the wolf and hugged her. "Sh-Shiroko… I'm…"
Shiroko hesitated to hug her back. The blood staining her hand are…
"You- You're hurt!"
Nonomi finally let go of the hug before she scrambled up for an emergency first aid kit in the makeshift safe room. Unzipping the red bag, Nonomi procured a bottle of alcohol, bandages, and band-aids and started to treat Shiroko.
"Nnn!" Shiroko held her urge to scream as the alcohol was poured into her wounds.
"It's going to be alright, Shirko! S-Stop squirming!"
Shiroko bit her scarf as the burning sting kept moving across her hands before it stopped.
"Nn.. ngh… a-ah…"
"Hush."
Nonomi whispers, before starting to wrap the young wolf's in bandage and band-aids. "Here… here. It's done. I hope it doesn't get infect…ed…?"
Nonomi gave Shiroko a shaky smile before it immediately fell at the sudden realization.
There's only two.
Two of them.
Ayane.
Ran.
Out.
"Shiroko, where is… Ayane…?"
SCHALE and GSC arrived at the scene accompanied by the Super Phenomenon Task Force from Millenium. Helicopters flew ahead and down into the district as medical staff and emergency services poured out.
"Ma'am, are you hurt anywhere?"
"Sir, let me check that."
"Heavily injured over here! Get the stretcher!"
"Hey, someone is buried! Dug them out!"
"Prez, look." Eimi pointed to their devices. The beeping, and the numbers it poured…
"It's… it's bad. This is… it's just like- no. Thank God it's only a fraction of the strength that had buried Abydos a few years back." Himari whispers.
"Mm." Eimi nods before sticking an ice cream into her mouth. "Next time, I don't want to be here, Prez. It's hot." She wiped a dripping sweat from her forehead.
"How are you not melting right now, prez?"
"Fufu. Do you think, me, Akeboshi Himari, the super genius, sickly beautiful hacker girl, could get this little heat deter her from anything?"
Eimi was tempted to throw her a hard popsicle into her face. "…Ah."
"What is it, Eimi?"
"Where is sensei, by the way?"
Hans looked down at the girl strapped by machines and emergency first aid as the helicopter slowly rose up.
"We'll make sure she'll survive, sensei."
Then the helicopter left. Bringing one of his precious student with it.
He looked back at the two. Shiroko and Nonomi huddled together in thermal blankets. Shivering under as Shiroko held onto the sobbing student.
"It's my fault. My fault. My fault."
Nonomi trembled under Shiroko's hold. Speaking and whispering apologies that'll never be heard by the one she begged to reach.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry…."
Shiroko and Hans stared at each other before he knelt down… and pulling the two into a tight hug.
"…."
"…I… It's not… anyone's fault but mine… Nonomi."
"S-Sensei… b-but… I… U-Ugh… uu..!"
Nonomi clung to Hans like he was the only pillar that held her from breaking apart as she sobbed in the embrace. Muttering more and more nonsense as the time goes.
Shiroko held him the same. Uncaring at how her hands hurt, and at how her body still shivers at what she saw.
"U-Upstairs! Ayane always goes to the roof is she's angry o-or sad!" Nonomi shouts, sprinting in front of Shiroko as she pushed the sands aside and nearly drowning in it.
"H-Hold up, Nonomi."
Yet the blonde didn't hear the wolf's voice. She just kept on pushing, digging, and ascending up the floors before she stopped.
The top was no more. Fences were bent and torn open. Solar panels yanked out from their spots and thrown willy-nilly.
When Shiroko finally could catch up to Nonomi, she was already screaming for Ayane. Calling her name again and again as she dug and dug and dug into the piles of sand and metal.
"AYANE! AYANEE!"
The wolf didn't waste a single second standing around. Taking the task with Nonomi as they frantically calling out for their friend, comrade.
Sister.
'God, please. I know I asked too much today, but please.'
Shiroko dug and dug until her hand felt something.
Smooth.
And when she pulled it up…
It's red. Bent.
….it's hers.
Shiroko shouts to Nonomi and the two immediately started to dig harder at the spot where her glasses were.
"Over here!"
"Wait, here?"
Yet… nothing.
Nothing.
They dug and dug to find nothing. Shiroko was just about to keep on digging until something caught her eye and she stopped right in her tracks.
A dangling, torn piece of jet black uniform on the edge of the torn fence.
Shiroko slowly stands up from her position. A certain numbness came into her mind as her legs pushed her towards the edge.
Nonomi glanced at her… and followed suit.
God.
God, please.
God.
Every step she took felt like an eternity.
Her heart beats harder and harder as they came into the edge.
She looked at Nonomi.
Nonomi's eyes were wide, and her mouth hung agape. Trembling endlessly as if her mind is trying to for a coherent sentence at what lies beyond.
God.
God.
Shiroko felt a sharp pang of absolute terror as her eyes left Nonomi… and down at what she saw.
"Punctured lung… abdomen… a-and… God, she is barely alive."
"I-I'm going to vomit."
"…H-How is she…"
Shiroko once more shivered under the warmth of his hug.
Clasping her hand around him and Nonomi as she slowly wept as well.
"…I… It's not… anyone's fault but mine… Nonomi."
Is It sensei's fault?
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
Is it Nonomi's fault?
"Take care, and be happy for me, alright?"
Is it Hoshino's fault?
'I hesitated.'
Is it her fault?
"God, please. God… please, please…"
"is it God's fault?"