"I've got another guy you can go out with; I think he might be the one finally!" Niko shrieked in excitement, June walks faster trying to avoid her. "Wait up! June!!" She hurried trying to catch up, "We're just looking out for you. You need to find yourself a man."
"You and dad have to drop this already. I don't need a relationship; I need to focus more on my work. I'm getting really close to fixing those patients affected by the XK-24, it'll be good for our company's name if we could pull this off and it will draw attention away from Edward's death." She tucked her hands into her pockets and went up to her apartment. Niko ran after with her phone, glasses on the right and a bunch of shopping bags on the other hand.
"At least find out who he is first before making your mind." She quickly crashed into the elevator with her, "Look…" She slams her phone in her face trying to show her his picture with the clothes and shopping bags scattered all over the place.
"Get off me! Act like an adult for once Niko, huh!!" She sighed and after a moment of silence and the two sisters staring at each other, she finally gave and glanced at the picture. "Doesn't he work with us?" She asked and Niko quickly nodded. They picked themselves up and she hit the button for the sixth floor. The doors slowly shut and it started moving.
"He's name is Enji and he's a nerd like you, I can tell he hasn't dated before and he respects women. You two will get along nicely and added bonus, since he's a scientist too, he could help you cure the XK-24 victims." They got off the elevator and she walked her to her door.
"If I agree to go out him would you leave me alone?" June asked.
"I promise, I will never get in between two love birds," She replied and quickly ran past June into the apartment.
"You are so annoying!" June sighed and sluggishly entered.
20 Years Ago
Daijirō's burning house.
The fire was spreading quickly; Hayato had inhaled a lot of smoke and could pass out anytime. Daijirō, whose legs were cut off desperately tried to crawl to his son before the whole house falls apart but halfway there, a burning wood fell right on his back, Hayato watched his father cough up a lot of blood.
"If only I was strong enough." He echoed in his head while trying to stay awake. Daijirō kept trying to say something but more blood kept shooting out. Hayato couldn't even cry anymore, he kept coughing till he passed out.
His eyes flickered as he regained consciousness but something was wrong, he was moving. He was too weak to move, he didn't know who was dragging him across the floor boards. He forced himself to look up and he saw his mother who was already riddled with bullets still forcing herself to move just to save him.
"Mu…M…Mum…" He muttered.
"Shhh, save your strength." She said slowly panting. She got to a corner of the house and opened a hatchet that Daijirō had built as an emergency escape route for the kids if anything happened, considering his lie of work, he knew something would eventually go wrong. Daijirō stretched his hands towards them and muttered his name before dying. Tears ran down his face, he gripped her blood stained dress tightly as she forced him down the tube, he opened his mouth but words were crumbling at the tip of his tongue.
"We're already dead but you have to live, live Hayato!" She shoved him down and closed the hatchet. With tears in her eyes, she smiled and laid there laughing, reminiscing about the past and the time they shared together. Shortly after, the whole house came down and they were burnt to a crisp.
He kept sliding for hours in the tube, crying his eyes out as loud as he could. Daijirō had made the underground tube so long; it went from his house past two towns and finally connects to a city's sewers. Splash! He fell head first into the dirty pool of water in the sewer; it was infested with huge black rats and cockroaches scouring for food. He laid in the waste crying for a few more hours and passed out.
"Hi, are you okay?" A female voice said beside him stroking his hair.
"I… Ich… Ichika." He muttered weakly, opened his eyes for a moment and passed out again. He was in some stranger's house and remained uneasy.
"Who's Ichika? His mum?" The woman asked her husband who happened to find him in the sewer and brought him home. The couple had no kids of their own and so decided to take care of him. He recovered nicely within a month but had trouble speaking; the couples needed a name for him. After much consideration, they called him Jack taken from a story book; Jack the rabbit and friends, which he kept with him at all times. The family of three were happy but they can't help but worry about Jack who seemed disassociated from reality. He refused to school and stayed home watching TV and reading on his own.
A year and half later, the couple returned to find Jack missing along with their savings. He left a note which read:
"Thank you for everything, sorry about the money. Jack."
Worried about the eight year old, they reported to the local police station but they waited 24hrs before declaring the boy missing. A sketch artist was brought to make a missing persons poster of the boy based on the couple's description since it seemed Jack had destroyed all pictures of him the couple had taken. The sketch wasn't very accurate because the couple hardly saw him despite living under the same roof.