Ken didn't expect his turn would come so soon. Somewhat disbelief, Ken immediately stood up and followed Kazuhiko's step.
While walking behind Kazuhiko, Ken's eyes circulated in all directions to find out who the other four participants had their turn with him. The third person is part of Ken's small group: Sano's female friend with long-haired, her name is Igarashi. The fourth and fifth people were far ahead: male, almost entering one of the doors leading to the arena rink with a scientist accompanying his steps. The last person walking not far from Kazuhiko: female, her behaviour somewhat reminded him of Sano.
As Ken steps closer towards the LCD and feels like touching its screen with his fingertips, a woman in a white lab robe walks up to him. She introduced herself briefly, then led Ken to one of the entrances to the arena rink while throwing a small talk. "How are you?"
"... Not good."
A burst of laughter came from the woman. "I hope your day isn't as bad as I've been."
Ken observes his accompanying scientist. The woman is quite tall even if she didn't wear heels. Her long black hair was tied perfunctorily. Her age may 25 or above. Her face is quite pretty even though the natural impression depicted there shows that she doesn't really care about her appearance. Her eyes were narrow. The dark circles under her eyes were clearly visible.
The woman opened the door, letting Ken in first. He nodded politely before stepping his feet into the arena.
However, the area he entered was not the arena field he knew. He turned to look at his companion with a confused expression.
"Where is this?" asks Ken. Not finished his curiosity, Ken was surprised again when he saw the woman in front of him take out a syringe from one of the small safes on the table in the corner of the room. "What's that?!"
"Calm down, Boy." The woman patted Ken on the shoulder lightly. Her sleepy eyes that had previously almost closed with drowsiness suddenly widened when her hand touched Ken's shoulder. She cleared her throat. "It's still in the arena. The position is between the waiting room and the rink. Maybe because it's never been exposed to the public, so you don't know. Well ... I also don't know why they didn't expose this room. I don't care about gossip and conspiracy, by the way. And this is a stimulant ... yup, sort of. To stimulate the elemental energy in your body to come out."
After answering Ken's question, the woman raised her hand. Ken hesitated for a moment, then rolled up his jacket's sleeves reluctantly. The needle that was already almost on his skin suddenly stopped halfway. Ken noticed the strange look he saw from behind the caramel iris of the woman in front of him. Ken cleared his throat. The woman blinked her eyes, realized by her reverie. The tip of the needle also continue its journey into Ken's skin layer.
Ken was rarely injected. He rarely gets sick. Once he sick, it was just a fever or cold that handling does not need to be injected. Therefore, Ken always felt horrified when he saw the syringe and the strange liquid injected entering a person's body.
Because of that, Ken closed his eyes tightly when the syringe had gone deep enough into his arm.
"Well done. The injection session is over."
Slowly, Ken opened his eyes. At the same time, he felt that his vision was clearer than a moment ago. He blinked in confusion, then turned his head towards his right arm while opening and closing his fist.
"Hurry up, Boy. We play in duration here. There are still many children waiting for their turn."
She grasped the handle of the iron door that was supposed to be the real link to the arena rink. Ken walked up to her and she open the door. The atmosphere of the arena field unfolds in front of Ken. His chest instantly rumbled.
"You already know how to play it, right?" Ask the woman beside Ken. Her finger pointed towards the shiny one-meter-high carved stone that stood firmly at the end of the barrier partition. "Put one hand on it. And don't think of anything bad, weird, or dirty in your head, so the stone can work its job properly."
Ken stood still. He stared at the carved stone in doubt for a few moments before finally solidifying his intention with a sigh.
"Thanks, Shirakawa-san," Ken muttered with his eyes glancing at the nametag attached to the pocket of her lab robe.
The woman grinned amusedly. Her hands are folded under her breast. "Hey ... why not Mayu onee-sama instead?"
Ken sigh loudly. He walked without looking back. He just responds to the woman's temptation with a wave of his hand.
Here's Ken now. Standing on top of the arena that does not stop ringing a lot of buzzing from the audience who sit around the arena. Ken didn't dare to raise his head just to find the whereabouts of his family among the many heads and faces in the audience. Instead, Ken looked straight ahead towards the silvery carved stone at his waist height.
When he looked closely, the stone looks like a memorial with a brief paragraph of old character engraved on its surface. Below that paragraph, there is a square-sized niche about five centimetres deep. Perhaps in that niche he should put down his hands, Ken thought, and immediately did it without hesitation.
Just as Ken put down his hand, his whole body suddenly felt hot. All he saw in his eyes was just red. Ken knew he was still one hundred percent conscious. He didn't faint or hallucinate. It's just that the strange turmoil that runs through all over his body seemed to want to dominate his body and deprive him of his rightful owner. His head began to ache like there were thousands of baseball bats beating his head roughly. His chest was tight, as if the oxygen that was supposed to be around him vanished or was held back by something imprisoning his body from the outside world.
"Imai-kun! Imai-kun!"
The pain Ken felt instantly disappeared when a pair of hands forcibly pulled his right hand from the top of the carved stone. Ken took pains to try normalize his chaotic breath. His eyes then glanced to the side, looking at Shirakawa Mayu who was still holding his hand, trembling. Her face looked both panicked and scared.
"Okay, it's done. Calm down. I'll take you outside."
Ken just obeyed what Shirakawa said and did to him. He let the woman put on the hood of his jacket. He let the woman put her arm around him and take him out of the arena, passing the mini-laboratory room where he had been injected, and out through the participant lounge.
"Wait a minute!"
"You ... scientists! Wait a minute, I said!"
A man ran over to Ken and Shirakawa. He looked very hasty. "From here, I will accompany Imai Ken."
Shirakawa frowned. Her eyebrows seemed to be almost fused together. She didn't know that man and felt that she had never seen his face at all.
"Who are you? Do you know where to take this kid?"
The man in his gray sweater let out a deep breath. He stood up straight after his breath was fully accumulated. "In the presence of Vice Chairman Higami. He commanded me directly to bring Imain Ken with me."
Shirakawa is silent. She glanced at Ken who still seemed unstable but was already better than before.
"Imai-kun, it seems that I can only take you here. Sorry," Shirakawa muttered with low voice as she stroked Ken's back. She turned back to the man in front of her. "If you lie, I will not hesitate to complain about this to your superiors, or if necessary, I will bring it directly to the Prime Minister on the kidnapping case!"
The man seemed to have no effect on Shirakawa's threat. He approached Ken and patted him lightly on the shoulder, then took him away, leaving Shirakawa who was still looking at the backs of both of them with anxiety.
***
All Ken knows he is still in the main building of the arena, but he doesn't know the exact position where he is. He didn't recognize the surrounding of the straight passage that didn't give him any clues at all. The man who accompanied him was just silent.
They both stopped at an iron door at the end of the hall. The door was locked with a security device attached near the door handle. The man in his gray sweater who accompanied Ken stepped closer to the security device. He pressed his palm, then brought his right eye closer to the observer camera, and lastly pressed a button. And then, the door opened.
"Aoki-san, he is here."
The room they entered looked like an ordinary workspace. There is a row of sofas, a small table that separates the rows of sofas, and the center is on a large table occupied by a burly man with his short hair combed back. On that table, Ken looked at the nameplate located on the edge of the table. Aoki Daisuke, Vice Chairman Of Higami.
"Thanks, Sasaki." Aoki stood up from his chair. "Tell Maeda and Sakurai to replace me to take care of the ones below."
The tall man named Sasaki nodded, then went out leaving Ken alone with Aoki. Ken observed the big tall man silently. There was only the ticking sound of the clock heard in the room. The silence was broken by the grunt of the dispenser that Aoki was using while holding the two cups in both hands.
"Sit down. I didn't call you here to punish you." Aoki's low voice sounded like a beast growl. It was quite surprising to Ken, but made him instantly alert. The man walked up to Ken and put the cups of water he was carrying on the table. "Now, drink. And don't protest just because I gave you mineral water instead of coffee or tea. Water is healthier."
Ken nodded and drank the water Aoki had served in a cup on the table. The fresh taste made Ken's feelings a little calmer. Meanwhile, Aoki walks to his desk. He picked up a folder, then sat down on the sofa opposite Ken.
"How? Already relaxed?"
Ken blinked his eyes, then nodded. "Thanks for the water."
Aoki smirked. The corners of his lips raised. "So, can you guess why I told Sasaki to take you to see me?"
"As for the elemental energy I'm released," Ken replied with a shrug. He looked down, watching his slightly flushed palms with a doubtful and disbelief. "About Chosen Elementor ... sort of, maybe."
Aoki's eyes flashed. "Hm ... it seems that you already know a lot without me telling you the details. But no, that's not the answer. My purpose in calling you here is more than that. My time is too precious just to take care of that kind of thing, you know?"
Ken's eyebrows were raised in wonder. "Then what?"
Aoki leaned forward, looking at Ken as if he was going to prey on him right now. "I want to challenge you to a duel, to find out how much power you have managed to awaken."