After a month indoors, people start to wish they were able to roam and breathe the outdoors. Yet nothing, there was not any news, only endless meetings, and protocols that disable the wishes of mankind.
Yuki and Yasu meet outside the bunker, waiting for the perfect moment. Yet the perfect moment is only sitting on the edge of their doorway, trying not to get caught up in the wind. A wrapped corpse was lying nearby, they didn't want to go past the barrier of bodies.
"There's nothing but trash out here." Yasu sits down in the rubble, next to a pile of broken plates and concrete.
"What's the point of being in there, people act like there's still a chance that everything will be fine out here someday. Both of us know it's not true!" Yuki looked above, trying to answer her questions. There was hope, where it was left behind, neither of them knew.
"It's colder without lights, only the wired nets with LEDs keep things bright." Yasu was brushing on his knitted coat, shivering from the cold.
"It's nice how quiet it is, Max would love this place, Have you ever talked to them recently?" Yuki was concerned with everybody else, they were isolated now.
"Never, I just sleep all day, wait till it's dark enough, and leave the place." Yasu yawned, belittling the time spent, a whole month sitting in a damp concrete box.
"I miss Dairue, I wish he was here, there's just so much more we can do when there isn't only two of us. I am happy like this, but I know how tiring it can be." Yuki was trying to find a memory she could bring home, even if home was no longer her house. Seeking trash to bring back inside, something valuable.
"It's okay hehe... Well no but, staying indoors is the best thing I've felt in a while." Yasu stood up and checked behind the dumpsters, but nothing was there.
"It's just like fiction!" Yuki exclaimed out of nowhere, her random comment made Yasu back away for a slight moment.
"You're imagining things, I'll leave you here now." Yasu was about to walk back to the door before Yuki stopped him.
"No no! Don't leave yet. It's dark here." Yuki stared back at the alleyway, seeing how far they'd come and how much time it would take to go back.
"Yeah but, what am I here for? Is there anything I can help you with?" Yasu sounded increasingly annoyed by the second, but he still cared for Hisae to the extent of staying outside with her.
"Company" a singular word, uttered from her mind that's already giving up on itself.
"I've got things to do, I don't sneak this far out." Yasu was pulling her to go back with him, but Yuki didn't want to listen, she stood her ground.
"Our wounds are all fresh within our minds.. but com-" Yuki was about to reason, but Yasu cut her off.
"Listen, it just doesn't seem necessary to snoop around the alleyways this late. If we get caught, we're gonna get a penalty." Yasu's heartbeat was increasing, and Yuki's stubborn nature was not helping his cause.
"Yasu... Yasu, Yasu, Yasu! The body... Someone took it!" Yuki was screaming, but whispering at the same time, she held her hands in her mouth to prevent herself from talking.
"We're weary over limited-time gas masks, we gotta go back indoors. If something took it, we're not alone, am going back." Yasu's cowardice was showing bluntly in front of her. He wanted to protect her, yet he was also scared himself.
"Atomic bombs weren't dropped, we don't have to wear these yet!" Yuki slapped him in the back, leaving a mark yet he ignored it. Yasu still insisted on walking back before they heard another sound.
"Yuki, heads up..." Yasu's voice cracked, he was just as nervous as her yet he wanted to maintain composure so as not to make her panic. They slowly walked back, and the noises continued.
Yuki shivered in fear, she was walking slower and slower, but she couldn't let herself halt. There is something behind them, something that Yuki has yet to see.
"No, this can't be happening again, the things from the arc..." Yasu was murmuring but he couldn't let Yuki know, to him, nobody deserves to find out.
"Yuki, we gotta hurry up, Let's go!" Yasu heard the familiar sound of flesh, something he never wanted to see ever again. He sped up, trying to pull Yuki alongside him, There was something they couldn't see, and neither of them bothered to look back.
Croaking noises, the distant sounds of something they couldn't understand. No face was placed in their mind, only a mystery that no one wants to solve. They kept running and running as if their lives relied on it, it likely did.
Both of them reached the elevator after running down the long tubed tunnel, Nobody was guarding it anymore, and the ventilation shaft they came into was still open, yet they went through the elevator instead.
"It's for the best not... To investigate without an adult..." Yuki commented after closing the tunnel door
"I had fun!" She exclaimed after directly saying something contradictory to her previous statement.
"Where is your sense of danger!? Do you understand that there are things out there that we-... No, we could've died..." Yasu was trembling, nearly falling over from each step he took into the elevator.
The descent began, the elevator had lost some of its former stability, yet they trusted it would stay intact.
"What do you mean by "things" being out there?" Yuki raised her eyebrow, leaning towards him.
"Wait, they haven't told you about it? Maybe you just forgot about it?" Yasu was in disbelief, he expected that she'd know at least a tiny inkling of detail but nothing.
"No, Max rarely told me anything, and when he did, he'd make it about me more than about the damn details. Dairue never told me anything aside from the idea, they kept it from me because of so-called protection. I wanted to know because maybe I could do something about it, even if it's only to listen."
Yuki was worried for them, but nobody wanted to tell her anything. They were worried more for her sanity, knowing how threatening things can be, Yasu kept his silence. The man knew that she'd be wise enough to find out herself. He didn't want anything to do with such things, to be the cause of someone's downfall was the last thing he wanted to do.
The elevator reached the floor, they were far from whatever was out there, yet Yasu knew what they were capable of doing. He tried to bury the knowledge in a pile of thoughts, but nothing he thought of could ever distract him from the feeling of being followed.
Neither of them uttered a word, they didn't know what to say. Yasu broke the silence by making a joke about a game, Yuki's awkward reply made the whole thing feel easier, but nothing could ever shake off what she heard.
"You don't have to hide it Yasu, There's nothing to fear for us anymore, we're down here. Now can you please tell me?" Yuki was fighting for her right to know, yet Yasu was afraid of what she'd find inside the arc's many cores.
"Yuki, I've been there, I know what it feels like, and you won't like it. I know you won't, it just isn't worth knowing." Yasu held her shoulders firmly, keeping her at arm's length.
"I am not you, I am not as scared, I am ready to help. I've been through things before Yasu, you know that. I went out of my way to stay here when I could've stayed home and lost it all." Yuki tried not to shout, fearing her parents more than whatever was out there
"Sorry, I know, I know but it's different. Ah, just Max man, just ask them, ask Dairue..." Yasu was defeated, he surrendered to her, knowing there was no point he could make that would convince her to refrain from ever trying again.
"Someday they'll bring you to the Arc, but I am never coming with them again, I don't wanna go back there." Yasu gave her the benefit of the doubt
"Maybe I was harsh, thank you for telling me something they'd never do." Yuki was blaming herself again, yet she tried to leave it behind, the idea was starting to consume her.
They went back to their rooms, even though it's been a month since Yasu was still lingering in the past where he was there. Knowing something moves in the dark, hearing something that you can't see, questioning what safety even was. The connections they had with the rest of the world were no longer there to help them.
Yasu took his phone out while sitting outside the bedroom door, his family members were asleep, so he called Max through satellite.
"What?... It's late..." Max answered directly, he was always waiting for another call, he was lonely enough to spot it.
The loneliness had left his voice weak, he sounded powerless over the phone. Yasu was double-crossing himself on whether it was worth saying a word, to ask if Yuki would even be mildly qualified to face what they saw. Still walls, still vents that rotated only in the mornings, the quiet was enough to hear Yasu's breathing through the satellite.
"Yuki wants to know, what do I do?"
"I don't know, what do you do? What is there to do that will make a difference in whether she wants to find out or not."
"Help me a little at least?" Yasu had something in mind, solutions that don't give consequences intended.
"Curiosity is not something we can quench. The least you can do is be honest." Max gave a blunt objection to him.
"You came along with us for the same reasons, Her expectations will die, it's as simple as it gets." Max was showing disinterest, he was unable to provide anything besides an unwell response that shook both of them.
"You and Dairue need to get here someday, Yuki is too much for me to handle alone," Yasu admitted that he wasn't responsible enough to give her what she wanted, the price of not being present was slowly deterring his point of view.
"Possible, we might make the trip tomorrow, not guaranteed we'll get there, but I am willing to toss anything out. A month in here has felt like a year." Max was willing to go all in, just to get out and feel the outside world once more, seeking the reunited presence of his subordinates.
"Look, if there's any way I can help you, I will, just please get here before next week." Yasu was equally willing to risk his life just to get out.
"I know we're running out of time before they do the unthinkable but why are we in a hurry?" Max questioned why the rush was so sudden.
"Something showed up today, something that looked like it was from the Arc, we might be running out of time here." Yasu was refusing to imagine what it was, not wanting to get a visual of what it could've been. Avoidance, escapism, escaping what he thought was more than humans can comprehend.
"Nothing feels real anymore, everyone is too quiet, and everyone is not questioning anything. People still act like we live normally, that's a lie." Max still felt like he was dreaming, the hospital had always left his mind in a state of awry, not knowing what to tell, to talk, to bicker around with such high philosophies didn't matter when everything was barely real.
"I don't know what to tell you about that, clueless as you are." Yasu felt off to Max, he felt slightly altered, he was there, the essence was there, but lost in the dim light of what little was left.
"Okay, yeah, I'll just update what I find tomorrow, and whatever goes, happens." Max puts the satellite phone down, a calm piano is playing in his head. He lays his finger on the floor, nothing but dark gray dust, the build-up of soot was overflowing the walls. Corners were starting to breed moss, the humidity spikes were overgrowing the box.
"I will probably die inside this place if I don't do anything soon. A month inside, nothing is going right, I can't imagine staying another year in this place." Max kept his statement to himself, everyone was willing to sacrifice him for the sake of feeling safe. Wishes, none of them were fulfilled by his narrow-sighted view of the future.
"Stay calm, who's gonna stay calm waiting for the radiation to decay? Who's gonna stay calm waiting for that one singular bomb to fall from the sky? The heavens await something terrible, it's coming and I know. I have to get out of here, If it means dying outside, I will gladly rot in the wind than waste away inside for the rest of my life.
He stared into the vent, imagining what would happen in a world where his expectations came true.
Simply, nothing good ever appeared. Peripheral views, loose screws, bloody tissues.