It might be too late to start this chapter with the story up until now, so let me begin with a timestamp: Midnight, 12:04 AM. Three days since that incident occurred and also three days since I encountered Johan for the very first time.
Time flies like an arrow; my brain flies like a snail. Well, snails aren't supposed to fly but it's just a figure of speech. Anyway, this is what happens when I get too indulged in something, I lose the sense of time. Six hours since I entered the mall for the second time, seriously? That's too fast even for a plot device.
"I had twelve messages on my phone: two from my parents inquiring if I was doing fine (they were quite recent), and ten from Pilo, who had been asking to meet up during the holidays (messages I'd been ignoring since the day before).
Nevertheless, it didn't affect our small group's plans of listening to a recital since this lounge is closing-proof. It works 24/7, and that's a fact.
Sometimes, I wondered how could employees work for that long without taking a break, but then I realized that my thought process in itself was quite foolish. Obviously, the workers consumed excessive energy drinks (which I've never tried myself), which I find quite unhealthy.
"No, they don't!" Johan halted my thought train by pulling the dead man's handle. The telepathy was still intact, however, I did not like the handle being pulled again and again.
I won't call his comment ridiculous this time though. It really helped me from derailing into a satirical depiction of events in such a serious time. Thanks for that, I guess.
Okay, back to the point, Grey had asked for an extension because apparently, she'd to get back "the flow of story-telling" right after asking me if there were any more interruptions. It might seem nonsensical, but her mood swings were kind of like Pilo's different character shifts, so it was understandable.
Anyway, understandable doesn't mean reasonable as something common doesn't make it objectively right—if not subjectively. After all, in this world, people believe in things that don't make sense. Mood swings of a teenager seemed much more trivial compared to that.
So, to discuss such superstitions, such ridiculousness, I started conversing with Pilo who had taken a seat right beside me. Well, we were allies and acquaintances so it wasn't something out of the ordinary, but her posture—or rather, her attitude while sitting, made her feel like a stranger to me.
She wasn't responding anymore despite sitting a bit too close to me.
Was she angry with me? No way! Our friendship is so old that I don't even remember if there was "a starting point" in it yet there wasn't a moment she was angry with me. Or did I just not realize?
Everything was a part of her act, of her love to play characters—or so I thought. So, it took a divine revelation of me being a God for me to become more sensitive to people's emotions, huh?
No, I don't even need Johan to comment to make me realize that it was mindlessly stupid to make such an assumption. I am just insensitive and immature whilst dealing with emotions. I just turn my head the other way when I hurt someone's feelings because I just can't deal with guilt. Even if it was the closest and the sole friend I ever had, have, and will have.
Even right now, all I could do was look at her thoughtlessly, not knowing what to do. What should I do? We were literally in the midst of a normal conversation (not very normal, it was rather heated), so why stop now?
"..."
"..."
Suddenly, Pilo who was sitting close to me yet facing and pouting the other side turned towards me. Her maneuver which came without warning didn't give me enough time to retreat my gaze from her.
It startled me, and her too. Not knowing what to do and not knowing what consequences would unfold, I grabbed her face with both of my hands and started squeezing her cheeks??
I've up until now squeezed her cheeks multiple times, habitually, impulsively—or just simply out of no reason. But never to wash away her infuriated attitude.
Instead of asking what are you doing, or why are you doing this, she jumped onto another edge of her true character that she hadn't shown explicitly in our friendship hitherto.
She was crying—not dramatically despite being the drama club leader. It was light enough for anyone besides me to notice it but was bold enough for me to notice she was deeply hurt.
I had hurt her, of course. Who else could possibly do it?
I'm not suggesting that she had no other friends or acquaintances who would hurt her other than me, just like me. Much to say, she controlled an entire little ecosystem by herself called the drama club, but the point is her personality transformed since I escaped without her.
Since I left her alone.
All by herself.
In that old-fashioned yet modern café.
I'd never seen her crying, or to put it right, I'd never seen her not smiling.
Whether it be arguments, disagreements, or disappointments she would always latch on to her dainty cheeky smile (with me at least, I've seen her cry on stage multiple times, but not genuine like this one).
It felt like I was squeezing tears out of her so I stopped it immediately. I'd look too cruel if I continued that. However, fortunately, the other three on the table had left the table to either discuss some plans or just get some fresh air on this open roof where the lights were dimmed to adjust to the midnight mood.
No one was there to witness the drama between the not-so-dramatic drama club leader and the dramaless teenager.
Pilo started ranting. No, seriously, the moment I withdrew my hands from her face, she began hurling derogatory insults at me.
Her emotions took over her (this is not an understatement. I repeat this is not an understatement!). Despite the sharpness of her words, her tone was composed, emotionally composed.
She wasn't shouting but her polite criticism was very sharp. Subsequently, when her hostile vocabulary ran out of fuel, she continued like this:
"...I-I was so afraid, you know? The way you left me there, without even looking behind, even if it was unintentional—I was scared. My ice cream stroll had transformed into me becoming a hostage—how could you think I was by any means 'fine'? Casually starting up the conversation right after reuniting without even asking me how I was... What do you think I am—some sort of a reckless, self-sacrificial freedom fighter? I can't be like you, I am not like you, I am your opposite. I don't believe myself as a liability, I am not a two-time junior karate champion, and I'm not in any sports club. You're supposed to protect me and you failed to do so."
Her emotional breakdown made me realize that her personality is not so enigmatic as the seven wonders of the world... It was rather extremely simple.
Seems like she'd dammed her feelings like I do—up until now. But she ain't no professional like me; she let it flood.
You had to go to the polar extremes if your character changed like that. She was just a normal person, I was expecting a bit too much from her.
I thought she'd be easygoing on taking risks. Taking up a challenge. But that was a very stupid way to think.
I was overestimating and overlooking.
Yes, I am a failure. I couldn't protect her. I should have reentered the café right away when I found I'd caught Grey instead of her. But I am too self-centric, too narcissistic just as Grey commented.
I ignored saving her even while acknowledging she was under a serious threat.
Apologies wouldn't matter, and neither would "I'll never do it again".
Dripping with guilt, I answered her questions. Not to apologize, not to commit myself to not making the same mistake ever again, and neither to make superficial promises.
"Pilo... I can't apologize. Not because I'm legally obligated—and not even because I'm a sociopath (though I may show psychopathic tendencies at times). I just want to form a pact, not just legally binding but emotionally too." I kept my hand on her and continued. "A pact that seals our friendship, our obligations—and my obligations to be precise. To protect you. To not take you for granted. To not regret your importance when you're not near me—because I want to cherish you now, revere you at the present. Because... because you're the bestest friend I'll ever have."
That's all I had to say, and that's all I said. Loudly and clearly. To which Pilo gasped at me, and stopped crying. It seemed like she started reorganizing her feelings and thoughts just to utter a single word.
"No, I want you to regret when I'm not near you, I want you to regret my absence." She giggled even while her face was dressed with tears. It was a devious line and a devious laugh.
I didn't expect her to laugh now. However, if that helps in lightening up the mood, it's for the best, I suppose.
That smile returning almost made me collapse from the relief I felt from letting down my mental guard that I'd put up to face the worst. If my reply made her even more irritated. But I couldn't let that happen—I couldn't tumble, because it'd be insincere from my side if I did so.
"All ready and set! Let's continue with the storytelling!" Grey hopped onto her seat with her underlying. Mmm hmm, her uncle. It can be a real challenge to change your initial mental image of something. Once I've seen that hierarchy in action, it's very difficult to reform it.
Pilo violently started erasing every trace of crying facing the opposite side. I mean it's very natural of her to not show her overly emotional side—even I, a very old friend, hadn't seen that side with full clarity until today.
Anyway, Grey's tone didn't portray any signs of listening to our conversation but we're talking about her. She may even have a detachable ear... I couldn't trust her.
"Yeah, start with it already," I said as I looked at Johan's seat which didn't seem occupied from others' POV, but it certainly did for me. Johan, who had gone out of his way to feel some fresh air (well, the air mightn't be fresh at this time of day) had returned.
"The VISION Purge..." Pilo placed her head on my body from apparent emotional tiredness as Grey started with her storytelling. "Or the Great VISION Purge I, which is the precise name, occurred on 1st July 2020, last year."
Pilo, even though almost half asleep, disapproved of that sentence with a sigh. The reason, you ask? Pilo had christened it as the VISION Purge, marking the moment when VISIONs ceased to appear, coincidentally—or rather incidentally marking the end of my national-level basketball career.
Pilo had funnily remarked it as the VISION Purge day to entertain me while I was admitted right after the accident on that day. Of course, she'd be angry if someone took their liberty to change it without asking—hell, that's plagiarism. Plus, I bet the name was stolen from one of my diaries from last year by one of the Sixty-One's spies.
Either way, I won't interrupt her until the very end, Pilo's here for that.
"Well, your expression is uncalled for, Pilo Wright. There's worse to come and I want you to not assault me!" Said Grey.
What could be worse... really, what could it be?
"So, where were we? Yeah, that day, 1st June—our organization completed the making of The VISION Suction Program. It was this program, you see, that had one fruitful and final purpose: to suck up all those VISIONs into a device my parents built up—like a vacuum cleaner.
The process was highly intricate—putting it in terms as simple as Pilo's airheadedness, it basically regressed all VISIONs back to their raw form, their initial form—which was the giant magnetic field bubble that took birth on your birthday, Rei!"
Pilo almost aggressively retorted Grey's insult but I stopped her right away. Even in her half-asleep state, she's dangerous.
"...And it was semi-successful I guess. Until the machine overloaded and splashed money on a whopping 1.2 million dollars. Even I, their daughter sometimes wondered how could they possibly believe that storing up a magnetic field's energy that literally made an aurora in a metal box was logically possible.
History didn't repeat itself this time; instead, after this setback, they were completely devastated. It didn't fuel their determination to research more about VISIONs; it extinguished it.
I don't know to what extent Pilo eavesdropped on us, but the next question she asked hinted that she had a pretty good grasp of the whole picture.
"That sounds half-baked... Isn't there more to it, Leader of Sixty-One?"
"..."
Yes, I felt the same incompleteness disseminating from her concluding line, but I guess Pilo just felt it sharper. She's always good at nitpicking things, so it should come naturally to her.
"Isn't that the case, Grey?" I assisted Pilo's question to pressurize her.
Grey had something stuck in her throat; she was hesitant to reply. It was only after my intense gaze she continued speaking... and what she said after that almost made my anger uncontrollable. I almost went berserk.
"...Truth to be told, yes, my parents didn't step down as the leaders because of the financial losses—but rather because of something that they thought was a terrible disaster. Last year, the first of July, right after the Great VISION Purge I, there was an accident that you were a victim of, right? You, Rei Sturluson suddenly started feeling oddly weak, and oddly ill."
I'm not quite sure where she was heading, but that's right. I felt oddly sick that day, even though I was perfectly fine the previous night. Even though I was at the peak of my basketball career.
"...And, then when your team won the semi-finals and was returning back from the celebrations, crossing the street, you met a career-changing accident. Well, it was more of a murder attempt than an accident. This should be easy for you to figure out, considering the abundance of evidence, I suppose."
"But how?" I was impatient—in no mood to solve riddles at all. However, for some reason, she didn't seem comfortable saying it directly or bluntly. She wasn't evading this time like before, she was simply uncomfortable.
"Hmm. How does that lamp work, then? I mean what makes it work?" Grey asked a stupid question, pointing toward the lamp placed on a different table.
"Intelligence? The ability to not be stupid?"
"No! It's electricity. Fuel basically. Cars, humans, engines, and whatnot work on fuel. Even you, Rei. You're perhaps not a human but you still need fuel for sustenance. VISIONs are that for you. Your power source."
"...?"
"Why do you think you have an extraordinary amount of stamina? Why don't you exhaust easily? I mean you've too noticed it to some extent that VISIONs help you heal faster. Not vampiric regeneration but much faster than your average human."
"Where're you getting at?" Pilo inquired waking up from her almost half-asleep state, yet still lying on my shoulder. She spoke as if she knew everything, once more.
"...Bluntly speaking, the device designed to store VISIONs during the purge took a whole day to absorb them, until it finally overloaded. However, there was a point in the process when almost all VISIONs were stored up, and that's when something occurred that definitely wasn't supposed to.
You suddenly felt weak in your legs while crossing that street, didn't you? You lost control of your body and then—a car hit you. That was because, your source of living, your fuel was taken away from you. In human terms, it was as if someone had taken away your lungs, your ability to breathe, just like that."
"As I said to you before, don't address Rei as if she were a god. What does human terms even mean, huh? She's a human, and that's an undefeatable fact." Pilo spoke for herself. Yes, I don't care about such chickenshit wordplay for now.
Everything came together, and everything started to make sense. Whatever happened on that day was not just a simple accident. It was a coincidence.
"Coincidences are man-made, not a work of god. They're born out of selfish reasons, malicious reasons. Reasons for which innocent people like you fall for very easily. Or so Unknown Souls asked me to warn you about, anticipating something, I guess." Johan, who had been silent for so long suddenly shared something telepathically after reading my thoughts.
I'm not sure why "Unknown Souls" are so interested in my life (besides the fact that they're the true antagonists). I remember Grey saying her company and Unknown Souls competed to achieve me as their end goal, but I'm not aware of the exact reason. Something like changing the universe or something.
However, the one thing I was aware of was that Johan was primarily a tool for the Unknown Souls, who had manipulated him into asking me for help in finding the exact timestamp when he died.
Pilo and Grey's incessant and inaudible argument about wordplay wasn't over yet but my composure was certainly going to.
How couldn't it? My basketball career was over because of a thoughtless science experiment. I'd to suffer because someone else failed. It's just too much, way too much for me to handle. Of course, some fault was on my side for not continuing to play basketball despite healing within a month, thanks to VISIONs' regenerative support, but even at that time I was done with life.
At that time the nationals had already come to an end, and I was still not aware if they won or lost the finals without me, however, I didn't possess the willpower to start from scratch.
Elimination rounds, quarterfinals, semifinals, and countless more—all the victories I achieved with the team ultimately amounted to nothing. Fortunately, all of them were from a different school so I'll never have the chance to meet them accidentally.
That's why I chose to play only school level thereafter. However, with the same malicious coincidence—Johan was talking about, that too was crashed by Unknown Souls by misusing Johan's desperateness. Everything is almost over.
How much more did I've to suffer to live a normal life? I asked myself but was also anticipating Johan's interjection through telepathy, but the only reply I got from my consciousness and Johan was silence.
There's no end to it, huh?
"Stop it!" I shouted, interrupting Grey and Pilo's catfight. Both of them were naturally startled but I didn't expect one of them to fall off the chair.
"Hahahahahaha!" I couldn't help but laugh.
It was Pilo who dramatically fell down, as she was sitting way too close to me.
"Ow that hurt!" I might contend that I'll never discover a friend as great as her, but I'll wholeheartedly concur that she's the ultimate source of comic relief I could ever come across.
"Sorry, take my hand here, haha." I lent my hand to Pilo to help her get up but it got slapped right away.
"Don't haha me!" Pilo said as she got up on her own with eccentric elegance and style.
"I was only doing it for you but..." She continued mumbling but I simply did not care.
As she sat back in her seat, I continued speaking. "It doesn't matter what happened in the past now—even though I'm very, very, very pissed at your organization but that doesn't mean I'd relieve you from your duties to complete the entire story. Just complete it now!"
"M'kay... So, when my parents found that they'd almost killed you by removing your energy supply—VISION, guilt took them over entirely. They couldn't bear the fact that they almost killed a girl of the same age as their daughter despite being their test subject for more than a decade. Hypocritic, I know, but essentially, at their base, they too are humans, and so am I, unlike you.
They just couldn't continue the research for the greater good. Thus they just handed it over to me."
"I see, that's fortunate in its own way, I suppose," I commented. My anger had subsided already (because of Pilo), so I didn't seriously know what else to say.
"Hmph, that's dedication for you? I would have sold all of her diaries for additional research purposes to a mental hospital by now. I bet they would have discovered new mental illnesses and awarded me a Nobel prize for bringing such artifacts to light." Pilo chimed in.
"So, you did read all of my diaries!"
"You're self-aware of your rare mental illnesses? Well, that's the thing you should be fortunate about, I guess." Well, that's how you get roasted for using violence against her.
"Mmm hmm. So, let me continue with the contemporary phase of this story, the Great VISION Purge II. This is the one we're dealing with right now, so please pay heed to it eagerly and desperately..."
From here Grey didn't speak something of great importance. Basically, Unknown Souls, who is in fact a VISION (a very powerful one on top of it), visited Sixty One's headquarters last year, right after the first purge.
Of course, the members of Sixty-one weren't able to see the VISION, but they were able to communicate with it. How exactly was a piece of classified information, but the precise disruptions in the magnetic field using binary numbers was the method they used to interpret.
The powerful VISION demanded to give it the Purge device, but Grey who'd taken over the organization last year refused defensively. Cautiously.
Though the word defense and Grey didn't go hand-in-hand. Perhaps, saving the organization was her foremost goal at that time—after witnessing the pathetic state of her parents.
Nevertheless, Unknown Souls next decided to declare a not-so-friendly competition to directly attain me to take over the universe using my powers or whatever.
Grey and Sixty-One began a counter-movement to secure me and ward off Unknown Souls by partnering up with me, which later turned into a kidnapping attempt.
Now that I think about it, those pamphlets I received with my food delivery the day before yesterday—or rather two days ago—were also set up by Grey. She's quite the planner, huh?
Next, she told me about how the Great VISION Purge II was the work of Unknown Souls, who had apparently copied the blueprint of the Purge device when they visited their headquarters.
Hmm, so that's why they weren't particularly insistent on obtaining the original device itself. However, what goes around comes around. Robbers got robbed by another robber. That's good.
Anyway, what was now clear was that all VISIONs had their own consciousness, and weren't a bunch of NPCs. Plus, Johan wasn't an exception from what I can interpret. That's also good.
At last, she said something like this about Johan: "So, finally reaching the side story you were intently waiting for, Rei. However, let me explain something about VISIONs that you don't know. VISIONs are assuredly a component of the magnetic field bubble formed during your birth but do not overlook the fact that they are also deceased yet superior, human-like beings from an alternate universe.
And, yes. Johan's also a guy from that alternate universe. Superior and strong. Also by superior, I meant the extraordinary magnetic fields and abilities they possess.
In a similar fashion, even you possess an extraordinary magnetic field like them, and though not similar to them you have the omnipotent ability to control and manipulate them.
You're not a VISION, but you're the strongest of them. You are their representative, their god." Grey returned with the "God" point to which Pilo, as usual, showed her distaste for it—however, not verbally this time.
Just a gesture. A violent gesture like kicking someone's leg.
I might be impulsive, but if I were to compare Pilo to me on an impulsiveness scale, I'd outperform her just by a single digit.
...And I would advise against underestimating it because Pilo is the only one who would come close to matching it.
However, Grey didn't even budge like when I did and just smiled at her, mockingly. How nefarious.
Also, I've nothing to say about Grey's announcement whatsoever. It was concerning me but I didn't reply, because I didn't know what to say.
So Grey continued and concluded the final page of the story. "Johan was indeed killed by us, but also not by us. How could that be even possible when he died in an alternate universe?
I asked that same question to Unknown Souls who were sharing information with us during our long exchange on 2nd July 2020. After which they answered us only with a simple sentence, Are you stupid? Of course, your alternate counterpart killed him, who else would?"
"..."
I don't know if Unknown Souls had spewed the exact same words to Grey, but given her nonchalant attitude, I imagine the tone of their message would have been alike.
"...After that statement, Unknown Souls didn't show any signs of being interested in engaging in any further communication and took their leave even before we noticed.
Nevertheless, they'd given us some signs of their goal, in a cryptic text format during our conversation, which was: egnahC-esrevinU-ieR. Which reversed said Rei-Universe-Change."
So, that cryptic message I received was also from them, huh... I see.
"They were gonna acquire you to change the universe, which I couldn't simply stand. This ideological drift was what started our competition to get you, Rei."
"That's it?" I asked after not being satisfied with such a conclusion. Furthermore, there was an inconsistency between how Johan said he died (slipping on a soap) and what Unknown Souls said to Grey and Sixty-One.
Oh, I get it. Johan just has dying amnesia—so everything he knows is kind of mixed up, and forgotten. I guess, that explains it.
I also concluded this because when I saw Johan's face while Grey was talking about him, it was a complete mess of emotions. He was confused, I bet.
Johan was mostly silent for the evening and carefully listening to Grey, but he would occasionally leave his seat so I couldn't communicate with him.
I mean who'd even be interested in my life story anyway? Though, I must say he's quite fickle, which isn't, unusually, that annoying to me.
Nevertheless, it wasn't satisfying but the puzzle was all completed. All the pieces fell right where they were supposed to be.
"Yes, that's it. That's the kit and caboodle. Everything else is happening now, today, the present which I think doesn't need any explanations, I guess." Grey ended.
"I see, I see," I replied. It was now over, huh? Well, it wasn't over—my life's story isn't over yet because I haven't died yet—however, it was overwhelming. So overwhelming, so dynamic, with so many characters involved, and so many fortunate and unfortunate things it made my head spin. I was spinning around the Earth.
"That's good, so we can now retrieve Grey, and retreat, I suppose? Your payment will be shortly done in cash, Ms. Pilo and Ms. Rei. We'll take our leave after that." Grey's uncle (who'd been completely out of my frame of vision) spoke.
I recall hearing the background music from a vintage video game while Grey was sharing her story. So, all this time he was playing that old forgotten game, huh? I see.
"What money?" I asked, to which Pilo replied covering up something that'd spill out if he had said it.
"...Huh, money? Wasn't it our deal for you to buy me some high-quality props for my drama club?"
"...Uh, yes, yes. Props, they're on their way." Grey's uncle said hesitantly.
Following that, Grey posed a series of questions to her uncle in a private conversation far from our table, which unexpectedly escalated into an argument, it subsequently came to an end though.
Grey didn't give her uncles much respect, probably because they were quite close in age. They almost looked like siblings from my point of view.
"What're
all that props about?" I asked Pilo, who started whistling a while ago.
"...Hmm? Oh, that. It was for the hostage exchange. I asked for some high-quality ones for my poverty-stricken club in exchange for Grey. No money, no harm!" Pilo replied.
"That sounds fishy." I retorted.
"Your life does more."
Well, it certainly did—especially after that much explanation, so I'd no counter, naturally.
Hmm, it didn't bother me that much so I couldn't care less.
I stopped caring about everything.
And just looked up.
The lounge was dark for the night, giving me a perfect view of the clear, starry sky—just as clear as my mind right now.
I didn't really have a curfew but I had no reason to wander out late either, so I was never this late out. Without my parents.
I think Pilo had a curfew—however, her parents said it was fine as long as I was with her because they thought I was some kind of a physical monster (which is false). I may have won two karate championships years ago but that doesn't qualify me as her bodyguard. I almost lost her today.
It was entirely my fault.
Either way, I couldn't blame them because I did protect her from bullying multiple times throughout our friendship. So, it won't be wrong to completely rely on me if we go through that thought process.
But, elementally, I just am a teenager, I can't do everything by myself.
Even if I think I could—it'd be just me overestimating my capabilities.
"Isn't that the winter triangle you usually talk about? Beteljuice, Serious, and Porygon?" Pilo interjected in my thought process.
"Betelgeuse, Sirius, and Procyon! Stars aren't Pokémon, remember that!"
"Whatever. Those three stars are Orion's belt, and that entire constellation is Orion the Hunter! You were obsessed with stars, weren't you? So much that you made me remember every single one of them until it became a part of my core memory! You even quizzed me to check if I wasn't slacking off. Those were good days. But then you suddenly lost interest—or rather started ignoring them."
"Yes, I just got too ambitious playing basketball, to reach stars that I started ignoring completely," I replied.
Stars will always be beautiful because they don't belong to Earth. They don't wither, don't decompose, don't degrade. They don't die, they don't get destroyed.
...And even if they do, they go out beautifully. Their profoundness can't be competed with. They're incredibly far from us but still are capable of guiding us, mortals.
Who wouldn't love to fall in love with them?
I couldn't imagine not loving them.
'Cos they're my guiding lights to survive. Every step of my life, every sector of my life.
Now of all time, I'm being said I belong with them and not here. So, the question would be posed to my love of stars... whether my love is strong enough to join with them by abandoning everything on here, on Earth.
The question is not about my worthiness. Nor my capabilities. This is of course a rhetorical question, however, the question was serious.
Maybe but not without Pilo would probably be my answer. Hmm, that's not very strong love, is it? I guess, I'm still undeniably a human. To live without others isn't completely possible by anyone, it's intrinsic to us. So, stars are just good enough to gaze upon, I suppose.
However, my ties to humanity in itself might not be that strong, so I'll be gazing at the stars until the end of time. I may not even be a human biologically but the word humanity doesn't essentially correlate with biological connotations but rather the qualities we possess.
Kindness and cruelty, if we don't possess both we won't be humans. That's how we're made. Faultiness too is intrinsic to us. That's why I hated humans I guess.
That's why I find escapism in inanimate objects like stars. However, calling them inanimate is kind of wrong—they might not have life but aren't static. That's also why I love them.
Gaze, gaze, gaze. Stop thinking, stop talking. Look up. Beautiful stars are there.
"...? Why is there a helicopter heading toward this mall?" I said that by mistake.
No, seriously. Why was a helicopter heading here? It didn't appear to be military-grade, but it had a beautiful design (not as beautiful as the stars, though), adorned with dark blue paint and yellow stripes.
"There's a helipad there," Pilo pointed out towards to brimming edge of this lounge. As I had said earlier ridiculously big would also be an understatement was also an understatement. My eyes couldn't even reach the far end of this lounge, it was that big.
"What the hell? Is this even supposed to be a public lounge?" I asked.
"Of course not! Didn't I tell you before? This mall belonged to us, so everything that's on here also belongs to us. Why do you think almost everyone here is a teenager? All of them are random invitees, my friends, or from different private schools, who I actually don't even know. Furthermore, the problems you faced on the counter for the premium were also set up by me, haha." Grey replied.
I am baffled, and so is Pilo for some reason. Not by her riches though, she's never baffled by rich kids. It was something else, I guess.
In any case, the other waiter—or rather, Grey's additional uncle who had been off-screen for no apparent reason, emerged from the room adjacent to the helipad and helped with the helicopter's landing.
He then took a navy-blue duffel bag from the helicopter and handed it over to Pilo, saying: "Here are your high-quality props for your drama club, use it well." He said it with no hesitation. It was like both of them were long old friends, however, the sight looked creepy. A strange adult giving a duffel bag to a high schooler was very creepy, if not suspicious.
Pilo took it with great excitement—and with the same reaction, she'd supplement if she found a treasure box in the middle of an adventure. What was really inside the bag? Was it really just props for a club?
"That bag contains some very interesting things... you should be dying to know what's inside it," Johan said as he came close to me, and verbally this time.
"Huh, why do you know? Oh, yeah, you were with Pilo all this time, weren't you? You're quite a kind person, ditching your date to protect someone who can't even see or understand you." I retorted.
"Hmm."
Johan remained quiet after that.
Grey and her uncles regrouped and headed towards the helicopter immediately. They looked pretty charged up and impatient, perhaps they had something more important to do than talking with me.
And finally, amid all chaos and charades, Grey dropped us one last instruction—or, you know, some friendly advice about what to do after today.
"You should enjoy the days with Johan... he may disappear someday like other VISIONs, you know? Sixty-One and I, personally would try our best to keep Unknown Souls away from you. It's a small price to pay for our defeat aside from that bag, of course. Also, I may recommend you go back home 'cause it's really not safe here, sayonara~" She said as she rode onto the helicopter.
The flashy helicopter, even on this soulless night, rose through its wings, loud enough to give anyone an ear-bleed, and waved goodbye.
"So that bag was, in fact, hiding something suspicious. I knew it."