If Ten had known any better, he wouldn't have driven the damn Tesla UPG that day; now he couldn't even mourn in peace.

Dressed in black suit, black tie, and a white mourning band tied around his arm, Ten lowered his head to avoid the accusatory glares aimed his way. He felt real guilty, and the heavy weight of that guilt was suffocating. He felt like he was a suspect on trial. In a way, he was. Two police officers stood silently at his sides. They, too, were clad in black mourning attires as well. 

Today, Ten was to perform the 'black rite', a sacred family ritual to honour the deceased: Mrs. Hana Shaw and 9-year-old Dax Shaw, his mother and little brother. 

On instinct, he raised his hand to hide a yawn. He wasn't bored, he was just tired. Exhausted, really. Life felt like it had all of a sudden been thrown onto a speeding train, going forward with no brakes. Everything was happening to fast. Or maybe, it was just him being rushed to catch up with the present time.

Just minutes ago, he had been lying in a hospital bed, groggily listening to a doctor explain how he'd woken up from a long long coma. A coma. 

"Mr. Shaw, it's time to say your final goodbyes to the remains," the attendant informed him.

"Oh, uh….. huh." 

Ten nodded clumsily. He was unsure. This is the part where he takes the jar of ashes to the river, right? Well, he thought so, but he wasn't sure. He had never had to do this before.

Well, there was Dad; an American, but they never recovered his body after news was brought to them about his death. And this… this wasn't how they bury the dead in the states, was it? His mother had tried explaining her culture to them more times than one could count, but sitting still and listening had always been Dax's thing. Not his.

 "Step forward."

"oh." Ten stepped up, feeling every pair of eyes in the room burning into him. His chest tightened. Shit.

"There," the attendant pointed to the table in front of him.

Ten moved fast, hoping to get it over with. But when he got to the table, he froze. It wasn't a well crafted jar of ashes as he thought it to be. It was….. a glass box. Two of them, actually. No ashes inside, just empty looking. Weird. Did he grab the wrong thing?

"Yes, that's it. Proceed, Mr. Shaw," the attendant simply said like everything was normal. 

Okay. Close call. He took a deep breath. Now what? 

**

"So, we want to know, young Ten, what really happened that day?"

Ten was in a private room now, just a few doors down from the burial hall. The air felt sickening here, even more. A drink sat on the table in front of him, but it wasn't the liquid that caught his attention; it was the cup. It was an egg.

"I don't know," Ten muttered. "All I know is…. I was driving."

"Driving whom?"

Ten glanced up at the officer. He raised his brows. "My mother, brother and sister." Didn't they already know that?

That's when it occurred to him. His sister. There was no box or black rites for his sister. Does that mean she didn't die?

"Your sister?"

"Yes, my sister."

"You hated your sister?"

Ten blinked. He was definitely thrown off with such a foolish question. "Huh? What? Why would I hate my own sister?" This was really absurd. His sister was literally the whole family's little star, pampered by everyone. Him, especially. He had always doted on the little miss, three years her senior. "In fact, is this question even relevant?"

But the officer wasn't smiling. His face was a slab of stone. It was cold and hard.

"You hated your family," the officer said slowly like he knew what he was saying. "So you killed them, isn't that right?"

Ten: "….."

"Did you know there was going to be an earthquake on that day?"

Ten nodded slowly. He had, and so had the others.

"Then why take everyone on a drive?"

Ten exhaled. "Mr. Officer, I think you're missing the fact that I was in that car too. That day, my mother had said that that route would be the safest, and we had to celebrate my victory after the Nationals basketball finals. You DO know I'm a golden boy in this country, right? Why the hell will I kill my family to make the NEWS? I'm just 17!"

The officer cleared his throat. "21, you mean."

Ten blinked. "Huh?"

"You're 21 now, Sleeping Beauty. It's 2077."

Ten's jaws slackened. Seven years in a coma. He could only mouth an 'O'.

"Here," the officer slapped two papers on the table. "your medical results. Perfectly fine, no damage. In fact, your wounds healed three days after the crash. The same crash that was caused by a lightning strike during the earthquake seven years ago. No car wreckage. No trace of your sister. Most likely both swallowed by the ground. But your mother and brother? Found roasted. And you…."

"Me?' Ten's voice cracked.

The officer's eyes narrowed. "You were found unconsciously 36 feet away from the scene."

 "Mr. Officer, you can't be serious now, can you?" This was absurd. Every word coming out of the officer's mouth was more like a fictional moonlight tale than reality. Ten shook his head, though his mind was racing. The big issue here that the officer couldn't see is that Ten didn't seem to remember anything about that day. Yet.

The officer stretched his lips, faking a smile and then.. BAM! Slammed his hand on the table. "A certain friend of yours left us… a little something to help." He pulled out a portable sleek, glassy screen from his pocket and placed it on the table. It flickered to life, projecting a holographic image of someone Ten recognized almost immediately.

Naoki. 

Same class, same school. Same cricket team. His friend for two years. Not basketball; Naoki was too clumsy for that. But still… Naoki?

The hologram's lips began to move and Naoki's voice began to play.

Then the hologram fizzled out.

The officer leaned in, his eyes locking onto Ten's. Those eyes were definitely passing a message: You, try denying this kid. 

Ten was boiling in rotten anger inside, though he could contain it. This was nonsense. Naoki and he weren't even that close, and Naoki dating his sister? A joke. Sure, Naoki had liked her and even told him about it a lot of times, but Ten had also warned him to stay away. His sister wasn't someone he'd let date a guy like Naoki. As for the 'I'd kill you' thing? Sure, he said it but that was just sibling banter. And heated? No, it was not.

"So," the officer broke the silence, "you wouldn't deny it?"

Ten shook his head slowly. "It's almost all lies. Hearsay isn't good evidence."

"Well, you're right." the officer smirked. "So, let me ask you this, straight up. Are you a Mecha jin?"

Ten's brows furrowed. "What now?"

The officer slapped a sketch on the table. "This."

Ten glanced at the drawing. A human…. with machine arms sprouting from the thighs. "A cyborg?" 

"That's not a cyborg," the officer replied coolly. "That's a Mecha Jin; a fusion of human and machine. Looks human until it manifests. And then… those arms come out of the legs, breaking out of their hiding places. They're not detachable, they're part of the body, fully active… and deadly." 

Ten: "…."

"Hahahahaha," Ten laughed, shaking his head. "Tchh! How's that even possible? Hides machine parts inside… wh.. like under the skin? Nah, that's straight out of a sci-fi comic, isn't that right?" He looked up, expecting the officer to join in the laugh of absurdity. But the room had suddenly gone dead quiet.

The officer wasn't joking.

"This sketch was found at the crash site seven years ago," he said, his tone razor-sharp. "And it's the only explanation for how you survived a lightning strike, the earthquake, and crash, all without a scratch." The officer leaned in two inches close enough for Ten to feel his breath. "So, let me rephrase the question: Is This Drawing Yours?"