It took about 10 minutes for Kai to find what he was looking for in his closet. Stuffing the album in a bag, he slung it over his shoulder and headed out the door. “Ok, we’re ready.” No response. Dammit, did she get tired of waiting that fast? he wondered before realising how silly that actually sounded. In the first place, he hadn’t been gone that long, plus the car was still in the driveway. Since the Hinata’s place was a good 6 miles away, walking would be more of a pain than it was worth.
“Kokona!” Nothing. Really, spell-caster? he was about to hiss when he noticed something over by the car. Getting closer, he realised it was her cellphone.
Running over, he picked up the phone and looked around. Dammit! He pulled his phone from his pocket, dialled, then waited for an answer. “Himari, I’m sorry. Kokona and I were coming over for your birthday, but something has happened, she’s gone.”
“WHAT?!” Kai almost dropped his phone as Himari yelled at him from the other end.
“I’m going to find out what’s going on,” he said as he hung up the phone and put it back in his pocket.
Taking a deep breath, he turned around, closing his eyes and listening for any sign of Kokona. Nothing. The street only had two directions, so there was a 50/50 chance that he would get it right. Getting into his car, he started the engine and took off down the road. He turned on the GPS and tried to find any kind of clue. If someone took her, where would they go? Looking over the list of nearby landmarks as he searched with his eyes he noticed something strange. One particular landmark was half erased. But whenever a building is demolished or closed, the entire directory in the global positioning satellite database is erased.
Thinking back, he remembered that a few years ago Mai had taken him and Himari to visit an old aeronautics museum which had shut down for renovations but never actually reopened. Why was it still in the GPS? The update for the system had occurred months ago. With that thought he ended up speeding up as he went down the road.
The museum was about ten miles away, meaning he would get there in about 19 minutes at his current speed. He had to cut that time in half—she wasn’t the only one who had made a promise. The pact of partners was between them both. Without thinking, he found himself speeding up even more. Thankfully, the road was unusually quiet that day and he was able to cut the trip down to about 8 minutes.
The building was actually quite large, but still only two stories which was a relief to Kai. He really wasn’t looking forward to running up and down a bunch of stairs. As he got out of the car he noticed there was a light above the front door. It was probably used to help people see the entrance at night, but what was the point of that now?
No other vehicles were in the parking lot. As he pulled in he noticed something else—his GPS was completely blank. Quickly he grabbed his phone to check the time, but not only was there no service, the clock read 0:00. He stuffed the phone in his pocket and quickly got out of his car. The night air had an exceptionally harsh bite to it. Kai looked over the building as he thought about the looming situation.
If not for that light, and the strange effect this place had on his technology, he would think it was abandoned. He walked up to the door and tried to push it open, but it was extremely heavy...even for him. With a forceful heave the door finally creaked open and he stepped inside.
The inside of the building was strangely clean for one that had supposedly been abandoned for all these years. Although everything had been hauled away or stored in some locked room, he still felt as though he was being watched, which most likely meant he was on the right track.
Slowly he made his way through the hall. He began to feel anxious, but didn’t know why—this place just felt very wrong. Suddenly, he stopped mid-step and almost tripped, feeling his foot dip slightly. Without warning, he felt a sharp sting in his shoulder as something took over his entire body. His eyes grew heavy as his limbs began to become more and more flimsy. Finally, his knees gave out and he went down like a rock, his eyes flickering bright for a moment, then dulling as his vision blurred. A shapeless blob appeared just before he lost consciousness, and he barely heard a voice, “D....n’t w...rry... I... g..t y...a.”
***
“Guugh...gra...g...” Kai muttered incoherently as he began to come back.
“Welcome back to the land of the living my boy...well, so to speak.” The voice was familiar, but in his current state, Kai couldn’t quite make it out. He soon realised that he had an even more pressing matter. He couldn’t move. He could feel his limbs—it wasn’t as though he was numb—his muscles just wouldn’t work. He tried moving his fingers, mustering all the strength he could. Nothing.
“I may be an English and Literature teacher but let me give you a little bit of a science lesson.” It was at that moment Kai finally realised who it was...Mr. Sato!? He wanted to leap up, wrap his hand around the teacher’s throat, and demand an explanation, but his body defied him.
“The brain has many synapses that connect to tendons, muscles, and other parts of the body to make it function. However, all of those synapses are basically electrical pulses, so if there is another pulse that interferes, they become inoperable for an undetermined amount of time. Thankfully, the effect has lasted this long.” At this point, Kai’s blood was boiling. Confusion overwhelmed him as he finally willed himself enough to speak.
“Where is she?”
Mr. Sato put his hand on Kai’s shoulder. “Easy Kai, Kokona is fine.”
At that moment he felt another hand on his shoulder. “He’s telling the truth, Kai. I’m fine and you really need to hear what he has to say.” More confusion erupted in his mind. Why was Mr. Sato there? Why did he kidnap Kokona? Why was he paralysed, and how did Mr. Sato cause him to pass out in the first place?
“Despite what you might be thinking right now, Kai, I’m not your enemy. But it might help if I told you the whole truth.” He came within Kai’s view as he sighed. “Two stories: one short, and one a bit longer, but both will lead to the truth.”
“First of all,” Mr. Sato began, “my name is not Orion Sato, it’s Klein. I used to work for the organization, for all intents and purposes. I still do, but I’m mostly inactive now. It was actually was your mother who brought me in, Kai. Of course, by mother I mean Mai Hinata, not your real mother,” the man said in a slightly solemn tone.
Suddenly a lot of questions had their answers, like why he seemed to know so much about the organization and their missions, and why he seemed to be so concerned about helping him to understand Kokona and make them better partners.
“By now, I’m sure you know about Akio Haruka.”
What did Kokona’s brother have to do with all this?
“Himari Hinata broke down the firewall on that file, right?”
Kai couldn’t keep quiet anymore. “What does Akio have to do with this? Are you the reason why that file described him killing his partner?” Kai heard a deep sigh escape the man’s lips. The effect of whatever had been done to him was beginning to wear off, because now he was able to move his head to the side just enough to see Kokona. She had a shocked expression on her face. Obviously, this was not information that the man had shared with her earlier.
“We gave him the order because she was dangerous and not who she appeared to be.”
