Chapter 7
My head still hurts when I wake up. It’s not just my head, but my whole body hurts too. It’s aching all over. My mind still feels fuzzy. Maybe it’s because I’ve been asleep for too long. I can’t recall what happened after that because I may have collapsed on our way home. I’m glad that both Hayato and I are safe from the explosion. But it terrifies me whenever I think about what Satoru Yuuya did to Shiori. It was unforgivable.
With these injuries, I doubt that I can go to school as planned. It’s funny that I’m still thinking about school even in this kind of situation. I try to move as slowly as I can, but it still hurts even if I’m only moving an inch. I guess my injury must be so bad that it’s painful enough for me to move. What can I say; my injury must be so severe that it’s a miracle that I’m still alive even after this intense fight.
As I’m examining my wounds, Ms. Chiyo comes into my room. “Touka, I’m so glad that you’re doing fine.” She carries a few rolls of bandage and begins to change it. “How long have I been unconscious?” I ask her. “It’s been two days already. You were unconscious when your dad brought you home. Your injury was a lot more severe than the last time. We thought that you had no chance to survive. But then again, we’re grateful that you’re okay.”
Well, I’m amazed at myself as well. Whenever I look at my wounded body, I can’t help but think about Shiori. She looked so beaten up when we found her. Even in this kind of condition, she still worried about me. She had to endure a lot of things too. I guess my injury is nothing compared to her.
“Ms. Chiyo, I had a lot of injuries in such a short span. I know that it’s too late for me to say this, but I begin to worry the impact it will have on my body. I bet that it will put my physical body at risk too. Am I going to be alright?” I ask her. “I’m glad that you’re aware of your physique. Frankly speaking, you won’t be putting yourself at risk. That is as long as you don’t get such injuries that frequent. You just need to be careful,” she answers.
She seems worried when she advises me about this. “You’re just like Minoru. You can be so reckless that you put yourself in danger. But then again, we don’t just fight any kind of opponent this time. We’re fighting against people who are much stronger than the average person. So, it’s not surprising that any of you will get injured. Whatever it is, I want you to remember that you won’t be so lucky all the time.”
I admit that dad and I can be so reckless when it comes to attacking people. And I know that I won’t be so lucky next time. Our medical advancement isn’t sophisticated enough to resurrect someone from the dead. But it’s still sophisticated enough to treat my injuries in such a short period of time, though. “Putting that aside,” I say to her, “How come my injuries heal faster than before? My body still hurts, but the injuries aren’t so visible anymore.”
She smiles as I begin to examine my injuries. “You should thank Dr. Narusawa for that. He’s a doctor who works with Self Defense Force. And he’s also an expert in a technique called platelet-rich plasma therapy. It’s known as PRP for short. In a simple explanation, it’s a method to use your blood to heal your body.” Now, that explains everything why my injuries heal much faster than before. It feels great that I’m able to experience a treatment like this.
“On top of that,” she says to me, “Your recovery process is much faster because you’re still young. That is also one of the reasons why you have such a quick recovery. With this speedy healing process, I think you’ll be able to go to school in a matter of days. As usual, we will continue with our operation once you’re fully recovered. Minoru wants the rest of us to lay low for the time being.”
Yuuto and Hayato come into my room once Ms. Chiyo is already done with changing my bandage. Both of them look guilty when they come to my room, though. “I’m glad to know that you’re alright, sis, “Yuuto says, “But I’m sorry to hear what happened to Shiori. It’s hard to believe that Satoru Yuuya already got her. I felt frustrated that everything took place when I was in school. I couldn’t even help you at all.”
I pat on Yuuto’s shoulder. It hurts a bit, but I try to suppress the pain. “It’s alright, Yuuto. We always work together ever since we’ve become a PSIA agent. And we will always work together in the future missions. I admit that it feels different when Mr. Sakakibara is the one who help me during our last mission. But at the end of the day, we failed our mission. I couldn’t stop thinking what will happen to Shiori from now onward.”
I then turn to Hayato. “Touka,” he says, “It was my fault that you had a severe injury. But I had to pretend that I was Dr. Frederick Choo just to fool him. Otherwise, I would have gone and saved you from the beginning. I’m sorry that I have to pretend that I was Satoru Yuuya’s accomplice. The last thing I want to do is to hurt you.”
To be honest, I hate it when people come and express their regrets to me. But I can’t say this straight to them. It’s because I know that it’s not their fault. “Guys, I don’t think regret can bring us anywhere. The only thing we need to do now is to compensate the regret with our actions. Besides, I’m still alive even after all the crazy things that happen to us. So for once, please don’t be so hard on yourself.”
Both of them feel relieved because of my words. “There’s something I need to tell you guys,” Hayato says to us, “I’ve meant to tell you guys about this. But I just don’t have the chance to do so. Minoru even told me that I should take things slowly. To be honest, I’m not ready. But I guess this is the best time for me to tell you guys everything about me.”
I smile when I see how much courage it takes for someone like Hayato to open up. It’s not easy for someone like him to open up, especially when he has a dark past that he wishes to bury. “Does it have anything to do with Tsubaki?” I ask him. Yuuto looks confused because he has no idea who is Tsubaki. Hayato only nods when he answers me. “Yes. Sorry that I’ve been keeping this from you guys for so long.”
Both Yuuto and I smile at him. “It’s okay,” I tell him, “We’re happy that you finally willing to tell us about your past.” We begin to listen to Hayato attentively. “There are many ninja clans in Japan. But in this modern society, many of them have decided to embrace the modern living. They even discard the ninja skills, saying that it’s no longer relevant today. Well, I don’t blame them because ninjas are already a thing of the past.”
Hayato then continues talking about his past. “But it’s different for Kusanagi clan. We embrace the modern living. But we still inherit the ninja skills to the next generation. The reason for that is because we don’t want the tradition to die and will be forgotten. It doesn’t matter what other clans think about our approach. We will do what we deem is right for our clan. And that includes our belief in a prophecy which is only unique to Kusanagi clan.”
I admit that there are still some people who will never get rid of any superstitions no matter what era we are in. This is why so many people assume that a supernatural force is the reason why these researchers died. I can also use this possibility that they died because of a supernatural force. But I will only use it as a last resort if we can’t find anything concrete about their cause of death.
It’s no different than what these people in Kusanagi clan are thinking. They still believe in the prophecy even today. “What kind of prophecy is that?” Yuuto asks him. “According to our ancestors,” he answers, “There will only be one person who will be born in this clan. And he possesses the power which is close to God. But this person will only be born once in a thousand years. And this person will be a perfect candidate who will lead the clan.”
When I hear about it, I can’t help but think that I’m listening to the folklore stories. What can I say? It’s hard for me to swallow something like this since I live in the modern society. Hayato then continues with his story about his clan’s prophecy. “According to the prophecy, the person who possesses such power will have silver hair. Based on our clan record, we did have such person in the past.”
&n
bsp; Yuuto and I look at each other when Hayato tells us about the person’s characteristic. We realize that Hayato happens to inherit such physical traits in this generation. It’s not that he possesses such characteristic by a stroke of luck. He happens to have these features because of the genetic factor.
“Do you know about this all along?” I ask him. Hayato shakes his head. “I wasn’t aware of this. That was until I entered the kindergarten. I already knew all along that I was different than my peers. But I never thought that I was way above them. Not only I did so well in the lessons compared to my other peers, but I was also way too strong for a 5-year old kid. The power that I thought was a blessing became a curse instead.”
I understand what Hayato was experiencing back then. It’s because we also experienced the same thing as him. We did realize from the beginning that we didn’t behave like a normal kid around our age. I’m lucky because I have Yuuto as my twin brother. So, I don’t have to go through the same thing all by myself because Yuuto also experiences the same thing as I do. I remember that Yuuto did say that he was also different strength-wise, but it didn’t bother him much.
“Why do you think that way?” Yuuto asks him. “I hurt my friend by accident when I was in the kindergarten,” he answers, “I figured it wasn’t that bad. But that kid’s condition became so severe until up to the point that he almost died. Ever since that day, everyone in the kindergarten called me a monster. I didn’t even have a single friend because of that.”
I do notice that Hayato didn’t seem to be comfortable with us when we met for the first time. For one, he almost killed me when we met. So, I do understand that it may not be easy for both of us to get to know each other. But I don’t realize that the underlying problem goes all the way back to his childhood experience. He sure does have a bitter childhood memory.
Hayato then continues with his story. “Because of that incident, my dad has decided not to let me attend the kindergarten anymore. He also didn’t even allow me to attend the elementary school, middle school and even high school. Throughout my life, I was homeschooled. At that time, I was thinking that he did this because he wanted to prevent me from causing any more troubles. When I think about it now, he did this just to hide the fact that the prophecy has comes true.”
He doesn’t seem to be angry with what his dad did to him back then. He realizes that it’s the best option for him. “He allowed me to learn pretty much everything under the blue sky. But he never wanted me to inherit the ninja skills. Of course, I was angry that he refused to let me learned the ninja techniques. I didn’t care about taking the leadership position. I just want to learn because I thought it might be useful someday. I don’t care that the society shunned me because of my demonic strength. I still want to contribute as much as I can to the society.”
I’m glad to know that Hayato doesn’t give up on the humanity only because of his awful past. I guess I don’t have to worry about him for seeking revenge because of what our society did to him. “You say that you were homeschooled, right? Does that mean you’ve never left the house?” Yuuto asks him. Yuuto, that question seems out of nowhere. Can’t you just stop making a weird assumption about his life in the past?
I glare at Yuuto for asking him such question. But Hayato doesn’t seem to mind at all about Yuuto’s weird question. “Well, you were right about that. Ever since that day, dad didn’t even allow me to leave the house compound. So, all this time, I had never left the house. I did take a stroll in the garden since we had a large garden in our house,” he says to us.
He smiles as he’s reminiscing his past. “To some people, my life wasn’t that different than living in a prison. But for me, it wasn’t as bad as it seemed. It was because of Tsubaki that I didn’t feel like I was isolated from the society.” When I hear Hayato mentions about Tsubaki, I begin to realize that she does play a significant role in his life. It’s just that, Hayato had never mentioned anything about her until now.
“Satoru Yuuya did mention about Tsubaki before. Who is she and why Satoru Yuuya knew her?” I ask him. I thought that Hayato will refuse to tell me about Tsubaki. But he doesn’t hesitate to tell us everything about her. “She was only a maid who worked in our household. Her family had been serving us for many generations. She might only be a servant, but she also possessed ninja skills which she inherited from her parents.”
“So, she was the one who taught you the ninja skills?” I ask him again. He nods. “Not only that, but she also taught me everything I need to know about the world out there. It’s true that I can learn everything about the world through the internet. But nothing beats real life experience. Tsubaki was the one who taught me that. She even taught me that life could be cruel even to the fortunate people like me.”
Hayato sighs as he continues with his story. “Initially, I didn’t understand what she meant by that. It was until the day she betrayed me that I began to understand what she was trying to tell me. When I think about it, I feel like she must have been waiting for the day to tell me that she would betray me someday. And that day happened when I was 16. Not only she betrayed me, but she also killed everyone in Kusanagi clan. She even handed me to Satoru Yuuya as if I was a bounty reward.”
To be honest, I never thought that Tsubaki would go that far to annihilate everyone in Kusanagi clan. I can tell that Hayato feels hurt not because of her betrayal to him, but more on the betrayal to the clan itself. “Why she did that?” Yuuto asks him. “She was doing this for the sake of our clan. That was what she thought, but I knew that she was only Satoru Yuuya’s pawn,” Hayato says to us.
“You said before that you killed her. Did you kill her at that time?” I ask him. Hayato just shakes his head. “No, I killed her when I was inside the research facility. To be honest, I was hesitating to kill her. But when she said that she was going to make everyone to have a similar trait like me, I felt that it was best for me to kill her. Making other people to have similar traits like me wouldn’t make me feel better, anyway. That was just plain stupid.”
Everyone becomes silent after Hayato finishes his story. “So, you met dad when you escaped from the research facility? Why you’ve decided to follow him? You don’t look like the kind of person who will simply follow just anyone,” I ask him. “It’s because what Minoru said to me back then,” he answers, “He was willing to make my existence a secret. That was as long as I was willing to help him. I thought that he was only using me, but he didn’t. Instead, he treated me like one of his family. I guess that must be the reason why I will go all the way just for you guys.”
Judging from his expression, he thinks that killing Tsubaki was the right thing to do. He didn’t even regret it. It’s true that Tsubaki did impact his life one way or another, but it can be hard to kill someone who used to be close to us. Again, I’m glad that Hayato won’t let the betrayal hinder him from trusting people. I think this must have something to do with what we did to him. But whatever it is, I’m glad that we’re able to bring positive changes to him.
For the past couple of days, none of us are discussing anything about Shiori. We will only talk about it until I’m already fully recovered. It doesn’t take that long for me to recover thanks to Dr. Narusawa’s treatment. With this treatment, I can go to school again in a couple of days.
I feel weird when I can finally go to school. Maybe it’s because I haven’t been to school for so long. My classmates seem relieved when they find out that I’m doing alright. They sure are worried about me since dad doesn’t allow anyone to visit me. I don’t know what dad says to them, but at least it helps with hiding my identity as a PSIA agent.
With my life becoming back to normal, I still feel empty on the inside with Shiori gone. We always talk on the phone after school, so it feels weird that I no longer receive any calls from her. In fact, I’ve been checking my phone, hoping that she will call me. It seems silly for me to behave like this despite knowing that Shiori will never be able to call me. I guess it’s true that my meeting with
her at that time was indeed the last one for both of us.