The Old Pod - Ryo

Ryo was grateful for Chiko’s mouth going off. It always kept his mind off things. And this he really didn’t want to think about.

He had his suspicions when they went to the lower levels of the building, but seeing the familiar corridor still stopped him. He was no longer a thirty something former guitar player… No, now he was thirteen and preparing to travel. He was ten years old and watched his father work. Fifteen and hoping the world would just burn.

He squeezed Aki’s hand. He still hadn’t gotten a good explanation on why he was here, but he assumed most rooms in the building was under supervision so he didn’t dare ask.

“So it was you who overheard us back then?” He and Hiro had talked about how weird it was that Chiko never brought their conversation up again. Normally the man couldn’t keep his mouth shut about anything. So to bring him here also posed a big risk. But he had trusted him because he thought he already knew.

The quiet Yoshino twin only nodded in response.

Great! Chiko had said that his brother didn’t speak much unless drunk and while he had never imagined it to be this bad, he now couldn’t picture him speaking much at all.

“What did he overhear?” Chiko would have started to ramble again if his brother hadn’t tightened the grip on his arm.

Everyone else was quiet.

It was bad.

He felt memories flooding in.

After 20 years of avoiding this place, it felt like he had been here just yesterday.

“Are you okay?” Aki put her hand on his shoulder. Having her close helped, but it didn’t take all of his anxiety away. Not when he saw the door only a few steps further away.

“Having you here definitely helps.” He grabbed her hand in his. “But I would’ve preferred not to be here again.”

“We’ll figure it out.” Her thumb was soft as it rubbed against his hand.

Chiko’s brother stopped in front of the door to Ryo’s childhood. He didn’t say anything, he just opened the door and gestured for them to go inside.

Seeing the small room awoke something in Ryo that he didn’t know was ever there. It felt so small and so big at the same time. And he felt even smaller while the room was still closing in on him. It was like the walls were moving and they were aiming to crush him.

His eyes found their way to the lit up traveling pod. He had stepped inside it so many times during the three years he had traveled. Multiple times a day, with only an hour, at max, of rest.

“So. Now that we’re not supervised.” Aki’s father closed the door behind him. “Yoshino, do you mind telling us why you’ve brought us here?”

The man’s voice was enough to bring Ryo out of his head, at least for a moment.

“Also, I want to know why Ryo was called here.” Chiko spoke up. “Am I the only one who doesn’t know what’s going on?”

“Ryo was called here because someone wiped him from the system.” Kumi took a few steps towards the quiet twin. “But now I have an idea of who did that. My biggest question is why?”

The twin, Eriko, looked to the floor for a moment before he nodded. “Because I heard he was kicked out of the band house and I can imagine the uncertainty that could follow if the public knew who he was.”

“You’re trying to tell me that this guy,” Chiko put his arm around Ryo’s shoulders. “Is some kind of big shot or something?” He laughed. “The guy who barely sleeps and lives off of sweets?”

“Chiko, do you know what that is?” Ryo pointed to his pod.

“I’m not stupid. It’s a time travel pod. A really old one.” He pointed to his brother. “I’ve seen them in his books. Why?”

“That one’s mine.” Ryo chuckled. Lately he had told more people about his past, but he hadn’t told anyone in such a lighthearted way before. “And it’s a few thousand years old.”

Chiko burst out laughing. “You’re telling me you’re a vampire now?”

“That would’ve been pretty cool.” Ryo chuckled. “But no.”

He waited for Chiko to calm down. He wasn’t stupid, the story about Ryo had been told in schools, at least from what he had heard, so he trusted that Chiko would figure it out on his own.

“Wait?” Here it comes. “You’re here but that one belonged to you?” Ryo could see him piece everything together. And then he burst out laughing again. “That makes the name The Rising Hero so much more amusing. I mean, the fact that Satoru didn’t know it was a play on Hiro’s name was hilarious, but having you kicked out of the band while being a praised hero takes the spotlight away from him even more.”

“And he’ll never know.” Ryo couldn’t help but chuckle. All this time he had thought that only him and Hiro knew the joke behind the band name. But now he was sure Masaichi also knew.

“So that only leaves the question of why we’re here.” Aki’s father’s voice pulled both Ryo and Chiko back to the serious situation. Much to Ryo’s dismay.

“Miyagawa, would you mind going up to your pod?” Chiko’s twin said.

Both Aki and her father had a look of fear in their faces. And Ryo couldn’t blame them. The pod should recognize him and that might cause some sort of alarm.

His eyes were on Aki, looking for some sort of guidance. He didn’t want to do something that would cause her more trouble. Her eyes left him and when they returned she gave him a nod. Something had made her change her mind? He looked in the direction she had been looking and saw Shiraki smiling slightly. Did she know something Aki didn’t?

He looked back at Aki and squeezed her hand one more time before he took a step towards it.

His heart was racing. Was this the end? What would happen to him now?