The Ocean Meets the End

As we lapsed into silence, waiting for Hideo’s arrival, I finally took in my surroundings. We seemed to be in some kind of traditional family restaurant, judging from the ancient gold-dominated decor. A large circular table with a spinning top, big enough for ten people, stood in front of me. I instinctively lifted my hand to spin the top, only to be reminded that I was still in handcuffs.

Showing my cuffed hands to Yuna, I grumbled, “I know it’s a touching reunion and all, but could you please take these handcuffs off me? They’re getting really uncomfortable.”

Yuna visibly flinched before rushing to my side to unlock the handcuffs. “Sorry. I completely forgot about this. What was I thinking? I must have been out of my mind.”

“Understandable. You kind of went batshit insane over the past year. You scared me and Juri, you know.” My complaint was warranted. Yuna needed to own up to her wrongdoings. As her best friend, it was my responsibility to call her out.

Her face falling, Yuna seemed to relive every wrong she had done to those around her. It was clear now, with her senses returned, just how deeply she regretted it all. Juri had only been a recently moved-in neighbor back then, with little she could have done. Yuna had no one to ground her down. Without an anchor, she had been drifting blindly, driven by her hatred and relentless urge for revenge.

“I’m really sorry for every stupid thing I’ve done. I don't know what came over me,” Yuna said solemnly. “The malware was the only solution I could think of because it was something I could do by myself. Of course, I had help creating it, but no one wanted to join my cause. I thought I was completely alone. But you snapped me back to my senses, showing me how it would only do more harm than good. I finally realized why no one supported me. Thank you once again.”

I shook my head. “No need to beat yourself up over it. To be honest, there was a split second when I thought that shutting down Bluefort might work. It’s the kind of easy solution desperate minds would come up with. But once you calm down, you’ll see the bigger picture.”

She chuckled bitterly. “Yeah, I guess I’m just tired. And wasting a year of your life creating something that you don’t use kind of hurts.”

“No, it’s not entirely useless. Without that memory card, I couldn’t have found you.”

“I spent a fortune on that, so knowing it helped comforts me a little.”

Yuna had disconnected her ID watch since she had officially deserted after asking Hideo to return. And Hideo had followed her orders, which meant he had deserted as well. This didn’t look good. Both Yuna and Hideo were important figures at the base. If they deserted, Major Yaku would undoubtedly deploy all available soldiers to get them back. Yuna was his secretary, and he wouldn’t want her roaming freely, carrying his secrets.

We caught up on each other’s lives from the past year while waiting for Hideo and Shiba. The longer we waited, the more anxious we became, worried that soldiers might ambush them before they could get here. Staying in the private room of the restaurant for too long wasn’t safe. If the soldiers barged, the restaurant would have no reason to stop them.

When Hideo walked into the room with Shiba in tow, I had never been more relieved. It was amazing how a drastic situation could change people. Even Hideo wasn’t someone who would willingly follow Yuna’s orders. He didn’t trust her, which begged the question: what had happened to make him change his mind?

Shiba answered the question in my head. “We met Hideo’s father. He decided to take our side after his father almost killed him earlier. He was lucky I wasn’t directly under Bluefort’s control.”

Hideo looked awful. His face was bruised and battered, possibly the aftermath of our brawl earlier. I was probably in pretty much the same state, if not worse. My whole body ached, but our plan took priority over the pain. The most surprising thing, though, was that Hideo didn’t have his usual permanent frown. Instead, a devastated and hopeless expression had replaced it.

“He knows about your memory card,” Hideo said to Yuna. That was enough information for us all. It explained why things had gotten so crazy out there, with all those soldiers after us. Hideo must have been forced to bring his father to Yuna, but he had defied him. It must have taken a lot of courage to defy his father after all the abuse he had endured his whole life. I couldn’t find it in myself to hate him.

“Thank you for siding with us,” I said, trying to repair our somewhat strained relationship.

“I’m not doing this for you,” Hideo retorted. Even after all this, he still seemed to hate me. At least he didn’t immediately resort to violence when he saw me. That was a huge improvement in my book. I didn’t have much expectation of him.

Repairing our strained relationship would have to wait.

“You did great. Turning on my system the moment you saw your father—that was a good decision,” Shiba complimented, and he rarely praised people. He turned to me next. “I’ve gotten in contact with Haru. He said he can take you in his boat. If you want to take him up on his offer, you should go to the harbor later tonight.”

I immediately whipped my head to look at Yuna, and she was already staring at me, her eyes lit up at the information. Then I turned to give Shiba a thumbs-up. “Awesome. I did think of leaving Japanova and was about to ask you to contact Haru. We’re planning to leave after exposing the military higher-ups. I need your help.”

Shiba wagged his robotic tail in excitement. “What do you need me to do?”

Yuna took over and led the discussion. “I heard you can operate outside of Bluefort’s radar. So, you can access the classified files?”

“Sure,” Shiba confirmed. “Sou can attest to that.”

“Can you broadcast all the hidden footage in the classified files to the media under Bluefort’s control? All at the same time, so they won’t be able to do damage control in time. If enough people see it, the truth won’t stay buried forever. And I’m sure they won’t stay down once they know what really happened to their families.”

“That sounds fun. I’m pretty sure this is the very reason I wasn’t scrapped despite being a prototype. Of course I’ll do it.” Shiba sat down in one corner and projected a few holographic screens in front of him, filling the entire private room. “I’m doing it right now. If they realize what I’m doing, they might track the source and come after us. So, be prepared for the worst. Run if you have to.”

Yuna drew two guns from her belt and handed one to me. Hideo grabbed an umbrella from the shelf in the room. Yuna took a position at the window, while Hideo and I stood guard at the door.

“We’re ready,” I said, more determined than ever.

The finish line was right in front of us. We needed to drag ourselves across it, no matter what.