Chapter 2: White Noise

001

“They both would’ve been dead within a minute.”
Those words echoed loudly throughout my mind, bouncing from corner to corner, multiplying, and overloading my brain.
Then it all went blank.

002

I must have been so shocked I passed out, as I was now laying in a bed.
Where am I?
The walls were a deep purple, and so was the pillow I was resting on.
“Are you alright? You fell over in quite a harsh way.”
There was a silhouette of someone at the bedside.
Their aura…
Was it the lime haired boy from earlier?
His voice was smooth, although he had a slight accent.
I rubbed my eyes, trying to adjust to the bright ceiling rays.
This was no time to be examining him.
Why am I here?
What is he doing here?
Where even are we?
“Can you hear me? You have yet to answer.”
Oh right, I should probably say something at least.
“Mnng… Hhi…”
My brain seemed to be moving faster than my body.
I gave it one more try.
“Yess… I’m alllright.”
Yeah, that’s better.
“That is great to hear! I worried you had been seriously injured.” He was so formal, what’s up with him?
Before I could ask him anything he continued.
“You must have a lot of questions I would assume? Here, let me inform you of the things you need to know. My name is Akui, I am currently 19 years of age. My current Seigyu is perception. I am of royal descent, and have one brother. You may have seen him here already, he is the one with orange hair, his name is Yutaka.”
That was way too much information for me to take in right after I just woke up.
I tried to go back through what he said and find the most important pieces.
His name is Akui…
His brother’s name is Yutaka with orange hair…
It all seemed important…
Hold on…
Seigyu..?
What’s a Seigyu?
Perception?
I laid back down in the bed to reattempt to gather my thoughts.
“Hm, I see you must still be quite tired. I shall be heading out for a moment. If you ever need me, you can ring this bell.”
He sure does talk a lot.
I don’t know where he got it from, but he pulled out a bell similar to one you would find at a restaurant counter, used to call attendance.
“I have also left some medicine on the table for if you are lightheaded from waking up after passing out in that way.”
Sure enough, there was a small bowl with two little tablets in it.
Did I just get a butler?
“Hold on… Your name is Akui? Did your parents hate you or something?”
He chuckled. “Something like that.”
He bowed and left through a large metal door.
Silence.
For the first time since I had arrived here, I had time to simply think.
An entire ocean could be filled with the amount of questions I had built up.
Where am I?
What’s going on?
Who are these people?
Who is Tokumei?
Where is Souka’s sister?
Why would those two have died?
Who was the auraless boy?
How did I get here?
Where’s Kyoki?
…
I fell back into the pillow.
The lights were so bright.
They still hurt when I closed my eyes.
How long was I passed out?
Surely only a few hours max, right?
If the sun was down when I passed out, would it be early morning now?
If anyone, I would expect Kyoki to be the one to take me to… Wherever this is.
What had happened between me passing out and waking up?
Had Akui swooped in and treated me while I was unconscious?
I removed the—also purple—blanket from myself and checked for any injuries.
There didn’t seem to be anything…
I rolled over to face the table with the bowl.
Just yesterday, everything was so normal.
The day before that too.
Every week and month and even year before that too…
What led me here?
There wasn’t any water within reach, so I took the pills and swallowed them without any.
I rolled on to my front and tried to take a nap.

003

I don’t know how long I slept for, but I was awake again.
I sat up on the side of the bed, and waited for my eyes to adjust to the lights.
I took a lot longer than I had expected.
Does that mean I was asleep for a long time?
There were no windows in the room, nor in the connected bathroom ensuite.
I didn’t need to use the bathroom at all—believe me, I did try—but it was nice to know I had running water.
I wasn’t thirsty either, but I knew I should drink some water anyway.
This room was less like a bedroom, and more like a hollowed concrete block.
Similar to how I would imagine a bunker.
The bed was large, king sized maybe.
The sheet was black, but everything else was purple.
The floor and ceiling of the room wasn’t painted at all.
Just the regular concrete grey.
I knocked on the wall…
Completely solid.
The door of the room was maybe the most out of place.
It was massive—maybe half a metre thick—made of steel and had a big valve instead of a door handle.
It looked super hard to close—possibly why Akui had left it open when he left—but it definitely seemed secure.
I doubted even explosives could break through.
It was fascinating to say the least.
On the floor next to the door, were my boots.
After trekking through that forest, I was exceedingly thankful for Akui.
If I had slept in those boots, I don’t know if I would be able to live with myself.
Even if he wasn’t Japanese, he sure had manners.
I took the boots to the bathroom and washed them off before putting them back on, ready to explore outside of the room.
Right as I finished tying my second boot, there was a knock at my door.
I looked up to see a tall man walk into my room.

004

He seemed to be in his late 20’s if I had to guess.
His aura was somewhat stressed.
“Hello Minami.”
He leant against the wall next to the door.
“Oh, Hello… Who are you?”
He had messy blond hair and a grey jacket.
Was this the guy who was next to the auraless boy before?
“You can call me Kibo, remember that now.”
If he was trying to be nonchalant, it was pretty obvious.
“Do you have something you want to say to me?”
What is he doing here?
I didn’t want to be rude, but he seemed to be a bit invasive.
“Soooo… Yeah uh…” Is he trying to stall? Is he nervous? “Do you remember what happened before you got knocked out?” His voice was shaky.
“Well, yeah. I got told something and I must have passed—” I paused for a moment.
He said knocked out, right?
I was sure I had only passed out.
Akui even confirmed this, did he not?
Why would he be asking me this in the first place?
Was I forgetting something?
I swear I had just fallen over out of shock.
I tried to wipe the sweat forming on my forehead.
“Ah! Ow what?” I yelped.
My forehead was bruised pretty badly.
“Woah woah woah! What are you doing? Don't prod your bruises!” Kibo dropped his nonchalant attitude pretty quickly.
“What the..? How did I get these?” Of course I missed this on my earlier inspection.
“So you don’t remember… Ah great.” Kibo sighed. “You really can’t recall anything about how you could’ve gotten that?”
“Maybe I just landed on it when I fell, right? Akui said I fell over in a harsh way.”
Kibo shook his head.
“Do you have any idea how long you were unconscious?”
“Well…” This can’t be good. “I figured it would be only a few hours, maybe a dozen max.”
He closed his eyes and sighed.
“Minami… You’ve been out to it for almost two whole days…”
…
I tried to reply with a coherent answer, but instead blurted out “Whaddatwowholedays?!?”
“Yeah I expected you to say something like that.” Kibo said calmly.
“That’s insane! That can’t be true! Right?”
“I’m afraid that's the case.”
What?
Two whole days?
That’s crazy!
Even if I was knocked out, two whole days is insane!
I wobbled into the bathroom.
Looking into the mirror confirmed it.
I was bruised pretty badly.
Luckily it’s behind my fringe, so it was hidden.
Two whole days…
How long was Akui just sitting by my side?
Why did he bring me here?
Did he even?
Why him and not someone else?
Why not Kyoki who I was just with?
I wobbled back towards Kibo.
“What about Souka and the other kid? Are they okay?”
“Souka? Oh, the kid with the big hat right?”
“Y—Yes, that’s right.”
“Yeah they’re fine. They’ve just been running around with the kid in blue with the duck shirt. Why did you ask?”
“I—I just wanted to make sure.” I dipped my head.
“Some troublemakers they are. Like little rats.”
“Rats?”
“Yeah, rats.”
“That’s a weird way to describe children.”
“I just don’t like kids, they piss me off.”
“Right…”
It seems like they still haven’t found Souka’s sister…
Who am I kidding?
Souka’s sister isn’t going to be here.
She’s probably dead for all I know.
I rubbed my head.
It throbbed.
I had to stay optimistic…
Being separated from a sibling, and ending up here.
…
As I thought about siblings, family, friends… I remembered.
I felt horrible for forgetting.
I honestly couldn’t forgive myself for forgetting, but…
I had a brother…

Chapter 2 End.