Rumblings

Asuka crouches down, bunches of clovers brush her ankles as she inspects them for extra leaves. The thing that had her squatting in the of her family home backyard was the second item on her brother’s list: “find a four-leaf clover”. Brushing through them with her hands, she comes through each sprout with her eyes, hoping to find just a single one that’s different from the others. Sweat pricks at her forehead and she feels like she’s overheating inside of her jacket with the effort she has expended searching for the past hour. It takes about 45 more minutes for her to exhaust her options in this field and she stands up to stretch her back.

Asuka had never seen a four-leaf clover in the wild before, but she does remember looking for some with her brother when they were children. This has not even been her first expedition for the elusive clover today, but she hasn’t found one. The first place she looked at was in the field of an abandoned school building that everyone was familiar with. She spent a while looking through it before getting spotted and scolded by a nosy man who was walking by for trespassing. If she needs to, she’ll return to finish combing through that area, but for now she’s decided to look elsewhere.

So far, she’s managed to see a few two leaf clovers but those were worthless. Slowly, Asuka surveyed the field one last time before leaving. She knew a few places to look, but she didn’t look forward to starting up her laborious task again. She would prefer for this not to take more than one day, the threat of the asteroid always in the back of her mind—her deadline.

While walking through the town since she beat “Castle Destinies” two days ago, the people of her town appear to act as if nothing has changed, and it seems like no one is reacting to the news of the incoming apocalypse. She supposes it makes sense; it’s only been a couple of days since the news dropped, not everybody would even believe it to be a problem so early in its announcement.

“Maybe I’m the only one who’s even heard about it around here,” Asuka wonders. She’s aware that the average age of the people who live in Matsushige are adults and elderly people who have almost no interest in using the Internet for anything other than work and chalks it up to this fact.

Her stomach growls on the way to the next spot and she remembers her promise to get back to taking care of her health, so instead of prioritizing the clover, she heads toward the nearest convenience store. A familiar tune plays when she steps through the door, and she instinctively moves toward the section that carries bread and pastries. She carelessly chooses a package of sausage bread and a random fruit juice from the stands. As soon as she woke up that morning, she got dressed to head out to start on her brother’s bucket list, so she ended up skipping breakfast.

Walking up to the cashier, she places her items down and waits for him to scan them. As he does, she decides to try and confirm her suspicions.

“E-excuse me,” she starts, and he looks up at her.

“About the news of the asteroid, have you heard of it?”

She sees recognition on his face as he nods his head “Ahh, yes, I’ve seen something like that on ChikTak. I don’t believe it, though. Would you like a bag?”

Somehow, Asuka didn’t expect that, and she forgot to answer his question. “You don’t? But what if it’s real?” she insists.

“I’m not sure,” he continues, “either way someone has to work the register, right?”

Asuka doesn’t know what to say to that and he repeats his question about the bag. She refuses it and pays for her items with the money she has been saving from what Kyo left for her. “Have a nice day,” his monotone voice calls after her as she leaves the store.

After leaving the store she finds somewhere to sit and eat. “I guess there are more procrastinators than just me,” she says to herself, unwrapping her bread. Asuka pulls her phone out of her pocket to look up more information about the anticipated meteor. In just a few days, more news has already been spread about the Earth’s eventual demise from several different sources. Checking an article to see if any new information has popped up, she reads about how news regarding the meteor had been delayed from being released to the public to not spark mass hysteria, but it was leaked from MESA’s (Macro Engineering Space Authority) database.

The more she hears about this incoming threat, the more reinvigorated she feels about what she’s doing. This is the only thing she feels she can do to truly make up for what happened to Kyo. She quickly finishes the rest of her lunch and sets off again to look for a field of clovers.

On the way to the next location, Asuka tries to think of why her brother would even put “find a four-leaf clover” on his bucket list of all things in the first place. Could it just be for the satisfaction of finding a rare item? She looked up at the sky while she pondered the potential of a more significant meaning. Because of this she didn’t see the man appear in front of her.

He collided with her, and they both crashed to the ground. She groans in pain and frustration when after the impact, but the man ignores her and scrambles to his feet, dashing off again. She clicks her tongue as she gets back to her feet, dusting herself off and glaring in his direction. A lady who saw the collision comes up to Asuka and asks if she’s hurt. Swallowing the expletives she was fit to yell at the man, she instead assures the woman that she’s all right when their attention is stolen by two police officers who were clearly after the man who just went past.

Asuka observes the situation, naturally curious, and is able to witness them throwing the man to the ground and forcing his hands behind his back. His angry struggling is heard several meters away.

“Get off me, you idiots!” He snarls. They ignore him and lift him to his feet, keeping a strong grip on him and leading him back in the direction he ran from. “Who cares if I steal a watch when the world is ending?!” Asuka’s eyebrows raise. Is he talking about the meteor? Other people on the street gawk at the spectacle, some recording on their phones before the man disappears in sight to be taken into custody.

The woman next to Asuka covers her mouth. Asuka can hear others gossiping about what just happened but she’s only able to catch snippets. “He must be talking about the world ending,” “even if the world ends, I’ll never act like that,” and similar. So, she wasn’t the only one taking this seriously after all.