Scrutiny

After about an about an hour of ingesting the medicine, Asuka’s fever breaks. She still feels weak, but they can travel within the next day. It takes them longer to travel now as Asuka recovers; they take frequent breaks to make sure she doesn’t overexert herself and worsen the cold, but she gradually gets better as the days go on and she regularly takes the medicine Hotaru got for her.

It’s been quite a while since they’d met someone worth trusting. It felt like the only people that were left around them were dangerous and volatile. They manage to stop to take care of a few more of Hotaru’s bucket list items, but the opportunities become scarcer as they go on.

Two more days pass and they make it to Yamagata. They ended up taking a detour west of Sendai to avoid gangs, as they’ve been close to running into them more frequently than usual. The two girls bike mostly through grass and trees. They set up camp when they need to sleep, taking turns sleeping to watch out for danger and abstaining from building campfires to avoid unwanted attention.

They’re running low on supplies when the forest opens out into a presumably populated area with stores and houses.

“How have you been feeling?” Hotaru looks at Asuka. They take a chance riding through the city, ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble.

“Much better, the medicine really helps. I don’t know why it’s taking me so long to get over this cold, though. I’m usually good in like two days.”

Hotaru suggests they risk going to a hospital, but Asuka adamantly shakes her head. She’s had enough of hospitals and hoped she’d never have to enter one again as long as she lives. Which shouldn’t be much longer now that it’s almost November.

Suddenly they heard a scream. “Please help!” They turn their heads trying to locate the sound as it bounces off the buildings. It sounded like a woman’s voice, high-pitched and frightened. Meeting each other’s eyes they come to a silent conclusion.

Those conclusions end up being different things as Asuka moves toward the sound and Hotaru moves away from it. Hotaru looks at her incredulously when she realizes what she’s doing. They argue back-and-forth until Hotaru relents, ready to get in some petty gloating if anything goes wrong.

The screams continue as they ride toward the river that runs through the city. They spot a woman who had fallen down a ravine. The two of them look around before advancing to help. The woman pleads when she sees them, “oh thank goodness! Please, is there any way you can help me?” The ravine is narrow and steep. It’s about five meters deep, and not too hard to climb out of. When she is informed of this, she insists that she’s twisted her ankle, and it hurts too much to move. Indeed, she rests her hands against the moss as she speaks up to them and appears to be resting all her weight on one foot.

The two girls look at each other. Hotaru is slightly longer than Asuka, but Asuka has greater upper body strength. They decide Asuka will be the one to hold onto Hotaru as she stretches down into the ravine to grab the woman’s arms and allow her leverage to avoid slipping on the wet rocks. After 10 minutes, they managed to pull the woman out and she bows of them on the ground in thanks. The moment is short-lived as they’re suddenly ambushed by about 15 people.

The three of them are taken in by the gang, their belongings taken into the opposition’s possession. Hotaru and Asuka try to struggle, but the amount of people overwhelms them, and they’re forcefully dragged into the town.

They’re led to a shopping street similar to the one Hotaru had avoided entering when looking for Asuka’s medicine. In the center of the mall, about 20 more men are gathered as if they had been waiting for them. Their captors maintain a tight grip on them, and they watch as their belongings are thrown into a pile of other various items they couldn’t make out in the domed area. When Hotaru meets Asuka’s eyes, she gives her a look of “I told you so” and Asuka could do nothing but stew in regret. Just when she was wondering what they intended to do, things got worse.

“Alright, we got them. Let go of me now,” the two throw their heads in the direction of the voice. They watch in horror as the woman they tried to help makes her way to the center of the throng, her demeanor changing dramatically into a more confident stance. They hadn’t even noticed that she’s been walking on her supposedly twisted ankle the entire way there. Hotaru jabs another look at Asuka who looks the other way.

The woman reveals that her men had seen the two coming into the city and enacted they plan to ensnare them. “Congratulations,” she says sweetly, “you passed the test.” Their faces betray their confusion and the woman continues. “I’m saying you get to join my group. We’ve been wanting some fresh faces around here.” Her goons cheer in agreement.

Hotaru is genuinely baffled, “why the hell would we want to waste our time here?” But the woman doesn’t give up. “Come on, we saw you scrounging around for food. We have plenty of supplies here.” She gestures around the mall, “you work with us, and we offer you protection. We’re a family here.”

She offers a hand to them, but even after the woman orders them to be released from their grasp, they keep their hands to themselves. “Fine,” she sniffs, “you can stay in confinement until you change your mind.” At the snap of her fingers the two are taken away and thrown into one of the unoccupied stalls, guarded by two men.

Night falls and the two still haven’t eaten. Their stomachs cry out as they’re forced to wait to see what happens next. “Ugh, I can’t believe she tricked us like that.” Asuka hangs her head on her knees. “I wanted to leave it alone from the beginning!” Hotaru refused to take the blame for this. “You’re right, that was pretty stupid of me,” Asuka admits; Hotaru doesn’t deny it. “I guess I didn’t want to become heartless despite the way things are now.”

Hotaru exhales through her nose, “well, if we ever get out of this mess, you’re gonna have to be better at scrutinizing.”

The room they’re in is small and in perfect view for anyone who wants to look inside. There isn’t much time to make plans, but they wait until the dead of night when the two men guarding them get bored of standing there and fall asleep. Asuka whispers, “I guess there isn’t much in the way of discipline in this gang.” Hotaru manages to free herself from her zip tie bindings using a technique she learned a long time ago while browsing online and shows Asuka how to do it too.

With no way to lock the door, the goons were the only line of defense against the two of them walking free. They sneak past their snoring forms, and head back where they remember seeing their belongings, only to find they’ve been moved.

Hotaru tries to say it’s better to leave without them, but Asuka refuses to leave without her brother’s tapes and notebook. After searching throughout the mall, making sure to avoid detection by anyone who might still be awake, they manage to find only one bike. The older one with Asuka’s things. Relieved, Asuka feels it to make sure everything is still there. Hotaru refuses to stick around any longer and opts to leave her things with them.

They wheel the bike out as quietly as they can but are caught by someone taking a smoke at the mouth of the shopping street. He yells and lunges forward to grab them, but Asuka instinctively swings a leg up to kick him in the balls. He doubled, over but the damage had been done. More people begin to file out of the stalls and run forward to capture them again.

With no time to waste, Hotaru jumps onto the seat. “Grab onto me!” Asuka stands on the back bars of the wheels and places her hands on Hotaru’s shoulders. She pushes off and takes a flying start ahead of their pursuers, pedaling furiously. Asuka tries her best to keep her feet on the back to not interfere with her peddling.

They keep going until they reach the base of a mountain. They still hear their captors whooping at them from behind. It seems their bikes weren’t the only ones they’d taken for themselves, and it was a race to see who could outmaneuver who. But Hotaru and Asuka had the obvious disadvantage. With two people on one bike and only one set of legs, they were inevitably overwhelmed and pinned by their assailants once again.

They’re forced to the ground; Hotaru’s bike is wrenched from her. They scream in struggle and frustration. Asuka protects the bag with her body, refusing to let go. All hope seems lost.

Until roars erupt from the forest ahead.

Men and women brandishing farming tools as weapons burst from the trees. Hotaru and Asuka watch as they deal actual damage to the gang members, pitchforks poking out eyes and shovels cutting into skin. Asuka looks away, and Hotaru grabs her hand to pull her up from the ground.

Unsure of what to do, they watch and wait until the gang members have all been driven off by the newer militia of people.