Chapter 510:
Shift
Seiji immediately jumped up with excitement at my statement, since that would mean half of their efforts were already solved. “I can’t believe we found her so soon!” He still had to find my sister, not that would be enough. Knowing who it was wouldn’t be enough to end this world.
“Wait Seiji, how can you be certain that Aya’s the one we need?”
“Because I do.” My answer that I gave them wasn’t going to be one that she would be able to believe with much certainty. And I can definitely admit that it’s not an air tight conclusion, but it just makes sense. Aya’s abnormality and that degree of uniqueness should imply that she’s the target. They did seem to be specialists and Aya fits that.
Nerine crossed her arms with disbelief. “Tell me. You wouldn’t just think that for no reason.”
“She said something.”
“She said something…”
“The same as when one of those personalities took my sister over during the Takako incident.”
“How certain are you?”
“It was the exact same words. She’s bugged me for a while and I didn’t know why. I must have sensed something familiar about her in her mannerisms.” In fact, once I realized it there was a sort of relief with the whole unnerving feeling about her finally being resolved.
“He seems pretty certain, Nerine.”
“And we can’t confirm it either, it’s rather convenient.”
“It’s not like he would make it up to just want to work with us. He believes it.”
“Doesn’t mean it’s the truth, it just means that’s what he believes.”
“What will you do?”
Nerine looked back at me, still not convinced yet. I knew she was going to be the hardest, still made it troublesome dealing with her. “You only told us the why, but not what your motive is. Like I said, I feel that finding your sister has become a secondary interest to you, considering you had decided to wait things out.”
“The plan…”
“That’s right.”
Chapter 510 – Moving Pieces
“I was getting to that. If she’s the one that’s important in this world, then we need to keep an eye on her. She is the objective and she’s got an annoyingly unhealthy interest in me because she likes challenges, I guess. So I need to keep her interest and she’s even more excited now that I’m actually taking her seriously.”
“Just say what you’re thinking, man. You want to beat her since she beat you in the real world.”
“What?!”
“Seiji…” Nerine stared over at him thinking that he was being single minded. But then she looked over at me and saw that it was confirmed. “I can’t believe you! No, I can, I guess. You would be this petty.”
“He’s right about needing to keep an eye on Aya if she’s the one. Plus he’s willing to help now that he’s got something he wants to do. There’s worse things to be motivated by.”
She sighed watching this play out. Having Seiji on my side felt a little weird, but against Nerine it should work. Didn’t think that being honest about my motives would actually get him on board with me, but I guess it did make sense. “Fine, I guess we’re working together.”
I nodded and stood up. Things at least progressed the way that I needed. Though now I’ve got other things I need to do. I wasn’t going to reach my goal without putting in the effort.
“That’s it?”
Looking back at her, she clearly expected something else. “That’s right. There’s nothing that I need you for right now. In the future I will, because that’s what this is about, this world.”
“You’ve agreed to work with us.”
“Yes, and when you have something actionable I will help you. Blind searching won’t get you anywhere. Besides, I need the time to study.”
“Study?”
“That is my job right now. If I’m to play this game and defeat Aya, I’m going to have to get better than her. I’ll surpass her, but to do that I need to improve. So try not to interrupt me too often.”
“Still as charming.”
I got what I needed from them. I didn’t know what the future would hold for me, but I needed to secure the power now rather than wait. I couldn’t risk anything now.
Time passed faster than I wanted. Studying and training my mind improved me, but it didn’t seem to matter. She still beat me every time as though she had been holding back the entire time. A frustrating woman through and through and every day she looked more like the woman I faced years ago.
Before long we were children no longer and I started to worry how long we would be in this world. I knew I didn’t survive the other worlds, so my time came far more abridged than others, but this seemed unnecessary. Why all of the specific pieces this time? What made it so important that we live a childhood with this woman. What was the damn point of it all?
Another meeting came for us as everyone’s efforts had failed to reach any goal we had. I let Seiji and Nerine into my room. As comrades and allies in the eyes of everyone else, the meetings we had were less suspicious.
“New room, birthday present?” asked Seiji, noticing immediately, which given that they had to have me escort them to the room wasn’t surprising.
“Benefits of being in my parents' good graces.” I sat down on the tatami mat as the two of them took up sides opposite. “Learn something?” They had called the meeting, so I figured they had something.
“It’s not about your sister, I’ve still been unable to pick up any clues,” reported Nerine, “My network has the city under watch, but every day I’m more convinced she’s somewhere else.” In the movement of time, Nerine proved herself more valued than merely a servant girl. I suspected thanks to being assigned to Seiji, she could gain additional combat training. The many talents she had before even coming here eventually became tools she could use and the right people took notice. She became a significantly more valuable piece for me now, a stronger one than Seiji to be certain.
“We haven’t given up!” Seiji asserted, as though my feelings were something that mattered. “It just seemed to make sense that she and the others would be in the city given the difficulty of locating them anywhere else. Japan is too big to be looking for people with faces we won’t recognize.”
“It’s why I’ve been having you look for clues about unusual people. Hide as much as they might, they’re going to be special in this world like us.” However, that’s nothing new for a report. They had something else, important enough to schedule this immediately. “What’s the problem?”
Nerine looked at Seiji and then over at me as if she was checking with him. “One of my spies discovered something troubling for you.”
I narrowed my eyes with her having my complete attention. “That narrows it down to Aya or myself.” Either was logical, if it was about me then someone made a move that threatened my position. We’d have to deal with that quickly if it was the case. I’d already seen others disappear.
“It concerns her.”
“What did you find?”
Nerine looked around my room seeming a little more on edge than usual, even for someone in her line of work. “There’s rumors of a conspiracy to deal with her.”
“Pretty sure that’s not a first.”
“No, but it comes from this house.”
Crossing my arms, it was a bit of a surprise, but not much of one. I’ve seen how they acted about me. A little shocked nothing happened sooner. “She can handle herself. Knowing her, she probably already knows about it if you do.”
“Which makes it your problem.”
A pause came before I replied to her. “Because learning of an act to remove her from the running coming out of this house would put a target on me as well. She might think I did it, though she probably would realize that I wouldn’t do such a thing. Though my parents’ failure could still put me out of play. Damnit, those idiots.”
Different plays went through my mind as I factored in the scenario at play. Unfortunately, I didn’t really have enough information to go right now. “Do you know anything more? If we’re going to stop this, I need to come up with a plan.”
“My people are investigating, but I don’t know anything more right now.”
“A timeframe?”
“No.”
“Damnit, don’t know how long we have.” I stood up and paced about the room without any sort of plan. Anything that I could come up with had too many holes. The amount of unknown variables made it dangerous.
“We’ve got to do something, Nerine! If anything happens to Yori.”
“I can only work so fast.”
The ideas weren’t helping me at all. There was only one thing that I could think of. I didn’t want the risk of something happening before I could create an out. So a pre-emptive action was all that I could come up with. I rubbed my forehead hating the idea. It was a terrible idea.
“What are you thinking?” interrupted Nerine.
My eyes snapped over to her. “Your observation skills are getting even more annoyingly accurate.”
Seiji perked up with the hope that I had a plan, an actual good one rather than the stupid one that I really had. “You figured out something?”
“I didn’t figure anything out. There’s too little to go on right now.” I was just delaying. A little bit hoped that something might come up that proved to be a better solution. Nothing was coming sadly.
“But you have something.”
“Yes…but it’s not a good idea.”
“It’s better than nothing.”
“I’d rather wait for Nerine’s spies to get back.”
“But we don’t have that time possibly.”
“Yes, I know. Aya might have already made a move or my parents did. There’s no telling how far things have gone right now. We’re just too far out of the loop on this.”
“Then we need to get into the loop.”
I sighed with the plan sitting in my mind. Things were pressing possibly and I delayed more not wanting to make the play. In the end, I didn’t have any other options. Nerine’s spies wouldn’t get back in time most likely. Aya was a child, but she was also intelligent and quick. The only thing I didn’t know was how ruthless she might be. Did she have a value on human life? It wasn’t something that I wanted to find out. “It’s a bad idea, but it’s the only thing I can think of right now. I will go see Aya right now.”
Please sign in to leave a comment.