7 The Song Of silence

Silence.

The music stopped. The singing stopped. The air that had betrayed Ichiro and Shizuro and held them prisoner again flowed freely around them.

Chaos overtook the room, a silent cacophony of motion. Agent Yamamoto’s mouth continued moving but there was no sound, not even from the buzz of the lights or the stomping of the agents running around. Ichiro looked around in confusion. People are talking, shouting, by the appearance of it, and he wondered if he had gone deaf. But the expressions of nervousness to outright fear show that it is mutual. A thought that in retrospect seemed obvious overtook him like divine inspiration: this must be the Song of Silence.

Ichiro whirled, now that he could move freely, trying to evaluate just how hopelessly surrounded they were. Behind him, Liam slowly walked in. He was singing, that much was obvious, mouth wide, chest puffed, but no sound came out. But his steady pace persisted as he gradually approached them. Agents darted around in immediate confusion, a couple of them noticing Liam and quickly charging. The white giant was still taller than them as he crouched slightly, his mouth continuing to move as he ran in kind at them. Ichiro had never considered American football to be something particularly interesting, but he was particularly awed as one agent was bowled over and the second flipped. Still, Liam continued to sing, and the silence remained.

Shizuko grabbed him, pulling his attention back to Agent Yamamoto and Hikari. Without communication, it was every man for himself, and for many of them, that meant fearing the unknown. The head agent was attempting to control the suddenly chaotic situation, yelling into the megaphone before just throwing it at the back of one of his men who clearly wasn’t paying attention. Hikari took advantage of the distracting motion, jumping and stomping with all of her weight onto Agent Yamamoto’s toe. The man’s eyes burst wide as he screamed muted profanities, his grip slipping enough for Hikari to escape his grasp. She ran to her sister and Ichiro, and agents who were previously disoriented by the confusion of the last dozen seconds sorted themselves, realizing their bargaining chip was escaping. But she reached them first just as Liam caught up behind. Quickly stepping in front as agents charged at them.

Shizuko did not waste time embracing her sister, pushing her into Ichiro’s arms. Hikari tried to say something. Ichiro tried to say something. No sound was heard, only Hikari clinging to her sister’s clothing as Liam squared up. “I can’t leave you!” Hikari mouthed, while Ichiro followed with “We can’t just go!” But Shizuko pried her sister’s fingers loose and pushed them back before turning and shoving an agent as best she could. She pointed to the doorway with her free hand, making no move of her own as she braced herself against the second agent rushing to support his comrade.

We can’t leave you, Ichiro thought, and the words may have well been written on his face as she gave him a pitying smile.

“Why do you think I let you come?” she asked with a reassuring smirk. Her voice was jarring, a buffeting wave that shattered the calm in his ear. But it was still soft and gentle, lying to him that everything would be alright. “Get away from here. Far, far away, and don’t look back.”

He nodded, pulling a struggling Hikari back. An agent rushed toward them from behind, but ignored them, aiming right for Hikari.

They didn’t hear the gunshot, but it echoed horribly like a death bell as the silence abruptly died.

Liam staggered, the man now uncharacteristically unsteady on his feet. Ichiro couldn’t see what had happened as the foreigner had his back to them, but he touched his own chest, slowly pulling back a red hand. The quiet died as he staggered, and the agents that surrounded gave a yell as they charged. Agent Yamamoto cheered, pumping a fist as they descended on them, running past Ichiro and Hikari, tackling Shizuko. A black bag went over her head as she was thrown to the floor, struggling what little she could.

Every fibre in Ichiro’s body wanted to keep him there, to help her, to fight back, only motivated as Hikari desperately yanked against him. He hadn’t even realized he was holding her wrist, squeezing it tightly. But he pulled her back and towards the door, forcing her to follow until she ran of her own volition from the hopeless capture.

“Don’t let the younger one get away!” they heard Agent Yamamoto yell through his speaker, apparently having retrieved it.

They ran, frantically retracing steps down the winding halls that were now clearly a funnel to get them to that room. Were any of the other doors unlocked? Did they know about the hole in the fence? Would they be waiting? Speculations flashed through Ichiro’s mind as they got closer and closer. Shizuko had never given him the car keys; the implications of that were unsettling but the immediate issue of it pressed heavier.

The door slammed against the outer wall as Ichiro sent his foot into it, barely breaking stride as he still held Hikari’s hand, if only to know she was still with him. He immediately pulled her to the side, not running across the lawn for the fence but circling the building. Be there! Be there! Be there! he prayed desperately. They had just left it before and hadn’t seen it be cleared away; with any luck, or rather, a significant amount of luck, it would be propped against the wall.

The bike sat where they had left it, still placed against the wall and likely forgotten about by men with higher priorities. “Get on the back!” Ichiro told her, pointing to the bike that wasn’t the most obvious in the darkened night. He let go of her hand as he pulled the bicycle from the wall and got on, waiting until he held the frame sing just a bit and her hands on his shoulders before he started to move. The bike kicked up grass as he pedalled hard, gaining speed and barely slipping between the fence and the bar gate, breaking out onto the road as Agents rushed out of the front door and into vehicles to pursue.