Chapter 8:

Spy's Nightmare

Heartless Overclock


 Juusaki slowly opens his eyes but winces as he looks up directly at the bright light and the white ceiling. “Performing system scan…” Juusaki’s Assisting Intelligence informs him. He strains his eyes forward and sees that he is covered by a white blanket of a hospital bed. “Hachiko-kun!” Nana’s voice calls out as she quickly leans onto Juusaki’s bedside, and he leads his eyes to her.


“Oh,” Juusaki’s eyes look down, “are you okay?”


“Yes, but are you?”


Juusaki’s eyes look around the room, and he sees Denji dozing off in a chair, and Misaki is nowhere to be seen. “I’m in optimal condition. How are Denji and Itou?”


“Misaki went out to get a drink for us, and Denji miraculously only had a scratch—”


Juusaki jerks up from his seat. “Where!?”


“Woah! You startled me there! And please don’t force yourself. Lie down.” Nana slightly pushes Juusaki back into his bed. “You should be worrying about yourself more, and he is fine. It’s only a light scratch in his left arm.”


Juusaki’s eyes scan Denji’s left arm and spot the scratch. “Analysis: Fatality: 0.00000000—”


The door to the hospital room slams opens, but it isn’t Misaki who comes in, but Denji’s friend group rushing in.


Daichi starts with a loud voice, “Juusaki! Are you okay!?” He rushes to Juusaki’s bedside, and the three other boys follow standing behind him.


“Good afternoon,” Juusaki greets awkwardly.


“What happened to your arm?” Hibiki asks as soon as he notices the cast on his left arm. Before Juusaki could answer, Nana answers for him, “He saved Denji with his arm as we fell from the Ferris wheel.”


“What!?” The boys except for the silent Kyou exclaims, though Kyou himself too share the same shock.


Denji awakens from his slumber due to the noise and rubs his eyes, “H—huh?”


Daichi quickly turns to Denji and shakes his arm rapidly, “Yo, yo! Is this true!? Is this true!!?”


Denji only responds to a modulating complaint of him being shaken by his arm. “Chill, chill! It’s true, yeah. Now please stop shaking me.


“Really?” Daichi turns to Juusaki this time and unconsciously shakes Juusaki’s casted left arm. “Is this true, Juusaki? You saved him in the falling carriage!?”


Juusaki winces in pain but doesn’t complain, but Nana chops Daichi’s hand with her hand. “Stop that! You are hurting him!”


“What?” Daichi looks at Juusaki’s left arm cast. “Oh! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” And he backs off. “I’m glad you are alive!” Denji says to Juusaki.


“I won’t die from such death,” Juusaki replies with confidence.


“But still, I can’t thank you enough. You have saved my life twi— I mean you have saved my life.”


“No need for thanks. It was my… duty as a friend,” Juusaki lightly smiles.


“Oh! He smiled!” Hibiki remarks.


“Isn’t that your dominant hand, Juusaki?” Akio asks.


“Yes,” Juusaki replies.


“Then, you won’t be able to do anything properly for a while now, right?”


“More or less.”


The whole room goes silent as they ponder this fact.


“I’ll take care of him,” Nana volunteers.


“Wait, you?” Denji asks.


“Yes, but with your permission of course.”


“But… well…” Denji struggles for a decision, and the door opens.


“I’m back!” Misaki announces as she sets three canned drinks on a nearby table. “Woah, a lot of visitors came in here! And Juusaki, you are awake! Thank gosh! Oh, I’m sorry. I will get drinks for everyone.” Misaki looks around and notices the room hasn’t paid the required attention to her. “Why so silent?”


“Well, I was thinking if I could allow Nana to take care of Juusaki, but I- we have school and such. No one would have the time,” Denji states


“True, I’m sorry, man, but if only I had the time, I would. Please don’t take it the wrong way, my friend,” Hibiki says.


“It’s alright. I can manage. Don’t worry about me.”


“No, you can’t manage,” Misaki says as she approaches Juusaki, “I’ll take care of you. I can make the time.”


“Are you sure, Itou-san?” Denji asks.


“Yes, so I will do it.”


“Master,” Nana beckons Denji to a corner of the room, “I want to talk to you about something.” The two talk in whispers unable to be heard by the others, but Denji’s face turns into surprise and seemingly is against Nana’s proposal, but Nana seems to plead for it. Denji sighs and nods at her, and Nana rejoices.


“Well, that out of the way. What exactly happened? Akio inquires.


A few moments later, the group sighs in realization.


“Ah, so that’s what happened,” Akio says.


“That’s so cool, bro! It’s like an action movie!” Daichi enthusiastically says.


“I wished to be there,” Kyou mutters to himself.


It’s 8:00 AM, and Juusaki is lying sideways in his bed. He opens his eyes to see Nana at his bedside.


“Good morning, Juusaki-kun!”


Juusaki only rolls away from her, but Nana goes to the other side of the bed he is looking towards.


“Don’t you want to see me? You should be grateful that I am taking care of you this morning.” Juusaki rolls away from her again, but this time, Nana goes on top of the bed and forces Juusaki to face her.


“Good morning, Juusaki-kun.”


Juusaki then closes his eyes and turns his face away from her.


“Come on. It’s not every day you get a girl taking care of you, you know? This would be every high school boy’s dream, and you are angering them by wasting this chance.”


Nana waits for a response from the frozen Juusaki. When she sees that Juusaki won’t take any action, nor wake up from his bed, she goes on top of him and sits on his stomach.


“Ugh,” Juusaki opens his eyes to see Nana’s face close to his, “it’s heavy.”


“Who are you calling heavy?” Nana retracts her face from him, “and who are you calling it?” “Get off me. It’s hot and heavy.”


Nana sighs and goes away from the bed to bring back a breakfast tray. “Here, your breakfast. Eat it.”


Juusaki promptly sits up, but once he does, he finds himself falling from the sky. “What!?” Juusaki shouts in fear and surprise as the wind blows into his ears and face. His eyes struggling to open. He looks to the ground and assumes that he is high up in altitude, but not high enough for the clouds to obstruct the ground. “500 meters,” Juusaki says. He looks to his left and sees a tower akin to where the sniper from the Ferris wheel incident shot from. Then he looks to his right, and sees the Ferris wheel intact and complete with all carriages, cycling slowly faithful to its operation. But he sees another unusual thing. Denji, Nana, and Misaki are also falling from the sky with him. Their mouths are open, but no screams are heard. Juusaki struggles to get to Denji but fails. “I have failed.” Then a memory occurred to him.


“Agent 18, dreams are a sign of deviance,” the old, but a respectable man in a white suit throws away a magazine-sized booklet. Its title is “Moderation Manual.” “Well, that is what it says there, but not all dreams are bad. It makes us human. Don’t tell anyone about this, but being human achieves 100% more success.”


“What is being human, sir?”


“It’s complicated. Even I can’t tell you. You have to know it by yourself, your humanity, but you already know it by heart.”


“Sir, as far as I know, and with all due respect, hearts are incapable of storing memories.”


“That’s true, but let’s not get off track. We will get back to that.”


“Understood, sir.”


“At ease, Agent.”


Agent 18 visibly relaxes but still maintains a professional posture, a sign of respect to his superior.


“What I am about to tell you, is for you, and you only.”


“Understood, sir.”


The man stands close by Agent 18’s ear to not let anyone hear their conversation. “If you have, if you think you have a bad dream, take control of it. Identify it, and call it a nightmare. These types of dreams are for sure the worst kind of deviancy, but not all dreams are bad, not all nightmares. If you have a good dream, just… chill by it, and cherish it, you see?”


“I… see, sir.”


“If you do encounter a nightmare, remember that you have control of that nightmare. The brain is yours and yours alone. Don’t be swept by it!


“Understood, sir!”


The old man pats the agent’s back and stands in front of him. “Attention!”


Agent 18 stomps his right foot and gets his legs straight. His head faces toward the man, but his eyes are unwavering, even as the old man moves in front of him.


“This is your…” the old man whispers a word.


“Sir? I was not able to catch that. Should I activate—”


“Not necessary agent. I’m just having my monologue. Anyway, this is your mission. Recon and protect the target. Understood?”


“Yes, sir.”


“AI, activate!”


Juusaki awakens from his trance and his eyes spell determination. He closes his eyes for a moment and opens it with resolve. The next thing he knew, his feet is on the ground, and his friends are smiling, endlessly thanking him for his rescue, but Juusaki can’t hear the words. It’s all a blur. It’s getting blurry. He falls to the ground.


A doorbell rings and Juusaki’s eyes open alertly to see the ceiling. The doorbell rings again, and Juusaki gently rushes to the door. He checks the intercom camera for the visitor.


“Hachiko-kun, are you awake?” Nana speaks through the intercom.


“Na—” Juusaki clears his throat, “Kawamoto-san, what are you doing here?”


“Don’t you remember? I’m here to take care of you today. Isn’t your dominant arm hurt right now?”


“I told you, I can handle it on my own.”


“Have you eaten breakfast?”


“No.”


“See? You haven’t cooked yet.”


“I— I am about to! Now, please return to your master!”


“That’s rude. I’m offering you help, and you are turning me away. You should be grateful!”Juusaki falls silent as he processes multiple decisions. “Scenario not found. Script not ready. Would you like to simulate now?” Juusaki’s AI speaks.


“How long will it take?” Juusaki asks using his mind to communicate to his AI.


“About twenty hours.”


“Twenty!? That’s way too long!”


“This is a new scenario, agent. I need to process straight from scratch.”


“Then, don’t. I’ll handle it.”


“Warning, doing this is a big risk. I’ll have this flag as deviancy.”


“Fine, flag it.”


“Flagged.”


“Hey! How long will I have to wait here!?” Nana impatiently calls out.


“Please excuse me for that. I’m opening the door, please come in,” says Juusaki with his expressions unchanging.