11

Countdown: 157 Days Remaining.

“That should hold you for a day, at least, but it’s not working how I would like it to,” Makoto said to Sumire, unscrewing the scope from the port below her ribs.

“What’s wrong with it?” Rui asked from beside him, looking up from mindlessly braiding wires. “Is it malfunctioning? Do you need to take it out?” A rope of such wires draped off his legs and over the ground around him.

“It’s just not quite strong enough…” Makoto trailed off, catching a glimpse of Rui’s project. “Where in the world did you learn how to do that?”

Rui raised an eyebrow. “Is it that weird?”

“I’ve never seen you braid anything, let alone wires for some reason.”

He shrugged. “They were laying around, and I was bored. I can’t really help when you’re doing your doctorly things, so I keep busy.” When Makoto continued to stare in silence, Rui shrugged and added, “I had an older sister. I’m sure you picked up random things from your sister too.”

“I didn’t know you had an older sister,” Makoto said softly, hoping to coax more from Rui, who rarely talked about his life in the Before.

“Keyword had,” he said bitterly, a scowl on his face. The anger Makoto had grown awfully familiar with had returned to Rui’s face. “She died in the Rebellion.” His mechanical eye flashed bright for a moment, then faded to its usual faint glow.

So that’s why he hates the Rebels, too. “I’m sorry to hear that,” Makoto said, regretting trying to find out more. He knew better than most how painful conversations about siblings could be.

Rui shrugged and adopted his trademark aloof smile. “We’ve all lost people. I guess there comes a point where you just stop thinking about it.”

Unsure of how to respond, Makoto turned away to put his scope and multitool back in their pockets, listening to the familiar whir of the sanitation process.

Fortunately, Rui was quick to change the subject. “So, what do we need to do to get the prototype working how you’d like?”

“For now, it needs energy, I suppose, but I’m working on a second version that would be better performing. I was thinking I’d try to siphon heat along the way while we try to find more information about how to get into the sanctuary.”

Rui’s expression turned conflicted, and he opened his mouth to say something, then held back. Noticing Makoto had seen him, he hastily said, “And where to find your sister once we get in there, right?”

“Right,” Makoto said, agreeing easily despite feeling like Rui had left much unsaid. The red-haired boy couldn’t look him in the eye, and he had stopped fidgeting as though self-conscious of his actions. Instead his arms were crossed in front of his chest, closing himself off from further questions and trying to hold in whatever he’d been about to say. I won’t press him on it now, but I’ll have to keep an eye on him. He’s acting weirder than usual. “Was there anything you’d been wanting to do?”

Rui grimaced and said, “I was thinking that Shu still hasn’t come back. It’s been two days now.”

Makoto shrugged. “If he’s not back now, he must have found some other group to stay with. It’s not like we’re the only camp surviving out here.” He tried to sound more sure of his guess than he was, but he hadn’t stopped thinking about where Shu could be since he’d disappeared. The boy had never been gone so long, and though Makoto wasn’t worried about his survival like he worried about the other camp members, he still hated losing someone.

“He made his choice, Rui,” Granny said, speaking up from her usual spot against one of the pillars. Her aged face held a gentle smile. “It’s not your fault. You have nothing to make up for, you know? If he wanted to be here, he would have come back by now.”

Rui exchanged a look with Makoto that said there was no arguing with Granny and went back to his braiding. He wrapped the finished plait around his hand a few times in a crude coil, then handed it to Makoto to store away in his backpack.

After Makoto had done basic check-ups on everyone and left them their nutrition vials, he led the way out of the camp with Rui in tow.

The pair walked in silence for a while, heading towards the old shopping plaza and recreational center, where Makoto planned to siphon heat from the neon bulbs that still formed the lettering of the stores he used to frequent, once upon a time. Rui was unusually alert, looking around him with every step he took.

Makoto was about to say that he also hoped they would find Shu, whose loud outbursts he somehow missed, when Rui said, “You can ask about her, you know.”

Makoto stopped, mind blank as he’d been caught off guard by the sudden statement. “Who?” he asked.

“My sister, Yumi. You’ve told me a lot about Miyuki, but you haven’t asked anything about my sister.” Before Makoto could say anything, Rui smiled sadly and continued, “I know it’s been on the tip of your tongue since earlier, so it’s okay. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” Makoto said softly. Heat burned the tops of his cheeks over having been so easily read.

“I know,” Rui said. “And I appreciate that, but I feel like I owe you at least a little of my backstory, since you told me about your Before.” He took a deep breath, let it out, then said, “So ask away.”

“You really don’t have to tell me anything,” Makoto said, trying to save Rui from the pain of opening up old wounds.

“I want to. I trust you, as my partner, and besides, if anything happens to me, I want someone to remember…” he trailed off, looking down at his hands.

What is he afraid of? Is this because of how we found his classmate? Is he scared of ending up the same way? Makoto hesitated before complying and asking, “What happened to her during the Rebellion?”

The pain in Rui’s eyes made him regret the question, but Rui let out a relieved sigh and said, “I figured that would be the first thing you’d question. I’d ask the same thing, so maybe that’s why we make a good team, huh?”

Makoto didn’t respond, leaving Rui time to gather his thoughts. He ran a bare finger along one of the neon bulbs within reach, and found it pleasantly warm.

Rui helped him attach the probes, then turned away to look off down the path they’d come from -- as though he could see his past there -- before starting, “I told you I had my eye altered to cheat on tests, but that wasn’t the only reason. Yumi and I were only born a few minutes apart, so we grew up really close, as twins do. We decided to split a pair of enhanced eyes, so they’d be connected, and we’d always know where the other one was.”

He chuckled softly, but it died on his lips. “It was actually a little confusing, when she was taking a math test at the same time that I was doing history, and I wrote 319 instead of Napoleon. My teacher was not happy at my “smart-ass” response, but at least he never figured out Yumi and I were helping each other cheat.”

Makoto had already finished siphoning the heat from the bulb, but he didn’t dare interrupt Rui’s reverie, so he continued moving the probes over the same cold spot.

“We still had that connection, even after everything else was shut down, because our eyes were part of the same pair, so as long as they were fed energy, they’d stay connected.” His voice grew heavier. “I watched her die, Makoto. I saw what she saw, in her final seconds, before her eye stopped receiving energy and shut down. Those last moments… It’s like I was there with her, but I couldn’t do anything.”

Makoto opened his mouth to say something -- anything -- but he couldn’t find the words. Instead he put a hand on Rui’s shoulder and squeezed. “I’m sorry,” was all he could think to say, but he knew how empty those words sounded.

Rui nodded, and finished with, “So you don’t really have to worry about finding blueprints for getting into the sanctuary. I still remember the route she took, even all the way to the main building. I don’t know where they’d be keeping your sister, but I’ll help you look for anything that could help.” His voice shook, but he continued. “I wasn’t sure when to tell you all this, what with you searching for information, but I just didn’t know how to bring it up.”

He finally turned around, his face still scrunched up with pain but his eyes clear. “So we can leave anytime you’re ready, and I’ll do everything to help you save Miyuki.” Looking away, he said, “Yumi was trying to help the girls who were locked in the main compound, so she’d be happy if we could rescue one.”

A moment passed between them in silence before Makoto felt himself nod, unaware of his actions. He couldn’t think of the right words to say, nor could he tell exactly how he felt. His backpack felt too heavy under the weight of Rui’s confession. Sorrow hung in the air and clung to his skin amid the polluted haze. It wrapped itself around him like a cloak, tight and constricting, until he felt like he couldn’t breathe.

Only Rui continuing to watch him, waiting for Makoto to say something, forced Makoto to speak. “Your twin sounds like she was a wonderful person,” he said. Genuine admiration flowed through his words.

Rui smiled, but sadness remained on his face and in his voice. “She was, and she was much smarter than me too. While I was whittling away my time, waiting for things to change, she actually tried to do something worthwhile.” He looked away, lips pursed and brows furrowed. “All I could do was watch, hidden safely underground where you found me. I couldn’t even help her, in the end. She was all I had left, but I wasn’t there for her.”

Makoto took a small step closer, leaning over to look directly into Rui’s downcast eyes. “You’re trying now,” he said. “She’d be proud of that.” It felt presumptuous to speak so confidently about someone he’d never met, but the words felt right.

“I hope so,” Rui said softly. Finally lifting his head, he said, “We should get back to collecting energy. Sumire’s going to be waiting for you.”

“Right,” Makoto said, pulling away. He handed Rui one of the probes and found another neon bulb to siphon. Together, the pair resumed their work in a more comfortable silence, with one less secret forming a barrier between them.