Genesis (Part 1)

What had felt like the shortest week flew by. Now the day of the festival, Xion awoke to a knock at his door, confused. Nobody was expecting company today.

Upon opening the door, Xion was surprised.

“Morning!” Saeko said, along with a few familiar faces besides her, including Kazue, and to Xion’s surprise, Saeko’s mother. The three stepped into Xion’s shrinking space as Xion moved aside to grant them entrance.

“Who’s there?” Xion’s own mother called, already awake. She looked across the room over her book she’d been reading, and began to laugh. “Oh Kazue! And…” her words trailed, unfamiliar with the two additional faces.

“Hi Mrs Mizuno!” Kazue waved.

“This is my friend Saeko, and her mother, Lee Nagata,” Xion awkwardly smiled. “She’d actually been dealing with the same medical issue you were, and fully recovered.”

“That’s such wonderful news!”

Lee Nagata slowly walked past Xion, and approached his mother, where she then lowered herself to give a comforting hug.

“Thank you for that,” she managed to say, greeted by Lee’s silent smile. “I should introduce myself as well. My name is Harumi Mizuno, though I also go by Haru for short.”

Lee took Harumi’s hand and gently shook it.

“My mother has been mute her whole life actually, so don’t take her silence personally” Saeko said.

“That’s strange,” Harumi Mizuno replied. “When I look at her, I can hear everything she’s saying through her eyes alone.”

Lee Nagata silently gasped.

“I read far too much poetry!” Harumi laughed along with everyone.

“To cut to the chase, my dear mom would like to help watch over you while the three of us skedaddle off, if that’s alright of course,” Saeko told Harumi. “We figured that would be easier..”

“That’s quite kind of you to offer. I’m sure Xion then has mentioned our financial situation, so you know I don’t have much to offer other than old books.”

“Nononono- it’s free of charge!” Saeko rapidly waved her hands. “We don’t have much ourselves, so we try to give back when possible. A friend of ours named Buff also promised to help with some of the expenses however he could.”

Kazue left the room momentarily to then return with several cans of food.

“Where is this Buff? I need to thank him for his generosity!” Harumi pleaded.

“He actually dropped us off here, but ran off to do something. Don’t worry though, I’m sure you’ll meet him some time-” Saeko paused as the door knocked. She opened it to reveal the man himself, standing wider than the door frame. “Buff!” she yelled in surprise.

“Pardon me ladies, but did this big mouth here get to the part about taking care of you?”

Everyone in the room nodded, except Saeko who was noticeably irritated.

“Good, then give this to your mother, would ya,” Buff said, handing Saeko a briefcase.

The tan box contained no special features aside from a rice bowl sticker and a red button; when pressed, the case opened and revealed a tubular object inside. The object had words on the side that said, “ARTIFICIAL FEMALE VOICE MODULATOR VERSION 17.”

“Wait a- OH MOM-” Saeko could barely mouth.

Her mother stood next to her, eyeing the words, and reacting just as Saeko had.

“That’s a Kanto region original product. It isn’t perfect, but it’ll give you something to let the world hear you. You can even tweak it a bit, so there’s some personal choice.”

Both Nagata members rushed to wrap around Buff.

Simple installation. The tube was flexible, and could be placed around any part of the neck. Then, with a decent stretch, you pulled it so that it completely covered your neck. All you needed to then was talk.

“T-th-thank..y-y…you,” Lee Nagata said, barely managing to hold back tears, while Saeko herself couldn’t.

After a moment of celebrations and thanksgiving, Buff drove Kauze, Saeko, and Xion to the hovertrain station.

The station was located below the hovertrain itself. It was no different than old train or bus stations aside from one detail inside. It was here that an interior platform was used to carry up passengers to the transportation, though only if you had an authorized ticket to board. Today it seemed everyone in Kyoto had the same idea. Amassed in front of the small entrance door were at least a thousand disgruntled citizens.

“What gives? Why’s everybody so angry, and more importantly, why is everyone here?” Kazue said.

“The festival in Chūbu is going to draw people from all over. Tsunami knows how to bring in a crowd. Helps that his borders are open in every direction, allowing land, sea, and air visits” Buff told him.

“Better get used to crowds like this if you win, kid,” he added.

Ahead of the crowd were stationmen and women, as indicated by their royal blue garments and tall hats, tasked with containing the general public.

“Attention! Those waiting for passage to Nagoya Chūbu and surrounding cities should note that delays for up to three days have been announced. Please be advised that our staff shall not accept tickets for these locations at this time, but we shall fully reimburse the costs within a steady time period!” The station woman shouted through a voice enhancing device covering their lips.

Above her was a large screen displaying a multitude of cities across Chūbu now reddened, indicating unavailability.

The balding man next to Buff turned to him.

“This is such BS! What’s the point of buying a ticket if there’s no guarantee for it!?”

“It’s tough luck,” Buff shrugged. “Gotta travel sooner.”

“Some of us gotta work around here, you know? No time for vacations!”

“That’s true.” Buff gave him a nod, and began to push into the crowd with his three companions.

“You’re crazy if you think you’re getting through there! There’s not a place in Japan where HoverCorp covers today!”

The man was correct too. The other options listed on the display above, though yellow, were still listed at 1 day delays. Stations all across the country were flooded with requests. Buff knew this too, however, he was in a hurry to get away from the man that had a gun sticking out of his pocket.

Keeping a watchful eye around him, he pushed through hundreds of angry people, though it was hard when some had adaptive masks concealing their faces. Some began to walk away, but a majority of the crowd was in belief that their arguments would be heard.

At the front Buff caught the attention of the woman that spoke with a wave. She said something into her earpiece, pressing it with a finger, before hurrying to meet him, though she stood behind a stun barricade that had prevented anyone passing. Around it, yellow hazardous lights blinked rapidly.

Amidst the noise, Buff tried to whisper.

“We’ve got special permission is all I’ll say.. Any chance you could send us up?”

She frowned.

“Fake pleas won’t do you any good here.”

“You think I’d push my way through here to fake something?” Buff said tapping the pocket the pass was kept in. “You want me to cause a riot with it?”

The woman nervously raised her eyebrows.

“I’ll check its eligibility inside the station.”

Then she lowered the barricade with a dial turn. A few more members of her team stepped up to guard passage in case anyone tried to sneak through.

A hand then hooked around both Xion and Saeko’s waists.

The hand belonged to someone with extremely long black hair that covered the entirety of their face, along with a large coat concealing arms, and pale skin. They also had strange bolt-like implants sticking out from where their ears would be. A real frankenstein.

“Grateful for you humans letting me tag along…haha..ha…” a man’s voice deviously said.

Buff turned to see Kazue ready to punch the haired foe, and stopped him.

“Glad you could join us,” Buff smiled, knowing it was the only thing he could do. A fight would only cause a delay, and this man could rally the entire crowd behind him with the mention of a pardon pass. If he had dangerous intent, he could easily deliver harm.

Together, the now five-person group passed the lowered barricade, and entered the station to the dismay of many in the crowd.

Inside the building were additional office-dressed staff frantically running around as phones rang loudly along with the beeps from inter-regional stations paging each other. Holograms of assumed owners of each station conversed together around a circle that projected each face.

The criminally devious third party still had his concealed arms wrapped around Xion and Saeko, so Buff retrieved the pass from his pocket swiftly. The pass itself resembled a zip drive, with inscriptions and an assortment of numbers and letters labeled across it, containing an encryption. With this, he approached an elderly man sitting on a red chair in the middle of the room. He was known as a technomaster.

This chair did not touch the ground, and instead was supported from the ceiling by an entanglement of wires. The man himself had pale blue skin and eyes, along with long white hair that trailed down his back. He held up his hand, which revealed a dark slot in the center of his palm.

Though Buff was unphased, Xion and his friends were creeped out when Buff placed the device into the man’s palm with an audible click. It stuck out about halfway, and the man’s eyes rolled back.

“Ahhh…yes…” he mumbled with a groan, sending chills down Xion’s spine. Saeko shut her eyes.

The man that held Xion and Saeko captive then giggled as the old man spoke.

“You seek passageway to a heavily desired festival of sorts. With…access granted…by the Daimyo of Kanto himself. Splendid!” The pass spat out of his palm, and Buff quickly caught it.

“Together we shall ascend to the hovertrain! Prepare thyselves!” the technomaster shouted.

The wires supporting the chair from above then came down, and attached into the floor around the chair.

Transparent glass walls suddenly enclosed around the group, forming a box, and the ground began to rise, pushed up by a pillar beneath them, shaking everyone except the man seated.

“SHIIIIIIIIIT! THIS DOESN’T FEEL SAFE AT ALL!” Kazue yelled as he held onto the chair for support.

The roof of the station parted open just wide enough for the platform they rode to pass through. Blinding skylight opened up before them as they ascended upwards towards the rails the hovertrain used.

The ominous man that held Xion and Saeko nearly lost his footing, allowing Buff to act, charging and pinning him against the glass wall. Xion and Saeko both scooted away, and Kazue soon followed in pursuit, containing the man’s arms too.

“Please, no boisterous behavior whilst on the platform” the technomaster mumbled to himself.

“This man is batshit crazy and forced himself onto the train with us!” Kazue yelled back.

“Hmmm, I cannot formulate a response. Perhaps structure your inquiry differently.”

“What are you? Some kind of computer?! This asshole held my friends hostage!”

“Crude language shan’t grant my insight any proper developments.”

“He is a computer,” the man grunted against the wall, “but looks human, right? What even is human anymore haha…hahaha.”

“Shut up freak!” Kazue yelled.

“Oh no, friend. You are mistaken. The freak is right behind you!” the man yelled, indicating Xion.

“What do you mean? I’m no different than you, just less hair, and less brashful,” Xion pondered.

“And way less stupid!” Saeko added.

“Tell your big friend here to let go of me, and I’ll show you,” the man snickered.

“Hell no,” Buff said.

The platform arrived at the hovertrain, connecting. Its large raspberry color shined brightly on the single compartment, and the horizontal energy rails vibrated powerfully.

While hovertrains were usually followed by several hundred additional passenger cars, this time only one compartment was available.

Each of the glass walls surrounding them retracted about a majority of the way, sending sudden whistling winds from the open air. What remained of the walls acted as a boundary on each side, while the glass wall between them and the train had gone completely, allowing access.

The wires from the man’s chair slithered across the bridged gap, forming thick rope-like barriers on each side of the bridge, while one injected itself into the siding of the train where a circular hole awaited it.

“I shall now begin the transfusion. Please board the train in a leisurely fashion.”

“Just a minute there. We need to send this guy back down to the station cause he’s afraid of heights” Buff said.

“My apologies. Due to the increase in traffic, I’ve been instructed to only send passengers, not return them. With my transfusion in process, I no longer retain my capability for elevation control, and I shall soon be fully residing within the hovertrain.”

“Can’t we signal some kind of emergency?” Buff argued.

“Technomasters shall exhibit cautionary measures if need be.” The old man’s body went limp, signifying near completion.

“Alright buddy, guess I’m just going to have to hold onto you the whole way,” Buff said as he pushed the man along with him to the train.

“I couldn’t ever say no to such a firm grip like yours,” the man chuckled.

The side door opened automatically, and each member entered inside.

They could hear the elevator outside begin to descend, and they watched out the windows as it descended, along with the lifeless body of the technomancer, and the tentacle-like wires that rejoined the pedestal.