The fruit-fly and the goldfish

Friday, December 5th, 2014.

City N, District 47.

8:45 am.

Standing in front of an iron door having a big black master lock, a man wearing dark blue guard clothes was using the keys with his red chilled hands to open the door for a female standing behind him.

‘’The snow seems to be more than yesterday.’’

The thirty-year-old female commented on the weather as she placed her hand inside her brown leather coat pocket trying to take out something.

‘’The severity is still not enough to stop us from working.’’ The male guard added sarcastically.

‘’At least the banks that were robbed have workers on vacation.’’ The female sniffed and cleaned her nose with a tissue.

‘’About that, two more were robbed yesterday, same way with same things left behind.’’ Opening the lock and sliding the door the guard looked back and continued.

‘’A path of flowers saying ‘welcome losers’?’’ The female pointed towards the inner part of the bank as her eyes went wide.

‘’Oh, you are also following the case on news…’’ the guard stopped talking after noticing her eyes and finger pointing behind him.

The tissue that she was holding flew away from her hand as her grip loosened in shock. The guard turned around, now also seeing what the female saw, a path made of rose petals with writing at the start was leading inside through the main gate.

‘’Happy vacations…’’ the guard stared at the rose petal path in amazement.

************

‘’THIS IS RIONO TUFFIO, AND YOU ARE WATCHING RANDOM THOUGHTS AT 2 AM.’’

‘’AT 2 AM ONE RANDOM THOUGHT COMES TO MY MIND, WHO ROBBED 10 BANKS 2 MONTHS AGO? AND WHY DID THEY LEAVE NOTES AND ROSE PETALS AFTER THE ROBBERY?’’

‘’TRULY A CRIMINAL GENIUS IF I SAY SO MYSELF, LEAVING NO TRACES AND GIVING NO CLUES TO THE AUTHORITIES, WAS THEIR TRUE PURPOSE TO MOCK LAW AND ENFORCEMENT, OR WAS THIS A WORK OF A RIVAL BANK TO SHOW HOW BAD THEIR SECURITY IS.’’

‘’I AND MANY CITIZENS STILL WONDER TO THIS DAY, WHO WAS THIS UNKNOWN ROBBER AND WHAT IS HE OR SHE DOING NOW?’’

************

14-year-old Ivan woke up screaming, after having a nightmare. Black hairs, dull and brown eyes, and a height of 5’4 complimented with a good physique was his structure.

Hearing Ivan’s cry for help, woke his parents when the clock was hitting a little over 2 am, it was going to be a pleasant day on 14 February 2015 for them, as before they went to sleep they made countless plans for their romantic date on their off day of Saturday. They went to bed early to be full of energy and enjoy the company of each other throughout the day.

With their sleep disturbed, who’s to say if the calm and romantic day wasn’t going to be full of fights and yelling at each other.

‘’Ahhhhhhh.’’

Ivan’s parents rushed upstairs with fear in their eyes, thinking of many things that could have happened to him, their hearts were beating rapidly, and their faces formed sweat.

‘’Ivan! Ivan, what happened?’’ Hugo shaw, Ivan’s father yelled in a voice that was losing its force slowly.

Sarina K. Shaw, Ivan’s mother, on the other hand, didn’t lose her senses as much as Hugo did, as they made their way to Ivan’s room, she grabbed the web cleaning stick to defend against anything or anyone that could be inside Ivan’s room.

With a bang, Hugo opened the red wooden door and Sarina quickly found the light switch to brighten up Ivan’s dark room. They could see him, sitting in the middle of his bed, hidden under the blanket, trembling and weeping.

Hugo advanced near Ivan, while Sarina searched every corner of that room to find the cause of this disturbance.

Sitting on the bed, Hugo gently placed his hand on Ivan’s covered head.

‘’Wh… what happened?’’

Sarina on the other hand, carefully peeked through the covers of the window, seeing the guards in a calm state near the main gate gave her relief.

‘’I saw something bad…’’ Ivan’s voice was trembling.

‘’Where?’’ Hugo asked in concern.

Sarina moved her eyes towards Hugo and Ivan, eager to know the reason behind Ivan’s scream.

‘’It was a dream. *gulp* A scary dream…’’

‘’Awe… what did you see?’’ Hugo hugged Ivan, slowly removing his blanket to comfort him.

Sarina sighed and moved near the bed, still holding on to the stick she grabbed on her way to Ivan’s room.

‘’There weren’t any eggs in our fridge.’’ Ivan broke into tears, to him it was the most terrifying thing.

‘’Alright, got it, now go back to sleep, we aren’t out of eggs.’’

Sarina replied calmly, yet irritation was clearly on her face, on the other hand, Hugo was confused and trying to hold his laughter the worry he had a moment ago vanished in an instant.

************

After his parents went back to sleep, laying on his bed, with tired eyes that were crying ‘sleep’ Ivan’s brain reminded him of the dream he had again and again.

Images of eggs leaving him behind on someone’s doorstep or an egg wearing female clothing slapping and breaking up with him were something that kept his eyes from ever closing.

Not having peace of mind, he was left with no choice but to confirm it with his own eyes. Slowly and quietly, Ivan made his way towards the kitchen, as he opened the door of the fridge the view felt like heaven to him. In his eyes the eggs were dancing and happy to see him, even welcoming him into their domain of cold and well-lit environment.

Tears formed in Ivan’s eyes, tears of happiness followed by a smile. He picked up one of the eggs and kissed it, followed by a gentle snuggle and rubbing it on his face.

‘I was so scared, scared of losing you.’

This is a weird habit not gonna lie, but for Ivan eggs were everything.

************

The scary night for Ivan had passed, and the day was entering its second phase. At almost noon, Ivan sneaked out of his house, wearing but a t-shirt and shorts. He was happy and looking forward to something as he climbed over the wall, running and hiding from the cameras and guards of his household.

With freedom in hand, the first thing he did was disturb a straight line of ants carrying food. This was the definition of fun for that weird-looking-now-titan-faced kid.

The next thing on his list was running after birds in the park. He had a habit of annoying everyone and everything, much like any teen his age.

He dropped after stumbling over a small pebble making his shorts come off as he face-spanked the ground. But this wasn't enough to stop him, he got up and followed those birds as if nothing happened. He dropped again, and got up again, following the same pattern many times.

During this cycle of ‘hello earth, here comes my face.’ Ivan heard a soothing tone, a piece of music that made his ears stand, making him happier than ever, and adding water to his mouth.

It was an ice-cream truck, and he got his favorite flavor, mango.

Holding the cone and standing on the sidewalk Ivan was zoned out deep in thoughts with his dull and almost dead-looking eyes, he wasn’t eating the ice cream, nor staring at it. All that energy and happiness he had before vanished in an instant.

His tongue or the cone didn’t move, although the index finger of the free hand did, it went straight into his nostrils as Ivan stared into nothingness.

A weird kid in all ways and appearance, he wasn’t easy to read, it was the same issue an onlooker was having. Sitting in a white car, Utsukushi Jagaimo (27) had been observing Ivan’s every movement since he left his house.

‘What the hell leaders saw in this moron? A criminal prodigy… my ass!’

************

11 February 2015, City Z, District 47.

Location: M.C.O headquarters for District 47.

6 people wearing luxury clothes were sitting inside a conference room. The windows were covered to avoid any natural daylight entering inside and disturbing the projector’s view.

‘’Next in discussion is the famous unknown robber. Robbed 10 banks within 7 days with a total amount of 55 million. No trace or CCTV footage to be found, and his case remains unsolved even after 2 months. The only clue he left was a paper with the worst writing I have ever seen in my life. It had 3 words, ‘you got robbed - Kachi’.’’

A 53-year-old man spoke as he clicked on the laptop in front of him, showing slides on the projection.

(Derrick Pabian, Head of criminal scouting and supervision agency - C.S.S.A.)

‘’Another entry for Division eight… there sure are many entries above thirty years of age this year.’’

Spoke a 34yo female as she wrote something on a page.

(Mia Baker, Head of robber association - R.A.)

‘’You are lucky to have so many, meanwhile, my agency got a handful.’’

(Victor Mace - 25yo, Head of hitman’s tribe - H.T.)

‘’That’s why R. A generates 100 times more profit than any of us.’’

(Ava Valcourt - 28yo, Head of families of the Underworld - F.U)

‘’Now, now, let's not turn this into a competition, cuz’ you all know, none of you can function without us.’’

(Kevin Smith - 41yo, Head of corrupt government and non-government officials - C.G.O.)

‘’If I may speak, without making this more of a competition, the candidate in question isn’t even an adult,’’ Derrick spoke without a hint of unseriousness, ‘’he is 14, a third-year middle school student. A school store-bought notebook was used for the papers he left. Made it less difficult to track him down. Much like C.G.O, we crossed out the thought of a teen doing this, but the question of ‘what if’ was something my agency was able to understand.’’

Everyone except one listened to what Derrick was saying in silence and thought, ‘did Kevin just got burned… pfft.’

‘’What’s his name?’’

(Emma Rodriguez - 41yo, Head of management of criminal organizations - M.C.O)

‘’Ivan shaw.’’

‘’No matter what he did, we don't recruit anyone below fifteen, or did your old mind forget that division one’s age limit is fifteen to seventeen?’’

Kevin spoke in a cocky manner, trying his hardest to feel important in front of everyone else. He smirked a bit as he moved his eyes toward Mia, non-verbally saying that she can’t have the candidate.

‘’We can make an exception, can't we?’’ Derrick added to the argument, moving his hand towards Emma, ‘’Miss Emma was recruited when she was 9, do you want to question her eligibility as well?’’

Kevin moved his eyes down on the mention of Emma’s name, he was arrogant, but not idiot enough to know who he should mess with and whom he should avoid.

‘’Do as you please, it's not my agency anyways.’’

************

‘They told me to be on guard around him and boosted over how he made a record as a teen robber. But all I see is less than an average teen, even saying that is an overstatement.’

Utsukushi glanced at her phone showing Ivan's picture, which had a red stamp, reading… 'Candidate'

She sighed at the sight of it, shaking her head after realizing that she had no choice but to follow the orders she was given.

Wearing black glasses and holding on to a stick, she got off the car, pretending to be a blind person. Her movement was suspicious, but she was doing a great job at acting it out.

She made her way to the zoned-out Ivan, gently touching his legs with the stick to get his attention. Ivan didn’t respond, he stayed in the same state he was in before.

‘’Anybody there?’’

Utsukushi called out to him while hitting on his legs. She was met with no response again for a few more seconds until Ivan spoke three words.

‘’You a cop?’’

‘’What?’’ Utsukushi, taken by surprise had no real response. In her head, only a single thought entered, ‘how did he know I was following him?’

‘’Can’t be a cop, you are riding a white car with no frontal number plate, the inside is new and not decorated, which takes out the probability of ownership. So the question is if you aren’t a cop, who are you exactly? And why are you following me?’’

‘’I'm here to recruit you.’’

‘’For what exactly?’’

‘’Our robber program.’’

Utsukushi was still pretending to be blind, as she was speaking, she kept beating Ivan's legs with her stick.

‘’Can you please stop,’’ Ivan’s eyes were slowly gaining their shine, ‘’I know you ain’t blind either.’’

When Ivan’s zoned-out state lifted, the first thing his eyes noticed and his hand felt was the melted ice cream.

Seeing the yellow liquid on the ground and his hand, made him sad, to the point he seemed like he was about to cry.

‘Don’t tell me, he just noticed that? Was he too focused on me that everything else seemed to have vanished around him? I knew he was an idiot.’

‘’I will listen to what you have to say, if… and only if, you buy me a new cone.’’

‘’Yeah… sure? I can do that.’’

************

Sitting on the sidewalk bench, Ivan enjoyed the fresh cone as Utsukushi and he talked further.

‘’So how much?’’

‘’How much, what?’’

‘’My cut, I don’t work for free, at least not in a group I don't know.’’

‘’Oh! I’m not here for a gig, as I said before, it's a program, we gather the best criminal minds around the district and help them be even better.’’

‘’If that’s the case, then I’m sorry, I work alone.’’

‘’You were interested a moment ago!’’

‘’My tongue slipped.’’

‘’Well… If you don't join our program you will be arrested by the police after we give them the evidence of course which we have, not just the bank robberies, we have everything on you. So… the only key that's keeping you out of prison is us, think again and then give me an answer.’’

‘’Lies.’’

Utsukushi didn’t speak after that, she went silent and stared at Ivan. which of course made him nervous. Ivan broke down like someone who was rejected in front of a mass crowd.

‘’Tell me, what I have to do.’’

While weeping and crying, Ivan finished the ice cream. He was scared, but he also had other priorities.

‘’Simply join our program, and we will offer you skills, equipment, knowledge, anything, you name it.’’

‘’so… no charges on whatever I do, and I get anything I want for my jobs?’’

‘’Yes… that’s the gist of it’’

‘’I'm in, where do I sign?’’

‘’Oh! It's not a contract, we want you to study in our high school of crime.’’

‘’Study? Spoiled peanuts!’’

Ivan hated studying, evident by his reaction, as he was cleaning the tears.

‘’So?’’

(stare pause)

‘’Alright, you win…’’

‘Yes!’

************

‘’BUT THE RISE IN CRIME RATE CAN BE LINKED TO THIS NEW DISTRICT SYSTEM, IT WAS SLOWLY DECLINING BEFORE 1964.’’

‘’CRIME HAS BEEN IN THIS WORLD SINCE HUMANS STARTED WALKING, SO IT'S FAIR TO LINK THE RISE WITH THE RISE IN POPULATION.’’

On a grey-colored desk, a phone screen was showing the recording of an old news program. The colors were dull which hinted that the news was aired before 1990.

‘’MORE THAN 160 COUNTRIES TURNED INTO 50 DISTRICTS, WOULD BE HARD TO BELIEVE IF IT WENT PEACEFULLY.’’

‘’THE PAST CAN'T BE CHANGED, NOR DOES IT HELPS IN THE FUTURE, WHAT WE NEED IS A NEW SYSTEM, SOMETHING MORE THAN LAWS AND PUNISHMENTS.’’

‘’THERE IS M. C. O, I THINK IT'S WORKING PRETTY WELL, WITH FEWER CASUALTIES AND LOWER DAMAGES. BEEN ONLY A YEAR SINCE IT WAS FORMED. BUT THE DECLINE IS VISIBLE.’’

‘’WE HAVE FALLEN TOO LOW, GOVERNMENTS AGREEING ON THIS ABSURDITY, ASKING HELP FROM CRIMINALS TO CONTROL CRIMINALS.’’

‘’WELL, AS THE SAYING GOES, IRON BEATS IRON.’’

‘’Why are you doing this, we had an understanding didn’t we?’’

Tied to a chair, Ivan was forced to watch this old recording. Along with him, Utsukushi was also present in that room which looked identical to the interrogation room used by cops.

‘’Aren't you a lively one!’’ Utsukushi glared down at Ivan, smirking with her crossed arms.

"Never mind, *SIGH* I always wanted to say that after a kidnapping, this is what we are, the management of criminal organizations. If you want to do any kind of crime, you must go through training and follow the rules we give."

‘’Okay, okay, but why the fuck you kidnapped me, I gave in to your clownery without resistance, and the next thing you do is make your people ambush me on my way home.’’

‘’I was supposed to do that in the first place, was gonna act like a blind person, ask your help, lower you in an empty place and abduct you. But you caught me off-guard, so I had to make some different arrangements.’’

‘’Alright that’s cleared, now to the video or whatever you showed me, it doesn't explain anything"

‘’That's the only thing I could find on the internet, *TEE HEE* I forgot to bring my laptop.’’

‘’Don’t teehee me… Can't you use words?’’

‘’I don't remember what we do, I'm kinda new in C. S. S. A.’’

‘’Bruh…’’

‘’Oh wait, I can tell what you need to do after I kidnap you.’’

Ivan’s eyes lost their spark as they moved to the left. He was trying to not get annoyed by her unprofessionalism.

‘’Well, be my guest and shit on.’’

‘’You will go to headquarters where they will assign you a new ID, a caretaker, and supplies for the whole year of your stay in HOC. I know who your caretaker is going to be… but I can’t seem to remember.’’

Midway speaking, Utsukushi stopped and tried to think hard. However, the name of Ivan’s caretaker didn’t come out of her blurry memory.

‘’Not bad, I can tell my parents I want to do a small diploma after middle school, so… can I… go now?’’

Ivan moved his hands, trying to free himself from the tight ropes, which was of no use as his physical strength wasn’t enough.

‘’You can’t, It starts on Monday.’’

‘’Oh come on, isn’t it going too fast? what will I tell my parents? That I want to drop school right before the final exams of my last year?"

‘’That's covered, your family is familiar with our system.’’

‘’Don't lie, they are clean as new snow, I bet they will freak out if they ever found out about me.’’

Ivan’s words were followed by an awkward laugh as he looked at Utsukushi hoping for her to say what he wanted to hear.

‘’Actually…’’ Raising the index finger of her right hand, Utsukushi was going to reveal what Ivan didn’t want to hear.

Ivan tried to shake the whole chair, in an attempt of running away for the sole purpose of not hearing what she had to say.

‘’No… I don't want to hear it.‘’

‘’Your mother and sister were in the hitman program and father and brother in the corrupt officials' program. Seems like apples don't fall far from trees.’’

‘’I wanted it to be a surprise and at least make one of them have a heart attack.’’

Ivan wept, seeing his dreams of scaring his parents being crushed.

************

Back in Shaw's household, Ivan's parents were having time of their life. Holding each other's hands they spun in pure happiness.

‘’Logan is in college dorms, Axia in training camp.’’

‘’Ivan is taken by M.C.O’’

‘’Wait, what? When? I thought he went out to throw pebbles at random kids again.’’

‘’You know what that means…’’

‘’Why didn’t you tell me about it earlier, Sarina?’’

‘’We are free… the days of our fun start now.’’

‘’Can’t argue with that.’’

‘’HAHAHAHAHA.’’

5 minutes later…

Sitting on the sofa of their living room, they looked gloomy, almost dead, realizing how lonely they felt without the presence of their idiot and mischievous son.

‘’I miss Ivan.’’

‘’Why can’t one of our kids not be like us, do you think it's cuz of our poor parenting skills, Sarina?’’

************

Location: C.S.S.A headquarters for district 47

City W.

A tall building that for common folks belonged to a car company was the place where C.S.S.A functioned.

Ivan entered inside along with Utsukushi and her two goons. Looking at his wrist with pondering eyes he followed her to the reception desk. The tingly feeling of those ropes was still there, and they had left red marking aswell.

‘’Welcome to Galius corporations, how may I help you?’’

‘’Do you sell a bike with 9 tires?’’

Ivan moved his attention and listened to their conversation in confusion, thinking there might be something wrong with Utsukushi, or the receptionist was also from a psychiatric hospital.

‘’Going for goblin hunting?’’

‘’Secured one, need passage to the market.’’

‘Did she just call me a goblin, I look that ugly?’

‘’I hope the jungle won’t be harsh for you.’’

The receptionist stood up, and grabbed keys from a drawer, gesturing to follow him.

Reaching an elevator in an uncrowded area on the ground floor, the receptionist used the keys to open the door and spoke as they entered inside.

‘’Coconut.’’

A female voice from the elevator replied to it, ‘’what flavor shall be the chocolate?’’

‘’Something, wholesome.’’

‘’Any style you require?’’

‘’Heart of dragon.’’

‘’Request received, welcome to the library of underworld.’’

While the elevator was moving, Ivan stared at Utsukushi having many thoughts in his head.

‘’Hey… lady,’’ Ivan gently pulled the cuff of Utsukushi’s coat, ‘’what were you talking about earlier.’’

‘’What?’’ Utsukushi couldn’t hear what Ivan said, she was in a different place, lost in her memories, simping over the young and hot receptionist.

‘’Never mind, it was a dumb question.’’

Her eyebrows stressed, trying to figure out what Ivan was on about, ‘’okay?...’’

************

Utsukushi was inside an office with glass windows, making it easy for anyone outside to see what was going on. Although the glass wasn’t letting the sound of the people talking be heard.

Ivan was sitting on a bench near that office with the two 6 feet tall goons of Utsukushi, without being suspicious or letting them know what he was doing, Ivan carefully placed an earphone in his left ear while covering it with his hand. He made it seem like he was bored and was waiting for something.

Inside the office, on the inner portion of Utsukushi’s coat cuff was a small chip with blue light going on and off.

Ivan had placed it when he was trying to talk with her in the elevator.

‘’You can’t be serious! I’m not taking care of that moron.’’

Utsukushi pointed toward Ivan through the glass wall, which he noticed after hearing her words.

‘’You were happy when we told you yesterday,’’ her superior yelled out of stress.

‘’Well forgive me for thinking he was a genius, if only I had known how big of a moron he is, I wouldn’t even have gone to recruit him.’’

‘’You are in it for better or worse, either you become his caretaker, or leave this agency, the choice is yours.’’

‘’This is blackmailing, sir, you don’t get it, that kid has a brain the size of a peanut and attention span of a fruitfly.’’

‘’I say it fits well with someone who has a memory span of a goldfish.’’

‘’Well… that was… kinda mean, don’t you think?’’

‘’It’s not mean if it's a fact, now get away from my face and do your job.’’

‘’I’m telling you, recruiting him will be our biggest mistake, he might be a great criminal and shit, but he is still a moron.’’

Utsukushi slammed the door as she came out, she had anger on her face as she advanced near Ivan, but her professionalism made her anger turn into a smile when she started talking with him.

‘’So… I found out who your caretaker is.’’

She had a smile, but her eyes were dead, showing the mixed nature of her emotions and duties.

‘’And who is that?’’

Ivan carefully removed the earphone and sat straight.

‘’Me!’’ she sighed while dropping her head down.

‘’I don’t think it will work between us.’’

‘’Thank you, I had the same thing in mind.’’

‘’I mean you don’t look old enough to pretend like my mother.’’

Hearing that, Utsukushi snapped and went straight for Ivan’s throat, taking advantage of that situation, he removed the chip from her cuff.

‘’You are old, I won't call you young again.’’

This made Utsukushi even angier.

‘’You are a jerk and a moron, I was right about you.’’

Utsukushi, with her hand on his throat, shoved him hard as her voice converted from angry to almost crying.

‘’What you smiling at, you human trash.’’

************

Ivan and Utsukushi stood in front of a small desk with a lady sitting on a chair, they were standing in the busiest corner of that floor, having many small desks and people crowding around them.

‘’Name, please.’’

The desk lady didn’t waste any time with greetings and went straight to business.

‘’Utsukushi Jagaimo, rank 9 agent.’’

‘’Your name sounds different,’’ asked Ivan in curiosity.

‘’It's a code name that was given to me by my instructor.’’

Utsukushhi sighed, remembering her dark and not-so-pleasant past.

‘’Matter of business?’’ asked the desk lady while typing on a computer.

‘’Need to register a student under me and require needed accessories.’’

‘’What does your name mean?’’

‘’Can you shut up for a second,’’ Utsukushi was still angry about having Ivan under her.

‘’Which program, and division?’’ the desk lady stopped typing and looked at Utsukushi.

‘’Robber program, Division one.’’

‘’Second name Jagaimo, any preferred first name, or do you want it random?’’

As the desk lady spoke, Utsukushi stared at Ivan who was looking around that floor like an eagle hunting for prey, however other than his eyes, his facial expressions suggested that he was zoned out again, with his wide open mouth and nose-picking.

‘’Yo moron, what do you want to be your code name?’’

‘’Kachi,’’ Ivan looked towards Utsukushi, still picking his nose.

‘’Like the robber in that 2000’s movie?’’

‘’Yes! Is that an issue?’’

‘’No, it's just your qualities don’t match with him in any way.’’

‘’How so?’’

‘’For starters, he was a genius and depicted as the best robber there is.’’

‘’I will be the best soon.’’

‘’Pfft, haha, yeah right.’’

As Utsukushi was clearing the tears of laughter from her eyes, the desk lady cleared her throat to bring her attention back to her.

Her laughter was overlooked by the desk lady and the people around her, however, Ivan (kachi) glared at her with killing intent.

************

7 years ago

Ivan (Kachi) wearing colorful shorts was sitting in a class. The tables and chairs were small and so was he and the other kids.

A young female teacher was standing near a whiteboard with 'when I grow up' written on it.

‘’Today is a special-special day, everybody gets to tell their dreams and goals of what they want to be when they grow up.’’

She spoke in a friendly tone, bending closer to the students in front of her.

‘’So who wants to go first?’’

Many kids raised their hands, having big smiles while they looked at her in hopes of being picked first.

‘’Go ahead Feena, tell us what you want to be.’’

A confident girl stood up, eyeballing everyone as she spoke. ‘’I want to be a singer.’’

‘’Awe, that's nice, I'm sure you will have a lot of fans.’’

The little girl giggled as she sat back.

‘’Now, who's next, umm.’’ she pointed at almost every kid, raising their hopes and slowly crushing them, ‘’you go next Ivan.’’

‘’I want to be the best chef there is!’’ Ivan shouted, showing his determination.

‘’That's unusual for a boy to dream of, don't you think?’’

The teacher wasn't being rude as she asked that question.

‘’Ivan is a girl… Ivan is a girl.’’ Everyone in the class started teasing him as they pointed at him and laughed, while a few threw paper balls and rubbers at him

‘’Hey, stop, he can have any dream he wants.’’

.

..

…

‘’THIS JUST IN, AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN BLOCK 20, CITY U, CAUGHT FIRE 40 MINUTES AGO AT 11:23 PM, THE FIREFIGHTERS AND THE LOCAL POLICE ARE ALREADY THERE, LUCKILY NO ONE WAS PRESENT INSIDE THE BUILDING AT THE TIME OF THE INCIDENT. THE REASON BEHIND THIS FIRE IS ASSUMED TO BE FAULTY WIRES.’’

************

Sitting in the car, as they moved towards the apartment they were allotted, Kachi (Ivan) looked at the paper he was given by the desk lady along with his student ID. While reading that page his thoughts involved the incident that took place in the morning.

The page in Kachi’s hand read…

(C.S.S.A - ID)

NAME: KACHI JAGAIMO

DATE OF BIRTH: 07 SEPTEMBER 2001.

PARENTS: DEAD

GUARDIAN: UTSUKUSHI JAGAIMO

HOME ADDRESS: APARTMENT COMPLEX 9, BLOCK 31, CITY J, DISTRICT 47.

(ORIGINAL - ID)

NAME: IVAN SHAW

DATE OF BIRTH: 21 JAN 2001.

PARENTS: HUGO SHAW (ALIVE) & SARINA K. SHAW (ALIVE)

GUARDIAN: N/A

SIBLINGS: LOGAN SHAW (ALIVE) & AXIA SHAW (ALIVE)

HOME ADDRESS: SHAW HOUSE, BLOCK 14, NEAR MANAMUSA PARK, CITY U, DISTRICT 47.

PLEASE USE THE FAMILY REGISTRATION CERTIFICATE PROVIDED BY C.S.S.A. FOR ANY LEGAL DOCUMENTS FROM NOW ON. THIS FORUM IS ONLY FOR PRIVATE SAFEKEEPING.

‘What’s Jagaimo?’

‘’Hey Utsukushi, what does your name means, I know Kachi means worth, but what’s Jagaimo?’’

‘’Oh, I was given this name by my instructor when I started working here, but I never thought of the meaning. His last name was also Jagaimo.’’

‘’Can I use your phone?’’

‘’Why? Getting bored already? We still got 7 hours of drive.’’

‘’No, I simply want to search for the meaning of my last name.’’

‘’So you say, I bet you will download a movie using my hotspot.’’

‘’I don’t need hotspot.’’

‘’Then?’’

‘’I need your phone.’’

‘’You left yours at home?’’

‘’No, I don’t own one, never saw the need of it.’’

‘’What kind of teenager are you?’’ Utsukushi handed him her cell with many questions in her mind.

‘’There…’’ Kachi searched on google to find the meaning of his name but his reaction wasn’t happiness.

‘’It means potato.’’

‘’What?’’

‘’Jagaimo means potato, and Utsukushi means beautiful.’’

‘’At least, I’m a beautiful potato.’’

‘’Yeah… good for you,’’ Kachi gave her phone back.

He looked outside the window trying to hide the embarrassment.

‘’Haha… wait… I get it now.’’

‘’What?’’

‘’Your name!’’

‘’What about it?’’

‘’It means worth potato, seems to fit you perfectly.’’

‘’Yeah I get it, I’m worth shit, now eyes on the road, please.’’

‘’Hahaha, worth… potato.’’

‘’Oh come on, it's not like I’m the only potato here.’’

‘’Call me aunt from now on.’’

‘’Seems like I’m not the only one embarrassed by their name, eh, beautiful potato.’’

‘’Oh shut up!’’

************

It was around midnight, Kachi was sleeping and Utsukushi was reading a few files given to her by the agency. After they reached the apartment, there wasn’t much to do, as everything was in place and already moved in.

Kachi’s room had all the needed equipment and clothes he would require during this program and Utsukushi’s room was full of files and had a computer to help her work easily.

During the time she was reading the details of things Kachi needs to do on day one of his school, she received a call.

The caller ID was showing Kachi’s mother’s name.

‘’Hello Miss Sarina.’’

‘’No need for formalities, call me Sarina.’’

‘How about I call you moron’s mother?’ - ‘’Ah alright, anything I can help you with? You know you can’t contact your son or the caretaker during the program period.’’

‘’It hasn’t started so this doesn't count, I was just calling to know how he is doing?’’

‘’He is… alright.’’

Utsukushi moved her eyes to the right, trying to control the words that were about to leave her lips.

‘’I was simply worried, it's his first time being away from us.’’

‘’Don’t worry too much, he seemed pretty cool about this, unlike most recruits we dealt with in the past.’’

‘’Oh good, I’m leaving him in your hands then, so… If anything happens to him, even a scratch, I will personally butcher you. Have fun.’’

‘What kind of psycho says this with a happy tone?’

As the call cut off, Utsukushi stayed in the same state, holding her phone near her ear, her eyes were wide, and her face was engulfed in fear.

************