An Empty Society

Automatic doors slid open, doors he’d been through countless times. Members of people’s families rested in the posh hospital lobby. They all wore drained, distraught faces Daichi always fought to hide himself from showing. But there was no point in hiding his inner emotions—not if Hanako wasn’t around. Most of these citizens were here for similar reasons. He recognized the lady with an emptied flower vase and the man with sunken eyes from the train. Everyone had a metaphorical cloud over their head.

Off in front of the reception desk, Daichi noticed a new receptionist on duty today, while a Dominion-branded security guard watched over nearby. Well that's strange. Where's Nishikino? But if there was one thing Daichi excelled at, it was reconnaissance and espionage—at whatever costs.

With a casual attitude, he waltzed up to the front desk. “Heya, I’m here to see Kyouko Ayanami; I’m her younger brother. She’s part of Dominion's reserved floors.”

The young, attractive receptionist fumbled with some papers and then with her computer. “Oh, your father should be up there right now."

"He usually comes ahead of me, yeah."

She clicked through more prompts while chewing on a piece of gum. "Says here your sister was actually part of the first wave of comatose cases. We apologize for your family's situation, but I assure you Dominion is doing everything possible to help.” Her tone had a hint of sarcasm, and then a roll of her eyes confirmed it.

Daichi peered around into the reception room behind her. "By the way, did Nishikino call in sick? The girl that's usually stationed here about now?”

“Ophelia? What’s it to you?” she snapped.

“Sorry, haha. I've been chatting with her for a bit and was gonna ask her out on a date today." He lied through his teeth.

“Oh. Big shots decided some hospital staff would be temporarily replaced by Dominion staff.” She glanced towards the nearby guard standing by. “There’s not much I’m allowed to say, but Nishikino is my friend. I can pass along your number if she wants to get in touch with you."

“Nah, that’s fine. Maybe I can work on getting your number instead?”

A large, pink bubble blew out of her mouth and popped. “Nice try kid, but I’m not into barely legal. Ophelia is the one with weird tastes; better off trying with her.”

An idea crossed his mind. “On second thought, yeah, give her my number and tell her it’s from Ayanami—the dude with silver hair she liked spending her breaks with.” Daichi scrawled his contact info on a piece of paper and slid it under the window. The receptionist folded it and slid it into her breast pocket.

“God knows she needs a boyfriend, but I’ll pass along your stuff to her. You’re welcome.”

“Thanks, I’ll head on up then. If I see you around though, maybe we can chat again sometime . . . ?”

She took her eyes off the computer screen and sized him up. “Fine. If Ophelia doesn’t bite, find me when you land a job that pays more than mine and you beef up a bit. I like guys I can show off."

"Got it." Daichi gave a thumbs up as he walked away and into the hospital hall. The forced smile slid off his face like a pie. He called an elevator down then soon buried himself in crushing guilt. 

I hate needing to act like this. But it's just until Kyouko wakes up. Just until everything is back to normal. Then me and Hanako . . .

More Dominion guards roamed their upper halls than regular hospital staff. Another Collector wearing dark sunglasses leaned up against a wall as he watched Daichi pass by. The special hospital ward he walked through was full of comatose people all silent in their rooms. Crestfallen friends and relatives lined the hallways, likely wondering when their loved ones would awaken from slumber.

Daichi arrived at the room that'd become his home away from home; an “Ayanami” family name was printed beside its entrance. He slid open the door.

Inside, a twilight sun poured through the hospital room's window while curtains billowed from a gust outside. Sitting beside Kyouko's bed, clutching her hand, was Daichi's meek, beige-haired father.

"Huh? Son?" he said with a baffled expression. He reached up to adjust his glasses. "Didn't you get my message?"

Daichi closed the door and walked in. Tranquil sunlight beamed onto his black uniform. “Dominion’s buggy system didn’t tell me about it until I was already coming over. Everything's going to complete shit.”

“Hey! Language! Look where we are."

Daichi's finger willed out the Dominion Menu. He tapped through several prompts, activating an application called “Seeker of Darkness" then closed his Menu again. “There. I turned on a program that makes it tougher for Dominion to spy on us, at least on my end. I installed it on your Dominion chip too but it needs manual activation.”

His father buried his face in his hands. “Please, grow out of this phase already. Ever since Kyouko got like this, you’ve been more paranoid about Dominion than ever. Think about how this might make you look to people—to Nakamura.”

“Hanako? She already knows how I am, just not how bad it is. She confessed to me last week actually.”

“She did?" His father seemed both shocked and elated. "What did you say?”

“I rejected her—don’t have time for relationships right now. It’d handicap my intel gathering I’ve been doing.”

“Huh? Intel gathering?”

Daichi walked around to the other side of Kyouko’s bed. She rested in a white gown with her long, silver hair neatly sustained by getting brushed daily from Dominion staff. Her head was encased in a futuristic, white helmet, with the mole on her cheek peeking from just underneath. But over two years of being comatose had withered her body.

“I’ve been talking with the front desk receptionist," Daichi responded, "Ophelia Nishikino. You should have recognized her. Did you think I wouldn't?"

His father avoided Daichi's cold gaze. "She probably wants to move on, like you should too."

"Not everyone can just forgive and forget. But yeah, since Nishikino started working here, I've been chatting with her and trying to siphon whatever useful info I could." It wasn't much though.

"Her family isn't our business."

"Maybe. She's on leave now though—Dominion probably caught on to us. Nishikino liked talking to me, so I asked someone to pass her my number in case she had anything left to say, especially about what happened to her grandpa."

A glint in his dad's glasses amplified his glare. "Is that why Hanako didn't come today, and why she's been coming less often? So she wouldn't get in the way of your 'intel gathering' with girls?"

"It's not like I want to do this." Daichi peered out the window, absorbing the glow of distant, setting horizon. "Hanako—she's more special to me than anyone, and I'd give her the world if I could.

"I think she wants you more than your platitudes. It's been obvious since you were kids."

"It doesn’t matter. If we start something now it'd just complicate things." Daichi turned back and started pacing around the room. "Once Kyouko wakes up, I'll do whatever Hanako asks to make up for everything—not that she knows what I'm doing though."

“Hanako's smarter than you give her credit for,” his dad replied. “She messaged me earlier: Something about you maybe being involved in an accident today on the train? With someone’s dad—I don’t know. Did something happen?”

She actually figured it out? With barely anything to work with? He recalled the surreal, traumatic experience that still shook him. But Hanako shouldn't have known anything besides what the mother and son said. "Tsk, nothing happened. Another loony getting collected on the train, that’s all. I was just around this time.”

“Knowing you, you purposefully put yourself in danger.”

“So? Not like I can record any of it. The system blurs out their faces and distorts their voices if I don’t have consent. I just wanted to talk to someone with a link to what’s going on. People online think the crazies might know what’s happening and that’s why Collectors—”

His dad got out of his seat and walked over to Daichi. Gentle arms wrapped around and embraced him, just like Hanako earlier—but Daichi felt nothing. Hugs, pity, praise, they’d lost all meaning since he was young. Images of his motionless mother flashed in his mind and superimposed themselves over Kyouko. Every time he loses a family member, a whole world loses its meaning.

The firm hug tightened.

“It won’t be like with your mom, I promise. I’ve been visiting Kyouko every day I can because I know she’s still in there somewhere. You just gotta believe and leave behind all this conspiracy stuff. If you don't, it'll eat at you worse than any virus could.”

Daichi nudged himself away from his dad. “A virus is just what they say it is. Rumors on the net say this is intentional: all the crazies, comas, and glitches."

"Please stop Dai—"

"Dominion is planning something big, bigger than when they cozied up to our politicians decades ago. That’s why they're looking after Kyouko here, not out of kindness, but because they’re experimenting on her. Kyouko is probably fighting inside but it’s up to us to fight our battles on this—”

“How about you fight back against this nonsense you’re spewing?”

Daichi’s head listed to the side, as if physically tired of the weight of his own emotions. He walked back around the bed and sat in his dad’s chair. A tired face looked towards Kyouko. “Tomorrow isn’t promised for anyone. Not for me, for Nishikino, or anyone else from back then. I don't want revenge, just answers—so I'm doing what I can, even if it’s just gathering info on the company that basically controls our lives.”

“You don’t have to put yourself out there, though. You’ve been through enough already.”

Another draft from the window blew by, rustling Daichi's silver hair. “I’m not the only one trying to find answers, but we’re all a bunch of ants trying to drag down a lion with the sheer weight of our numbers. You can’t win against a dogma unless you’re willing to question it.”

His father sat on Kyouko's bed and rubbed her hand. “Daichi, it’s not that I don’t believe you as much as I don’t want to believe you. I’d break if I took everything you said to heart. So for my sake, for Kyouko’s sake, can you not bring up these topics around us anymore? Please?”

Daichi remained quiet. His heart raced to catch up with his train of thought. He briefly closed his eyes and then stood up. “Okay. Sorry for bringing weird things up in the first place. It’s not something you need to hear if you don't want to."

"Wait, are you heading home?"

"Yeah. I won’t mention conspiracies anymore so don't worry. I’ll just find my own answers from here.” He disabled Seeker of Darkness and motioned to leave.

Hands that enveloped Kyouko's trembled. Her dad craned his face downwards as his voice started cracking. "B-Be careful, son. I used to be like you—chasing after questions no one tried or wanted answered. It was probably dangerous, so I told myself a phrase to keep myself in check."

"Hmm?"

A moment of solemn silence, then his dad spoke. "If you shake a tree hard enough, you might not like what falls on you."

Daichi nodded and adjusted his school uniform as he made his way to the door. “Heh. I'm counting on it.”