Leadership

The guards that were inspecting us at the door started leading us down stairs to the lower levels.

“Ever think about installing an elevator?” Ekko jokingly asked, seeing it was pretty tiring to go down these seemingly endless steps.

“There is an elevator. But if you want to find a way to power it, be our guest.” The guard retorted in a similar joking manner.

We reached the floor where we were told their leader set up his office.

This floor wasn't for apartments like everything above it. Instead of rooms, a big open section that looked a little like a cafeteria wrapped around the inside.

There had to be hundreds of people here, all of them actively pursuing some sort of silly thing to stay in good spirits. A group of children were being entertained by a puppet show off in the corner. Some adults were laughing it up at a table, enjoying some sort of lime coloured beverage.

*Chink!*

“Kanpai!” they all shouted as their bottles collided.

“Look!” Ekko pointed to a group of elderly moving around little wooden pieces on a board. “I think that game is called Shogi.”

With how her eyes were lighting up, I think she wanted to try it.

“Those two fogies would love to see someone young pick up the game,” one of the guards said as he laughed. “If you get the time, give it a go.”

Ekko took on a bashful smile, but nodded.

Seeing people this lively gave me an idea of what the old world was like. People had fun. They got to do what they wanted, and that made me feel like this is what being human was all about.

Just thinking that people had this sort of freedom made me wonder why anyone would have wanted to change it in the first place.

***

Finally we reached the first doorway that led to Miyazaki-sama’s office. A small stretch of hallway past that door took us right up to the entrance.

Outside his office was a boy, no older than Ko, typing away at an elaborate computer like some sort of secretary. He was writing up a pretty complex code.

“He looks so smart…” Ekko whispered into my ear.

I was thinking that too. This kid had to be some sort of prodigy if he knew what he was doing.

“Go inside, I sent Miyazaki-sama a message that you're here,” he said in a dry tone.

He didn't even glance at us once. Just pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and continued typing. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought he was a robot.

The two guards with us opened the door, shuffling in and taking post at flanking positions. We followed them into the warmly lit room.

I was startled to see angelic statues scattered around the long oval shaped office, a backdrop of heavenly clouds laid behind them. They looked so lifelike, I’d thought there were actual fantastic beings in here.

“My goodness, what lovely artwork.” Ekko said.

“Thank you,” a man’s voice came from the desk across from the door, his chair facing away from us. “I made this all myself.”

The chair turned slowly, revealing a middle aged man in a clean casual outfit and nicely done short hair. He was decorated with colorful cartoon-like pins on both the right side of his chest and collar, almost like an otaku navy commander. His appearance was very disarming, even a little humble in a way.

On the corner of his desk was a mask similar to the ones Ko had given to us. His was that of an intimidating oni, like we’d vaguely seen in history books.

“I take it the boy is Kitsune, and the girl is Hannyako, correct?” Miyazaki-sama stood and bowed to us. “My name is Masamune Miyazaki, the leader of the Guardians of the soul.” Then he turned to Ko. “Excellent work bringing them here, Ko-Imouto. Glad we finally get to all meet in person.” he sat back in his seat.

“Likewise, Miyazaki-sama,” Ko bowed. “Kitsune, Hannyako, please pay your respects to Miyazaki-sama for allowing you to join this sanctuary.”

“It’s good to meet you, Miyazaki-sama,” Ekko took initiative and bowed. I followed her example. “I take it you’ve been the one pulling our strings since the start.”

“That’s correct,” he nodded. “But I can’t take all the credit. Ko-Imouto was the one who contacted you originally. She personally selected you, Hannyako, as a diamond in the ruff.”

I never would have guessed my sister was so deeply involved in a group like this. How did she manage that in the first place? Not to mention that she spotted Ekko as important.

The women in my life were pretty cool.

“You and your friend have done well to turn a few heads at your school,” Miyazaki-sama said, “but you only shook the beehive.” He turned his chair toward one of the statues behind him. “We would rather have it destroyed.”

If he was shooting for higher than just influencing a school full of kids, his revolution was going to need a lot of work. From what I was seeing here, we wouldn’t have the numbers to fight a war against the government in any way.

“With all due respect, how much more can we do with what we have?” I asked.

“You’d be surprised what a handful of spirited people can accomplish for the world.” he turned his chair back to us. "Because of the success of Hannyako’s mission, we learned it is possible to aim higher up without numbers. There are plenty of kinks in the government's armour, and we want to exploit them all."

"I'm assuming at this point my plan won't work twice," Ekko said. "The government will investigate this, so they'll be privy to us getting into people's homes and swapping their pills."

She was right. This sort of incident was on par with a terror attack. They wouldn't take it lightly. They were probably working on the propaganda as we speak.

"Ahh, you're right. But you're still thinking too small. We plan to cause more chaos than that.” He stretched out his hand toward us. “However, it can't be ignored that we’re still short-staffed on people willing to fight for freedom. Given your recent endeavors, I’d like to extend an invitation to the two of you to join in on our journey.”

Just his mere presence was inspiring me. Perhaps it was sheer charisma, or maybe my personal desire to let all people experience the joy of life that I’ve had the last few days, but I knew that we would do anything for this revolution.

“You must have a plan if you intend to use our help,” Ekko stated.

"Before I let either of you in on the plan, I need to know you'll be locked in. If any of this info leaks, we'll be in deep trouble.” his hand returned to his side. “Don’t feel pressured to join. But understand, I won’t allow either of you to leave this sanctuary otherwise…for security reasons. I hope you understand.”

Well, it was obvious what we needed to do then.

"We'll do it," I said.

"No way," Ekko replied at the same time.

At first I thought I’d heard her wrong, but she reinforced her words with a stern look.