Auction

DISCLAIMER : Chapter contains sensitive subjects! Please read at your own discretion!

Ko brought us across the entire casino to where they had a big stage setup. Tons of people were gathered here in seats and eagerly awaiting a show of some kind.

All the people had masks on. These weren’t like the ones we were given by the Guardians. They were thin, covering only the eyes, held up by something as thin as a string.

Eventually an announcer got up on stage, then addressed the crowd.

“I’m sure you’re all excited to be here today. Remember, these auctions are paid upfront in full. If you can’t pay, you won’t receive your pick of the litter.”

“Pick of the litter?” I raised a brow. “Ko, what is this?”

“You’ll find out soon enough…”

A line of about eight people stepped from behind the curtain. They all either had black suits or dresses on, but both had black bags over their heads.

“The hell is this?” I grit my teeth.

“Don’t tell me those are…” Ekko fists balled up, but a sigh calmed her.

“It gets worse,” Ko said. “Wait till the bags come off.”

One by one, the announcer removed the bags from their heads. Immediately Ekko and I recognized one of the girls up there as a classmate of ours. She had a particularly noticeable beauty spot on her chin.

Even with the bags now off, all of them still had something in common. Their expressions, the look in their eyes, all lifeless.

They looked like dead bodies, bobbing back and forth just to prove they were raised from the dead.

Ekko let out a loud gasp. People looked over to us, but she just faked a smile and waved to dismiss their curiosity.

“What, what did you see?” I whispered to her.

“Y-you see that guy in the middle?” she pointed. “Remember the bus ride with the creeper?”

I almost would have missed it, but that was definitely the same guy. How the hell did he end up here? I thought he was being rehabilitated.

“Alright folks! These fine eight specimens are ready for the market! We'll start the bets with the old guy right here!”

One by one, each of them were auctioned off for exuberant amounts of money. Even the bus creeper was sold off, but probably at the lowest amount.

The guy who bought our classmate seemed a bit too eager to leave, it almost looked like he wasn’t even going to pay. A few angry glares from the security reminded him though.

“Finally…I got a hotty!” he cheered. “Now those idiots won’t call me a peasant for not having any servants.”

I wanted to punch that guy. Nothing but a creep. Actually, I could think of a lot worse things I'd like done. Training taught us a lot of destructive techniques that would leave a man very inept at the end of the day.

“Aww, looks like that’s the last one!” the announcer let out a gasp. “Oh, but wait? It looks like we have one very special final prize of the night! Oh boy, what a cute one!”

“Huh?” I kept my eyes peeled on the stage.

One more person was brought up on stage. A child in a dress. The bag over her head was white as opposed to the black ones from before.

“Pure as a daisy, I present to you our main event! The prize catch of the night! Here lies the future of the nation in a tiny doll-like package! Her name is Seiko, and man, is she a good one!”

He removed the bag, revealing the innocent face of a young child.

I immediately imagined Ko up there in place of that girl. The rage that filled my heart made me clench my fist and march forward.

Ekko stopped me.

“Wait. You’ll get us caught if you do something,” Ekko argued.

“And let them get away with this? Are you joking?” I was ready to throw down with everyone in this room to save that little girl.

“Remember our training. If we act rash, we’ll only ruin the mission.”

“To hell with that!” I shouted. The sudden cheers from the crowd masked my loud voice.

That little girl might have been all doped up and nobody was going to help her. The grubby hands of all those men waving fistfuls of cash up in the air for her made me sick.

The announcer gazed over the crowd, shaking his head with a smile.

“Aww, folks, I don’t think this chump change is going to cut it. We’re talking about the culmination of years of selective breeding right here. She’s going to grow up and be the best of the best!”

“Go ahead, tell us the price...” I quietly egged him on, as if my words even got passed the loudness of the room.

A part of me hoped it would be so exorbitantly high that nobody would be willing to pay it.

“Let’s start the bidding at ten billion yen!”

The amount of curse words the crowd flung through the air made it sound like they were speaking some otherworldly vulgar language.

Ten billion was an incredibly high number! No way anyone would ever pay something like that.

Or so I thought…

A hand raised. It was a very large looking guy in a lavish suit.

“11.”

“Damn it…” I growled through my teeth.

My breathing became ravenous. I wanted to fight that guy for even daring to offer up such a pithy amount for a precious life like that.

“12!” A woman shouted from the corner.

“15! Beat that, cheeky c***s!”

How could anyone have that much money to their name?

“Woah, folks! This is a family friendly event!” The announcer said. “Please, just state your bets and that’s all!”

“I’ll hurt them…I’ll kill them all!” I shouted.

“Ikari-san, calm down!” Ekko told me. “Please, they’ll hear you!”

“I don’t care! I’ll take out everyone in this room if I have to!”

My rage had spilled over. It took the combined might of both Ekko and Ko to keep me from rushing in and crashing their little betting war.

The people’s smiles. How could anyone smile at this? Selling something as precious as a life, as if it were nothing but a game!

“Brother, please, don’t forget we're trying to put a stop to this.”

“I’ll put a stop to it alright. Give me five minutes here.”

I was strong enough to do it. I could run in there and clean house…save everyone from being a commodity.

Ekko pulled me close to her, holding me tightly.

“Listen…” she cried into my chest. “I know…I know how much it hurts, knowing you can’t save someone…I know! I couldn’t save everyone, and I might be the reason several of those people are up there to begin with. But please, remember that we are trying to save them all. Fighting people here won't make that happen.”

I was torn between my rage and Ekko’s voice. She was right, I couldn’t throw aside all we were doing. And hurting others wouldn't solve this. But what scum was I to just let this chance go by?

“Ekko…” I breathed out.

There was one thing I was convinced on. I'd save everyone. Not just the kid, but all the people I'd seen up there today. And even those that have been up there before. All of them. That's a promise.

“50 billion yen.”

A man's bet quelled the crowd across the casino.

He stood up in the very back row, not far from us. He gave us a look, but the mask he wore covered just a bit more of his head than anyone else.

“I’ll take the child for 50 billion. Is that a problem?”

Was he talking to me? He might have been close enough to hear my shouting.

The announcer was stunned at such a massive spike. Nobody dared to push the bar higher.