Episode 8: "Escaping from the City"

...

......

.........

Somewhere, a voice could be heard.

???
"Heh. Nice."

A voice echoed out from deep within the darkness.

???
"Ain't had this much fun in a long time."

(Who is that?)

(A voice I've heard before.
Words I've heard before.
Yet, I can't remember a single thing.
Even with the holes in my memory...)

(I'm scared.)

(Worse yet, fear is all I can feel anymore.)

???
"Think you can handle this?"

A man appeared clearly within the depths of the darkness.
But, his face was missing.
In its place was a metal mask.
Sticking out from the back were finely braided thin dreadlocks.

The masked man stood about twenty meters away. Radiating from his body was a sinister purplish-red aura.
Along with that, a dark red energy sphere hovered squarely above his head.

All Yo could feel throughout his body was bone-chilling terror.
Then, that sphere was hurtled toward him.

All that remained was a pure white light.
A certain afterimage jumped to the forefront of Yo's mind.

(The city was burning...
That city was my...)

Yo Kuronaka
"No!!"

Yo Kuronaka opened his eyes.
He laid at the end of a corridor, surrounded by inorganic walls, floor, and ceiling.

He grasped the situation immediately.

Yo Kuronaka
"...I see. I lost consciousness, and then..."

(But still...
Just who was that masked man earlier?
Did that happen? Was I remembering it?
The fear I felt was overwhelming. I wanted to recall it, yet at the same time, I didn't.)

Right then and there.
The two of them gazed over at the dazed Yo.

???
"Thank goodness! You're awake!"

???
"Geez. Don't go scaring us like that!"

It was the blonde-haired girl and red-haired boy who claimed to be Yo's childhood friends.
And standing behind them was a man with blue hair.

???
"So, how are you feeling? Able to remember anything after your nap?"

Yo spoke about the last thing he saw.

Yo Kuronaka
"The city... I-It was burning."

??? & ???
"Huh?!"

Yo's self-proclaimed childhood friends shifted their expression instantly.

???
"A-Are you talking about Meguro City?!"

The blonde-haired girl let out a heart-wrenching cry while the red-haired boy could only find the strength to hang his head.
The blue-haired man took this as his chance to speak.

???
"Ah! I see. When you collapsed, I was worried about what might transpire, but it seems it might've helped you recover some of your memory."

Then, his facial expression turned stern.

???
"Sticking around here any longer is risky.
We need to get out of the city before you pass out again."

Yo Kuronaka
"City? Escape...?"

???
"Look, I get things don't make sense still yet. I'll try to explain it as best as I can."

The blue-haired man glanced sideways at the distraught two as he spoke.

???
"If we let your childhood friends take charge, they'll just keep being useless and we'll be twiddling our thumbs."

The two snapped back in protest.

???
"W-We're not useless!"

???
"Kazuki, you son of a—!"

The blue-haired man continued talking without giving the two much thought.

???
"I suppose I should introduce myself. I'm Kazuki Aoyama."

Kazuki Aoyama...
So that's his name.

Kazuki Aoyama
"And over there is my friend, Q."

Q
"..."

The tall, white-haired man introduced as Q was keeping watch at the end of the corridor.
Only when his name was mentioned did he turn toward the group, his cloudy eyes meeting Yo. It was his way of saying hello.
Unlike Kazuki, Q was a man of few words and expressions.

Kazuki Aoyama
"We, along with eight others, are the resistance. We snuck into 24 City."

Yo Kuronaka
"What? 24 City? Resistance?"

Kazuki Aoyama
"I take it none of this makes sense, so
let me explain in more detail."

It was almost as if Kazuki could read Yo's mind.

Kazuki Aoyama
"The place we're presently standing around in is known as 24 City."
Though the city itself is just one giant building."

Yo Kuronaka
"Wait, so, this whole city is a building...?"

Kazuki Aoyama
"That in and of itself isn't unusual. After all, there's twenty-three other cities on the surface.
They're all pretty unique and have their own quirks, but they're still normal cities where people live.
Thing is, 24 City is different."

As Kazuki paused to catch his breath, his expression turned bitter.

Kazuki Aoyama
"In all the years, there's never been a city like this in Neo Tokyo before.
And no one even asked for it. It's just a fake city that just up and declared itself one."

Yo Kuronaka
"A fake city..."

Kazuki Aoyama
"Its true nature is that of an airborne fortress. It was designed to invade and monitor the surface.
A colossal weapon floating high up in the sky. That's the true identity of 24 City.
And we're inside of it right now. Right in the heart of the enemy base."

An airborne fortress...
Invade the surface..

It all sounded like a science fiction story, but Kazuki didn't seem to be joking one bit.

Kazuki Aoyama
"Just take a look around you. There's not a single iota of personality anywhere to be seen.
If you told someone this was a city, they'd just laugh in your face, wouldn't they?"

It seems that we're inside a massive structure.
Moreover, said structure is an aerial fortress built to invade and monitor the surface.
Which means...

Yo suddenly had a revelation.
That memory of a burning city...

Could that possibly be a memory from back then?
The sight of the city being invaded?

Kazuki Aoyama
"By the by, these two are Tsuki Iroha and Sui Yakumo."

Kazuki spoke as he pointed toward the blonde-haired girl and red-haired boy.

Kazuki Aoyama
"They're your childhood friends that ended up tagging along when we snuck into 24 City."

Tsuki Iroha...
Sui Yakumo...

Both of them waited with bated breath for Yo's reaction.

Yo Kuronaka
"..."

But, no words left his lips.
He couldn't remember a single thing about them and was at a loss.

He had no memory of his childhood friends.
And that confused him greatly.
How do you react to that? To them?

But, he was sure he could trust them.

Intuitively, or perhaps instinctively, that's how Yo felt.
Besides, there still wasn't enough information.
At the end of the day, his only choice was to hear them out.
As Yo came to his decision, he wanted to ask what was concerning him most.

Yo Kuronaka
"Something just came to mind.
There was a...man wearing a metal mask with dreadlocks."

The air suddenly became tense.

Yo Kuronaka
"Is it possible that all of this is
because of that masked man?

Sui instantly leaned forward.

Sui Yakumo
"Just how do you remember that masked man?!"

A look of disgust spread across Sui's face.
As expected, he seemed to be the emotional type.

Yo Kuronaka
"I only remember bits and pieces of it.
But I was fighting him in the burning city."

Just speaking about it gave him chills.
The sheer terror brought back fear beyond memory.
That alone explained everything.

Yo Kuronaka
"I'm pretty sure I stood no chance against him."

Tsuki Iroha
"..."

Tsuki listened to Yo's words with a solemn expression.
From the look on her face, it seemed as if she knew something about what had transpired.

Q
"That masked man... is our enemy."

Q mumbled.

Q
"No, actually, he's the worst enemy Neo Tokyo's ever faced."

Yo Kuronaka
"The worst enemy..."

Kazuki Aoyama
"Yeah, the disaster he's caused is unprecedented.
He single-handedly crushed the whole nation of Neo Tokyo by force and turned it into a hellhole these past few years."

Neo Tokyo...
Yo couldn't remember a thing, but as Kazuki said, it must be a nation.
He also mentioned that there are twenty-three cities within it.

And he destroyed it all by himself?

What kind of monster could do that?
But after recalling the terror felt when facing him, it's hard to dismiss it as a lie either.

Kazuki Aoyama
"Following the invasion, he donned the moniker Zero.
Everything else about him is unknown."

Yo Kuronaka
"Zero..."

(So that's his name.
He's probably the reason I can't remember a single thing.)

Kazuki Aoyama
"Zero seems to have unlimited control over military equipment that was fitted with AI.
Drones? Check. Robots? Check.
After mastering how to use them, he invaded every city on the surface all by himself."

Yo saw security drones scattered all around the fake village.
If he was able to control those without any limits, it wouldn't have been impossible...

Kazuki Aoyama
"As if things weren't bad enough, after the invasion he got himself some minions with 24 City masks."

(The warrior, er, I mean that guy from earlier...
Seems those wearing the 24 masks like him are members of the city.)

Sui Yakumo
"Yo, you really don't remember anything?
You were the last one standin' when it came to defending Meguro City! Our hometown!"

Sui was making no effort to hide his irritation toward Yo.
He really was the type to let his emotions get the best of him.

Sui Yakumo
"We got knocked out and, well, don't remember what happened afterward..."

Tsuki Iroha
"When we woke up, you were gone. We managed to speak to some of the witnesses about the battle and..."

Tsuki had tears glistening faintly in her eyes.

Tsuki Iroha
"...they said you were taken away by that man."

Sui awkwardly scratched his head.

Sui Yakumo
"And so we took it upon ourselves to track you down, which is how we ended up here."

Kazuki Aoyama
"That's not quite how I remember it. You forced yourselves into our plan."

Without missing a beat, Kazuki gave Sui some snark.

Sui Yakumo
"I'm still grateful for that, damn it!
Besides, with me and Yo, we'll be one heck of a force! No one will take us down!"

Tsuki Iroha
"I'm here too, y'know!"

Kazuki Aoyama
"Tch. Can he even fight properly in his condition?"

Kazuki cast a suspicious look toward Yo.

Tsuki Iroha
"Oh! I just remembered something!"

Tsuki suddenly spoke loudly.

Sui Yakumo
"Tsuki! You're bein' too loud! Where do you think you are right now?!
We're smack in the middle of enemy turf!"

Tsuki Iroha
"Ahaha, sorry. It's just I remembered something important.
I have Yo's smartphone!"

Yo Kuronaka
"My smartphone...?"

Tsuki Iroha
"Yup! This was all you left behind after Meguro City burnt down.
I'm glad I can finally give it back to you. I went ahead and charged it for you as well, so try using it."

Yo accepted the smartphone as Tsuki handed it to him.
It felt comfortable in his hand. Familiar.
(I must've talked to so many people with this.)
(And if that's the case, there's a good chance I'll eventually remember more and more as I use it.)
As Yo stared longingly at his smartphone lost in thought, Kazuki called out to him.

Kazuki Aoyama
"Look, there's no time to just stare at your phone right now. It wouldn't be wise for us to keep lingering around.
Let's hurry and head to the escape pods on the bottom floor."

Yo Kuronaka
"They've got such things as escape pods here?"

Kazuki Aoyama
"You bet. We planned all of this ahead of time.
How lame would it be if we broke in and couldn't escape?"

Kazuki said while fluttering his hands.

Kazuki Aoyama
"Our comrades-in-arms should have secured us an escape route down.
Let's meet up with them first."

Yo Kuronaka
"Comrades..."

Kazuki Aoyama
"I mentioned them a bit earlier. They're fairly dependable."

Tsuki Iroha
"Is 'fairly' really a good word to describe your comrades?"

Kazuki Aoyama
"Bah, come on. Let's just go already!"

Yo Kuronaka
"..."

Yo turned and looked back at the so-called village, now littered with the remains of cardboard facades.

(I was imprisoned here and lost two years of my life to this place.
Leaving should be a happy thing.
Yet, for some reason, I feel uneasy.)

(This place wasn't my home.
But then, where do I even live?
Seems as though my hometown was destroyed.
Worse, I can't recall a single thing.)

(What will become of me now?)

As Yo stood there worrying on about such things, someone suddenly slammed their hand hard on his shoulder.

Sui Yakumo
"C'mon, man. What's with the face?
Don't worry! No matter what happens, we got your back!"

Sui laughed as if to ease Yo's concerns, giving him a big smile.
Though a bit surprised, Yo found himself feeling genuinely happy.

Yo Kuronaka
"Haha. Thank you both for sticking with me. I know I can count on you."

Yo was finally able to return a smile.

Sui Yakumo
"Man... when you get all formal and stuff with me, it throws me off..."

Although blushing a bit, Sui seemed happy.

Tsuki Iroha
"Alrighty then! Let's get going!"

The sound of Tsuki's voice was like a starting gun as everyone began to run down the corridor.