Akio's POV
"Akio. Up Akio, you're late,"
"Kaasan," I yawned begging my mom for a few more minutes in bed.
"Are you crazy, iie. Its already one in the afternoon. Get up, you have to drop your sisters off at school," she shook her head at me muttering more things inJapanese that I couldn't hear because she had already left my room. I sighed and got up. We had a late start day in school today. It starts at three rather than our regular seven o'clock so we got to sleep in, I think I slept in a little more than I should have.
I put on fresh clothes and walked across the hall to the small room my two little sisters shared. Well our apartment in general was pretty small but we were better off than most of the people in my neighborhood so I wasn't complaining.
"Gina why aren't you up yet? Where's Mai?" I asked poking my head cautiously into their room. Gina was still curled up in her bed.
"You were still asleep until mom came to yell at you," Gina countered.
"I can't tie my shoe," I heard a voice complain and I went around Gina's bed to see Mai on the floor, frustrated.
"Here," I told her, bending down to help her.
"She's five and she can't even tie her shoe yet," Gina scoffed.
"Yeah, well you're nine and you're not even changed yet. Let's go or I'm leaving you," I told her and Mai giggled as we left their room and headed around to the kitchen.
"What's for breakfast?" Mai asked our mom who was bustling around in the kitchen muttering some more. My dad must've already left for work.
"Udon," my mom told us, suddenly remembering we were in the kitchen with her. She turned around and handed us three bowls of thick rice noodles in soup.
"What? But we had that for dinner," Mai complained.
"Well you're having it for breakfast, now eat. You're late," she scowled, biting her nails.
I left Mai to eat her food when Gina arrived at the table in her school uniform.
"Kaasan?" I called out for my mom softly as I followed her into the kitchen.
"What?" she asked me.
"What's wrong?" I asked her and she gave me a soft smile as she put her hand on my shoulder.
"Nothing Akio, nothing. I just woke up with the worst feeling in my stomach today. I need to go pray. You should take the girls now, before you miss school altogether," she sighed as she fixed the collar of my shirt.
I was worried for my mom but she was right, we were running late. Gina was in the kitchen braiding Mai's long black hair. When she saw me she quickly tied the braid at the end and ushered Mai out of her chair.
"Everyone got their backpacks?" I asked and they both nodded their heads.
"Can I take Nobu with me?" she asked
"Alright but run and get him," I told her and she gave me a huge toothy smile before running back to get her stuffed teddy bear from her bed.
After we were all finally ready to go we left the apartment hurriedly. If we walked quickly we could make it to the subway on time. I'd probably get to school late but at least I'd get both of them on time. We bustled through the busy streets avoiding all the people yelling and walking.
Mai saw a stray dog and tried to feed him some of her lunch from her pack so I had to pick her up promising we'd come back and find the dog after school.
"I'm hungry," Gina complained as we sat down in the subway station waiting for the next train to arrive.
"Didn't you eat any breakfast?" I asked her.
"I didn't want udon," she told me. I sighed and fished money out of my wallet, giving it to her.
"For food ok?" I told her and she smiled happily reaching out for it. Just as I was reaching out to give Gina the money my phone began buzzing like crazy. But it wasn't just my phone, all around me everyone's phones were going off. People began looking at each other with perplexed faces of urgency. The neon lights above us started to flicker.
"Everyone needs to evacuate the station immediately. In an orderly fashion, please begin making your way to your nearest exit. This is an urgent matter, I repeat, everyone needs to evacuate the station immediately," a monotone voice emitted from the loud speakers over head.
Confused, people began grabbing their things and making their way out of the subway station.
"Akio, what's going on?" Mai asked me, holding onto my arm.
"Probably just a drill," Gina shrugged her shoulders, answering for me. I nodded my head since its true that we frequently had emergency drills in the city.
We were following the crowd of people going up the steps, we were already near the exit when suddenly Mai stopped.
"I left Nobu," she told me, her eyes widening at the realization.
"Mai wait!" I yelled, trying to go after her as she went against the flow of the crowd. Suddenly there was a huge jolt that sent me flying back. The ground was shaking insanely and so violently that I couldn't get back up.
Mai had disappeared from sight but Gina was on the floor beside me so as the ground still shook violently I reached over and grabbed her. I placed her body under mine, shielding it from pieces of falling debris.
The shaking seemed to go on forever. I could hear people screaming while shards of glass and cement were hitting the ground dangerously close to us. Gina was trembling underneath me, holding on to my arm.
When the shaking finally did stop no one seemed to believe it. We all stared at each other, eyes full of disbelief and terror. One minute we had been moving about our day, our biggest concern was to arrive on time and the next minute the concept of time completely obliterated as seconds drawled on for years before our eyes.
"Mai," I muttered although my voice was hoarse. I got up from the ground, my legs shaking underneath me. I moved towards the entrance of the subway, or at least, where the entrance should have been. It was blocked by chunks of the building which had collapsed.
"Mai!" I cried out again, clawing, desperate to hear her voice. I grimaced as shards of glass pierced my hands as I removed debris from the pile. Soon I wasn't the only person working desperately. I would keep going until my hands bled.
I had to find Mai.
I had to get her home.
I promised...
.
.
.
.
"Pity you nearly ruined your hands for nothing," a voice drawled out. My whole body ached but that was nothing compared to the pounding in my head. I slowly lifted it in an attempt to find the origin of the taunting voice.
At first it was too dark to see anything but slowly my eyes were able to focus on my surroundings. I was strapped to a chair, unable to move my hands or legs. There were numerous wires stuck to my face. I was barely able to move enough to see Eric and Aleeza in the same positions although, they didn't seem to be in as much pain as I was.
"That was your worst memory? Really? I was expecting something a bit more intense. Although I have to be honest, experiencing the 2011 Japan Earthquake from your point of view was quite interesting," the owner of the voice finally away from the shadows.
Nico smiled, all traces of kindness gone. All that was left was a look of satisfaction. He regarded us as if we were some sort of specimen to him. He eyed us with hunger and curiosity. Even triumph.
"You saw all of that?" I growled looking at him with disgust.
"Oh we all did, lovely show," he smiled and I could tell that Eric and Aleeza felt some sort of shame at being forced to witness what they did.
"You were in my mind, how?" I asked him confused.
"Nothing your little brain needs to worry about, nothing you'd understand anyways," he shrugged it off walking to the side where he had screens upon screens of computers currently playing nothing but back feed.
"You survived quite the tragedy Akio, it's truly made you into the enduring spy you are today. My condolences by the way. You truly lost it all," he smirked typing away nonchalantly on his computer as if he'd just made a comment about last nights game.
"Mai?" Eric whispered to me.
"She survived the collapse of the building but died hours later in a hospital," I told him looking down at my feet.
"And what about- what about Gina?" Aleeza asked me cautiously.
"I lost her during the tsunami. I failed my parents, I wasn't able to help either of them. It's a good thing they weren't there to be disappointed either. My building, where we lived, was destroyed completely," I told them.
"Yes, yes, truly a horrible back story. Kind of cliché even, don't you think? Orphan, lost everything, but now you're stronger. You've gotten to experience things people your age can't even dream about. Even got yourself a pretty girlfriend back home, huh? Wonder what her worst memory is," Nico chuckled.
"Don't you dare touch her. I swear I'll-" I shouted, writhing in my seat but a surge of electrical charge coursed through my body.
"There, there. No need to get worked up. You need to conserve your strength for the next phase. As for your girlfriend, there's no need to worry. I've got plenty of bad memories I still have to take a look at. I'm all booked for now. So whose next?" he smiled taking a look at Eric and Aleeza, eyes glistening with power.