Chapter 4

But all these reactions were too late. The target of my mission was right in front of me. Before my final leap, I gripped the phone I had taken out of my pocket and, for the first time in what seemed like ages, called for her. “Ene…Do it!” “Once I’m done, we’re going to the amusement park, okay?!” Through the earbud in my right ear, I heard the young girl’s voice, perky as always. I had taken the phone in the display demonstrating the computer-cell phone connector cable and replaced it with my own. In the blink of an eye, I could see a familiar form suddenly occupying every display in the room. As I saw it unfold, my stomach was suddenly racked by a force I had never experienced before. A force like someone driving a hammer into my torso. Then, the world faded out of focus. I crumpled to the ground, unable to cushion my fall. My unprotected face hit the white tiled floor. I could feel all the strength rapidly drain from my entire body. As my consciousness ebbed, I could hear all the shutters open up at once. My body was bathed in warm sunlight. It reminded me of sitting in my desk by the classroom window, napping. I swore I could hear a certain voice from the past talking to me. …How long was I out? I woke to find myself lying in bed within a book-filled room. I looked over to find a sink and a towel. Someone must have been taking care of me. My mind was still hazy as I felt around my pocket, but my cell phone was nowhere to be found. —Back there. When we were taken hostage. Through the earbud that I had kept in my ear, Ene had never stopped talking to me. To be honest, I think she was annoying me far more than that stubble-bearded guy. Right after they rounded me up, she was functioning as a sort of off-kilter cheerleader, along the lines of “Ooooh, this isn’t good. Better keep yourself cool, master! I know we can survive this!” But by the second half, when the stubble-bearded man was bearing down on me, she had transformed into a white-hot ball of rage: “Can we kill this guy, master? Can we?! We can, right?!” The entire building was under computer control. As long as I could get Ene into the system, it didn’t matter who occupied the control room. It was obvious that no hacker could have outwitted her. But amid the hostages, unable to use the camera or talk to me directly, it was really a shock how she could figure out what was going on strictly by audio cues and occupy the whole system in milliseconds. I always thought her head was a little buggy, but I guess she had it more together than I ever knew. In a way, I suppose, I’m still alive right now thanks to Ene. I was still a little foggy on the details, but I guess I should thank her…I never got to take her to the amusement park, either… But if my phone isn’t here, did I leave it in the store? I’m sure she could easily find her way back out, but… For now, however, I had best take advantage of this time I suddenly seem to have all to myself. Today I think I’ll just sleep all day and— “…Where the hell am I?!” I shot up in bed and tried to gauge my surroundings. “Ah…!” I heard a clang, and then I saw her. A girl with long, white, fluffy hair. Was she my nurse or whatever here? Apparently startled by my sudden outburst, she had fallen out of her chair. “Oh. Uh…um.” “Ah! I-I-I’m sorry!” For some reason, she apologized to me. Then, for some other reason, she hid behind the chair. Once my head cooled down and I had a grip of the situation, I noticed that my body was almost entirely pain-free. I seemed to remember being shot in the stomach… “Um…Could I ask who you—” “Master, you’re awake?!” The moment I tried to speak to her, I heard an incredibly familiar voice. What was less familiar were the three figures that walked through the open door. There I saw the cat-eyed man, the guy from the entrance with the purple coat—at the time I’d been sure he was a guy, but upon closer examination she was definitely female—and Momo, my younger sister, holding my cell phone. “Oh, master! I’m so glad to see you in good shape! Now we can all go to the amusement park together!” Ene, bubbly as always, called to me from the phone speaker. “Huh…? Momo? And you? That guy from…Huh?” “Ugh, you are so stupid, bro! I was so worried about you! And, Ene, you really can’t expect us to hit the roller coaster after a day like that…” Momo and Ene had apparently gotten acquainted with each other. They already sounded like good friends. “Um…huh? I guess I wouldn’t mind going, but…Well, first off, what am I—” “See? See?! Oh, master, what a rough-and-tough movie hero you are! A real man always sticks to his word! Let’s go! Right now! C’mon!” “Hang on, what?” the cat-eyed man chimed in. “People are going to the amusement park? Like, count me in, too! Let’s do it!” “W-we’re going out again…?” The white-haired girl, still sitting on the floor, seemed startled by the concept. “Uh…yeah. Sorry for all the commotion. Luckily that shot only grazed you, so we decided to bring you back here for now. Didn’t want to attract too much attention to ourselves.” “W…what?” The hooded woman seemed different from before. Especially those eyes. “Master! We gotta hurry! The park’s gonna close!” There were too many conversations chaotically flying around at once. My brain was over capacity. I decided to stop thinking for a bit. “Just…whatever.” No rest for the wicked, I suppose. Never should have expected any. I was hoping they would let me be for just a little bit longer, but Ene’s pleading high-pitched voice refused to allow me even that. I think I probably let a vague kind of half smile cross my lips. —The cacophony of cicadas buzzed beyond the window, just as loud today. A long, long August 15th was just about to begin.