8:56 pm
"707...707...707...I feel this is it...", April spotted a room with a crooked number plate —'707'—hanging on the door.
The number was barely visible under the rusting iron.
"...Strange", April muttered under her breath.
Her gaze drifted down the long corridor she had just checked.
Mateo stepped beside her.
"...What do you mean?", Mateo asked and followed her gaze towards the long corridor.
To his eyes, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The rooms were locked, the floor was clean and the lights were on.
"This plate...how is it rusted this bad? All the others seem clean and brand new",April pointed out.
Mateo compared the other plates and spoke,
"Probably bad maintenance. We did only see one employee so far, they must be going through tough times".
He reached for the door handle of '707' and twisted it.
Click.
The lights flickered—Just for a second.
Mateo still had his grip firmly on the handle.
"We should probably deliver the package and leave with the money...".
He pushed open the door and stepped inside.
April inspected the corridor one last time and entered the room with the package in her hand.
As the sound of their steps filled the room—April handed the package to Mateo.
"Get going. You were the one who accepted the delivery".
Mateo took the package and walked upfront.
He looked around the room until he spotted someone.
A man made himself comfortable on a couch across the room.
Mateo and April looked at each other.
April pushed Mateo forward.
He stepped forward.
"uhhh–Your package, Mr.Hoshikuma...Sir",
Mateo bowed and placed the package on the table.
The man placed his fedora down on the table.
...This man...
"So, you took your time getting here. I hope it wasn't that much of a hassle?", the man asked. His aged and broken voice seemed to echo through the whole room.
Click.
The door closed.
April flinched slightly.
"But then again, you have your way around problems–and you wouldn't be here if that wasn't the case", the man continued and reached for the package on the table.
...Is he...
April's thoughts clouded as her eyes began to examine the man.
But instead, he saw Mateo's shoulders slightly shivering.
...Something isn't right...
"Never saw any problem that money can't solve, so if you may–we would like our payment", April patted on Mateo's back.
The man's deep gaze shifted to April.
It was as if a great weight came up on her shoulders.
She held her shoulders together upright.
"I see...if that's the case—", the man, Mr.Hoshikuma, spoke and tore open the Package.
Several bundles of Yen flowed out of it.
"–Here you go then, your payment ".
He threw it on the table.
Mateo and April looked at the overflowing bundles of Yen with shock.
...He's not a gang leader...Is he?...
April thought as the Yen offered to them fell down the table.
It seemed the bundles didn't stop flowing from the package.
Then Mr.Hoshikuma slid a card across the table.
Mateo stopped it from falling.
"Sorry...we are not looking for sponsors, only the payment", he slid back the card and began picking up the bundles of Yen.
...If he was though... He would—
"Perhaps you don't understand, Mr.xung", Mr.Hoshikuma spoke and Mateo looked at him with frozen eyes.
"But you have finally lucked out".
Mateo felt tiny movements between his fingers and April squeaked,
"Mateo! The cash!?".
The very hands that were holding bundles of Yen moments ago was now crawling with gruesome maggots.
They crawled all over Mateo's hands.
"Fucki—!!",
He yanked his arm and the maggots drifted off his arm.
His steps flashed back and he saw the package was now overflowing with maggots.
They crawled out with writhing movement.
April covered her mouth and turned around to get the door.
It wasn't there.
April was facing a plain wall.
BUT THE DOOR—!!!
She turned around again to find Mr.Hoshikuma standing.
A black cane in his hands.
"And now–listen to my words carefully".
Mr.Hoshikuma tapped the floor with his cane.
The walls surrounding them fell down.
Mateo blinked and found himself seated.
He shook his head around and saw April in a chair just beside him.
He noticed they were no longer in a hotel room, but a dim and dark cave.
Mateo struggled to get himself off the chair but it seems he was pushed down everytime he tried.
Beside him, April did the same but she too was fixed to her chair.
"Mr. Xung",
Mr.Hoshikuma began,
"Do you care to explain why have you come to these lands?".
Mateo ignored his words, his struggle to break free also persisted.
"Futile endeavours", Mr.Hoshikuma continued.
"I truly wonder...what trivial part of your worthless life did he find deeply riveting?",
Mr.Hoshikuma forwarded his cane and lifted Mateo by his chin.
"...For all I see...is a boy with a shattered past".
He pulled down his cane and stared into the eyes of the young man.
"...A soulless husk. Nothing more."
Mateo's eyes narrowed.
He saw something more between the eyes of Mr.Hoshikuma.
Something his eyes couldn't stop looking at–
—It didn't let him look away either...
"Now answer my question—What brought you to these lands?", He asked again.
Mateo's mouth didn't move just as his eyes didn't.
"Was it your hopeless family? Or perhaps the pain or rejection?".
April struggled but she was still chained to the chair.
She saw Mr.Hoshikuma's eyes locked with Mateo's.
Something dark was oozing out of his eyes and slowly floating toward her friend's eyes.
"H–hey! Cut that out! You deaf or just dumb?! Get—!?", April screamed out and realised the maggots near her feet.
They slowly crawled towards her.
She hastily stomped on them one after another.
...Why is this happening to us!?!
"No! No! No!? Stay away!? Stay away!? Mateo!!!",
She wailed but the unending maggots swarmed April and slowly crawled up her legs.
The slimy little creatures slowly crawled within her clothes.
Her hands shook violently to claw her skin, as to peel them off.
Yet, they couldn't move.
"AHHH!!!", she screamed even as the lungs gave in.
She gasped for air while still shaking her whole body like a fish trapped in a net.
The maggots soon crawled up her neck and still continued,
"Ma—!!".
"—Teo".
April's voice died out.
Mr.Hoshikuma was still occupied with Mateo.
His oozing black liquid was grasping Mateo by his eyes.
"Ah I see...It's not jUsT feAr...It'S tHe FeAr Of—",
Mr.Hoshikuma's voice began to break down.
"—Abandoning".
Mateo's eyes were being consumed in the black liquid.
His senses dimmed.
He was blacking out.
Until he didn't.
His vision rushed back at him.
Then he saw why.
A blade lodged through the man's left eye.
Piercing straight through his head–
Stopping just short of Mateo.
"Pesky widower",Mr.Hoshikuma growled.
The blade trembled violently– then it broke free from Mr.Hoshikuma's skull.
It flew away at a distance and a hand caught it.
Mr.Hoshikuma quietly turned around.
Mateo saw the saw the hole in his head from behind–Only for a moment.
The gap filled with blackness then healed back into flesh and hair.
Driven with confusion–Mateo's gaze flashed to his side.
Where he had expected to see his friend only stood a heap of loathing maggots.
...April?...
Mateo struggled helplessly on his chair–trying to reach April.
"LET ME OFF! YOU—!!!".
His words came to a halt in a shock.
A strong gust of wind flew by.
The maggots were teared to shred in a blink.
For an instant– He saw a blade slicing off the maggots.
"Leave those kids alone, Hoshikuma! Your authority does not prevail over foreign souls.", a voice travelled across the cave along with the fluttering of a coat.
"What a surprise–I thought you were still up in the mountains. Say...how was your past?", Mr.Hoshikuma spoke and his stature began to deform.
In a few moments, every single crawling maggots were sliced up.
April still shook herself weakly.
Mateo breathed relief.
The blade stopped in the air for a second and flew away.
Mateo watched and saw someone catching the blade.
A man with a fluttering black coat.
The blade's edge pointing towards Mr.Hoshikuma.
His expression hardened.
"The past no longer exists. Leave the kids alone", the man's unfettered voice echoed the cave.
He flicked his blade clean of blood.
In the next moment, Mateo noticed Mr.Hoshikuma was oozing with blackness.
Another sharp tap on the ground with the cane was heard.
A burst of darkness engulfed Mr.Hoshikuma.
The man at the distance held his blade firmly.
Several figures shone on the blade.
He leaned forward.
The darkness surged towards the man.
He coordinated his steps – a single sweep up in the air.
Ding...
A clean arc.
In a flash, the man's long coat wavered right infront of Mateo.
He saw a tiny bell on the blade's grip.
Mateo looked at the tall man with awe.
His face showed no signs of emotions–Just like carving on a stone.
The fluttering of the coat stopped and Mateo looked behind the man.
The split darkness was slowly reconstructing itself together.
The man also turned around and saw the obscurity forming.
It was growing.
The man reached under his coat and pulled out something.
He placed a paper slip on Mateo's head and one on April's.
"Don't be marked", he said.
He held his blade upright.
A burst of blackness thrashed on the blade.
...Wait?! What!?...
Mateo turned to his side.
Though he was protected from the blackness,
Some flew straight through April–her eyes snapped open.
She opened her mouth,
"Mateo—!!!", the rest was lost in a blinding light.
Mateo's senses dispersed.
He vanished in a blinding light.
April too wasn't there anymore.
"He can't be saved, Guskol", a growling voice reached the man's ears.
The signs on the blade flickered.
Sweat drifted down his face.
"...You...Don't get to decide that", the man replied and stood firm.
The signs on the blade shone brightly.
___________________________
Bzzz...Bzzzz...Bzzzzz...
Mateo's eyes kept close. His body didn't showed any sign of movement but his heart–it beat faster than ever.
H– hey! Cut that out—!
You deaf or just dumb—!!
Stay away!? STAY AW—!!!
"APRIL!?", Mateo jumped from his chair.
"Wha...April? April!?".
He inspected the whole room but he was the only one there.
Bzzz...Bzzzzz...Bzzzz...
Mateo heard something buzzing.
He looked under the couch and found a phone underneath.
Mateo knew whose phone it was.
Someone was calling.
A contact named 'Brainiac Brian'.
He ignored the call and looked around the room in an attempt to find anything.
"....April...April...Where the hell...", these words filled his head and his tongue.
Fucking shishi package....!
He kicked away the table and continued his search.
After relentlessly looking around every corner, he realised the package on the floor.
It was still tore open but nothing seemed to be inside. He slowly walked up to the flipped table and grabbed the package beside it.
It was light–But not empty.
Something slipped out of it and fell on the table.
It was a card.
His....card...
Mateo hesitantly took the card in his hands and read—
"...Naga...saki?".