"Father."
Aria groaned in her sleep, tears dripping from her closed eyes.
"Help."
She kicked away the chair, and rolled around the scattered papers on the floor.
"Me."
Finally, Aria awoke from the nightmare with a scream. "Sh*t…"
Her mind felt like a haze of constant murmurings and voices that she couldn't comprehend. In addition, it was as though there were maggots writhing around inside her skull. "Ah."
She lifted a hand to hold her head, but then, she lost the strength to keep sitting up, and fell back down on the floor.
Whose… voice… was that…?
She could remember words along the lines of, "Father, help me."
Every time I hear… that particular voice, the world… inside my dream is always shattered, and I always wake up without fail…
Damn it, if I knew… that looking at the corpse's memories would… result in excruciating pain beyond my imaginations… then I would've never used the MCE to begin with!
She wiped the tears on her face, and stood up. Looking around, she looked at the MCE in the corner of the room.
But… strangely… I want… to see more.
However, despite her desires to see more of the corpse's memories, the higher-ups had it taken away from her and put inside a specialized cooling system to preserve the corpse in the form of cryonic preservation.
Suddenly, there was knocking on the door, followed by a voice, "Dr. Aria? It's me, Lyka…"
Not bothering to face the door, she sat on her chair and asked, "What is it?"
The voice behind the door answered, "Um, about that research you promised to help us with… When will we—"
"I'm busy."
Shortly after Aria's indifferent answer, the voice said, "But—"
"I said I'm busy. Ask me again some other time, alright?" said Aria.
Aria heard footsteps going farther and farther away from her office. She then sharply turned her focus to her work, and planned to replay the memory file of the corpse in order to understand more…
***
Tiero woke up with the loud screaming of the neighbors next door.
He sat up on his bed with a curse escaping his lips, and scratched his hair. "Damn couples. Take your pointless arguments away from here! And if you're going to fight, at least do so more quietly!"
Fortunately, no, more like, unfortunately, the neighbors couldn't hear his complaints.
It was the 5th of February, Wednesday, at 6 in the morning.
Damn, and fighting so early in the morning, too… He stood up, stretched his back, and caught the scent of a foul smell. It took him no less than two seconds to figure out where it was coming from.
"I didn't shower yesterday…" Was Dan talking to me while trying to resist calling me out that I smell like sh*t? I should apologize to him next time.
His apartment room was filled with paintings that looked like it wouldn't sell for much, and countless black cat decorations that filled the four desks inside the apartment room. The walls had a shade of gray, and there was an old, rusty umbrella rack that stood out like a sore thumb containing three decrepit umbrellas and one umbrella that… still looked decent.
Tiero walked towards the kitchen. It was neat and clean, with not a single dish left uncleaned.
He took out a can of sardines, forcefully opened it, sprinkled some salt inside, and downed it in one go. Shortly after that, he took out a can of corn from the top drawer, and downed all of it in one go.
That was his breakfast for the day.
After brushing his teeth, he took a quick shower.
Precisely after 30 minutes, he was dressed in a gray t-shirt with a small red star design. Beside the small, red star was the word, "Eunil" in a fancy font. He wore a black coat over his shirt.
Tiero then took out some cat food, and he called out, "Goobert."
Following that, a big and chubby black cat emerged from under the kitchen table. He placed the cat food on the small, metal bowl for his cat, Goobert.
Fixing his hair, he walked to the front door and said to his cat who was busy eating, "I'm off."
Before leaving, he heard a soft "meow" that came from Goobert.
***
"Huh?"
"It's Aria. She's acting weird."
"She's always been that way."
"...It seems different this time. Won't you talk some sense into her? She's ignoring everyone, won't even come out of her office."
"If she's ignoring everyone, why do you think she'd talk to me?"
"Because you're her friend. You're the person who's been with her for the longest time."
Violet Zetar sighed. Truth be told, this news about her dear friend refusing to socialize with anyone worried her greatly. But unfortunately, she was in the middle of a mission to annihilate an Overlord-type Annihilith.
She looked at the holographic call on the control panel from the inside of a spaceship. Then, she heard a feminine voice from the other side, "How about it? We're all worried about her, Violet."
"...Leave her be. She's probably in the middle of some big research project or something," said Violet.
"Viole—"
She ended the call then and there. The pilot of the ship then asked, "You're worried about her, right? If I were you, I'd quit this mission and—"
"Do you want your teeth kicked down your throat?"
"Sorry."
It was true that exterminating an Overlord-type Annihilith was far more important than… her friend, Aria. After all, the death of such a powerful anomaly of the universe could save millions, or billions of lives.
"We're here," said the pilot. He carefully steered the ship to land on the planet's moon.
Violet stepped out without any space suit of any kind to help her breathe in outer space.
She looked to her front, and saw a planet being invaded by what seemed to be billions of Annihiliths.
Among them was an Overlord controlling them.
She made a flicking gesture with her right hand, where her middle finger was touching the thumb, faced directly towards the poor planet being invaded.
***
Oftentimes, I'd find myself asking the question, "Did I waste my life?" to myself. Other times, I'd be daydreaming of a completely different life, away from this damn city, living a quiet life somewhere with my beautiful wife I've never met. Did I make the right choice, I wonder? The choice to keep working in this city, was it the right choice? No, more like, the choice to become a Visitor… was it really the correct choice?
If I had… chosen something else, a different path… would I be happier than I am now, living a better life than the one I'm living now?
…No. If I didn't choose to become a Visitor, then the lives that I would come to save would be lost to the hands of death. I would also… not get to meet Benedict and the others.
Sometimes, I can't help but get envious of Benedict's current life. In truth, I… I…
I couldn't believe it. He was getting married to a beautiful woman. He was achieving something that I couldn't ever hope to achieve.
"Overslept," my ass… In actuality, I was afraid. Afraid to see him, afraid to know that he achieved the life I've always dreamed of. I should be happy, I know, but I can't help it. When I received his wedding invitation, I left it on my desk and refused to go…
…I'm a terrible person, hiding myself behind a carefree and professional mask that I've come to build slowly over the years. But it's necessary. Keeping up this mask is necessary. I have to properly nurture Donovan into a great Visitor. He must become someone better than I could ever hope to be.
I could never hope to become a father, but… I keep doing this job with the hopes of the Visitors under my wing to see me as some sort of father figure.
Damn, this is a terrible day.
Tiero stared at the Visitors that came and went. He was seated on a metal bench. Somehow, this day was the only day where every Visitor that he was in charge of decided not to go to work. The cat café that he frequently visited was closed, and so was the liquor establishment of his dear friend, Jiro.
In other words, he couldn't help but feel loneliness come creeping up again.
He sighed.
I should take a walk around.
***
"Dismissed."
The bell rang. Students hurried to leave the classroom, as school had already ended.
"Ella, you down for some shopping?"
Ella, a female student who had short, maroon-colored hair, deep brown eyes, and a short stature was busy tidying up her notebooks. When she heard the question of shopping, she turned around to see two of her friends who had ordinary features like her.
Dressed in a uniform that consisted of a dark blue skirt, along with a white long-sleeved shirt with an umbrella logo on the left chest, she let out a chuckle and said, "Ah, sorry. I gotta study for the upcoming test, y'know? Can't fail this time."
"Bummer. We'll see you tomorrow, then," said her two friends as they waved her goodbye.
"Yeah." She waved them goodbye as well.
Tidying up her bag, she exited the classroom. Coming to the school yard, there were senior students much older than her playing a game of basketball.
This school accepted anyone of any age with the only goal of becoming a Visitor. That was her dream, to become a fully-fledged Visitor. It was necessary. In order to give her little brother a good life, she must become a Visitor.
Smiling to herself, she ran into more of her friends, and greeted them goodbye.
Hm, I should reward myself with some ice cream.
There were two routes she took to go home. The main route was taking the train to directly arrive home. The other was to walk for a while to visit the nearest gas station store, and take a taxi to get home.
This time, she chose the second one.
She walked along the sidewalk. For some reason, she was feeling a strange melancholy.
At that moment, she passed by two troubled men whom she didn't notice.
***
"Mr. Tiero?"
"Donovan."
Both men smiled upon seeing each other. The two didn't have their umbrellas with them.
They walked along the sidewalk. "I'm sorry, Mr. Tiero, but I couldn't go to work today. My right shoulder's hurting pretty badly."
"Oh, I see. That's understandable," said Tiero.
As they walked together in a comfortable silence under the orange light of the setting sun, Donovan looked at his handler and asked, "Mr. Tiero, are you alright?"
"...Huh?"
Suddenly, they heard screaming that came from behind them.
A gigantic man with bloodshot eyes was running rampant, destroying cars and scaring away civilians.
Upon seeing this, Tiero felt the urge to act, but then, he paused. Can I do it? No, what if my hands still shake? I'll only get injured. It's not my problem, I'll leave it to the cops… So this… is what Dan was talking about? How horrifying.
Meanwhile, Donovan wanted to act as well, but he didn't bring his umbrella with him. Damn it! Of all days that I didn't bring my umbrella! Just like that time…!
At that very moment, the crazed giant who was foaming at the mouth locked eyes with a random schoolgirl.
"Girl, run away!" shouted Donovan. He was already rushing forward.
But Tiero… hasn't moved an inch from his spot. He watched as Donovan grabbed the terrified girl's wrist, and the giant man grabbed hold of Donovan's body, tossing him away to a nearby fire hydrant. Water sprayed everywhere.
Bruised and bloody, Donovan was knocked out cold. However, despite the sight of his dear Visitor getting injured, Tiero was still too afraid to move.
What… the hell am I doing…?
He was too old for this. He did not have his umbrella with him, which meant that his combat capabilities was halved significantly despite being a Typhoon Rank.
Only when the giant man was about to crush the girl to death with his bare fist, did Tiero move too late. He moved desperately, running towards the girl.
The girl, meanwhile, only had a single thought that formed in her mind, Ethan…!
***
Tiero carried the unconscious Donovan on his back, not wanting anyone to see his face.
The Bio-Optimized Operations and Tactical Squadron, short for "BOOTS," were already taking away the unconscious man who was rampaging earlier.
Along the area were the ambulance and the authorities, as well as a yellow police tape surrounding a spot on the sidewalk. Some crying and sobbing could be heard as well.
It was a bloody sight.
Somewhere far away from the scene of the crime, was Tiero walking away with Donovan on his back. There was what seemed to be water dripping down from Tiero's jaw.
***
A child was sitting on a wooden chair inside a dark apartment. His stomach was empty. Looking at the clock, he held back a sob. "Always remain strong," is what his older sister told him.
"Sis is late," he said faintly.