Mahiru Yuna, who had just gotten home and wanted to watch TV, instantly spat out the drink she was sipping.
PFFFT!
She couldn't believe what she was seeing on the news broadcast.
"What is it, Mahiru?"
Hearing her mother's voice, Mahiru hastily grabbed the remote and immediately changed the channel. "N-nothing, Mom," she answered with a panicked smile.
"Shouldn't you be resting? You just went through that horrible ordeal."
Mahiru shook her head. "It's okay, Mom. I don't want this news getting out everywhere, especially not at school." She tried to force a confident smile. "And I'm fine."
"Are you sure? I'm afraid those kidnappers might come back."
Seeing the worried expression on her mother's face, Mahiru stood up from the sofa, walked over to her, and took both her hands. "Mom, don't worry about that. Even though I can't say what happened to those kidnappers, I can say with a thousand percent certainty… they won't be coming back."
Yeah, because they all died at Emma's hands, she muttered to herself.
"Is that so? Even though I don't know why you can say that, as a mother, it's only natural to trust her daughter."
Seeing her mother's now calmer expression, Mahiru finally felt relieved as well.
"So, do you want to go to school tomorrow or take the day off?"
Mahiru thought for a moment. I want to see Arthur again. I want to make sure he's okay, and I want to ask him why he caused such a commotion in Shibuya.
Wait… why am I worried about him?
"Mahiru? Why is your face suddenly so red? Are you sick?"
Feeling a gentle touch on her face, Mahiru quickly shook her head and hurriedly explained, "I-it must be because it's hot in here! Oh, yeah, I still have something I need to do in my room!"
She rushed to her room and locked the door.
Thump. Thump.
She leaned against the door, her head bowed. "Really… what am I doing? So embarrassing," she whispered softly, her cheeks still feeling hot.
Her thoughts drifted back to the young man in the black armor. His gentle smile, his blue eyes, and the words that had given her strength.
"You are important. The world needs more good people like you."
That sentence kept echoing in her ears. For the first time in her life, someone had seen her—truly seen her—and told her she was precious.
She lifted her head, looking at her reflection in her dark bedroom mirror. Her face was flushed, her eyes glistening, but this time it wasn't from sadness.
"I… want to see him again."
There it was. That was the truth. More than just wanting to know why he had caused a commotion, she just wanted to see that face again, to hear that voice again. "I want to get to know him better," she murmured unconsciously.
"Seriously, what am I saying? So embarrassing." Mahiru threw herself onto her bed and rolled over a few times, covering her face with a pillow. "But really, what did he do in Shibuya to end up on the news?"
Mahiru got up, walked to her desk, and turned on her laptop. She opened a browser and, with slightly trembling fingers, began to type in the search bar. "Shibuya incident, flying man in black armor."
Dozens of news links, forum posts, and videos immediately flooded her screen. Her heart pounded. She chose the top link from a major news site, with a sensational headline.
"TERROR OR HOAX? FIVE UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS APPEAR IN SHIBUYA, VANISH IN AN INSTANT?"
Mahiru scrolled through the article and clicked on an embedded video. The video was shaky, clearly recorded on a phone, with the panicked screams of people in the background.
The video played….
"Look, up there! What is that?!" a young man's voice was heard, the camera frantically trying to zoom in.
Although the image was blurry and pixelated, Mahiru could see it clearly. Five silhouettes hovered high above Shibuya Crossing. One in front, in black armor with irregular dark wings. The other four were behind him.
It was them. It was Arthur!
What are they doing?
"What was that noise just now? It sounded like an explosion!"
"They're not moving… just floating there. Are they aliens?"
Mahiru held her breath. She could feel that same overwhelming pressure she had felt in the forest, just from seeing their shadows on the screen.
Suddenly, the video caught a flash of light in the distance. A fighter jet.
"It's the Self-Defense Force! They're here!"
The camera refocused on the five figures. Just as the fighter jet got closer, something strange happened. The video flickered for a moment, the color turning to black, and all the surrounding sounds, the screams, the sirens, went completely silent, even though the video was taken during a live broadcast.
"What… what happened?" Mahiru whispered at her laptop screen.
The video suddenly seemed to have a jump cut. In one frame, the five figures were there. In the next frame, a split second later… they were gone. The sky above Shibuya was empty.
The video continued with the recorder shouting in confusion."Gone?! Where did they go?! Did you guys see that? They just vanished!"
Mahiru replayed that part. Again and again. One frame they were there, the next they were gone. A perfect jump. No explanation.
She looked at the comment section below, and the same confusion was happening there.
Comments:
User_Taro88: This is clearly a crappy video edit. Look at 0:32, there's an obvious jump cut. They just cut the part where the drones flew away. Amateurs.
Kaito_kun: It's not an edit, you idiot! I was there! It felt super weird. I remember seeing them clearly, then suddenly I kind of 'woke up' and they were gone. It's like someone deliberately cut a frame from the video! My phone even lagged!
Anon_Skeptic:That's what you call mass suggestion. You all saw something that wasn't there. The government is testing a psychological weapon.
UFO_Hunter_JP: 'Missing time' is a common symptom of an encounter with a higher-dimensional entity! They didn't 'leave,' they just exited our three-dimensional perception! This is the biggest proof!
Mahiru ignored the debate. Her mind was focused on one thing. She knew it wasn't an edit. She knew it wasn't a drone. She knew exactly what had happened in that "missing time." It was supernatural power.
"Why would Arthur show himself in Shibuya? I don't think he's that type of person." Her hand cupped her cheek as she thought about the reason behind Arthur's actions.
She then looked at her dimming laptop screen, which now reflected her own face. Her fingers unconsciously traced the screen, right over the reflection of her lips. She remembered Arthur's gentle smile, the warmth of his hand when he helped her up, and the handkerchief he had given her.
A small sigh escaped her lips, sounding like a whisper full of longing. "But… I really do want to see him again," Mahiru murmured to her own reflection. As she spoke those words, the corners of her lips lifted slightly into a shy, hopeful smile.
…
A young man wearing a high school uniform—a black blazer with a yellow cherry blossom logo on the right breast, a plain white shirt, and a gray tie—stared at a large screen on a building by the roadside. The screen was displaying news about the unidentified object that had appeared in Shibuya.
"They… could it be… Avalon players?" the young man muttered. His previously flat expression had now turned deadly serious as he stared at the five blurry figures on the screen.