Hibiki started moving. He headed out into the lift lobby beyond the territory of his apartment, twining the excess thread around its coil with every step. He had been careful getting into the elevator, only entering when it was the one that the piece of thread led him to. The bell rang as he arrived at the ground floor, and Hibiki exited, finding that the thread had been stuck somewhere along in the elevator's machinery. Swallowing nervously, Hibiki pulled out his Swiss army knife, cutting the thread at the doors of the building before knotting the new end to his existing coil.
He continued walking out of the housing estate, coming to the public street that ran in front of it. He looked around the tranquil streets, telling himself that the boy couldn't have gotten that far in that short space of time. He twisted the thread around a few more times, finding that it led him into the alleyway beside an abandoned building. Hibiki glanced at the at the peeling walls and withered posters on the side of the concrete, pushing open the piece of metal that hung ajar to the rest of the frame, marking the building's side entrance.
Katumi must have ran.
He realized, breaking into a jog as he entered the darkness. The only light was given off by a blinking temperature regulator, but it was enough for Hibiki to make out the shapes ahead of him. Tightening the thread's pull, he made his way through the stacks of boxes that littered the area—it must have been a storage of some sorts once upon a time. He eventually came to face a trapdoor of some sort, and with some effort the boy heaved it open. Lowering himself down into the abyss, Hibiki jumped down the last meter or so as he tightened the wound thread, finding that there was now close to no light source. He steadied himself, taking in his surroundings.
The walls are smooth, not rocky and made of dirt like I expected. What is this? A cellar?
He stepped forwards. A gleam of white light lit the brick walls before him. Hibiki pressed against the side of the tunnel, grateful that his long shadow hadn't shown itself.
“Should we go after them?” A feminine voice sounded in the darkness.
“Nah, doubt it's anything big.” A male had replied. Hibiki's heart pounded, his ears straining to pick up the words. Who were these people? He took another step forward.
“Crystal only wanted to talk, right?” The male's voice bounced across the solid walls.
“Yeah, I guess. What about the other kid? The one you were talking to, should we continue looking for him?”
“No... I bet you Kat could have easily found him if he tried.”
Hibiki swallowed, putting two and two together.
I'm pretty sure they're talking about me, though there's a slim possibility that I'm misinterpreting something. Seems like I'm not the only one he's trying to distract. He made another mental note. They don't know that I'm his twin... Do they even know Katumi has a twin?
Hibiki dropped the thread, seeing that it no longer had any use. Continuing deeper into the underground network, he froze as a click sounded.
A gun?
He squinted at the shadow in front of him. A light shone through, and Hibiki shielded his eyes with an arm.
“Don't move...” Anveria hissed at the newcomer, nimbly flipping the weapon around her hand. “I don't know how you got here, but holy crap you look a lot like your twin.”
In his mind, Hibiki facepalmed. He eyed the silhouette of the small framed figure before him, and the aller male who he made out to be nineteen or so.
“I can more or less guess the reason of your being here, and it's best if you stay here with us instead of going to find Katumi. As Casper said, we'll tell you everything.”
“Alright. Let's start with who Crystal is, then.” Hibiki said, jumping straight to the point. Anveria glanced at the dark haired youth, as if he would be more suited to answer.
“An ally,” He responded. “Well we're a Revelation group, which exists to foil the Capital's New World Order scheme. I'm sure you've heard of that conspiracy theory at least once in your lifetime, and yeah it exists. We're working to stop it without a full out war, and it sounds easier than it actually is.”
Hibiki nodded understandingly.
“Well we consider her as an ally for now, at least.” Anveria added under her breath. “She and I are supposed to be spies who infiltrated the Capital's guardian system, though Katumi doesn't really trust her at the moment.” Casper glared sharply at the girl, as if she'd let on too much. “In any case, we should get a move on, the Capital will figure out that their stalking networks are down.”
Hibiki opened his mouth to speak.
“Yes, they'll figure sooner or later that someone's messing with the system, the more the reason to get our asses out of here.” The girl continued, turning to Hibiki then Casper. “What about him?”
“We couldn't really send him back home now can we? Might as well let him tag along, though Kat will brutally kill me if he so much as gets scratched.”
Hibiki sighed. “Shit happens, I'll be careful...”
The two of them glanced at each other, and Casper eventually beckoned Hibiki to follow. “We'll go look for the two of them, this is taking insanely long.”
Bet he'll be overjoyed to see me, Hibiki shivered at the thought, following the pair as they walked. The overhead lights began to appear, lighting the way so that Anveria could switch off her flashlight. The three of them crouched, listening in amusement as the shadow of Katumi and Crystal stretched across the walls.
Konan whined in Katumi's pocket. “They've fixed the cameras.”
“That's it for now then, I guess.” Crystal's silky voice replied to the machine. “I don't plan on double crossing anytime soon so rest assured.”
Katumi tutted dismissively, heading back towards the group where the security cameras did not reach.
“Katumi!” Anveria greeted the boy.
“Hibi!” The sphere's childlike voice exclaimed joyfully, scanning its radar across the boy's body in recognition.
“What!?” Katumi grimaced, turning his flashlight to his younger twin. “Jeez—“ He widened his eyes in realization, reaching around his back to pull the pin out of his collar. “You're impossible.”
Konan purred.
“Wish I had a thing like that,” Anveria muttered under her breath. “But yeah, I suppose I must get toing now, supposed to be on patrol.”
Katumi blinked. “Here, take this,” he handed the pin over to the girl. “Say you found a trail, and it's not entirely an eye because this stubborn kid helped out. Get it tested for DNA or whatever, get yourself some kudos.”
The girl took it, slightly surprised. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah... It won't really do much to us if the Prince found that, anyway.”
“If you say so,” Anveria shrugged, turning around before being engulfed by the darkness of the tunnel. Katumi turned his attention back to Hibiki.
“You win,” he chuckled. “Red pill then huh?”
“I guess,” Hibiki turned away. “What now?"
“We go work out our next move.”
YOU ARE READING
Evanescent (NaNo 2013)
Mystery / ThrillerWhat if everything you've been told was a lie, and everything you thought you knew... Was not as it seemed? What if you had one day woken up, only to find that your own life in and on itself, had been a mystery hidden away from you? What if the worl...
