{ Jhiro Fukiyama }
The desktop monitor comes alive in seconds, settling into a background of a constellation star map. I pull up the search bar; there's hundreds, if not thousands of programs on this computer. Games, chatrooms, editing, drawing, browsers, social media, encrypted VPNs—and a lot of illegal software extending out of Japan. What lies at my fingertips would raise red flags across thirty-two different prefectures. This is more power than I've ever had in my entire life.
A quick search brings up the familiar things, the legal things: Ichiban Five, music apps, and our chatroom platform, known as Kiri-chat in slang. I spy a few relics, too: LINE, 5channel, Discord. Bygone remnants of a bygone era.
It's quiet as I load up the chatroom and punch in my credentials—though, the enter key is a bit unresponsive. Either Tetsuya and Kyoji have stopped arguing, or these walls are soundproof. I think it's the latter.
[5:42 AM] Server Notification: Welcome, Ramiel_Five. You have 10 new notifications.
A thought glances off my brain; at best, it's mild curiosity. I don't really have that many people added to my friends list, so I figure it's probably just our main group chat. More than anything, it has to be Kaede.
[5:25 AM] suyasano37: Kae, we'll be at Tomikawa. You know where that is, right?
[5:25 AM] LunaCorona: Of course I do. You dragged me there all the time last year. But didn't you mention an essay on WWIII or something that was upcoming? It's almost December, and final exams are coming up.
[5:26 AM] suyasano37: Don't worry about it. I still have three weeks till the solstice exams.
[5:26 AM] LunaCorona: Speaking of the date, it's almost his birthday.
[5:26 AM] suyasano37: Oh, true.
[5:26 AM] suyasano37: We can talk about it later. Cya in a bit.
That's nothing really out of the ordinary. But it takes only a second for me to see that the six messages before me don't account for the total ten. There are four more unread lines—the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, arriving just in time to bring forth the prophecy of Revelation.
[5:37 AM] Server Notification: katxh3187 has joined the chatroom.
[5:37 AM] katxh3187: Hey...
[5:38 AM] katxh3187: ...
[5:38 AM] katxh3187: Hello?
Six minutes. A stranger has had access to our private group chat for six entire minutes.
How did they even get in?
This is beyond bad. Things like our addresses and our school are openly on display just by doing a quick search.
"Tetsuya!" I leap out of my seat and into the next room, where the guy's helping Kyoji set up the speaker system.
"Whoa, what's the hurry?" He backs up, an eyebrow raised. "We're safe here."
"No, we're not."
"Huh?"
"Check the chatroom. Somebody's been added."
"Someone's been what?" Tetsuya pulls up Kiri-chat on the secondary computer, and quickly loads our conversation history. He wipes the screen and blinks three times, as if in disbelief that he's seen it correctly. "How? It should be set to invite only!"
YOU ARE READING
Spring Upon the Solstice
Science FictionSeventeen year-old Jhiro Fukiyama hates the world; that's a fact. Of course, he has reason to. After all, he's a Yomiborn in totalitarian Japan, and for that very reason, he's been treated like dirt for his entire life. But when he meets a mysteriou...
