Cards at Hand

"So..." Jayson, his arms crossed, stared at the map on the table laid by Shichiro, who was sniffing Ned's head, as they discussed their plan on how to conquer the Port "...we need to surround that area and attack at the same time the others got the guards' attention."

Shichiro sniffed down to Ned's shoulder. The PA does this thing every so often that Hachiro glares at him sometimes.

"In other words, we need a decoy to do the job," Yuri said as he pointed to the place on the map.

Ned brushed Shichiro off. Since when did he turn into a fox? He thought. It feels weird.

The little one pouted and sat smartly on his chair, tilting his head sidewards, and opening his ears to the discussion.

"Someone strong and flexible enough to outrun the guards." Andra continued. His arms crossed as well. Andi sat next to her.

"And perhaps Smart enough to have an escape route," Tori muttered.

"If you need a good decoy..." A voice coming from the entrance of the tent said. "...that could be Me."

Everyone felt stunned and turned towards the entrance of the tent.

The cloth slowly opened and 2 familiar persons came to enter. The girl is helping the guy to walk as he puts his weight onto her shoulders.

"Ohh. Sorry, I've overheard your conversation and I thought that's where I could be of use at some point." The guy said with much familiarity that created tension among the members.

Everyone stared at them. Shocked at the moment they were at. But, they subdued their emotions seeing the sorry state of the guy who they thought was the bad one and they all fell silent.

"What are you saying, idiot?" Brent broke the ice. "We can't put you in that position, you know.."

"Cause you're in no condition to do the job." Ken shook his head.

"That's rude..." Hachiro complained. "If fight's what we're talking about, then that's where I'm good at. Besides,"

No one has the words to say.

"Anyway, I'm sorry for all that happened." His voice echoed. "If you need someone to hate, someone to blame, then you can Hate me. I admit it's all on me, it's all my fault..." His voice turned into a whisper "If only I had better cards at that time, no one could have died. I regained control over the plane but it was too late and that last minute was the last thing the black box had recorded. I bet that's not an issue anymore but I'm really sorry for what had happened. I guess, it's better to have it this way so you won't lose the goal. That is, to survive this death game massacre."

"Don't be hilarious!" Michiyo complained. She slammed her hand on the table as she stood. "You have done your part and no one should complain about that. It's hurting to lose our loved ones but that's not all on you." She bowed her head. "After all, we knew that you did the saving that we couldn't do then. We are just as useless as now."

"Michiyo..." Hachiro murmured. "That's not what I—"

"It's hard to admit that we need you at the moment," Alex said. "I won't forget my hatred but I can suppress that now. Just get us outta here..."

Jayson stared at Alex's face full of conviction and he felt reassured. He has seen his friend in his right mind now.

"It's more of a request now. We're losing time as we chat here, we don't have enough moves to make as well." Jayson explained. "That all being said, let's just not think of that incident now. We have to face the present and that is to survive." Jayson said, wearing his leader aura. "Will you help us do the job, Hachiro?"

"That goes without saying. I too have something to settle and we need to this this thing fast. Thanks for understanding, I appreciate the concern folks." Hachiro blushed. "Anyway, going back to the matter at hand, we need to do things as fast as we can. We're really at a race with time." He continued.

"What are you talking about?" Jayson asked. "I must've implied 'fast' too much"

Hachiro did not complain when Sandra brought him to the nearest vacant chair and she sat next to him, joining the round table discussion whose table wasn't really a table but a damaged refrigerator. Dave stood on his other side.

Hachiro searched for the wolf and when he found him next to Ned, he was shocked that it turned into a fox. Even so, he glared at it with much malice as a warning. Shichiro froze and looked away as if nothing had happened.

"It's not like that. Well, we all know about the update and how it's affected the entirety of the game." Hachiro said. "I've run a spy bug, the Flies, and got me this information."

They all set their eyes on him. The monitor appeared floating on top of the table.

When did he do that? Jayson thought.

"First, as what I've said, we don't have much time. The virus started to spread about 6:00 o'clock yesterday—"

"Oi, that's even before the Convention started." Yuri felt confused.

"Hai, that's true. But the trap was laid even before everything had started." Hachiro said. "That is the reason why we have Apathy cases at this point in time. As we all know, we were transformed into a data inside the Augmented reality in this city. We function the same as how icons and images are connected with bigger data running in a program. We are connected to the servers and routers and all. All we do is send codes to the motherboard to run the program like how a character runs in a game. We are more like an NPC who's taking part in the game. In this sense we're PC, a playing character." he sighed. "...the difference is that we have our thoughts and control our behavior around the limitations set by the GM because we're in an AR. But that doesn't mean they can't touch us."

"I'm not getting all of this.." Dave murmured.

"That's where the virus takes place. We all got a watch from the port before we entered the city, right?" Hachiro asked.

"Yeah, we all have that. What's that about?" Jayson replied.

"That's where the virus is hidden. The moment we wore that watch and activated it inside the AR, the virus started eating our data. And that data is in our brain, so in other words, it's eating our brain. And that's causing the Apathy syndrome."

Everyone was shrouded with fear.

"No data, no functions..." Yuri muttered.

"Exactly," Hachiro replied. "It kills the brain which is the source of all our activities, be it voluntary or involuntary."

"Who could do such horrible stuff?!" Andra whispered in fear.

"The GM can do that," Hachiro replied. "He's heartless. He felt satisfied with the sufferings of others."

"He's a demon."

"A wise demon, that is.." Hachiro said. "And we have to outwit him."

"Do you have a plan?"

"As of the moment, I don't have one..." He replied.

"You said you can heal them right?" Michiyo said. "You promised at the rooftop."

"I said I can try something to bring them back but that would take a long while. And it's not in its final phase, it's not safe to use that for now.."

"What are you going to try?"

"There's something we created at ORION that plays around the memories and brain functions of a person. It's an algorithm that can control or rewrite the brain's data but it causes massive data loss, memory in some sense. And if not detected, it can cause the brain to die."

"How can you do something like that?"

"It was a prototype. We haven't experimented with anyone with it just yet because we found that issue ahead of time. It's a gamble and the odds are not fair."

"That can't be—" Michiyo felt so down.

"I know, that is why I'm hesitant to use that thing on them. It's not safe."

"Do you have any other options?"

"I can think of a thing or two but that's the thing that will take time."

"Can we count on that?"

"Of course.." Hachiro said. "I promised my dad and Louige to save every person I can in this mission. After all, you should not be part of this trouble we have with the hacker...he's a GSTech business that we have to solve on our own that is why, we have to prioritize security."

"Thanks for the concern but we are here now and nothing can change that. We want to be useful this time.." Jayson said. "All we did these past few years in the Numbers is to watch over the marvelous things that ORION has done. I guess it's time that we make a difference as well. We don't want to be useless anymore." He continued.

"I'm not forcing you to do it."

"But we're forcing you to let us join. It's for our own sake as well." Jayson stared at him. "We have our own few things to settle with that hacker."

"I know, but fighting with despair will just lead you to your loss..."

"Our minds are clear and ready to face war. All we need is a little trust in our skills."

"Okay. If that's what you want I will count on you..." Hachiro said. "But, promise me you will not die."

"Dying is not what we want so we will struggle to keep on living."

"That settles it." Hachiro nodded and continued to say, "Second, because of the virus in our brains now, we only have until 6:00 in the morning to defeat the hacker and stop the Apathy. I guess not terminate its effects on the remaining people. Later than that will bring us to death."

"6:00 am?" Sandra said. "That's just 5 hours ahead! Is that why you said that your sleep was too long already?"

"Yeah. That's because we don't have the luxury of slack and waiting for help to come. I'm glad that Uncle Ned and Aunt Nica are here but we still have to do our part which leads us to the third thing I've discovered." Hachiro muttered.

"What is it now?"

"The last key is with the hacker. Which means, we have to defeat his palace before we can get to the final stage and get everyone out to the port."

"That's hilarious!" Jayson said. "With the few people we have and the few resources we gathered, we can't stand directly with the hacker anymore."

"I know. that's why I'm here. I will face him and get the key."

"You're trying to sacrifice yourself again."

"That's our only option. If my brain won't last the fight with him, I still have Shi-chan to finish the job."

"What are you trying to say?"

"We need 2 brains to defeat the hacker. Our life meter indicates how the brain functions as it is now. The more damage you acquire the more your brain falls into the danger zone."

"How did you know about the update? You were asleep the whole time." Ned said.

"Well, I read the manual on the way here." Hachiro raised his shoulder and tilted his head a bit. "Anyway, mine is quite damaged at the moment. That is why I can't last the fight for long. But with Shichiro on the help, we can fight together and win the game."

"You can't be serious!" Michiyo cried. "You're putting yourself in danger again."

"As if we have another choice." he struggled to breathe. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna die. I promise that the hacker will die before I do."

"That's not the point here.."

"I know. But we need people to get the others near the port and that will lead this group to split up."

"That's a good idea but you still need help on your end."

"You can't do this alone!!"

"But I have to –"

"No, you don't!!" Sandra grabbed his arm and faced him with her glaring eyes. "You promised that you would let us help so you won't do this alone," she said.

"Yeah but—"

"But what? You still don't trust us, Markus." Sandra said.

Markus. Ehh? That's his real name I bet she's really really mad. Shichiro thought.

"I just don't want you to get hurt. This is my fight." Hachiro sulked.

"No!" Sandra muttered. "This is OUR fight, remember that." She let his arm go and sat back on her seat properly. "This is not all about you now. We're all in this."

Silence engulfs their midst.

"Ma..ma..." Dave tried to sound cheerful to break the tension. "We don't have the other keys, right? I mean, the ones that are not with the hacker."

"We have that already.." Michiyo said.

"Wai..what?!!" Jayson exclaimed.

"Hachiro got the other two keys all by himself," Michiyo said. "He conquered the one at the market side and at Deimos where he saved me."

They all set their eyes on him.

"Seriously?!" Sandra eyed him again.

"Ahh.." his face turned pale. "It's with me." He swiped his fingers in the air and a black box appeared, dropping on top of the table. He reached for it and opened the box.

"Amazing.."

"It's nothing like that. I've just happened to have a bit of good luck to get these keys which is not in key form now."

"You're right. The update has changed the keys, too."

"It's a numbered flash drive now."

"But the numbers are still the same,, look..." Jayson got the other two keys he had in his pocket.

"3, 3, 8, 5, what could that mean?" Andi muttered.

"I guess it's some kind of a code."

"What type of code could it be? How can we decipher it if that's the case?"

"I guess we have to get the last key to see what these numbers mean."

"And we do hope these keys still work."

"Don't worry, if these things fail, I bet we can do something out of it," Hachiro said with conviction.

"What are you saying?" Andra asked.

"Anyway..." he added. "The fourth one that I got is about the port, I will send you the route we'll take to avoid any fight with the NPC guards and will keep us hidden. Louige sent me these schematics a while ago before the update took place"

"I see.." they nodded.

"Lastly, the ship..."

"We know about the ship."

"Oh,..I see...they're on stand-by out there." The point on the map flickered. "All we have to do is get our asses outta here and the rest will be done by GSTech."

"Okay. Then that settles it."

"Get the keys, get everyone near the port, and pray that everything falls into place. Got it?" Hachiro said with eyes ablaze.

"AHH!!" they shouted in agreement.