Heated argument

Date: September 11

Place: Kyoto Headquarters

[Noel]

"Hey! Wait up!" I hurriedly ran to his side as he was walking quite fast and was already a few meters away from the lounge's entrance. "What happened to you?"

I could not comprehend the reason why he just lashed out like that. And I'm pretty sure that everyone in the room also recognized his urgency to escape from that place. "Talk to me, Kikoe," I forced him to face me.

"What's wrong?" His empty eyes looked into mine. He just stood still until I shook his whole body.

[Kikoe]

"Stop it~" I blurted at the sudden dizziness I got. My arms ached at his tight grip. He repeated his question, "I'm fine," I answered but he was far from being satisfied. "It's just," I turned around and continued walking as he followed behind.

"I'm so desperate to find any leads that could reunite me with my sister," I gulped. "But the moment I had the chance to pursue that lead and instead of it being our top priority, we're stuck doing another mission that we had to postpone our original one," a long and low sigh came out of me.

"Wait, wait-wait!" Noel signed with both of his hands to pause. "First of all, congrats on finding a lead," he started counting with his fingers. "Second of all, you had a sister?!" He put another finger up as I only giggled at the order of his concerns.

I only nodded which resulted in him wanting to confirm it and questioning me more. "WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, HOW, WHY??!!!" People looked at us left and right weirdly.

"Who?" I repeated. "Her name was on the list of participants," I tried to make him recall.

- - notes - -

Lists of Participants:

Yuto Sato (Male)

Ricky Brown(Male)

Keiko Ikeda (Female)

Yua Kato (Female)

Asami Sasaki (Male)

Kimiko Sato (Female)

Rachel Taylor (Female)

Mio Kimura (Female)

Kaito Yamauchi (Male)

Asahi Saito (Male)

Mochi Inoue (Male)

Lily Willian (Female)

- - end - -

"I'm Kikoe Ikeda," I point to myself. "Keiko Ikeda, we have the same surname," I explained which got him thinking.

"So that's why the name seemed so familiar!" his jaw dropped at the discovery. "Oh," his face suddenly gloomed as I felt his overwhelming sympathy with gazes that were unsure whether to look at me or the surrounding people.

"I tried warning her to just stay inside this haven, but she refused and insisted on wanting to help people that were in our shoes when the outbreak began," I recalled our fight.

**start**

In the cafeteria full of people, pushing each other around for the limited food. There was no line nor order, only shouting and pushing around.

"Excuse me," I try to get some bread. "Sorry," I say, trying to budge on some people but nobody paid any mind to my words.

"Hey! Get off of me," a man got angry as I accidentally gripped his shirt to regain my balance. His hands swayed and hit me. Although it hurt, I kept pushing my way to the middle for some food.

My eyes started to tear up as people's elbows and hands kept hitting my face.

After a full hour of doing just that, I came back to our spot. An edge of the evacuation room was provided to everyone who took shelter in Kyoto.

"Kei—" I ashamedly showed her the one loaf of bread that I got.

"Oh! Nice!" she stood up excitedly, "I got us some soup, eggs, and tomatoes," my eyes lit up at the delicious meal that I'd be having again, each time thanks to her.

We both sat down at the dirty half mattress that we got from someone.

While munching on the sandwich that we made, I noticed bruises around her body and face. "What?" she questioned. "Is the sandwich so good that you're crying?" She then started to wipe my tears.

"Yeah," I sniffed and gave her the best smile that I could.

The day repeated itself, wake up, fight for food, sleep. Until one day, someone approached us.

Everyone was being approached as the system became more solid and complex. They started to separate people who wanted to work and who needed to leave.

It wasn't a choice, everyone is being forced to work. Even the elderly, but if they had a child who could participate for them, they have to work double, and that is why in every single group or family, one must apply to be in the Assault division.

We've had a few discussions about the divisions as we laughed and neglected the seriousness of the order.

On the night that we were supposed to submit the forms, we were walking and telling stories or jokes in the hallways, until she suddenly decided to check my paper.

"Why?!" she shouted at me, furious to see my name on the Assault corner.

"I already told you that I'd do it!" she kept shouting at me, showing me her paper that was also on the Assault corner. There were a few bystanders but kept no interest in such a sight.

"I thought you were joking," almost choking on my tears. Her face crumpled like a paper, tone sharp but low. "And you're my little sister, how could I ever let you see the outside," I looked at her distressed expression.

She only sighed and grouped our papers. "Fine," was her only reply as we walked to the main lobby without talking to each other.

Holding no conversation, our every step echoed as my ear itched to find other sounds besides our every stride toward the destination. The howling of winds blew our messy and unwashed hair.

"Wait here, I'll go talk to them," she gave me a smile and continued walking towards the front desk as I stood at the corner where she left me, blinking away the thought of finally arriving without any more heated confrontations.

I couldn't get my eyes off her as I watched her every move. At the desk, she chatted with them, giggling at something as the woman gave her a pen to write. It took a few more minutes before they finished and she came rushing with a huge smile.

"You took a while," I commented, facing the way where we came as she followed beside me, all giddy. "Did we make some kind of mistake in filling it out?"

"What?" she catches her breath. "Oh, that," snapping her fingers, hesitating to answer. "They needed our address, so I wrote it down for them," her hand found the back of her elbows as she lightly scratched it. "Yeah," sighing.

"Why would they even need that?" puzzled, I asked if she knew.

"Not too sure," she instantly replied. "But they did tell me that they needed it to check our information from the municipal's document," she followed up, having her best smile displayed.

We went back to our cramped corner to take some rest and end the day fulfilled.

And when the morning sunlight showered my face, "Good morning," her bright demeanor didn't give me a chance to suspect anything.

Our routines were almost the same, wake up, fight for food, and converse to get any information.

Until, "Keiko?" a man dressed formally from head to toe came, holding a list.

"Yes, that"s me," she stood up straight and only waited for him to speak again.

"You will be under my command and jurisdiction from today onwards," he saluted her, and she did the same thing back to him, while I only stood in the middle of them, dumbfounded by the whole situation.

"You are to report to this room and wear this uniform too," he suddenly eyes her, covering his nose discreetly. "There's a shower room there, take your little brother with you to clean yourselves up," he glared at me before finally leaving the two of us alone.

"What was that about," I commented but she only grips the clothes that were given to her. "You're my little sister, not the other way around," I tried to joke but she wouldn't look at me.

"Let's go wash up," she gave me a faint smile as we headed in the direction of the paper the man gave us. Again, she avoided speaking as we were both quiet on our quick stroll.

~skip~

I was already sitting on a nice bench outside the shared bathroom for men after feeling all refreshed and clean.

"Hi," a boy who looked a few years older sat beside me. I only slightly bow to his greeting. "You're new here, I haven't seen you around before," he inspects me.

"I just came here for a bath with my sister," I replied hesitantly.

"I have a little sister but not a big sister like yours," I was taken aback by his comment. "What's your name?"

"Kikoe Ikeda," I reached out for his hand that offered a handshake.

"Asami Sasaki," his fingers rubbing his chin as he then squinted his eyes to inspect my face. "You look familiar but I haven't heard your name before," he had a serious expression all of a sudden. "Keiko Ikeda!" he gasped along with me.

"How did you know my sister?" I questioned, gripping his collar and playfully shaking him.

"Don't tell me you haven't seen the roster?" I raised an eyebrow at his words. "That girl didn't even tell her younger brother that she chose the Assault Division?" his forehead crease started to worry me.

"I also chose that division," I blurted out.

"Impossible, I was tasked to memorize everything about the participants," he forced me to let go of him and sat me down. "Look, I'm not sure what happened but why don't you try and take a look at the list in the main lobby," he suggested.

"Where?" I stood up, getting ready to run and check the truth.

"It's quite big, it's hard to miss," he leaned on the bench and watched me dash towards that said hall. "Good luck!"

I arrived, panting for air as a huge crowd gathered around the list of names and divisions.

"Excuse me," my desperation took me in the middle of pushing my way through to the front. I couldn't care less about people bumping and accidentally slamming their elbows on my face. "Let me through!"

When I arrived, I immediately found her name on the Assault Division. I desperately prayed for my name to be there but as that boy told me, I was not on the list.

I scanned the other divisions and after the grueling pushing and pulling, "Hey! Give us our turn!" I was tossed around, eating the floor, away from the crowd.

"Kikoe?" my sister stood right in front of me.

"Why?!" I stood up facing her, my voice cracking from my unexplainable emotions. "Why was my name at the Support Division?!"

**end**

"That was our first argument, I won't be able to forget that," I mumbled under my narration to Noel. "It was the thing that tore us apart both mentally and physically," I added, vividly recalling every scene.

"I'm sorry to hear that," I could feel not only his sympathy but also his uneasiness to know the continuation as I saw his fingers fidgeting and his pupils awkwardly staring at random walls.