FORGIVENESS

Akio sits in his hospital room, his mind tangled with thoughts from the conversation he had heard on the radio.

The uncertainty and conflicting information have left his thoughts in disarray. After a while, a beautiful nurse named Shiba enters the room. Relieved to see Akio conscious, she greets him warmly.

"You made quite a mess here. I am your nurse, Shiba. Let me call your monitor. I think you can now talk."

With those words, Shiba leaves the room.

Akio is still puzzled, trying to make sense of everything that has happened. He finds himself feeling physically fit despite the emotional turmoil within him.

"What's wrong with my body? According to that radio guy's words, I must have undergone treatment and high mental stimulation. But here I am, fully healthy. My mind is still dizzy, but something isn't normal."

After Shiba leaves, Rigaka, a man in his mid-twenties, enters the room with a smile on his face. He introduces himself as Akio's monitor and sits down.

"I am Rigaka, Your monitor. Zord appointed me to help you balance your mind zone. I know this situation is really hard for you to grasp–"

Akio interrupts Rigaka, "Yes, it is hard for me."

Rigaka takes the teapot from the table and starts pouring tea for both of them.

Akio again interrupts him, "you don't need to….I don't drink tea."

Rigaka mocks akio this time, "then chocolate?"

Akio glares at Rigaka, "Don't treat me like a kid."

Rigaka laughs. "Mentally you're a kid though. But You're physically 20 years old now. 10 years have passed since you went for the experiment. And you don't look that surprised about your appearance. Why's that?"

Akio: I don't know. Maybe cause I have bigger problems in my mind. or Maybe cause I was conscious this entire 10 years. just standing, staring at that huge eye. I dunno how i didn't go insane.

saying so, Akio sighs with regret.

"But still, dude I am now 20 years old. I lost 10 years of my life just like that. I don't even know how to act in this situation. That's super messed up. I lost a lot of things I guess. My family, my teenage…. And now my life. I am sold to zord right now. Wow. my life is now totally fucked up."

Rigaka looks at Akio's face. It's the face of a frustrated and confused person.

Akio: So, why am I here? What happened to my house-

Rigaka interrupts Akio, "The radio has already told you. It's confidential, and even I don't know much about that incident. It's a top secret within Zord higher-ups."

Akio thinks for a while and then speaks, "Let me make a wild guess. I am a newborn, so you guys may have brought me here because I was one of those naturals. I forgot a lot of stuff which happened that night. So it may be possible that I may have agreed to Zord's point and agreed to the part that I would become a Zord member in order to save my life."

Rigaka takes a sip from his tea cup, "Your intuition seems logical."

Akio looks at his middle finger, "But there are a few mistakes in this theory. If I was one of those naturals, why did you guys make me go through the whole experiment? I thought only artificials needed them. Also, another thing, my father..."

Rigaka puts his tea cup on the table. As Akio looks at rigaka's face,

"He's here right? My father? I saw him during that accident, waiting outside."

Rigaka: Well, Your father is a zord member. Or to be more precise, he was. in documents, it's said that, On a mission, Aritsu Katsueki lost his leg.

Akio bends his fingers all at once, "ok here's my final theory. So my father came to visit me there. And I am in the zord. It'd just mean one thing. The one who brought me here is none other than my father. I was unconscious all along. I didn't make that deal with zord. My dad did. I am here because of his deal. But the question is why would he come to our place at that exact time? He didn't even know where we moved on from dhaka."

Rigaka is surprised. while talking at 1st, he did get that akio has a low curiosity level. But with such a level of intuition, you probably won't need that.

Akio continues to talk, "maybe he lost his leg in that mission where he found me in Khagrachari."

Rigaka puts hand on his head. He realised that it's not that Akio has a high level of intuition. It's just, he overthinks.

"Maybe you're overthinking it. Your father lost his leg in a mission which by some luck happened to be in your place? Look, perhaps I am no higher up. I am no person who was in that place of that incident. But how are you putting those things together?"

Akio bluntly answers, "I have read a lot of Sherlock holmes. He does it like that."

Rigaka laughs, " I thought so. I'd say, don't overthink. As time progresses, the mystery will be revealed. Just wait for it."

Akio gets demotivated. "So my intuition was wrong. huh? I was so sure that I was going in the right direction."

Meanwhile, outside of that room,

Akio's father, Aritsu, is sitting and counting the hours. He is tense about his son all along. Sanjo is sitting alongside him on that bench. Both aren't saying anything, just waiting for the news to come. And all of a sudden, Aritsu starts talking on his own.

"I still remember the time when I met the woman of my life. Akio's mother. My parents were originally from Japan, and Akio's mom is Bangladeshi. Well, race, our differences, nothing could stop me from loving her. We got married and started living in Dhaka. Jia, Akio, Nia - they all blessed our life. We were happy. And then I awakened as a natural and visited the mental realm on my own."

Sanjo keeps listening to Aritsu's words. He is shocked by the fact that Aritsu is a natural. He thought Aritsu was a true blood as well.

Aritsu continues, "Not many people know this. It's okay. I trust you since you saved my son."

Sanjo nods and replies, "This is our duty."

Aritsu takes a moment to gather his thoughts and then continues, "Because I awakened as a natural charge user, Zord came for me. They told me if I don't abide by them, they're going to kill my family with me. I had no choice. I wanted them to live so badly, and they wanted my hacks for a certain mission."

Sanjo listens intently as Aritsu reveals more details about his past.

Aritsu says with a heavy sigh, "The name of that mission is Golden Duck."

Sanjo gets a shock and surprise at the same time. He knew about it all along—the Golden Duck mission—a mission that made its own mark on Zord's history.

It was a mission to stop a berserker charge user who leaked top-secret information about the mental plane in front of civilians. The culprit was Dr. Shimura.

Sanjo asks with curiosity, "You were a part of it?"

Aritsu nods, "Yes. That mission changed my life. I wasted three years of my life on that mission, and it coincidentally ended in a certain place and took away everything from me."

Sanjo remembers the name Aritsu mentioned, "Khagrachari, Bangladesh."

Aritsu nods again, "My home."

Sanjo realizes the connection between Aritsu's mission and how his family ended up in Khagrachari. He puts the pieces together, "So you went on a mission to find Shimura, and because of some unknown turns of events, Shimura reached Khagrachari. And unexpectedly, your family also had to move there because of reasons which even you didn't know. In that mission, your family got caught up and…"

Aritsu doesn't reply, his face filled with sadness and regret.

Sanjo tries to offer his empathy, "I am sorry to hear that. It's too much to bear, I know. Fate sure is cruel."

None says anything for a while.

Aritsu manages a faint smile, "Oops, I wasn't supposed to tell you that. It's a top secret."

"heh?"

Aritsu laughs softly, "My bad. My bad. Old age is cracking my intentions."

Sanjo sighs, "Does this seriously work that way? You're a total mess, old man."

Going back to Akio and Rigaka,

"So you guys didn't try to investigate it? Just what happened that night?" Akio asks Rigaka.

Rigaka answers, "Look, we can't. We can't question higher-ups. All we know is, they're doing the right thing for everyone's welfare. So, Zord members never try to question their words."

Akio remarks, "Blindly trusting is bad."

Rigaka replies, "Well, not 100% bad. Sometimes, not knowing the truth hurts less."

Akio sits on his bed and asks, "But you do have a report on me, right? What does your report say about my case, Rigaka?"

Rigaka starts to read from the documents, "A 10-year-old man who has lost his family. He is the blood of Zord, that's why Zord bothered to save him. Only for the sake of Aritsu Katsueki, father of Akio Katsueki."

Akio intervenes, "No, don't put that Katsueki name with me. Just don't."

Rigaka nods and continues with the report, "You were on the verge of death that night when your mom got killed. Only the technology of Zord could save you at that time. So, Zord higher-ups gave Aritsu some conditions. If he wants Zord technology to save you…"

Akio completes the sentence, "I have to join Zord. Is that right?"

Rigaka affirms, "Yeah. So they used the Vorz motor on you so that you can enter the mental plane again and again. And doing so, it healed your body. Mental realm can heal anyone, except deads."

Akio asks with a heavy heart, "And my mom, my family…"

Rigaka sighs, "they died."

Akio feels a rush of emotions but remains strong, "I only have another question. That radio guy and you were talking about higher-ups. What are they?"

Rigaka explains, "Yeah, people from HQ. But even in this base of ours, there's a higher-up—the President. But even he can't tell you about that incident. It's prohibited to talk about such high-profile cases. Though I can assure you that they know everything."

Akio gets silent, pondering on the gravity of the situation. "Hmm… higher-ups know everything…"

Rigaka tries to lighten the mood, "But I can share what I know. You want to know what happened to you earlier? How did you take that beast shape? Huh?"

Akio stays silent, and the environment becomes gloomy.

Rigaka continues, "You may wonder, what? That was me? Yeah, it was you. You somehow took the shape of a beast. Isn't that interesting?"

Akio still says nothing.

Rigaka gets demotivated seeing Akio's lack of interest, but he still tries to continue.

"We still don't know how you transformed that way. We never found any subject like this."

Akio nods and takes an apple from the table and starts eating it. He opens his mouth at last while changing the topic, "So, Zord is basically the plan B for the whole world. The defense organization that has been controlling the whole world from the shadows. For what? Power… such a strong word. Something that can be used in two ways, good and bad. Using it in a bad way, the whole world would turn into chaos."

Rigaka defends Zord's duty, "Our duty is to protect this power from others."

Akio cynically remarks, "By killing civilians."

For a while, none says a word. Then Akio breaks the silence by laughing.

"That doesn't matter right now. But answer me something. If I don't accept your offer to join Zord, you guys will kill me as well."

Rigaka sighs, "That's right."

Akio continues, "So, how did you get your powers? I mean charge."

Rigaka explains, "Zord experimented on me when I was just 5 years old. I also have a hack. My hack is to create portals. I can do portal manipulation. It's a type 2 ability. You will get to know about all the types soon."

Akio looks intrigued, "Can you show me your hack?"

Rigaka hesitates, "I am afraid I can't. It takes a toll on me. That's what type 2 ability is."

Akio sighs, "Okay, I understand. And the monster I became before, was my hack. That shape-changing thingy?"

Rigaka clarifies, "It seems so. But don't call it shape-changing. It's a bad name. You can call it–ummm—takeover. Yeah, that sounds good."

Akio reflects on his previous confusion, "But you know what, before this, I never witnessed any beings with these superhuman abilities. Other than of course TV shows, mangas, and novels. So this was a shock."

Rigaka nods, "I know, right? No matter, there's always a first for everything."

Akio says nothing.

Rigaka forcibly smiles, "So is that all? May I leave?"

Akio replies, "Yup, you may."

Rigaka gets up from the chair, giving Akio a light pat on the back, showing his support. He then continues to move forward. But suddenly he stops,

"Oh yes, I also have a question for you, Akio."

Akio looks back at Rigaka curiously, "What is it?"

Rigaka gathers his thoughts before asking, "I get your situation. But I forgot to ask something. Why did you attack your father? That emotion, bloodlust seemed very genuine."

Akio says nothing for a moment. After a while, he opens his mouth.

"He isn't my father. He is a monster who left my mom and my little sister alone. He has no right to be called father or anything. Even though he was a Zord member or whatever. I don't care at all. Those tears of my mom…..I just can't… forgive ...."

Akio says all of those in a single breath. He takes a few breaths and then drinks water.

Rigaka understands the depth of Akio's emotions, "That explains a lot. The beast you became there in the lab may be because of those demons within your heart. In order to balance your negative emotions, perhaps your body acted on its own and let out that power."

Akio looks at Rigaka's face, "Also, I couldn't cry when I tried a while ago. Well, it seems I forgot how to cry."

Rigaka empathizes, "Now it all makes sense. That takeover is devouring your emotions. You're also a type 2, maybe."

Akio sighs.

Rigaka could understand his pain. He tries to console akio,

"See, I won't say that, your father did the right thing. He is wrong perhaps. But we don't know the truth. We don't even know why your father did such a thing. But you know what? I saw tears on his face when he was trying to find you among those corpses. He just wanted to see you. Just once. I think he is amazing as a father. I would ask you to give him another chance."

Akio stays silent. He has no strength, no hatred. What's going on with his mind? He just can't feel the same hatred towards his father.

Akio murmurs "Type 2, huh?"

Rigaka comes out of the room, leaving Akio in the midst of his dilemmas.

But deep down, Rigaka seemed to understand that Akio won't waste his time and efforts to search for more clues.

Rigaka sighs, "Damn.. His curiosity level is so low..."

He emerges from the room and finds Aritsu and Sanjo sitting on a bench. Shiba, who was waiting for Rigaka's return, warmly greets him.

Rigaka looks at Shiba, "You can go to akio. He is all right now. At least Mentally."

Shiba nods and enters the room. Rigaka then looks back at Aritsu and Sanjo. They get up from their seats.

Aritsu asks, "Is my son alright?"

Rigaka: Well, he is. But you guys can't meet him now. Sir Aritsu, he still has some hatred for you, I think. So for now, for his safety, don't meet him.

Aritsu nods in agreement.

And all of a sudden, Rigaka saw Secretary Grinal walking towards him with 4-5 soldiers behind him. Rigaka was surprised. He looks at Sanjo for an answer, but Sanjo seems clueless.

Rigaka stops Grinal. "Wait. you guys can't meet Akio yet. What're you doing here?"

Grinal answers professionally, "We are not here for Akio."

Grinal then looks at Aritsu.

Sanjo asks, "What happened, grinal?"

Grinal comes in front of Aritsu.

Aritsu: Is there something wrong?

Grinal answers swiftly. "Mr. Aritsu, we have to take you for interrogation. We'll be glad if you cooperate with us. Nor it wouldn't be good for you."