Uncanny Disclosure
"And why did you think trying to imitate me was a good idea?" I asked, addressing the imprisoned waiter in disguise—more precisely, Grey.
The same person who is leading the organization that once tried to kidnap me but failed miserably. Nonchalantly.
I suspect she was captured in place of Pilo just for the sake of reciting my story, and I believe leaving my suspicion unchanged would be in my best interest.
"Oh, ya mean the wig and the heels? That was just a trick to let yer guard down so that we could capture ya and control VISIONs directly through ya. I bet that odd height and hair were insanely difficult to find for you ever before to make a friend! Familiar things in unexplored places decrease our nervousness, ya know?" She announced with temporary audacity, which would in all likelihood sustain only until I squeeze out more information, that is.
She was kidnapped by me instead—though it would have been unintentional and a product of my clumsiness, I had not even a single thought of letting her go. I warn you, the tables weren't turned here in my favor, rather the boat had capsized.
"...But that never happened, right? So, stop beating around the bush and recite the innumerable amount of offenses you've committed against my privacy chronologically—or else, I'd have to beat the bush out of you."
"Don't do that, will ya? It takes time to recollect information from hundreds of records that were made with over a decade's worth of work, and then nitpick the most relevant information with connection to VISIONs and Rei Sturluson. Subsequently putting them in order, chronologically! That's why I begged ya for some patience even after my bold declaration of reciting yours and yer date's story, hadn't I!?"
I am terrifically impressed, if not scared of this sixteen-year-old's capability of planning so acceleratedly. Such a person surely deserved to be a leader. No wonder those two waiters were perfectly in coordination with her...
I'd simply assumed that she took over the company through nepotism, but no. She's fast. I can't reply, I am afraid she'd outbid my words—and I am damn sure of it.
My death stare, as intense as the sun's light was the only counter, I could supplement my wordlessness. It may not be dignified, certainly, but my mouth wasn't as well trained at arguing as hers. Staring was everything I could give her.
However—her words were, sure, muscular and brawny, or whatever adjective is similar to strong. They were incapable of defeating my thoughts in a logic competition.
Whatever elaborate or comprehensive explanations she gave, a few words were enough to counter. I believed in my thoughts, so there was nothing to worry about. My thinking capacity exceeds any human on this earth. Anyone and everyone.
Phew, I have calmed down!
"Hey, so I'm ready!" Grey interjected.
"Ready for?"
"Ready for sending your eye sockets of the Kármán line!"
"Not even those catastrophizing cartoons have such a gruesome comedic relief!"
"Yeah, the shock may be a bit too much for ya, let's talk this over some other day! Goodbye!"
"You're not going anywhere. Not until you've spilled out everything your organization has gobbled up."
Seriously why was she evading the topic? I know as a leader it's extremely miserable and irresponsible to leak out company secrets, but her life was on the line, you know? (Not that I could illegally kill her, but instilling fear was slightly necessary here.)
With my patience hitting the meter, I felt like I had to do something. And not just anything, but something—something impulsive.
A punch, no? Maybe not.
A kick is out of the question! I can't with a skirt.
Pushing her might be a bit over the top, she may even run away if I did that.
Ah, yes. The intimidating pull.
"Your plan has peaked when you execute it," or so was stated in one of my diary entries from last year which I had read yesterday out of curiosity. To compare and contrast of course, why else? Quite the philosophical of me, I must say—so much that I'd borrow it for now!
Implementing it, with tremendous force, I pulled Grey towards me—swallowing up the space between us. Close, she was to my eyes. Too close, I flustered.
"Speak up, please!" I implored, with my usual high-pitched tone but with an additional flair of hopelessness. My ears reverberated with pain from my own voice. It was easy to figure out that I was desperate.
Damn it!
This had made my intimidating pull go out of character and was reduced to nothing but a simple, pathetic, imitating pull. Trying to imitate my powerlessness.
"Sure thing..." she started right away, "So, let's begin with 13 years ago from yer birth and however many years it is from today because I suck at math—but before that, I want to shift the scenery—let's move somewhere else."
That wouldn't be a bad idea, I suppose. But that doesn't make it inherently good... I could probably stand here all day, but a change of scenery might cause me to lose track of my mood and determination—but who cared? Anything is better than grabbing attention here, in an all-human-zone. Anything than what happened in the alternate universe.
"You'll speak while we walk though, and I'm not removing my grip over you."
"...Well, that works for me!"
"Hmm, so is there something above the third floor (the uppermost) or is it just a normal rooftop that you'd find anywhere?" It was a blind shot in the air, but the roof might be the best place for storytelling whether it was available or not, at least for me.
I love open spaces after sunsets and closed places after sunrise. You could call me a vamp for that, and I would strongly agree with you.
"It's certainly nothing that ya could find anywhere, it's rather a special lounge reserved for the prime members of this mall."
"Well then, we could certainly move over there, right?"
"Haha, I would rather not invade such a highly guarded area without a membership card..."
"With your level of experience in the field of thievery and invasion, I must argue that it'd rather be a piece of cake—or is it perhaps a walk in the lion's den for you?"
"It's neither, I guess but it might be difficult for ya to enter there, without a membership card, for sure—though that's nothing for me to worry about as I already have one!" What was that previous dialogue about invading anyway? You said like you didn't have one, dumbass.
"Don't worry, I have enough cash at my disposal."
"That line has a good ring to it, ya must make it yer catchphrase, ya know? If someone else said that same line it may come out as nouveau riche or a rich bitch, but with you... It feels like the sentence was born just for your mouth to spit it out like how VISIONs are tailored for your eyes—or rather, your existence!"
"Nice flattering, I appreciate it—but I'd rather love it if you spoke more about the later part in fine detail. I am here for that and nothing else."
"Okay then, let's hop onto the escalators—if we take them twice (once here and the next on the third floor) we'll reach the lounge."
After a nod, I finally loosened my grip on her arm. Yes, I was relieved and could finally let my guard down for a second, it was plain to see. We were finally getting somewhere I suppose.
Nevertheless, we started drifting away from the second floor and the Rude Café altogether—it's not like I wouldn't reunite with Pilo, I was just putting it off for some time. Please feel free to interpret me as a sadist, but at the moment the secrets of my life were more important than saving my best friend.
"The year was 1992," Grey started as we were elevating to an unseen higher altitude—unseen only for me though. "I am not aware of the day or the date because my mom failed to remember it... So, that year my mom n' dad, when they were only around 17 and were also dating, had transformed a normal-sized magnetometer into a super-sensitive one, that could detect any disruptions in Earth's magnetic field around their town.
Well, I don't really know the petty details of whether they'd transformed it from an existing one or made it completely out of scratch—but one thing went without saying—they hadn't bought it from the market."
Huh? I wasn't sure about listening to a nerdy rom-com—but I guess as long as it's related to my story it's fine. So, magnets huh? I never thought they played any major role in connection to VISIONs, nothing occurred when they appeared, not even lights flickering—
Wait, no it happened, the day before yesterday. I was paralyzed and lights flickered at the same time, and some uncanny words happened to pass my ears.
No way, how had I forgotten? It was assuredly the most prominent event that occurred on that day... Were my memories being altered—seriously?
Also, Johan's altering the room temperature at will on that day was quite evident. He had heated the room once and cooled it down in another instance—using electric abilities of resistance and the Peltier effect respectively. However, I believe his powers are much lower than the other VISION who had paralyzed me—perhaps, he might have used something similar to a stun gun's ability. That's possible.
So, VISIONs could manipulate electricity, generating magnetic fields of their own. This is quite like the Earth's magnetic field, generated through the movement of Earth's fluid core which is mostly made of molten iron and nickel.
This gave them a wide range of powers, yet there seemed to be a hierarchy. Strong and weak existed between them.
VISIONs had altogether stopped appearing, a few months ago. Aside from those two exceptions, all had disappeared, without a trace. Yet, there was a third one, a third exception who was a bit too powerful. Tch.
And here I thought all VISIONs were equally vile.
Exceptions are always unfair. It's not like I despise them but I've to add rules to the VISION constitution now and then. At this rate, I may be compelled to abandon amending it anymore as Johan recommended.
"Quite the forgetful mother you have, don't you?" I said, in an attempt to lighten up the mood. "I remember every single major event that happened in my life, so the concept of forgetting important things is kind of alien to me!"
"Well, that memory would play a huge role in not letting me go off track, I bet!" She played a softball against my straightforward hardball tease, certainly a way to play baseball, or rather catch the ball.
Her banter reminds me of my ardent philosophy on humans...
Humans are mysterious beings, certainly. The way they talk, laugh, cry, sing, dance, or even move their eyes—none of them are chronologically coordinated, all of them are unpredictable.
But, something more mysterious, more enigmatic does dwell within the frame of my sight. VISIONs. Vile, indigenous, seriously ill, obstinate, and my very dear neighbors.
I want to know them, truly. Without any falsified narratives. Even that of my own.
"Did I tell ya that I'm in reality, just a namesake leader of Sixty-One under the supervision of my two uncles whom you'd have met in the Rude Café?" Grey revealed something nonsensical, which couldn't quite fit in the context.
"Why would you utter such an unnecessary piece of information out of nowhere?"
"Huh? It's small talk, something that everybody performs—plus, I just get bored when I don't get to talk, isn't it the same for ya though?"
"..."
No, it's not.
Anyway, about that pretty information reveal, all three of them (Grey and her two uncles) looked so similar I'd assumed that they were triplets, but I was wrong.
The silver-black or rather Grey hair she'd worn (a wig) to deceive and kidnap me gave her a touch of maturity—it wasn't the act of kidnapping but it was her appearance—making her look similar to her uncles. Mine doesn't though because my hair wasn't grey, it was shining silver with some darkness mixed in it, which was far from mature.
Glittering and humongous, looked like children's jewelry that they used to play house with.
Nevertheless, I don't give a shit about being mature, it's too much work to be it. Unproductive and useless, the only thing it'll give you back is social approval that no one cares about.
At its best, life is lived immaturely, after all.
"...We are here!" Grey shouted, perhaps not from excitement cause her voice felt like a falling bird. A desperate scream. Is she afraid of heights? I can't believe her!
Grey stammeringly continued: "S-So, you gotta take the me-membership card from there. Would take some time for you to register with cash I guess."
"Don't worry, online payment is quite an option for me."
"I thought you only had cash when you said that cool line, but I guess everyone's forced to adapt to change. Even the people who say very cool lines."
"..."
I don't know if she was wholeheartedly teasing me or wholeheartedly praising me. What made me cool, though? My clothing may be a bit stylish but it was normal—any girl of my age would be wearing almost the same thing. So, what really made me different from other cool people, perhaps my voice?
It was certainly high-pitched but it was rather mature. Don't get me wrong, the statement isn't self-proclaimed... It was my English teacher who said it—though that statement might not hold a great amount of credibility as all my classmates were candidly childish. Comparatively, I was only slightly better.
Then, everything comes down to the way I behave. I might be impulsive at times I mostly act polite and reserved. However, having long hands and legs at my disposal sometimes gives me sudden bursts of energy, despite feeling tired all the time.
That must be it.
"Still, ya can't do it with one hand, right?" Grey started returning from the joke to the main point, "So, ya gotta release the clutches of your huge cute paws off my hand..." Grey said with an eye-pleasing grin.
"Hmm, that's true... Stay put there... Near the stairs Grey, I know you won't run away without saying the kit and caboodle, I trust in you." I used her name on the field for the first time. Why now, you ask? Names are important when giving instructions, you know? They reinforce your brain to comply. Especially when you're complete strangers.
"Quite the guts you've got to trust in the antagonist of this story, Rei. My initial intuition was right on the spot, wasn't it?" Grey reciprocated similarly, abusing the give and take, or rather use and return theory.
"About me having guts? No. It's just a similar characteristic of being intuitive like you. The gut feeling doesn't look all that reliable when you compare it to intuition. They're just awfully different!"
Moreover, you aren't the true antagonist of this story, there's someone or something else. Lurking on the scenes, without appearing, I can feel it.
"Well, that's a completely different interpretation of the idiom I awarded ya... It's not having a gut feeling but rather having guts." Grey muttered, and her voice experienced a dip in confidence. Perhaps she had never met someone who was trying to act foolish on purpose.
Indeed, misinterpreting such a simple idiom could only be performed by people of high intelligence like me. It was like failing a multiple-choice question with zero correct answers.
It takes a genius to be foolish, after all.
"I'll get done with it soon, keep sitting there." I overwhelmed her lack of confidence.
After that, I got into a bit of trouble while registering for the lounge. Well, being a minor sometimes comes with its own problems. However, it's still better than being an adult.
Around the same time, I realized Johan was pretty much absent from the scene, perhaps he had wandered away once again despite the careful heart-freezing warnings I had supplied him off-screen.
People don't really like to take advice from me despite always being perfectly objective, huh?
Well, he'd surely be in life-dictating danger whenever he back, not that he's alive.
I headed back to the stairs, where I'd expected Grey to be gently waiting. Well, a girl in a waiter's uniform made her stand out harshly, just like a sore thumb so it was easy to keep watch on her from a distance.
Alright, she hadn't run away, good. But she was taking pictures with Instagrammers who could be found everywhere like miserable rats. Gosh, I hate them in every breathing moment.
If I were presented with an exciting offer between killing either a hundred rats or an Instagrammer, I'd choose the latter blindly. I hate them as if they have wronged my loved ones, even if they haven't.
An annoying barrier that Grey had created unintentionally. No, with what I knew of her, this was definitely an intentional barrier for buying some time and defecting my approach.
Her appearance as a waiter stood out conspicuously making it a useful instrument to attract a bunch of plebeians, damn her. Also, she'd overcome the fear of heights, I suppose. I think talking with non-gloomy people gives her some sort of energy. She's back in her old style.
Ol' domineering leader.
Two options suddenly arise in my brain's monitor to tackle this sudden development:
1. Jump in the awful crowd and bring her out violently, dragging her out.
2. Talk her out of the situation, deliberation, and negotiation.
I mean I have had enough of violence for today, and I also think I could pull off some small talk while avoiding those cockroaches. So, option two it is!
My legs shiver from disgust, but I don't deter from approaching the exasperatingly noisy crowd.
"Grey!" I began, with strong resolve. "We have some work to do here, please come out immediately."
"Wait for a bit, ya bonehead. Can't ya see I'm taking pictures with my newly made friends?" Grey repelled me instantly.
"Ohhh, this is the girl you were talking about, Grey? She looks cute, would she mind taking pics with us?" Chimed in one of the girls who was forming the irritating crowd.
"Tall, and nicely dressed—she was handcrafted to be photographed. Why else do ya think she's here?" Grey replied to her measly request, for me.
Bold of her to assume that I would agree to appear on a riff-raff's Instagram account. Or rather, because I would disagree, she forced me into it. As any criminal who has read my diaries must understand very well my instilled hatred for Instagram and its users.
She was manipulating me into the situation, slyly. But I couldn't counter her tactics right now, the situation was escalating like I was surfing a huge wave. Which was too huge to surf. The only thing I could expect was to be washed away by this wave of enthusiastic Instagrammers.
The shutters of shameless Instagrammers' phone cameras resonated throughout the crowd and its surroundings. I forced my desperate-to-frown face to invert itself and turn it into an unnatural smiley.
Well, this may not be that bad, I suppose. Being at the center of attention by a bunch of strangers, such kind of high regard was never given by any groups that I had involuntarily joined in the past.
Whether it be field trip groups or groups I was compelled to join in school for group projects, no sort of attention was furnished to me. This was a million times better, I assure you.
This situation had undoubtedly been crafted through manipulation and deceptive tactics, but the byproduct was a surge of mild happiness and a radiant beam of light that had the power to ignite a fire within me.
I think this was done by Grey to reassure me about something. Her leader-like attitude never ceases to amaze me, nevertheless. Manipulating a bunch of Instagrammers, strangers on top of that was an achievement that mustn't be taken lightly.
She is also quite similar to Pilo—like how both of them have read my diaries without me knowing and how they both are leaders of some sleazy organization, though there's something gravely different between those two.
Pilo, the drama club leader wasn't my enemy, rather she's the strongest ally I possess. Even in this battle, she's probably handling the situation way more efficiently than me. There in the Rude Café, waiting for my signal to come up here.
This is why I want to put an end to this situation seemingly faster than Grey would want. I was not here to hang out with the enemy but with Johan. I wanted to reunite with Pilo, and also so I wanted to complete listening to the entire story of my life from Grey.
Lucky for me, after some 20-30 pictures the crowd subsided and moved on to their next target in this mall after some parting words. Apparently, they'd also sent those pictures that they took with me as they had asked for my phone number at the last minute before they left.
However, as expected of Instagrammers, their attention span was way too short to even spend ten minutes with us. That's what Instagram reels do to an average netizen, never going to use that app.
"That was a nice photo session, wasn't it? Yer expressions, though—even a dead man's corpse wouldn't dare to make such a grim expression. Ya should learn to smile more naturally, or you'll always remain a cold beauty."
Huh? I thought my photogenic smile was apt enough for their pictures, perhaps even after fashion, I can't change my character.
"No, thank you! I'd prefer being a cold beauty over something else. Anyway, let's enter the lounge and continue the story you had left halfway through.
"Sure, let's go!"
We entered the large lounge which appeared sparsely populated despite today being the first day of [redacted].
So, the Lounge was rather one where minors could enter as it was non-alcoholic—though that wasn't something I was concerned about. It was the lights, they were eye-blindingly bright.
Thanks to that, the open roof lounge had become meaningless as I couldn't see the stars. If you can't see stars, your roof is meaningless.
However, the setting here looked way more luxurious than that of the Rude Café —the chairs, tables, the music that was being played, and even the drinks that the waiters held looked nothing close to cheap.
So, the price was quite reasonable for a lifetime membership card. Nevertheless, don't assume I'm careless with money, it's just that this place could really become a great resource for my future plans. The lack of people also is a great prospect.
"Let's take a seat over there!" I ordered Grey while pointing to the table near the edge of the lounge—it was quiet and the lights were also quite dim around that area, making it an instant choice for me.
She quickly nodded in response, leaving no space for disagreement or any other alternatives to enter.
We contrasted ourselves according to the seats we chose to sit in—she took the bright seat while I took the darker one (this segregation was obviously as per the lighting), giving the interviewee a spotlight and keeping the interviewer in the dark.
If truth be told, this wasn't just a metaphor but also a fact—I was being kept in the dark about my own life's importance and past, despite living it for sixteen years. It felt like I didn't know anything about it, and I was quite frustrated because of that.
"So, I'll pick up from where I left off about my parents building a magnetometer that was so sensitive it could measure and detect any disruptions in Earth's magnetic field, okay?"
"Yes continue," I affirmed her claim. It could be directly related to the second accident, rather incident that occurred the day before yesterday—when I was momentarily paralyzed and the lights flickered aggressively, so I should listen with unwavering attention.
"Mm, the very next day, after they created the magnetometer—the device read a short-lived disruption that was so powerful that it overloaded the magnetometer, burning the entire device as there was no fuse attached to it. Well, they were amateurs so it couldn't be helped.
Another unhinged thing that accompanied that incident was that the disruption wasn't recorded by any existing magnetometers around that time, which was crazily impossible. It was akin to not being able to see the brightest star in the sky, which was only capable by the blind.
"The Earth is always under surveillance, by us humans," they say but those same people failed to track it. Later, my mom theorized that it was a localized disruption that occurred only around this city. Meaning the anomaly was way too small than what their non-professional device had actually measured.
Why give that look? It's implausible to think that such a large disruption went unnoticed by the entire world you say, Rei? Didn't I say the device was super sensitive, so it could have exaggerated the magnitude of the event? I ain't suggesting that the disruption was actually weak, rather it could have been just slightly stronger than an average anomaly. Having said that, Mom said that the event wasn't 100% scientific—or let us put it the other way, the event wasn't scientifically explainable. Close to supernatural.
Besides that particular unscientific aspect, if we look at the more normal and commonplace perspective—the year was only 1992 and this area was quite backward around that time on top of that. The world may have noticed it but thought that it was just another metallic asteroid passing through—or may not have noticed at all.
Though, my parents were the first ones to create a magnetometer for this city, or maybe for themselves. What they made was a one-of-a-kind magnetometer, which was deliberately made extra sensitive to induce hyper-reactions to small-scale disruptions.
It was deliberately made extremely sensitive for a science project by my parents, though it wasn't a school project but was crafted by their interests—they couldn't care less about their school.
Yet they were avid science lovers and wanted to show immediate results to their parents and their friends, to entertain them. To show them, that they were really unique. They were actually two-of-a-kind!
However, making magnetometers is fairly simple, but the sensitivity is what made them title it The Touchy Compass."
Her parents do sound like me, especially in how classic is their naming sense and the part where they're desperate to showcase their uniqueness to the world. Though I mightn't be a prodigy like them or a name-giver.
Or how I wasn't actually desperate, that was just a slip of the tongue, never mind.
Humans are always desperate, unwilling to change, and annoying. However, I will not be considered a human if we consider only those factors for being qualified as a human—and believe it or not, I am undeniably human.
That's my one and only identity to differentiate myself from a VISION. Gender, religion, age, race, profession, skin color, place of birth, or even my school's identity card couldn't help me to differentiate from those unliving creatures.
"Making a magnetometer at the age of sixteen is certainly impressive on your parents' side, I suppose—especially when they have a daughter like you who's now the same age when they accomplished such feats while you've achieved nothing but theft, it would really instigate their superiority complex," I said.
"Don't chalk everything up to a sarcastic remark, and you may be right about the superiority complex! However, I'm just one of the many other sources that have fueled it, and nothing else."
"That seems the case. Anyway, I think the reason for your parents' love project to overload was without a doubt a VISON's work—strong enough to overload an electric device on top of that.
But I doubt that a VISION would have any particular reason to wander its way up to the device and overload it on purpose. Additionally, VISIONs have largely been obstinate as I've never seen them move except for Johan (who I think your organization is responsible for killing)."
I replied. My analysis brightened up her face more than before despite trillions of light protons already hitting her face. She felt we were on the same page.
"That's what our organization, Sixty-One has concluded after analyzing your diaries. As 'being obstinate' is a core element of a VISION, we suspect Johan has a similar kind of ability, who we have apparently killed."
"Apparently?"
"Yes, apparently. Though that part would come chronologically afterward, so I'll refrain from talking about it right now."
"You're getting on my nerves—so much that if I had caught your hand right now, you could feel they were popping out."
"Just be patient, will ya girl? I'll get to that part faster than you'd anticipate, so hold your breath to jump 12 years and 364 days in the future—15 July 2005, the day right before ya were born."
"..."
I had anticipated that, honestly. Just not the day before though.
What happened that day again? If I remember the day was named Dirth of the Familiar or something.
"So, it was an awfully rainy day in this city not that you'd know, because the very next day you were born was clear as a newly mowed lawn. Seriously, that day was the hottest recorded day in the city, it was probably because of your existence, I bet!"
"Why the hell do you know everything in such great detail? What are you, a stalker—oh wait, you actually are one," I retorted.
"...Didn't I say ya I'd a great memory? I remember everything, the hundreds of thousands of books I have read, the climate of every day since my birth, and even the number of stars I have ever gazed upon."
"Huh wasn't I the one with great memory? Guess the author just can't think of characters with different abilities."
Ignoring my interjection, Grey continued: "...That's why I was handed over the company which was founded on 16 July 2005, seemingly faster than I expected. However, I guess my parents just wanted to retire as soon as possible—they just got too bored of your extremely monotonous life."
Way to insult someone's entire existence. Yes, my life may appear dull but it simply isn't.
It is far more adventurous than your average peasant lifestyle.
"Still, I'm not the CEO yet, they said that I may have a great memory but lacked a shit load of experience. Anyway, circling back to the main point, my parents had gone ahead and created another magnetometer during this time.
Yep, once again, they had skipped installing a fuse but rather inserted a miniature circuit breaker which was a hundred times stronger than before, stronger than literally nothing ('cos there was absolutely no security before). Overloading wasn't a choice for the device anymore.
But don't think this device was the main project that my parents had been working on for 13 years, it was just one of the many side projects they had created. They had moved on from their petty creation and had started working on manipulating the Sun's magnetic field."
"The Sun huh? I don't think that is possible, especially since the VISIONs emit considerably lower amounts of magnetic field than the sun itself."
Just like before, she ignored me. Perhaps, once she started storytelling, even a great personality like me goes unnoticed in her brain.
"The side project magnetometer, just like their initial creation read an exponential yet momentary increase in the magnetic field of this city. It was like the city had just gone through a supernova-like explosion. This time the magnetometer was specifically designed only for the city and wasn't super sensitive. So, the reading was truly insanely high.
My claim is backed up by a fugacious disruption in electronic devices and power grid instability all over the city. The city had too turned lightless for some time.
At the same time, there was this really amazing aurora that lit up the entire night before ya were born. It was so unbelievable that even though I was just a few months old at the time, I can still remember it vividly. It's still burnt into my retinas."
So, she was older than me huh? I mean I couldn't have expected that as I was taller than her, but damn. Even though the difference was just months or days, it puts me in a bad position.
Don't be disappointed with my underwhelming reaction to her informational disclosure—I was already familiar with more than half of the facts she had retold.
It was obvious to anyone living in this city to know about the 'The Birth of the Unfamiliar Oddity'. Well, I did mispronounce it like "Dirth of Familiar" or something a few minutes ago, but I wasn't entirely off the mark.
Anyway, it must be just a coincidence how much the name matched my birth and existence thereafter, but it did resonate with me a hell of a lot.
"It took not even a day to find out the source of that sudden increase in that magnetic field was ya. She tracked ya down and subsequently built an organization based on ya and the magnetic field you emitted at the time of yer birth.
On 16 July 2005, the company or rather organization, Sixty-One was born with you. As you may have realized Sixty-One is the day 16th in reverse, plus a direct reference to The Great Comet of 1861 (my mom's favorite comet apparently).
Our organization—or to be precise, my mother is the mastermind behind naming your incident as the name 'The Birth of the Unfamiliar Oddity' and spreading it throughout the city, and also the founder of this ridiculously large building you're sitting in right now is under us.
Yes, Frosty Appetite comes under us, and the entire city will too in not so far future. It's necessary to use this city as Humanity's first act of controlling the sun through your dear VISIONs!"
Eh? So the reason why the name of the incident was so relatable and accurately suitable for me was that it was named like that on purpose.
Unfamiliar Oddity, which could be only used to describe me and VISIONs in this context, plus the birth part was directly pointed at me.
Her mother is scary, very scary indeed. T o influence rumors and the city itself (just like I'd predicted)—is nothing that should be underestimated. I actually feel quite lucky that I was facing her incompetent daughter and she herself.
Moreover, what the hell? Not only the Rude Café but also Frosty Appetite? How does a person fumble twice in naming an apparent company that's going to control the sun? I guess it was Grey and not her mother who named it...
"Don't tell me you named both Rude Café and Frosty Appetite? Just tell me you did not!" I am not straightforward with such questions but I had to clear who I needed to attack next for such an appalling naming sense.
"...Hmm, since I was handed over the company last year and Frosty Appetite was created right after it, I guess it must be obvious to ya, Rei."
"..."
"Don't stare at me with that heart-tearing gaze. I'm quite shy, ya know?"
"Living piece of human garbage," I sighed with a very harsh look.
"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!" Her sudden bolt of heinous laughter dragged some displeased attention to our table, but no one said anything. Only looks of disapproval were emitted from the curious and irritated heads.
With second-hand embarrassment and a similar burst of action, I kicked her leg in acute annoyance.
"Why'd you laugh? I'm clearly frustrated and wanted an apology, not a repulsive giggle."
"Sorry, but the way ya said that honestly was amusing... Ya might seriously become the greatest actress of this era if you try to become one—yer tone always carries a natural authenticity, even the most artificially crafted threatening remark transforms into the most chilling and ominous death threat when you speak..."
"Shut up your disgusting mouth and continue speaking!" Overwriting my embarrassment with harsh words has always been a good habit of mine. However, the words start contradicting if I lose my rationality like that.
Now, for instance, I went berserk with my words and failed to make sense. There was once again embarrassment in the environment and stupidity in the silence.
However, overwriting embarrassment with embarrassment seemed neither effective nor efficient.
"Okay then, I'll hum the story if that's your order!" She gave a witty retort, killing off the humiliation I was fussing all about, with ease.
She was a natural mood-killer, in a positive light though. But I suppose that's what happens when a vast amount of light puts you in the spotlight.
Was she positive because she was in the spotlight, or was she in the spotlight because she was positive?
I already know the answer but I'll leave it up to your interpretation, dear readers.
"No need, speak as a normal human. I don't need bees to grab more attention." I retaliate, expecting normalcy.
"As ya wish, my master. So, where did I leave, huh? Ah, yes, my birthday and its aftermath—"
"No, it was my birthday, not yours."
"Sorry, I'm just a bit too self-centric. Everything I think eventually arrives at me, just like your story."
"And you call me narcissistic."
"Whatever, let me continue. So, 16 July 2005, yes? The birthday of Rei Sturluson and Sixty-One—and also a gigantic magnetic field that collapsed into multiple blocs of human-like beings, which ya call VISION, Rei."
"Wait how did it collapse? That definitely sounds like a plot device!" I interjected. Displaying some sort of skepticism may help her to not go off track from authenticity, nevertheless.
"It's nature or rather nature's defense mechanism. Take dinosaurs, for example, they once dominated Earth being at the head of the food chain. But nature deleted them from existence, not because they were too powerful, but to give life a new chance. Nature curbs the power of the one with powers, always. That's what happened with your magnetic field, I think. It was just way too dangerous to be left alone."
"Well, I suppose I am way too great for this universe after all."
"Anyway, the magnetic field VISIONs emit is similar to how humans do, but their influence over other fields is far greater than us humans. Ya carelessly decided that VISIONs were dead and to some extent, that's true but..."
"But what?"
"They, humans don't originate from our universe, from what I can say based on the thorough investigation conducted by our organization. They're, what I would call, a multiversal human. Wait, no that might sound suggestive.
They are dead. Ya only had the power to summon the dead ones. Plus, the ones ya had summoned on your birth had accumulated into one great magnetic field as a bubble and then later separated as individuals.
It was one hell of a bubble where all the VISIONs were clustered up as a crystal. Just like how water molecules amalgamate into thick ice shards through condensation.
And, going by the acronym you created, VISION, the 'O' that stands for obstinate was right on the spot. Finally, when the bubble of your giant magnetic field busted on your birthday, all the VISIONs from the alternative reality stuck exactly where they'd died in the other world.
This world had a similar blueprint to theirs, so they perfectly fit everywhere—they became obstinate (just like your prediction) and had stuck in this universe exactly where they'd died on their former earth. Integrating here. Making this their own reality, their own world."
It wasn't a prediction, but just an analysis. Plus, that analysis also has its own faults, and exceptions. Like for example, Johan, 8YO, or the VISION that I couldn't see that day.
Anyway, how much in-depth analysis Grey, herself has done on my diaries? To the extent of even remembering the acronyms, that is certainly quite a great feat... however, it's brutishly embarrassing at the same time.
"So, colonization took place? On our earth?" I asked. It was an important question to verify if I was actually the conqueror of this world, haha. However, that was the only question I could muster up. I was faced with such a large amount of personal information, mine on top of that, after all.
"Your earth... It's yours, not ours. We, humans, are merely a fragment of your vivid imagination, we aren't real even if you tried to trust us. This planet, no, this universe where Rei Sturluson, you, preside is made by you." Grey's words turned serious and unconventionally formal—she'd overthrown her rude character a long ago, and now she was even making an authentic announcement. Dead serious, her words were.
"But aren't VISIONs the ones who, according to you, have colonized the world? Originally, even before my birth, humans lived in this sorry excuse for this world. Their history, their will, their willpower, hearts, thoughts, beliefs, love, hatred, kindness, and mercilessness all existed before me. So how is it possible that I have created humanity?"
I wasn't questioning the credibility of my power to do such life-creating wonders. Grey had already explained it, the magnetic field bubble that accompanied my birth was skilled enough to do that, to create the entirety of humanity. To generate the fabric of reality, space, and time. But I was questioning the possibility itself.
It was stupid, extra stupid for me to believe her ridiculous claims. If I had created humans, would that mean I had created maths?
No way in hell.
To put it extremely clearly, as clear as Johan's heart, Grey was handing me over the responsibility for creating this super-complex and life-sustaining planet called Earth through the giant bubble of magnetic field I was born with...
I refuse to believe it.
"About that..." Grey started. "They are you—or your brain to be precise. All the nooks and crannies of human existence are a part of your brain. That's why I mentioned them as a fragment of your imagination, your brain, your actuality.
Till now you have blamed yourself for being alone, living in solitude for god-knows-how many years, but you're wrong... You are not the glitch in the matrix, but you, Rei, are the matrix itself... And we humans are the glitch in your matrix. Your parents, your friends (only one friend actually), your diaries, the ones you've met throughout your life, and even me, my organization, are all fake. Only VISIONs are your reality..."
Lie, untrue, unoriginal, and biased. That's what I want to believe, but my brain refuses to do so against the humongous pile of evidence.
I of all humans created humanity, created the earth. "Wait, was it okay to consider myself as a human? Wasn't I a God if I was capable of doing that?
"Of course not, you dimwit. Even if I were a part of your imagination, I would leave you right away because according to you, you're very boring. Only someone outside of your delusional boundary could remain friends with you!" Pilo, whom I had called behind the scenes and in the previous chapter in Pilo's perspective a few moments ago, had entered the scene casually and had single-handedly cleared all the clouds looming over my head.
It almost sounded like she had been carefully eavesdropping on my internal monologue. It was scarier than Johan's mind, no, face reading...
I made the call right after we got rid of those Instagrammers through Grey's phone. It was important to use her phone as I wanted to put the negotiations into momentum as soon as possible, so by the time Grey was over with the recitation, we'd be able to start the negotiations right away.
After a bunch of one-liners with her uncle (or rather the supervisor waiter), she handed over the phone to me with great reluctance and resistance.
I gave Pilo a summary of the status quo—within the boundary of reality, of course—and asked her to come later, but I suppose it didn't quite get into her hard skull.
Johan was also tagging along with her (for safety reasons apparently). It also goes without saying that she had no idea about it, that a VISION was following her, or did she... Nevertheless, it's very immoral and disrespectful to wander away with another girl during a date, even for safety reasons.
Even now, he was standing with Pilo and another one of the waiters (Grey's uncle). Wait, where is the other one? There were definitely three waiters in Rude Café—where is he?
Pilo shot out another paragraph suddenly: "It has always been your bad to lose rationality when faced with an overload of information, even now I could bet a 1000% that you assumed yourself as a God!"
She was right on the spot, rather, it seemed like she was already there to begin with, even before I reached there. She knew me the best. Thus, she continued rambling. "Your prisoner there had contradicted herself around fifty times and not even once did you notice it? Shame on you, and the thinking capability that you believe is the best in the world!"
"Hey, shut up... I just needed time to process things! And hadn't I warned you to come a little bit later? Didn't you go all your way to agree on our schedule?"
"Oh, come on, as if you follow your own schedules."
"Shut up, shut up, shut up! I shouldn't have handed over the narration of the last chapter to you anyway... Look, how much confusion you've caused for the readers—you've skipped on a lot of details and destroyed the chronological coherence completely!"
"Huh? Why are you talking about narratives... Is this world a part of a novel?" Pilo asked, questioning my breaking of the fourth wall.
"That might not be out of the question Pilo Wright. The things happening in our world certainly might be illogical in multiple instances, just like you being nothing but a part of Rei's delusions. So why not join our little religious sermon, you have already heard quite a lot, haven't you? It wouldn't be that difficult to follow..."
Grey's tone addressing Pilo wasn't either playful or serious or rude, (the ones she had awarded me throughout our conversations) but rather was as if she was looking down upon Pilo.
Simply put, she wasn't respecting Pilo. Unlike in my case where she was almost treating me as a god.
"First of all, you shut up, deceiving Rei is only my right—that no one else deserves or could attain. Second of all, didn't you say your organization just wanted to control VISIONs to use the Sun as an energy source, but from what I heard from your conversations with Rei, it felt like you were trying to wake up a god and change the entire universe.
Using her powers, manipulating her... Who on earth was giving you orders, anyway? Assuredly, your human brain can't think of doing that, someone else was involved, someone more significant than you."
Pilo's lengthy paragraph retort put both Grey's and Johan's faces into great distress. It was as if she'd touched a critical organ.
Well, their expressions would have been the same if I had said it a bit earlier but Pilo beat me to it.
"Unknown souls," Johan uttered suddenly, but no one paid heed to it except for me, he was a VISION after all, what could I expect from others? He hesitantly continued, "[redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted]!"
Every one of his words was censored, yet it sent shivers down my spine. The creepiness and horror were unintentionally mixed in the air by Johan's words—words that failed to make sense literally and figuratively.
And the proprietor that censored his words was unquestionably Unknown Souls. Only they could and would do it.
Why, you ask? Johan was trying to give information about them, after all. Johan and they both had some links, I suppose, some kind of a pact...
They are the greater evil and not who I am facing right now, not Sixty-One. Not Grey or her two uncles. So, Unknown Souls (I don't seriously know if they're one or multiple, so for now let's assume them as one) is the main antagonist who I could deal with later. First comes my story.
On the other hand, what was with Grey? Seems like she was really hiding something up until now. The hesitations, the distractions, and the purposeful redirection of plans were something that had made me suspect it already, but Pilo mentioning it straightforwardly had linearly arranged my thinking process.
My initial conjecture about her being not the true and final antagonist turned out to be real from what I could see of her reactions to my words.
Now all I need is solid proof, and that could be achieved through clear communication.
So, I responded with a simple nod to Johan's pathetic attempt to convey whatever message he had in mind and switched my attention towards Pilo and Grey, who were fighting over the right to bully me, and were clashing neck-to-neck—which I didn't quite like it.
Ignoring Johan, I attacked them with an unexpected or rather expected bomb: "Continue the story, Grey, I want to hear till the end, till now... I already have an idea who's the actual person who is controlling you, but not in detail. So, complete the story, end it, finish it."
"You have got it wrong Rei, it's a competition to acquire you. The first person to get you wins, but since you have captured me, the leader of Sixty-One. The race has just one competitor now—the actual villain, which makes it quite easy to win until and unless there's an external obstacle—and our organization will be it. I'll protect you even if I can't get you. No one wins, not humans, not evil... Only you will."
Ehh? Am I some sort of a prize for a competition that I'm completely unaware of? I'd hate that!
"Don't fall under her spell Rei, that witch manipulates the conversation however she likes! She's a more unreliable narrator than me!" Pilo chimed in.
So, you were already aware of it, huh?
Anyway, calling her a witch, especially to a person who was dressed as an haute couture waiter, wouldn't be accurate. More like a wizard, I presume but that claim too wouldn't be exactly accurate as her ravishing hair was still leaking out, that she didn't bother to tie up or at least do something about it.
Seriously, it was annoying, the length of the hair almost matched mine, yet it was flying out everywhere due to the heavy breeze on this open roof. Even at a point during her recital, she unwaveringly continued speaking despite her hair sticking up to her mouth.
However, it displayed the disheveled dedication she had for storytelling.
"Hearing a story till its end wouldn't do any harm, Pilo. Even if it was anticlimactic, even if it was boring, reaching the end is important." I announced.
Even if the plans of negotiations had escalated, I wouldn't let the recital of my life's story halt halfway.
I would hate it more than the fact that I was a prize for some lame-ass competition.
"If that's what you think is the best, then do it... But I'll remain here and interrupt Grey's unreliability whenever I like because you just are not capable of doing it—clearly, you're afraid of interrupting and identifying the minor contradictions she has been making up until now!" Pilo said, trying to become the voice of reason—or rather, the voice of disturbance.
"Fine with me, join us with some chairs though. I bet you're not willing to stand here all the time, right?"
"If you say so!"
No denials now, Pilo? Guess, when it comes to comfort, she'd even accept it from absolute evil. That's the thing that makes her character the most unpredictable in this story.
After Pilo's acceptance, she and the other waiter, who had probably bought Pilo in this lounge, started to rearrange two seats to join our table, creating the appearance of a four-sided battle—a quartet battle.
However, that was wrong. Pilo took the nearest seat to mine, asserting herself as my ally, and the waiter—or rather Grey's uncle took the seat near her, making it only two-sided. A bipolar one.
However, that perception was also incorrect. This isn't a conflict; instead, it's simply a gathering for storytelling. However, Johan, who wasn't a human nor something else, but rather a VISION, couldn't simply relocate a chair and join us.
He was invisible yet involatile, could touch things but he couldn't. Because if he dared to do that, people would be instinctively afraid. Why, you ask?
People are afraid of unknown things, if a chair moves by itself people would either think it's automatic or heretic. That's their entire imagination spectrum, they're afraid of everything outside it.
Only people like me, people who have seen them understand them.
"Huh? Why are you looking in that direction, Rei? Oh, I had completely forgotten about Johan. He's there, isn't he? Tell him to join us, he might be feeling a bit lonely standing out there all alone, hahaha!" Grey's sarcastic remark, or rather honesty seemed out of place. But, I ought to do that.
"Johan? Is that the new VISION the waiters in the Rude Café were talking about?" Pilo asked me.
"Don't assume I was there when they were talking about it! Also, yes Johan was the last VISION who appeared after the 'VISION Purge' incident (that you'd named). Well, he's partly why I am currently here on the premises of Frosty Appetite, for a date."
"Pfft, a date with a VISION? You're so delusional, holy shit." Pilo retorted.
"S-Shut up! You can't see them, you can't talk about them, got it?"
"Sure, whatever you say..."
I couldn't explain everything in a sentence, so I had to just subside the question for the time. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't avoiding the question... I'm just way too out of zone to start reciting a new story.
"Ah, so let me continue with that so-called "VISION Purge" that Pilo Wright has named, but the original one and not the one that occurred a few months ago—specifically to say, on your 16th birthday, Rei." Grey bashed in our conversation with her recital plans. As expected from Grey, helping me escape from my own ally.
"This next jump is roughly 15 years from 'The Birth of the Unfamiliar Oddity'. But before that, I want Johan, your date to take over a seat, or else you won't pay the necessary attention that I expect from you."
"...Okay then," without wasting a second I muttered only to Johan—but for the others here, it was me addressing just an invisible entity that they couldn't see. I looked stupid saying it, but I didn't hesitate, "Sit there Johan, I want you to listen carefully."
With the softest voice my larynx could produce, I delivered my message. I didn't want to show them that I was talking to an unnatural, or rather a supernatural entity.
A human he was ultimately, even if he was from an alternate universe, even if he twisted the rules of the natural. The rules that the humans from this earth had created, the world I currently preside had created.
Well, I'm not trying to alienate myself from humanity despite haughtily stating that I was a human. But I don't want to make any further claims until the fog of ambiguousness has cleared.
Johan embarrassingly replied, "Pardon for the things you weren't able to listen to before... The influence of Unknown Souls is certainly getting stronger—now they're even capable of censoring entire sentences, huh? Nevertheless, I'll be standing here, so don't mind me and listen to your truth!"
Why so polite? Why not talk through telepathy? Why so formal?
At the outset, at the inception, this very date was just a catalyst for Johan to have new experiences, to have "city fun". It wasn't meant for me—it was for him and we'd derailed.
It felt like I had become the center of the world, pulling all attraction toward myself. The gravity of attention was squeezing me, and I hated it.
"Because our fun may not last forever... It's short, really short. So, I want to be polite for the while I am capable of." Johan ignited a telepathic conversation, having read my thoughts.
"Bullshit, short time must be utilized with utmost recklessness and utmost informality! There's no time to waste, there's no time to listen to biographies!" I shot back telepathically, and frustratedly.
His words transformed my willingness to hear the story to abandon everything and enjoy a little bit more. Before he leaves me.
"Just listen to it, we can have the fun part tomorrow or even the day after... But this is important, for now. As you say, coherence is necessary. This is just the perfect time to put it into practice!" Johan shared his thoughts. His immaturity—or rather maturity didn't reflect that of a 14-year-old from this universe. He sounded more resolute than before, yet his links with the main antagonist kind of made his determination go to waste.
You dare use my own spells against me, Johan is likely what I'd have said but contradicting my own philosophy is quite painful. Furthermore, engaging in such actions would result in a complete collapse of my moral compass. Like a house of cards, I suppose.
My philosophy wasn't rigid or orthodox, it was rather much more flexible. But if I don't follow it at times like this, at times when my rage has taken over me, I would fall indefinitely and even Pilo wouldn't be able to save from it.
"He's ready... To listen, I mean. So, continue with the next phase of this recital." I injected my words into the flow of curious eyes, who had failed to grasp a single word through our telepathic communication.
"So, no more interruptions?" Grey questioned with an easygoing flow.
"Yes, nothing more..."