The Illusion of Loss
You're so persistent. An unshakeable seat. The scenery outside the window slid past. The clean city landscape began to change the moment we passed through a massive iron gate. An abandoned city, left dilapidated by rapid development. Smog rising from every corner, and vagrants sprawled across the streets. Wary of the unfamiliar cars, people filled with suspicion hid themselves in the alleys.
"This place is..."
"District 18," Amy answered as I stared blankly out the window and muttered.
A place where a full-blown slum had formed. It was a city I had visited once before.
"Why did we come here?"
"Because we can't take the normal route."
We can't take the normal route? I eagerly scanned the outside. But there was a limit to the information a child's eyes could gather. Carefully watching Amy's reaction, I channeled my ability.
A thin, wide-spreading current of blue electricity. A current so faint it wouldn't affect any machinery rippled outward with me as the center. I was mimicking an advanced technique I'd seen an electrokinetic user employ at a New Year's event before. Of course, I couldn't scatter my power over as vast an area as they did, but it still gathered far more information than my eyes alone could.
The city was blocked off in various places. Unidentified vehicles stood blocking the pathways. The people standing guard in front of them weren't ordinary citizens either. Ability users. People possessing distinct, unusual wavelengths. They were definitely a rare sight here in District 18.
As if walking a tightrope, our limousine threaded its way through the narrow alleys. The dragnet of ability users was tightening precariously around us. Yet, we didn't cross paths with them even once.
What a strange sensation. Blinking, I looked at the bodyguard gripping the steering wheel. A woman with long, straight black hair. Wearing small glasses, she was driving with her eyes completely closed.
Hide
No sooner had she spoken than the vehicle came to a halt. The silently gliding limousine stopped by the side of a quiet road. And right after that, a procession of countless vehicles sped past the front of the limousine. They didn't even spare us a glance, acting as if we were completely invisible.
An ability I've never seen before. As I stared at her with fascinated eyes, the woman's closed eyes fluttered open. Reflected in the rearview mirror, her clear, sky-blue eyes met mine, and she gave me a gentle, crinkling smile.
"Jeff."
It was while I was staring blankly at her eyes. Frowning as if displeased by something, Shine yanked my arm. My body lost its balance and tumbled. I ended up falling right into Shine's embrace. It didn't feel bad at all, so I stayed still in her arms for a moment.
The stationary limousine began to move once more. Without making a single sound, it slithered forward like a snake. The vehicle passed a large checkpoint. A massive iron gate that divided the city's districts. The towering, sprawling walls robbed the dilapidated area of its light.
From high places to low places. From an ordinary city to a developed one, and then back to a neglected one. This was no ordinary path. I had a strong feeling that we were just driving in circles. It felt like an aimless game of tag. They couldn't find us, yet we couldn't move forward either. We kept circling the city, waiting for a path to open.
Will we really be able to move forward like this? When I looked at Amy with a worried expression, she smiled silently and stroked my hair.
Rain was showing a completely different side of herself than usual. The little chick-like girl was focusing intensely on a small tablet PC. Gently brushing back her bright yellow hair, Rain rearranged the layout of the cars displayed on the screen. It was a mini-map that looked like a scaled-down version of the entire city. Staring at it, Rain began to draw lines with her finger.
"How about here?" Rain muttered to the empty air. But as if she didn't get the answer she wanted, she scowled deeply and drew another line. The long, continuous line was extending out of District 7, where we currently were.
"What about here?"
Another rejection. Rain bit her lip and frowned. An unresolved, suffocating tension. That was the atmosphere hanging heavy inside the car.
I looked out the window. The roads were neatly maintained, fitting for District 7. Pristine streets where not a single piece of trash could be found. That was the image of District 7 I had in my mind. But what about now? Shops with their lights out. Shattered streetlamps. Black smoke billowing from various spots. Some buildings were entirely covered in black soot, as if telling the tale of a recent fire.
I swallowed hard. Given my intuition, there was no way I didn't know where we were. The layout of the city revealed by my widely dispersing electric currents. The structures deeply engraved in my memory came into view. Inside a collapsed building, a helicopter buried deep in the rubble was being pulled out by a crane.
Tap, tap. Feeling uneasy, I fidgeted with my fingers. My small fingers tapped against the cold windowpane.
"Amy."
"Yes?"
"...It's nothing."
Mumbling, I ultimately chose to keep my mouth shut. Something charred black, as if burned by fire, was being carried away on a stretcher. Watching that, I quickly averted my eyes.
The limousine began to move sluggishly. Faster than a person walking, but slower than a run. Even so, it made steady progress. And at that moment, I spotted something I had lost. A glimpse of an alleyway that flashed past. It was only for a split second, but I definitely saw it. A familiar-looking bag shoved into the corner of the alley.
"Ah!" Startled, I jumped up from my seat. My sudden movement drew the eyes of everyone in the vehicle.
"Jeff?"
"My bag! My bag is over there!" I shouted to Amy. This was my chance to retrieve my lost bag. Thinking of what was inside, it was absolutely not something I could just give up on.
"Your bag?"
"Yes! Amy! Please stop for a second!" I pointed out the window, tapping my finger against the glass. "It's right over there!" I stretched my finger out to emphasize it.
Amy looked at me, appearing troubled. She glanced around, then let out a deep sigh.
"We can't."
"What?"
"It's too dangerous, Jeff. Even making this much noise right now isn't safe." Amy placed a finger over her lips and shushed me.
"...But it's a very precious bag." I lowered my voice significantly, just as Amy wanted. Amy smiled at my faint murmur.
"I'll buy you another one later, so bear with it for now."
"But..."
"Jeff. A good girl listens to her elders."
I nodded with a tearful face. My gloomy mood wouldn't lift. As I buried myself in the plush seat, Shine wrapped her arms around me and whispered.
"Do you want to get it back?"
"Get what back...?"
"The bag."
Shine's quiet words reached my ears. I slowly nodded. Shine, who was holding me tightly, looked back and forth between Amy and Rain.
"Amy. Rain. Couldn't we just step outside for a brief moment?"
"What...?"
Their gazes locked onto us. And then—
Click. The car door opened. I blinked blankly. The limousine had stopped. The door was wide open.
"Let's go, Jeff." Shine grabbed my hand and stepped out of the car.
A bizarre sensation. Yet Amy didn't find any of this strange. She just sat there in silence.
"Jeff. We have to find your bag." As I stared at Amy with a confused look, Shine caressed my cheek and whispered.
I nodded. My bag. Right. I have to find my bag. My precious bag... I don't have time to waste.
I grabbed Shine's hand and began to run. The fluttering hem of my skirt brushing against my legs felt awkward. It was a fairly short distance, but because I ran with all my might, I quickly grew out of breath. Panting heavily, I looked back at Shine. She, too, was breathing heavily just like me.
"This way!" I turned into the alleyway we had passed earlier. Fitting for District 7, even the alley was clean. However, because of a broken streetlamp, the surroundings were somewhat dark. Catching my breath, I slowly stepped into the alley.
"My bag...!"
Thank goodness, my eyes hadn't deceived me. Though it was covered in dirt, the bag was perfectly intact without a single scratch. It was the precious bag Amy had bought for me. Picking the bag up from the ground, I hugged it tightly to my chest.
"Did you find it?"
"Yeah."
"Let's go back." Shine smiled brightly and held out her hand to me. I returned her smile. A gently extended hand. Our small hands overlapped. Her soft fingers laced through mine.
Screeech!
It was at that exact moment. A sudden, sharp noise pierced the air. The vehicles that had been gliding down the road all slammed on their brakes at once. The pungent smell of burning rubber filled the air. Because the cars had braked so violently, long black skid marks were left on the asphalt. Flustered, I blinked and looked past the alley. The cars that had just ignored us earlier were now swarming toward us.
"It's okay." As I began to tremble with anxiety, Shine spoke in a soothing tone. Her gentle voice quickly washed away my unease. When I looked at Shine with a trembling gaze, she raised her hand toward the street behind us. "It's fine, Jeff."
Countless vehicles lined up. A massive crowd of people poured out of the stopped cars. There were too many of them to count.
"It's going to be fine," Shine murmured softly.
The people who had poured out of the vehicles locked their eyes onto us. They marched toward us in absolute silence, as if we were their sole targets. But at a certain point, they all froze in place and did absolutely nothing.
"See?"
I could only blink in a daze. Watching my reaction, Shine let out a playful chuckle.
"Let me show you something even more fun."
Clap, clap. Shine let go of my hand. Then, she began to clap in a small, rhythmic pattern. An incredibly familiar rhythm. Shine began to do gymnastics. Specifically, the stretching exercises meant to help kids grow taller.
And then, a bizarre thing happened. The people frozen on the road began to move in perfect unison. They began to mimic Shine's exact movements. One, two, one, two.
Clap! Shine struck her final pose with a sharp clap. But the people copying Shine didn't strike the final pose. Instead, they started over from the beginning. They began to repeat the stretching routine Shine had just shown them.
"Let's go, Jeff." Once again, she held out her small, delicate hand. Her tiny hand clasped mine. We walked slowly out of the alleyway. Even then, the crowd didn't stop their exercises. I locked eyes with the person at the very front. Yet, he didn't stop stretching. His eyes were completely vacant. It was as if he had lost the very capacity for thought.
"Jeff. We have to hurry." Shine urged my sluggish steps forward. Tugging at my hand, she ran briskly back toward the limousine where Amy was waiting.
"Hurry...?"
"They can't keep doing gymnastics forever."
Confused by Shine's cryptic words, I looked back. The repeating exercises showed no signs of stopping. Arriving at the limousine with its door wide open, we threw ourselves inside. Sitting on the plush seat, I clutched and patted the bag in my arms.
"Jeff."
"Yeah...?"
"We're going back now. Don't think too deeply about this."
"About what...?"
"Jeff. Your bag was with you from the very beginning."
"From the beginning...?"
"Yes. You never lost it." Shine looked around, speaking loud enough for everyone to hear. "Jeff's bag was never lost."
I nodded at her words. Watching me, Shine smiled with satisfaction and shut the limousine door.
Thud. A small sound echoed. And then. The frozen time began to flow once more. I blinked blankly, clutching the bag in my arms.
"Huh...?"
"What the? Why did we suddenly stop?" Amy, who had been sitting quietly, rubbed the back of her neck in confusion and looked around.