(Narration)
'Good…' Lucy contemplated as she closed her eyes, clenching her hands kept near her waist, 'I might not be capable of being the one who takes Mom's seat but…I won't let someone incapable take it, absolutely not…!'
flick!
"With that, let's move to the final topic of today" Ari said, flicking a small lever beneath his side of the desk which turned the rooms' lights off, and switched on the projector that's attached to the ceiling which casted a bluish three-dimensional hologram of the planet Earth in the center of this oval table.
"I am sure that everyone is aware of the pillar of light that emerged on Earth a bit more than a month ago" He added. Just then the hologram created a formation of the light in question emerging from the side of ocean not too far away from the archipelago country named 'Japan', "Because of its appearance within the horizon that can be seen from a few countries or locations close to it and being observable both during day and night time, it got dubbed by the name 'Horizon's Twilight'. It's already becoming a tourist attraction in some places and bad rumours regarding it are slowly dying down, that's how it is now, but,"
A date and time appeared on the four directional sides of Earth, forming a square around the hologram, all displaying '21ST JULY 2004, 8:52 PM' which was the present time that they are within and looking on at the projection.
"But?" Warren said, looking at the hologram.
"If we round the clock back to when it first emerged…" Ari replied and the date and time started to rewind, everyone's look remained the same throughout as nobody had a clue what to expect; that was until it stopped reverting, then the tension on this table changed once more. The time kept reverting between two instances of a minute's difference, showcasing of what had happened -
During 11:57 pm, the hologram didn't have the light while,
During 11:58 pm, the hologram displayed the light having emerged.
"13th June…?" Lucy uttered, flabbergasted looking at the date which displayed '13TH JUNE 2004', her current response and emotions were mutual for the many others present.
"This could just be a coincidence, however" Ari said, "The gap in time between Kaito's report on that night and the emergence of this twilight is of mere minutes, to be more exact, only 7 minutes; when medical help reached, it was confirmed that the 2nd Top Lord had passed away a few minutes ago already"
screech!
"Wait, wait! Lucy exclaimed, jerking up her chair and pointed at the light in the hologram, "Are you saying that this twilight and…Mom are somehow connected…?"
"As I said, it could just be a coincidence, though we cannot rule out the possibility of that to be the case. Not to mention that pulling off something like this from the distance between her, which she was found at North District and the location of that twilights' emergence on Earth isn't something that can be realistically pulled off"
"Believe in the unbelievable"
Those soft words echoed in Lucy's mind.
'Something that can't be realistically pulled off…' She thought as she sat back in her seat, 'It's Mom that we are talking about here…whenever we thought she couldn't have anything else up her sleeve, she would pull off something new that was even more unbelievable than whatever she did before…'
"As of now, this energy is harmless but there's no telling what it'd do with time which is why I'll dispatch the 9th lord Kaito and the 10th Pat lord from time to time for keeping an eye on it" Ari said as he flicked the small lever beneath once again which turned the lights back on and switched the projector off.
"Huh, me?" The boy in question, Kaito questioned, Ari nodded in response, "Aren't such tasks normally assigned for the Lords or Top Lords…?"
"I have the duty of overlooking things here and work regarding Dion collaboration, Lucy just returned from her mission, Neon is only a temporary placeholder and the other lords are Central 20 members who are busy with their work; that's why you and Pat will be assigned for it in a few days"
"Alright…"
"With this, the meeting concludes" Ari iterated as he stood up from his seat.
screech
"...Seriously there's no need for this" He said as everyone stood up and bowed (Except Lucy).
"Say Ari, is it alright if I slept here?" …Orin asked.
blip!
"Ehhhh" He moaned as Ari silently took out the remote from his pocket and turned the air conditioners off, after which he got reluctantly dragged out of the room by Warren.
"Ms Lucy…" Freya said, her look no longer serious like before, in fact, there was a hint of remorse within them.
(Lucy)
"Y-yes?"
"About earlier…" Ms Freya said, bowing down till her waist… "I apologise for how I acted, as Warren said…I went overboard with my accusations"
"N-no no, it's alright, please raise your head…I can understand your reasons for being suspicious" I replied (what is happening here…she was such a different person just a while ago), "And…it's your job too, those actions of suspicion, keeping tabs on me according to the info you possess of whether I am saying the truth or not, all of them prove that you are upholding your duties properly"
"You are praising me too much… It's just that during work I tend to take things very seriously" She answered, standing upstraight now. Her expression is so different from before…she has an awkward but genuine smile… "Even so…for me to act the way I did…when it must be difficult for you too…"
"It's fine…"
"I looked up to her"
"Huh?"
"The 2nd Top Lord, Amane…(She's looking towards the ceiling, and looks to be…in a daze) It's a little embarrassing to say it, but…the reason I joined Central 20 was so that I could see her from up close…"
"Hmm...Eh? What?"
"A-ahem…I will take my leave now, good night!!"
tap! tap! tap!
clack!
…She left…I didn't expect her to be so clumsy…
tap tap
clack
Thinking about it, Mom really was a very popular person… I heard some places even made figurines of her… Well, someone always makes those of Top Lords eventually, they are very popular after all (there's probably someone who made me as well) but… There was a large variety of hers (she loved collecting those figures of herself…).
…
"Ari" I muttered, still sitting in my seat. Everyone's gone now, I don't sense anyone out of the door either, it's just the two of us, "Rebecca…she'll be back to normal…right?"
"Yes…fortunately the treatment is going smoothly but…there's one problem" He responded, also still sitting in his chair.
"What is it?"
"She's in coma. Even after she's healed completely, we don't know when she'll wake up, it could take months, years…or in the worst case even decades"
…
"I see" I say. I feels so powerless…and useless hah… "And what is this Dion collaboration thing? When did it start?"
"...One of the surprises Amane left us (!?), leave it to her and she'll do things nobody would even account for; it happened on 1st of June when she told…no, more like announced to me that we are gonna be the first ones to collaborate with them"
…Seriously, when you think about it, it's not even surprising that she's the one due to whom this alliance is taking place given her unpredictable nature…
"But, with her, the negotiator to begin with gone now…it'll be difficult to take things ahead" He continued, clenching his hands that are on the armrest, "In reality, there's been no progress ever since she left and I don't know if it'll even proceed at all anymore"
…
"You made up such a big lie, making it appear as if things are going ever so smoothl-"
"I have my reasons to do so. You…" He said, looking at me, signs of frustration are there in his expression even though he's trying to hide it, "I don't know what you did in the three months of time you disappeared…all I wish to know is, you really weren't involved with this incident…were you…?"
"No…I wasn't, that's the one thing I can say for sure…"
"For sure?"
"For sure"
"Then the lie is worth it… I hope it is…"
Is it worth it or not, which is it…
"There's something I need to tell you, open this" He said, sliding me a folded piece of paper.
I unfold it and start reading,
'Once autopsy on my body is finished with, don't waste time on a funeral, just burn it immediately'
Mom's handwriting…? Wa-!
"That note was in Amane's left pocket, nobody else knows of it, the doctor handed it to me immediately as he discovered it"
"....Then…there wasn't a funeral…?"
"There hasn't been, but there will be one soon, that body's a fake though. I burnt the real one in secret"
…
"...Central 20 doesn't know of this note and what you did either?"
"Yes"
…
"I see, goodnight"
tap tap tap
clack
(Narration)
She said and left the room quietly, leaving Ari alone inside, sitting on his much comfier and grander seat.
clink!
"sigh…" He stared at the ceiling, stretching back in his chair, and closed his eyes.
(Ari)
I still remember…as if it was yesterday…
"E-ehhh?! What do you mean I have to be the King?! You are clearly way stronger than me!"
(That day…sitting around that small table at her house as always, when she, like always, caught me off guard with something outrageous)
"In my eyes you are much better of a leader than me"
"R-really?"
"Uncle, don't listen to Mom, she's just lazy and doesn't want to do all the work that she'd have to do otherwise"
"Hiro you…! Please? Please? Pleeaseee? Pretty please!"
"The change in tone sure is something…"
"Well, it's true that I don't want to bother with all the work that'd come with being the King, uh if I became it then, wouldn't I be called 'Queen' instead?"
"Maybe…? I don't know"
"Well whatever, yes I don't want to bother with it if I was the 'Queen' but…"
"But…?"
"I do think you have the qualities of a capable leader, REALLY!"
"For sure?"
"For SURE!"
"If you say so…"
"I've seen it"
"What?"
"How hard you work if it comes down to it"
"Stop…you are embarrassing me now…"
"Look Hiro, how easy it is to tease Uncle"
"I feel bad for you Uncle"
"AAHH! Shut it!...I'll do it…"
"Do what?"
"The role of the King…I'll take it"
"Really?! Let's celebrate then!"
"How did you bring this cake and sake so quickly…"
"She prepared it in advance Uncle"
"Tehe~!"
"...What if I refused to take the role?"
"I knew you wouldn't man!"
"WHAT IF I did?"
"Hmmmmm…then I would have picked up a kid and eaten the cake with them"
"E-eh that's concerning…and what about the sake…? You wouldn't make whoever you kidnapped drink it, right?"
"Would've drunk myself to sleep"
"Haah…seriously…"
"PHAAA! Nothing beats drinking sake to celebrate a special occasion though!"
"Seriously…my life's been a storm ever since I met you again…"
"I feel bad for you Uncle"
"It's alright kid, just take care of your mum, alright?"
"Leave it to me!"
"What are you doing, c'mon drink some and celebrate, cheers!"
clink!
(I don't think I've ever drank that much in my life as much as I did on that one day…)
…
(Narration)
"...And when I visited the next day, she really adopted…more like abducted two children…what a wild woman…how many years ago was that…" Ari said in a low tone, hands covering his face, still facing in the direction of the ceiling, "Capable leader my ass… What leader is it when he can't even protect the one person he loved most of his life… Dammit…!"
Letting emotions overwhelm his vulnerable self just for this one moment, droplets poured down through the gaps beneath his palms as he sat alone in this room, where she once appointed him with the title of the King.