Caller's Day

*Miku… Miku… Miku…*

Waking up in the morning Miku questioned herself; *that voice again… Who was that..?* Souta entered the room to come greet Miku good morning and finds his daughter in deep thoughts. He asked her "what's wrong?" But she gently replied "I'm okay" with a smile. Walking out of the room, she saw Koharu happily cooking for the first time.

"Mr.Koharu… Shouldn't you be resting?"

"I've been in that thing for three days now. It's the best way to repay you guys. Besides, I needed some exercise and I got your dad's permission to do so."

"He's right, Miku. In this case, he needs a long-term rehabilitation and exercising is a good way to improve his strength and control."

"Well I guess I can be thankful to have a taste of your cooking Mr.Koharu."

After having breakfast, both complimented of how much of a good cook Koharu is. "I'm glad you liked it." Said with pride and went to their everyday chores. Miku is doing the dishes and Souta is trying to get a signal for help, Koharu questioned him;

"When did you get a communicator?"

"I found this yesterday when I was scouting the town nearby for supplies."

"Is the town safe?"

Souta sighed with disagreement, "No… The town is guarded by one of those monsters, but it seems to be blind because it responds to sounds. However, if it hears you, it'll attack you and break every bone in your body with no hesitations." Saying that with observation, "When I did some testing on that thing and observed it's capabilities by throwing a rock into one of those buildings, the next thing you know, part of the building is destroyed. It's extremely sensitive to sounds… Anyway, I've set some traps in our area, one for our food supply and one for the monster." Trembling in fear, Koharu tapped his shoulder to ease him and said; "It'll be alright. I'm sure we'll get through this, in one piece this time!" Souta agreed with relieve and Koharu smiled and walked outside to exercise.

Miku finishes her chores an hour later and checked on her dad to see if he got any signal for help. Sad to say, there isn't one just yet. It seems like there isn't any signal that would pick up, knowing that their own phones aren't working anymore since all chaos is happening. But he can't give up now, not until he would get something out there, whether there's a survivor or not.

"I'm going outside to check on Mr.Koharu and give you some alone time dad."

"I'm sorry sweetie… You can go ahead and make sure you never go near the forest."

"Okay."

As she walked out of the cabin and the first thing she saw was Koharu panting as he moves and swings his axe with one arm. To Miku, it looked like some kind of aesthetic ritual exercise. But for Koharu, it was a tenacious dance of strength, spirit, and grace. Miku were stunned as she watched and fascinated on how he performs such kind of fighting style. She watched as Koharu's elegant and forceful movements made her calm yet intrigued. It didn't take long until she got noticed by Koharu.

"AHHH! Miku. You startled me. What are you doing here?"

"I came to check on you…"

"Is that so?"

"What kind of fighting style is that?"

"It's my father's. He was a former soldier in the Asahi Empire before he retired early and became a martial arts teacher."

"You were an Asahin?"

"Yeah, when I turned eighteen, I decided to quit school and wanted to travel the world until I found the love of my life, we decided to settle down here and make a family of our own. Since I wasn't fully educated I became a lumberjack here in Abisselfa and made a living of ourselves."

They talked about how Koharu grew up in Asahi and how his father taught him how to fight and specialize on handling every kind of weapon native to his homeland, he felt nostalgic and homesick as he tell the story and how he wished on bringing his family there. A single tear dropped from his eye that was the first time Miku actually saw him shed a tear for his family.

"You must really love them. Of course I know how you feel."

"*sniff* Sorry about that kid. I didn't mean to remind you."

"You taught me how to be strong and keep moving forward. Maybe you should apply that to yourself too. He he~"

They laughed together and Koharu continued to exercise, Miku was quite interested on the technique of his performance, not long she asked Koharu to teach her the techniques on how to handle a weapon so that she could protect herself and the both of them when danger comes.

"Are you sure? This axe is a bit heavy for you though and we have to ask your dad for permission first."

"I'll ask him right now!"

She rushed inside and startled Souta as he kept on working on the communicator and told him that she wanted to learn how to fight, Souta doubted her and disagreed. "Miku It's too dangerous for you to fight." He said with concern, Miku argued and stated "Dad, I wanted to take care of myself and I wanted to protect you and Mr.Koharu if you guys are in a tight spot. I don't want to kill, but I also don't want to make the same mistake when mom protected me from those monsters. " Souta was moved and Miku started shedding tears, *What pains me is if I can't protect you.* Souta thought for a second and finally agreed, he saw a light for determination through Miku's eyes and gave him hug as a token of appreciation.

"Thank you so much dad! I promise I'll do my best!"

"Just be careful not to injure yourself, okay?"

"I'll be fine dad. I love you."

"I love you too sweetie."

All is done and he continued to work as she walked out to begin her training. Miku walked out and immediately told Koharu that she got her permission, Koharu was delighted but still worried.

"Are you really sure? I don't have an extra axe and this one is too heavy for you."

She tied her long hair and grabbed a nearby dead branch so simulate the axe's weight and size and happily questioned; "Will this do?" Koharu laughed and gladly accepted Miku's request on teaching her how to fight. First, he taught her the basic stances, "This fighting style requires all balance, force, and strength, moving elegantly as you swing your weapon to your opponent." Next, the basic moves of attack and defence. "As you see your opponent strikes, read his movements and predict where he will strike and slowly contradict it." Koharu said as he showed Miku the probabilities of attacking the opponent in different angles and positions of the body. Slowly training every day for the past week, Kohura decided that she was finally ready for the advances.

"I'm surprised you learned and memorized all the basics in just a week."

"I was a gymnastic student and we did a lot of forms and dances, so this isn't any different from it."

"Is that so? How about we try sparing each other?"

Miku was a bit concerned because it doesn't seem to be fair regarding on his condition. "What? Ah this thing? It's been two weeks now so it doesn't hurt anymore. Don't say you're still worried about this, are you?" Miku lit up with enthusiasm and happily accepted his challenge, he then cut off a branch of a tree for a safe and fair fight.

"Are you ready?"

"Bring it!"

As the two of them spar, Souta glanced out the window and noticed Miku's eyes flaming with determination and strength, he thought to himself; *Heh. Looks like all her convincing was a good idea after all.* the thought itself made him realized that the fact that Miku is only twelve. She's stronger than him and finding a way to let her move forward and to move on of what she experienced. Later on after, he then thought of why this is happening? Why are all the people turning into these hideous monsters? He was sure those meteors had something to do with it, he has to act soon and find his friend.

"I just hope that William is alright…"

He continues working on the communicator and as for Miku sparing with Koharu, she finds herself in a tight spot. She didn't expect that he was this skilled. Koharu smirked and amazed that she's still keeping her balance, despite that she lacks strategy to even knock him down. Finally, she got knocked out of balance and pinned down.

"What? You expect me to take it easy on you? Sorry inform you kid but this is the same kind of teaching my dad taught me."

"Haha I did. I guess I'll need more training in order to knock you out. Anyways…Thank you for training me."

The two of them laughed together and went inside to make dinner. Miku was extremely exhausted but she still insisted to make dinner, "Don't push yourself too much, Miku." said her dad but she replied with a smile, "It's no problem really." Souta is grateful that she's become just like her mother, gentle, independent, and kind to others. As they enjoyed their dinner the communicator started picking up a signal.

"Hello? If anyone is out there, please answer my call."

A woman's voice was speaking though, they were surprised that someone has survived out there. The two of them jumped and answered the call and question "how many of you are out there? The woman was relieved to find someone answered.

"Oh thank goodness, someone is out there. I'm alone and I ran out of supplies, so I went to town to find something and found a communicator."

"Where are you?"

"I'm in Korona City, in the A District. Please help me."

Koharu thought for a second and informed Souta that the A district is one of the populated areas in the country. There's high chance that they'll be in danger if they'll travel there knowing the fact that the place is crawling with monsters and with lacking of weaponry, it'll be impossible to fight them off.

"We'll just have to find some weapons and some bullets for our guns then."

Koharu is still worried, risking their life to save someone but Souta just couldn't stand knowing that a person is out there is out there, in need of help and miss a chance to group up and help each other out. He felt like a hypocrite just thinking about it and said:

"Well, I did risk my life to help you guys. But you have to promise me that we'll make it alive and in one piece.

Souta agreed with no exceptions.

"Will I stay behind?"

"No sweetie, our goal is to find my friend to fix this and we have no time to go back and forth. So you're coming with us."

"Are you sure? I mean this is too dangerous for her to travel with us."

"With that blind monster around there's no telling that it'll come and kill her."

"Hello? Are you guys still there?"

"Yes! We'll come and give you supplies. However our travel will be long because we have to find more supplies and as well as ammo and weaponry to arm ourselves. Can you wait until then?"

The woman gladly agrees, settled things out, said their goodbyes, and hanged up. An hour has passed, the dishes are all nice and clean, all of them had their belongings packed and ready. Koharu knocked on Miku and Souta's room to check if they're done packing and to tell them goodnight. As they sleep away their worries a new beginning rises with the sun. What kind of person is the woman from the call would be? The voice keeps whispering in the deepest night, trying to warn of what's coming up ahead.