Call me where?

Soon, they were overhead the flames, seeing their attempt at vengeance and perseverance fail so terribly, nobody spoke about anything. Sachibana lay close to Max and closed her eyes, Dairue was overlooking windows, regretting as the corner of his vision showed the spreading wall of trees that lit the forest.

Kenji asks his passenger, Toko, a man with dark black hair barely over his eyes, a thin figure barely as tall as Max himself. He sat without ushering a single word, knowing how volatile everybody has become. Tender in their own ways, trying to avoid being hurt again.

He asked the time, which Toko replied was "2:00 am". Kenji was overjoyed at how Toko made it back, almost flung from one of the many bulldozers that were excused for de-construction purposes.

Dairue looked towards Toko, seemingly disappointed in himself, doubting all his intentions. He stared unamused at the front seat, tears were quickly falling over his eyes. Self betrayed, feeling as if he'd stabbed himself in his own heart, unable to bear the burden of getting other people killed. The man continued to sulk and blame himself, putting all faults into his own.

To him, there was nobody else at fault, his wish to return to time just to change to warn everybody, his desire for change. His soul was tortured by himself, unable to shake off the guilt, fearing the scenario of people finding out about his actions. Further shunning his mind, he tried to silence his thoughts by placing a gun in his mouth.

"Dairue, there's a child in the car.. Enough people have died, let it be for now... " Kenji was tired of his relentless self-hatred, pretending to justify his actions just to prevent another casualty. A casualty of taking one's own life.

Gun back in his pocket, he leaned on the windshield as droplets of rainwater dripped down the window pane. The buildings of the city began to come through, announcements of a forest fire filled the television screens, and the main road that led towards the countryside of the church was closed.

Investigations took part as the storm faded out into the atmosphere, the pinkish hue of the clouds made the sky look bloody. City lights, familiarity, Max woke to the sight of an overly bright advertisement light, his eyes droopy from thinking too much, homesick of being away from his house during that time.

His house came into view, the windows were closed, shut, and boarded up. Leaves filled the road, and wires that had detached from a distant post line surrounded the sidewalk. Max opened the car doors and set Sachibana to lay her head on the car seat before leaving permanently, a wave goodbye was the last thing he had done for them.

Humans and their futile disputes take control over themselves, scaring themselves for a temporary source of power. Morally gray paths keep themselves aligned with no black and white, there was no right and wrong when everything was against itself. Morals that kept our civil minds in place have now been set free, free by those who keep themselves gray.

Max sat at the front of his home, the bush brushing up against his hands, sitting with his knees to his chest, his palms held together, perched on his knees. His attempts at fathoming the great vast expanse of events that transpired could not go any better having a singular slice of what he thought as real or not.

Lights, the flames, it was a visual representation of hell on earth, reality had seemingly been bent to its will, Max felt as if he walked through the circles of hell, forever walking the rounded edges that continuously led downwards, a hole dug for him by his friends. The ditch in the cliff was a graveyard for those who followed the plan, forever buried in the mud.

The boy went back into his door, he could only down, he perceived Dairue as his savior, his very own family outside of blood. Dairue's hunger and greed for saving people had cost the very lives of those he wished to protect. A temporary protection that kept everyone on their nerves, comfort was no longer an option for Max.

He went into his mother's room, his eyes met her bed and her sleeping body. Her tired demeanor, her tired eyes, her body beaten by work and corporate hands. Max feared for her life more so than his own, the looming presence of death was not only a reality, yet also an inevitable ending.

The world they knew, was not as it seems, the world they live in, never giving up the answers to why things had to go the way they were. His excitement for the next day, his aspirations to meet Akemi and give his income to his mother, slowly wilted in the wind.

Falling to the mattress, his fragile body was slumped towards the cold fabric, rubbing his hands on the surface to make them warm. Embracing his clothes as the pillows, trying to take a little warmth back. As the eyes of the beaten one closed, the darkness was all he could see, trying to crawl beyond the black abyss of his eyelid, the red veins pulsating with his heart.

Yet all he found was sleep.

The night felt like a second ago.

In a snap, the daylight came crashing through his windows, the white stained glass had blocked the sun's rays. His eyes tried to adjust back to brightness, his head was still asleep, his body unable to stand. He lifted his feet and tried to take a step out, grabbing his phone, a single scroll was all it took to see what they had done on the web.

Images of ashes, the overhead view of helicopters, and a line of fallen trees bordering the roads. Corpses that have been blurred, censored for the eyes of the squeamish. He fell back, his spine hitting the ground, a quiet yelp coming from his lips. Sticking his hands into the sheet, the phone was hidden, and he poured alcohol over his wounds.

To add insult to injury, the media had given the news of tensions rising, an imminent attack, a moment only thought to be nothing more than a small insignificant possibility, had become inevitable. The pain was all that was in his mind, zoning out from the memory that left him powerless over his own life.

"Only months have passed, so many things have changed… Things I cannot escape.."

"But only now did I befriend myself, at the worst time possible, at the end of the world.."

Nights left him wondering what if he had not slept, if he took another path instead of following the ones made by the people around him, forever locked in a guilty room, the crime was undressing itself. To see Akemi once more, to see the one person that he gave two shits about one more time before everything fades into the unknown.

Akemi's safety, Akemi's face, her personality, his rose heart blooming, wilting and decomposing back into the grass to regrow another flower just to present itself for her. The seasons change, and time leaves all behind, but his desire for her, his undying regret keeps him alive. All the things that hinder his ability to live, keep him alive.

His friends, unable to contact him, worry was chained to his able body, cross-legged on the floor, contemplating what to do next. He checked the time to see he had overslept, the clock was nearing noon, and the sun had been up for six hours. Slowly, he remembers Sachi, the book he gave away, the book he must get back.

Before he could think twice about finding her, Dairue calls from underneath the covers, his phone had been yanked inside, wedged over the mattress.

"I need you to come here, I need someone to listen," he says over the phone.

"I'll be underway…" Without hesitation, he knew what he must do. Max left his room without a glimpse of how it looked, rushing down the stairs as if it he was racing with time.

For a friend, he would risk it all, for a small moment to impact their lives, he would throw his own. Max jolted from sitting down, his head feeling light, his vision gaining a static. Before falling to the floor, he manages to catch himself to recover, he takes his bag and most important belongings and makes a run for the door.

When he opens the door, a familiar face greets his eyes. Soran was standing a few feet from his doorstep, anticipating Max to open the front door.

"No, just no, I am done. I am happy you're fine, but why are you here?" Max tried to brush aside his old arrogance, and the unresolved loose ends they left behind.

"Your umbrella, here. Don't worry, I just came back and said goodbye." she gave it, distancing herself from the doorway to make room for him.

"Thank you, that's nice of you. I hope your family will be fine." forgetting about her family problems, focused purely on tomorrow's journey.

"Hehe, yeah, one can only hope… Well, I won't bother you anymore, farewell Max!" she said in her old tone, the same tone she had when they just started dating. Happy and bubbly, filled with life in her squeaking voice.

Max bowed in return to her kind actions, he pitied Soran more, the magnitude of his actions and her beaten eyes. The boy was well aware of her struggles, her family keeping her in a chokehold. A barely functional bike awaited his journey, the sky was a hue of smoke, the memories of the church were following his very footsteps.

Rushing towards the station, he parked his bike on a spot and chained it, Max took a piece of paper and taped it saying "Parked". After grabbing a ticket for the next train, he reached for his pocket to find spare change. Max smiled, the shallow feeling of having two good coincidences gave him a sense of ease, he threw his loose coins back into his wallet.

The train arrived, the doors opened and he stepped within, everyone wore masks, he took a bandana from his bag and tied it around his mouth and nose. The smoke had made the air quality significantly worse, Max looked around to see the screens planted on the ceilings broadcasting men with hoses trying to extinguish the ashes left behind.

Euthymic, his face could only sigh, there was no escaping the burden he had to carry. The Tetsu- Kabe was soon a part of the skyline, a much closer look at the extraordinary engineering that went into its conception, Max could not stop staring at its ability to move as fast as it did, despite its size rivaling that of mansions.

Imagining the rockets that would fall, imagining how the Tetsu Kabe would react to gunfire, to explosive materials, to rockets, his thoughts grew wild. He took a piece of paper out of his bag and started sketching with his pencil, first the rounded edges of the machine, then the turrets, the dome-shaped hull that protected it, then the rails it traveled on.

Minutes walk by his tardy life, he truly tried to turn his entire life around within a day. The impossible task was not a matter of how he will do it, it was a matter of how close he can get to finding success for his own personal gain. He daydreamed, wondering why he did everything he did.

As he looked at the newly cleaned chairs, he murmured silently about whether he was wrong or not, talking to himself inside his head without anybody noticing. The half-empty cart was an hour past most morning shifts. His phone was vibrating yet he chose to ignore it, not giving a single care to anybody else that day except Dairue.

The boy was laying out where his attention went, saving himself for a greater purpose. Yet like all people, he succumbed to the lure of technology, he checked his phone to see that it was Yuki calling, just before he was gonna answer, the call had ended its time. Yuki on the other end was molding and scratching herself with the amount of ignorance her friend had.

Without his notice, he almost missed the stop yet he caught up to the doors, had he left 2 seconds late, his body would have been torn in half.

He left the train alive, he looked to his waist to see if his lower half was around, jumping with his feet. After confirming his body was in one piece, he left the station and crossed the road, walking down without thinking of anything except the Tetsu Kabe firing little fireworks during the upcoming festival.

Behind him, Yuki was running from the car, her father drove her towards the place. After she caught up with his collar, Max nearly fell from the surprise. Her face was full of fear and discomfort, her eyes pleading like a dog.

"Why?! Did he call you here too?!" Max was confused as to why she would be at the exact moment

"Huff~, huff~, Wait.. Let- me catch my breath… Yes... Huf-, huff... You know..? Can we sit down for a moment, I chased you from an entire street.." her voice was breathless, almost like a drowning goldfish in an empty tank.

"So why did he call us?" Max was not letting her catch her breath, he was still pressuring her to talk despite the fatal gasps for air she takes.

"Don't know, I am stressed, annoyed, and I don't know why I'm here.." Yuki replied with pure annoyance, her usual kindhearted tone was replaced by a pissed-off woman, plagued by responsibilities and other people's need for her presence.

The two summons approached the door, the electrical lines around his house were thick and curved, the organized directions, beginning to twirl. They enter the apartment and climb the flight of stairs, they see his room and the piles of paper in the front door. Yuki puts her knees down and takes one of the many pieces of paper.

Max follows suit with her, taking a note, the mail had been written for Dairue, soon they find that most of the notes were from his siblings and family members. Some letters were asking for his income, family invitations, taxes, and many other personal matters that he has ignored.

His father was proud of his achievements, his mother wanted him to return home. The letters only further stressed out the duo with how Dairue was and always will be. The final letter they read was about his father's funeral, the letter was the only one that thanked him for showing up one last time.

"Ah good for him, good for him, can he now tell us why we're here? Like maaaaaaaaaan~ am so.. Arghhhhhh! I want to punch his door!" Yuki was not fond of what he was there for, the lack of context kept her from sympathizing with Dairue, and the thought of it being him made it all the more stressful.

They knock on the door, an answer comes from within.

Dairue opens the door and pulls both of them inside, immediately, he closes the door behind them and locks the many contraptions that kept his door from being busted down. Paranoia had set in, he no longer thought of things rationally, and his sanity was wasting away

"Sigh...Put the gun down, you can't just solve this by dying, you did the right thing…" Max had finally admitted, his avoidance of chaos was enough to push him to say things that he never truly believed.

"As much as I hate what you did, you were pushed to do it Dairue, so please, put it down.." His calm and collected self, trying to keep himself together without causing another breakout of emotions.

"Dairue, think, we're here, you're okay, just tell us what happened... " Yuki was threatened by the gun, her fear of the gun overthrew her sense of annoyance. The once prideful voice was now shaking with panic, yet composure was an ally she called at the perfect time.

They all sat together, waiting for the other person to speak for themselves.