I drove up an unpaved mountain path, the car rattling until I stopped near our destination. This countryside location outside of the city was where the man known as N, the rude individual who hacked my mouth, instructed us to go.
The evergreen broadleaf trees such as stone oaks formed a natural roof over our heads. It had been raining just before we arrived, so the bumpy ground was drenched in mud. There was no sign of any humans in the area, but my scanner found countless insects staring at us.
I picked up a berry from the ground, wiped it off, then consumed it in one bite. It was delicious.
“Ew…,” Master Chuuya grumbled in disgust as he watched.
Shirase, who was walking slightly behind us, suddenly spoke up. “I don’t think we should do it. This is a bad idea. Let’s just go home. There’s not gonna be anything good here; I guarantee it.”
I looked back at him after hearing him say that for what felt like the thousandth time.
“My legs are killin’ me. I’m sick of this. I don’t wanna walk anymore. Hey, mechanical English gentleman. Think you could carry me on your back?”
Master Chuuya and I exchanged glances.
“You’re free to go home, Shirase,” he taunted.
“Me? Go home? No way! It’s your job to protect me, y’know! I’m not leavin’ your side no matter what!”
Master Chuuya faced forward once more, then scratched his head, an exhausted expression on his face.
“Sigh… Somebody call a wahmbulance for this guy, seriously.”
“Excuse me? Hey, Chuuya! Do you really think you should be talkin’ to me like that? Do you know who I am? I’m the generous soul who saved your life when you had nowhere to go and no memories of your past,” Shirase boasted with a waggle of his eyebrows.
It was hard to describe Master Chuuya’s expression then with only a single word. To be specific, he looked like he wanted to smack Shirase in the head with a hammer, but he didn’t have a hammer on him, and he didn’t want to have to use his bare hands, either. It was a fantastic expression, so I took a picture and saved it in the folder titled FAVORITES in my storage.
Master Chuuya sighed. “Fine. You can come with us, so ya think you can be a little quieter?”
“See? You can’t beat me in an argument, Chuuya. That’s why I’m the king!”
I heard Master Chuuya mutter, “I’m this close to punching him in the face right now,” under his breath.
If anything, I was extremely intrigued by how a talented high-level member of a criminal organization decided to speak so softly that the person he was talking about could not hear him. We continued our exchange until we arrived in front of our destination.
“This is it.”
It was a barn.
The wooden building was meant for storing hunting and farming tools in the mountains. It was debatable whether this could be called a building, however.
The rotted wooden walls were halfway peeling off the structure, exposing the interior to the elements. Years of rain and wind damage meant hardly any of the thatched roof was left except for the bare framework. The blackened posts supporting the barn were so decayed that they looked like they dated back to the Stone Age. They were full of holes left by insects.
Inside the barn was a wheelbarrow missing a wheel, a torn sieve, and ripped bags of fertilizer with their contents scattered about.
“What the hell is this place?” Shirase sounded disappointed. “It’s just an abandoned old shack.”
“This is the place.”
I grabbed a hatchet hanging on the wall. The grip was rotting and bent halfway down. After scanning the barn’s interior, I inserted the hatchet into an opening in the floorboards, then gently pushed it forward until I heard a metallic click. The floor instantly began descending at an angle.
“Whoa?!”
The floorboards slid downward from the barn’s exterior walls, and the mountainside scenery slowly disappeared into the sky. In its place, black concrete walls with a metal railing came into view.
The barn’s floor was an elevator that was taking us underground. The inside was lit up by red guide lights fixed to the walls, their crimson glow rhythmically illuminating our faces.
“Nice,” said Shirase. A childlike grin slowly spread across his surprised face. “It’s finally startin’ to feel like an adventure.”
Interesting. So this was an adventure. Adventure was a classic theme in film. I’d heard that everyone got a thrill out of adventures.
“Yeehaw!” I shouted while jumping into the air and pumping my fist. Perhaps I was gradually becoming more humanlike by the day.
Master Chuuya rolled his eyes.
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