Ice Flower

Chapter 1

Yusaku hadn't answered his phone in the past four months. The only reason he kept it charged was in case of an emergency. But he never expected to be the one called, not the one calling.

"Is this Yusaku Fubuki?" The person on the other end asked. 

"It is." He replied. He never would have thought that he would see the day that he was called by the police. Unless they found out that he was really Playmaker. "Is something wrong?"

"You do have a younger sister named Kayla Fubuki, right?" 

"Of course." He frowned. Was everything alright? He hadn't seen Kayla in almost four years since he moved here on his own. He hadn't even thought about her recently. "Is she alright?"

"She is." The man sighed. "There's no easy way to tell you this Mr. Fubuki, but... your parents died last night."

"They... what?" 

The person on the phone told him what had happened. A man had broken into their home, demanding that his parents give up everything of value that they had. When they refused, they learned the hard way that he had come prepared for a 'no' as an answer. He took out his gun and threatened them with it. They were just starting to comply when he caught Kayla hiding behind the living room couch calling the police. He had grabbed her and forced her to watch as he killed their parents right in front of her eyes.

It felt like all the air was sucked out of him. His head spun and he sat down on his bed while his brain tried to process this information. His parents were dead. Sure, they had never been the best parents in the world, but still. They were all he had. And now Kayla- 

"What about my sister?" He demanded, managing to keep the fear out of his voice.

"Your sister is alright. She spent the night at a foster care home after she was checked out. But she still seems to be in a state of shock after what happened. She's actually in the other room right now. Do you want me to put her on the phone?"

"N-no, that's alright." He took a deep breath. "I'll be there soon."

"Before you go, one more question- do you two have any other family besides each other?" 

"No, it's just the two of us."

"Alright then. I'm sending you the address right now."

"Okay. Thank you." Yusaku ended the call and stood. He began to pace. 

When he had reached his decision, he pulled out his phone again and dialed a familiar number. He just hoped that his old friend wasn't too mad at him for not answering any of his calls or having any kind of contact with him for the past our months.

"Here you are." Kolter smiled as he handed the man his hotdog and watched as he left. His phone began to ring and he glanced at it briefly as he began to cook more hotdogs. Then he looked back again, positive that his eyes were playing tricks on him. They weren't. He dropped the hotdogs and lunged for his phone.

"Yusaku, where have you been?!" He exploded when he answered, putting the phone to his ear. "I've been worried sick about you!"

"Kolter, I need you help." Was the only response that he got in return.

"Seriously? I haven't seen you in, like, forever, and that's the first thing that you say?" He fumed.  

"I don't have time to explain right now. I just need to get to Heartland City as soon as possible."

"Fine." Kolter closed up the truck and sat down at his hidden computer in the back. "But don't think that I'm letting you off the hook."

"I didn't."