Down the Rabbit Hole

Chapter 4: Hanging On

Airport stress was a different kind of stress that even the relief of knowing your family would be safe, was enough to drown it out. Your mother had been insistent on arriving at the very least five hours before the plan was scheduled to leave. Her logic relied on the sheer fact that the Tokyo airport was always filled to full capacity. And she was right. Most of the time spent in the airport was watching your parents wait in the lines for an hour and then sitting at the front until they sent you the text of them boarding.

While they had resisted going on the trip in the first place, it was clear that they appreciated all the effort you had put into it. Your mother's personal bag contained the outlined map and typed out itinerary that you had created for them, while your father carried all the emergency communication devices you got them. Six years was enough time to not only call them your parents, but to also get attached to them.

Tears had threatened to escape your eyes when you hugged them goodbye. Ones that were quickly caught by your mother who had also started tearing up. In the end, your father had to pull her away from you and into the line in order to prevent a crying fest. You didn't fail to witness the small tear that fell out of his left eye, though. Even if he tried his best to remain stoic, he did have his soft moments. It was disheartening to know that you were all crying for different reasons.

These parents had probably never been far from their child, and you were crying over this possibly being the last time you ever saw them. Sure, you knew the basics of the games and had the plot all pretty much remembered, but that nerve factored in the possibility of even the smallest detail going wrong.

You were sitting at your desk when that thought reentered your mind like the pesky virus it was. It was a necessary risk to remember. The fact that your presence would change any outcome was a huge liability when it came to the play of things. Did you willingly want to risk changing the story and ending more lives just to save the people you had grown close to? The short answer - yes. The long and more logical answer - no.

At the end of the day, you were still a coward. You had tried your best to make Karube and Chota move around, explore the world, but they remained loyal to Japan. It was stupid to think that they would move their entire lives around just because you suggested it, but it was the best plan you had. What else could you do? Warn them that a huge meteor would be hitting Japan today and be the cause of their deaths while it sent Arisu into a one-minute coma. If they even believed you, it was not assured that they would leave Japan in time. And if they did manage to leave, the moment that the meteor strikes, you would be suspect number one.

There was no inherent win to this situation. All you could continue to do was write in your notebook every single event that you could remember and where they fit into the timeline. It was surprising how much you could remember after six years of letting your guard down with training, but if there was ever a time to have your mind prepared it would have to be now. The games relied on you being able to observe and make planes under stress and being timed. It was truly a gamble of not only your life but of those around you as well.

Letting your guard down would mean death. Trusting others too easily would mean death. Every action you took had dire consequences, all of which you wouldn't be able to afford. If it came to that, you had to be willing to kill off people in order to save yourself but when entrusted to such an action, everybody has a different reaction. You knew what it felt like to die. While it hadn't been entirely painful, it was not a feeling you would like to experience again. The only difference now was that you would be knowingly sending someone to that fate.

God, how long have you been awake? It had only been around nine hours since the blaring alarm awoke you, but you did only get three hours of sleep. The laptop time showed that it was nearing one in the afternoon, and you had been awake since five in the morning. If there was one thing that intern shipping in a hospital has taught you, it was the importance of sleep. Yeah, maybe it was better to just fall asleep right now. Not that you put much thought into it before your head was resting against your pillow, and you dragged a nearby blanket to cover you. Sleep was always good for those that were stressing out.