Remainers

Lost Mementos of the Past, Part 5

Caleb woke up early next morning, just as the sun rose. He got out of his tent and looked around, but Mina had not returned. He was worried, but there was little he could do without a concrete way to track her down. He decided to explore the city on his own instead. There were still six days before the demolition started, so he didn't need to get worried just yet.

After eating breakfast, Caleb walked through the streets of the old city, slowly poking through each building with a leisurely attitude. He wasn't looking for anything in particular, and he didn't find anything of value either. Just rubble, rock, and debris. As he looked at the ruined city sprawled out before him, he started feeling like it was wrong of him to have encouraged Mina so much. If he had known how decrepit the city was, he would never have suggested such a thing in the first place.

As he scanned over another crumbling building, he heard the sound of approaching footsteps coming from behind him. He turned around to see Kai, Sean, and Hope walking through the streets together. He hurriedly exited the building and waved to grab their attention. He figured it wouldn't hurt to get someone else's opinion on the subject.

"You haven't found anything worth salvaging after a week of searching?" Hope said incredulously. "You sure you haven't been slacking off with no one to keep an eye on you?"

"Of course not," Caleb scowled. "Where do you get off accusing me of not doing my job?"

"I'm not surprised you haven't found anything, honestly," Sean remarked. "This city's been around for centuries without anyone to look after it. Even if we weren't around to break it down, there's no way anything here would last this long in prime condition."

"Is the preparation going as planned?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah. To be honest, at this pace we might even be able to start the demolition ahead of schedule."

"Is that so?" Caleb shoulders sagged. That wasn't going to be what Mina wanted to hear. The others looked at him strangely, so he quickly changed the subject before they asked any questions.

After chatting with Hope for a little bit longer, he waited for a chance and pulled Kai over to the side. "I met Mina while out there, by the way. Did you know what she was coming out here for?"

"I had a hunch. She's my sister, after all. If she heard that New York City was being demolished, there's a chance she'd move mountains to get here before that happened."

"Then... what do you even want to happen? As far as I can tell, this whole search she's doing is going to end with her finding nothing. I wish I could help, but I don't even know what the movie's name is! Just what do you want me to do here?"

Kai gave him a sad smile in response. "It's a real complicated situation, though I'm sure you already know that. To be honest, I'd love to be the one out there looking after her, but even if I didn't have to do all this demolition work, I think she's unlikely to pay much attention to me."

"Why is that?"

"Our family wasn't the most... usual. As a kid, I lost my mother to disease. My father remarried, and Mina was born from that new marriage. I didn't take it well, and that ended up causing a rift between us."

"I see." Caleb mulled over Kai and Mina's family situation in his head. Perhaps it was because of his amnesia, but he couldn't really imagine what life in a family like that could be like.

"You know, the both of us becoming remainers is mostly a coincidence," Kai continued. "We didn't sign up together, you see. In fact, I didn't even know she was a remainer until some years after I'd been cyberized myself."

"Really?" Caleb was surprised.

"Course, I didn't seek her out right away. Figured I'd find her eventually. But as time went by, I started to treasure that blood relation between us. Regardless of the circumstances, the fact was that we were siblings. But it was too late for that."

"And that's why you want to support her now, huh? Still, it's like looking for a needle in a mountain of rubble. Do you at least know anything about the movie that I could use to make the search easier?"

"No. Even if I did, it wouldn't matter. I think it's almost impossible that anything from that era has survived until now."

"Then why even let her do all this in the first place? Even if it hurts her, wouldn't it be better to tell her to give up?"

"Maybe. If I'm honest, I don't know if helping her would be the best thing for her either. But I do know one thing. This movie might be the most important thing in the world to her."

"Why? Can you at least tell me that?"

"That... would be wrong of me, especially if she hasn't told you herself. The main point here is that the movie she's looking for is so important to her that she'd search aimlessly in a ruined city for any sign of it. That's how determined she is. I could never convince her to think otherwise."

Caleb grumbled. That didn't really make him feel any better. Kai noticed this, and let out a soft chuckle.

"Don't worry. I won't tell you to do the impossible. Jut keep looking out for her, alright? You should do whatever you think is best."

Caleb grumbled. He couldn't blame him, but Kai's words didn't really make things easier for him. Still, one thing was perfectly clear: if he wanted to know more, he had to find Mina again.

"I need to get going," Caleb said as he stood up. "Tell Hope that I'll see her later, okay?"

"No problem," Kai replied with a somber smile. "Sorry for the trouble."

Caleb could only manage a wry smile in response.