A Ray of Sunlight

Chapter 25 - The Case (Haruto's POV)

I woke up to the loud, irritating sound of my alarm clock. I reached over and turned it off. I slowly walked over to the bathroom and turned on the tap water. By the time the toothbrush hit my teeth, I was still tired. When I was done, I splashed some cold water on my face, hoping it would give me some energy but it didn't. Instead, I just stared at the mirror, the water dripping down onto my clothes. I stared at my face, messy hair, dark eye bags and the driest, cracked lips humanity had ever seen. I walked out of the bathroom.

No one greeted me at the center. The one person who did everyday was Yukio and sometimes the commanders. Even though I looked down at the floor and couldn't see anyone's faces, I could feel all the eyes staring at this pitiful child who couldn't do anything right. My ears turned red and the emotionless expression I had on my face turned into a frown. My lips started trembling but I mustn't cry. I mustn't.

When I met up with Koichi in the locker room, I could see he had the same expression I had. A giant bandage wrapped the wound on his forehead and arms.

"Hi, Haruto." Koichi said as I opened the locker. "I asked the commanders already. If we find the place, they'll come immediately to take down the organization through a portal so we must find the origin of the black market organization." When I said nothing. He looked down at his shoes too. "Hey, Haruto. I know you're sad about what happened to Yukio but everyone's trying to find him through the tracking device on his plasma ring and I know this sounds a little cringy but I want you to know that... it's not your fault and you did everything you could." He placed his hand on my shoulder. "So Haruto, cheer up. Don't frown. Have some Juice." He handed me a carton of apple juice. I took it and threw it in my locker.

When we stepped outside of the locker room, I saw a girl with big, red eyes being dragged by a couple of Sorians. She was wearing a white, ornate dress that was longer in the back than it is in the front. The girl was Ren! I quickly ran over so she wouldn't get hurt.

"Hey, excuse me, that's my friend. She's not a danger." I told the Sorians.

"Haruto!" She shouted and tried shaking off the Sorians but they held onto her small arms tightly.

"Sir, she's not from Sora and she doesn't have a permit. If you want to talk to her, do it outside of Sora." The guard opened up a portal to a nearby planet and tossed her outside. Koichi and I quickly followed after thanking the guard.

"What are you doing here, Ren?" I asked her once Koichi and I walked through the portal.

"The guards here are so mean!" Ren said, pouting. "Oh yeah. I got some clues from another black market criminal. Apparently, you need a code to get into the building."

"A code?" Koichi asked. "What kind?"

"It's on this card." Ren said, handing over the same business card Koichi and I got from the metal factory. "Though I tried the code and the man said it was incorrect."

"Incorrect?"

"Yeah! I said the code on the bottom of the card and the owner dragged me out. How frustrating. I tried investigating and the code changes every time. From English letters to numbers and back again. I'm starting to think the black market criminals just make the code on the spot and the other person has mind reading powers or something!"

"Okay...thank you so much Ren." I said.

"No problem. I'm always glad to be of help. You better solve the black market situation, Haruto. Planet Guren is already getting numerous black market attacks!"

"Of course Ren."

"Alright Haruto. I have to go now. Goodbye!" Ren said and a pair of pink, transparent wings opened from her back and she flew away.