The New Ajin

Chapter Twelve

I'm sitting in a tree, in front of the Ministry where the protest is supposed to happen. Why I am here? Simple. I'm out of options. So far I have spent some of my money on new clothes, a black T-shirt, three quarter black spandex, and some nice running shoes.

I'm sitting on a thick branch, kicking my feet back and forth, waiting for the real meeting to start. So far there is only a few humans wondering about. I see a camera crew as well. I close my eyes and lean my head against the tree. My heart beat gets slower and I feel as if I'm about to fall asleep. The past two days have not included sleep. I'm actually not too sure how I'm even standing at this point.

"I'm glad you could all make it," I hear a voice that sounds a lot like Shīrudo but different at the same time. I mentally call for Shīrudo to come out. I close my eyes and see a lot of black ghosts gathered around another tree. I guide Shīrudo to join them. A black ghost is perched on a branch in the tree. "I will now tell you our true assembly point," it says.

"I want you to meet there," the black ghost tells us the true address and disappears. The other Ajin follow suit and are no longer there. I knew this was just for Ajin. I scratch at the masquerade mask on my face. Yes, I bought a masquerade mask just in case somebody came here to see if any of the people who gathered turned out to be ajin. Will the mask help? Maybe, maybe not. But I thought it would be better than buying a ski mask lime the ones bank robbers use. I jump out of the tree and walk away from the Ministry.

***

The address that was given leads me to what looks like an abandoned building. The masquerade mask is in the bag, along with the rest of my money. The time on my watch, I bought a watch as well, reads 1:55 pm. I'm just a little early. I see some other people waiting right outside the building. I find myself walking towards them.

There are seven of them. All males. Some look up to see who I am. Others just keep looking at the ground. I don't feel like making polite chatter so I lean on one leg and cross my arms, waiting for something to happen.

It doesn't take long for us to get a signal. We all hear a clap and look up. A black ghost is on a fire escape. "Is this everyone?" It asks, "please come in." We look at each other. I shrug my shoulders and head towards the entrance of the building, the others follow close behind.

My hand touches where the gun wounds used to be in my body. If I'm being honest, I died yesterday. I poisoned myself. Look, I'm not suicidal, I didn't want to die. The pain from my wounds was just so much and I wondered that if I died and came back to life, if I would be healed from everything. The answer is yes.

When I died, it felt like I was going to sleep, and when I woke up, it was like waking up from a really long nap. When I checked my clock, however, it had only been five minutes. I had been in a motel room I had convinced myself into buying and used a bottle of aspirin to do the job.

We gather into a room where the old man with the hat, Sato-san , is. "What a wonderful sight. This is a first for you guys too, isn't it? To see so many Ajin gathered together," Sato-san says. A man then speaks up, "excuse me, Sato-san. I'm not exactly your friend just yet. I want to hear about your plan to restore Ajin rights first."

The guy has a point there. I would like to be able to walk the streets of Tokyo in peace again. "Same here," another man says, "Hmm...the plan, you say?" I nod my head but don't say anything. I feel as if it's best to stay quiet.

Sato-san shrugs this off, "it's nothing special. We just do whatever we can to the best of our abilities." I find myself chuckling at his answer. Really? Is that it? "I'd like some more detail about that!" A man voices what the rest if us were thinking.