LeftXRight

LeftXRight - part 2

Atsushi Okada bit his thumb nervously, a bad habit he had carried with him since childhood, as he watched the future of mankind spar. Beside him stood a man from a high-ranking position in the Japanese Diet that was there to observe the so-called "Adam and Eve" that would reinvent the human race in the year 2070, which was quickly approaching. His name was Narumi Takefumi and he had the face of a critic. His eyebrows were scrunched together, eyes cynical in appearance, mouth drawn taut; the large frames that were obviously too big for the man's face only amplified the effect.

Sadly enough, Okada was fully aware of the doubt that slept in the hearts of the government. A futuristic version of Adam and Eve? The mere claim was laughable at best.

Yet there was not a soul that dared to say aloud that Okada's company's theory was wrong. With the utter annihilation of the fertility rate in women due to the influx of chemicals into the soil and the air over the last hundred years or so coupled with the knowledge that only a few males were left on earth with the capability of producing offspring, knowing Japan had a fertile female in their possession brought some comfort to a dying existence. Few people argued openly against hope. Takefumi was one of those men who doubted but didn't tell.

Okada glanced at Takefumi, and then peered back out at the training grounds. "Your thoughts?" Okada asked simply.

Takefumi remained silent for a moment. When he did speak, his voice was clear and he spoke with a certain level of intelligence that Okada found refreshing. The last observer the Diet had sent was the standard politician, lacking the ability to develop an individualized opinion about the subject matter and based all of his thoughts on regurgitated information collected from the mass media.

"Well, they are quite impressive, I will admit. Their physical attributes are beyond human despite both being cell born, which in and of itself is remarkable. The boy's speed is astonishing and the girl's dexterity and grace is also notable. The two are identical in both their facial features and height. It does make one rather curious as to why the boy's hair is pitch black and his eyes are lacking all pigmentation yet he is not blind, and how on the flip side, the girl has eyes black as the night and hair white as snow. It's admittedly very interesting." Takefumi looked at Okada. "And you say they were born at exactly the same time, correct?"

Okada nodded. "Yes. It is on record that the two were both born at exactly midnight on January first fifteen, in one more day, sixteen, years ago."

Takefumi peered back out the window. "Is it true that they were both said to have been born with wings? I find that rather hard to believe, I must admit."

Okada smiled slightly. "That's understandable. Any normal person would question such a claim, including myself. Luckily for me, young Rin there was born in my company's hospital. I was fortunate to have been there that day doing mandatory equipment checkups. Sure enough she had a white wing on the right side and a black one on the left. I had never seen anything so beautiful in my life."

"And they say the wings disappeared within a day of the girl's birth?" Takefumi questioned.

Okada turned to face him. "Yes. And she still has the scars on her back were they sunk deep into her flesh. Would you like to see the x-ray, perhaps?"

Takefumi shrugged. "Maybe some other time."

The observation room went silent. Okada remembered the day that Rin was born. When one of the staff had informed him that a pregnant woman was in labor, a blessing that society had expected would never happen again, he was only mildly curious. He followed the excited doctor to be polite with his expectations low. Surely the child would be just like every other one being born in these times, lacking the essential components to save the human race from extinction. Women who were fertile were considered a gift from God and treated with the utmost respect. Usually they were bred to the point of exhaustion, a fate that Rin's mother was not immune to, and many didn't last long despite the advanced medical community. Society felt it had no choice otherwise. The moment he walked into the birthing room, he found himself mesmerized by the sight. Radiating a light that cleansed the soul and lifted the spirits, the child was born smiling. Rin's angelic face and her inspiring wings brought with it a feeling of hope, though at the time, Okada knew not why. He instantly fell in love with the child and adopted her, raising her as his own.