The Fire Shadow

TAIGA

As soon as he stepped under the showerhead, the LED lights surrounding it lit red and a scalding-hot spray of water poured over him. Taiga hissed but stood his ground as the water erased the last traces of his parents' blood. The bright-white tiles turned a dirty red under his feet. He didn't remember when he had taken off his clothes, but he could see they were thrown on a pile next to the door.

"Gel," he muttered, on autopilot.

The water stopped momentarily, and a blue sticky liquid dripped from the showerhead. Taiga rubbed his body and rinsed the gel off. He found clothes behind the bathroom's door, just where the short girl with white hair —Yenni? Yuu? Yuka? — had told him: a pair of soft grey sweatpants and a big black graphic t-shirt. There were also a pair of bright pink rubber slippers that were a couple of sizes too small.

Taiga dressed up, slowly but methodically, and made a ball of his old clothes before heading down the corridor. It wasn't difficult to find room 643 —some light spilled out of the slightly ajar door, and the number was painted on it on big bold red paint. Taiga opened the door. The room was dimly lit by a sole LED light over the doorframe. The walls were bare and there was a small wardrobe, a table and a chair. The girl from before was sitting on a bed in the far corner, with her phone on her hand. Before her, a solid hologram of a middle-aged man was broadcasting the latest news in a high-pitched voice. If it hadn't been for the colorful brightness he emitted, he would have seemed real. Taiga felt the urge to touch him; he had heard about s-Holos and seen the TV's ads about them, but he had never seen one in real life. This kind of technology didn't often reach past Circle Two of New Tokyo. The white and blue lights of the hologram illuminated the girl's pale face and amplified her shadow against the dull wall.

"This is was all happening until now in the city of New Tokyo. Updates are constantly being made live. Would you want to hear any other news?"

The image pixeled slightly, then materialized again. Taiga supposed the connection down here wasn't that good. It was a wonder there was any connection at all.

"No," she said, and the s-Holo blinked out of existence.

She turned her head and nailed her gaze on him. She had hard eyes, black and bright like the beetles in the yard of his high school.

"So, Taiga," she said, as she stood up and walked over to him. "I'll take care of those."

Taiga looked at her outstretched and frowned. Then realized she was staring at the bundle of clothes in his hands. He gripped them tighter.

"It's okay," he said.

"It's not," she answered. "Give them to me."

Taiga stepped back and squared his shoulders.

"I want to go back home."

"You can't."

Her voice was clear and smooth, but there was a warning edge to it that made Taiga tense further.

"I need to go back," he said. "I— I need to look, surely there's something I can find—"

"You can't go back, Taiga," she said, and reached to grab the clothes in his hands. "From today on you're not Kobayashi Taiga anymore, Kotori will give you a new identity and you will need to ingrain that in your head, you need to become that identity."

"But—"

"If the Cleaners really have left something behind in your old house, which I highly doubt, you taking it back will only bring problems. Trinkets and memories are reminders of your old life, and they will only bring you sorrow, and possibly death."