The Stray Kids of Edogawa Rampo

Beginning of the End

Beginning of the End

H I R O Asahina
December 29, 12:28 am.
District 4
Manila Fishing Port, Pier.

"So," pumameywang ako at ngumiti, "May bombang tinanim somewhere si Twelve at binigay niya sayo ang detonator. Tama ako o tama?"

Ngumisi si Zen at tumango, "Yes, sir."

Nice, nice one. Look, this is the reason why I don't want to have kids. I'm scared they'll grow up like Twelve.

"What's the plan?" June asked, half-anxious.

Zen examined the phone, "Twelve gave me a number a while ago. He have at least foreseen things up 'till here and everything's going according to plan, but once I press this, we have to do the best that we can not to mess up."

All of us swallowed a huge lump in our throat. I can feel my hands breaking in cold sweat. The last time na may nakita akong sumabog, bahay namin ang natamaan. Ngayon, mukhang pati ata kami madadamay.

"Asan ang bomba?" tanong ni Lance.

"I don't know."

"Guys, check niyo ang bulsa niyo, baka bigla nalang kayong sumabog d'yan."

"But I'm pretty sure it's not here, it must be on the other side of the port," Zen deduced. "According to Twelve's instruction, by now malamang napapalibutan na tayo ng mga bantay sa labas. Once we step foot outside, they'll shoot us right away."

Tumango ako, we figured half as much. Tiwala ako na alam nila na hindi kami ganoon ka-normal na mga bata. 'Di naman siguro kami magkakalisensya at magkakaroon ng agency kung ganoon ang kaso 'di ba?

June crossed his hands over his shoulders, "So, you mean we're detonating a bomb to distract them."

"Yeah, but not only that," Zen brushed away some of his stray hair, "Twelve wants to get the authority's attention."

My mouth turned into a big O, "Sir, that's the last thing we'd like to happen. PAPAGALITAN TAYO NI CHIEF WALRUS 'PAG BINIGYAN NA NAMAN NATIN NG PROBLEMA ANG PNP."

June shook his head and massaged the bridge of his nose, "No, I get it. Yes, our agency will get involved by simply our presence here. However, I think Twelve wants them to see something else."

Zen nodded, "Kasama 'to sa plano niya sa paghuli kayla tita Bella at Led."

"May sinabi ba si Twelve kung paano tayo tatakas?"

"Wala, sabi niya bahala na daw si June."

June blinked at us three times before laughing in disgust, "HA! That dirty motherfucker."

Wala nalang din ako nasabi. Kahit kailan tarantado talaga si Twelve. Gago. Adik. 'Di niyo dapat tularan kahit anong mangyari.

June pushed his hair back and glanced at the area. Naglakad-lakad siya habang pinagmamasdan ang buong lugar. He's probably looking for a possible way out. I walked around and I saw a stack of wooden boxes. I can say that they use these boxes for transporting perishable goods by ship and there's a ton of them inside. Kung 'di ako nagkakamali, mukhang warehouse ata nila ang lugar na 'to. Behind those wooden boxes though, I saw an opening . Isang maliit at pahabang butas. Katulad ng sinabi ko kanina, gawa sa yero ang buong lugar kaya 'di na ako magtataka kung meron ngang mga maliliit na opening na pwede naming paglabasan. Sinubukan kong sumilip sa labas at napalunok nalang ako.

There really are armed men around us. And worse, they have freaking big guns.

"Guys," lumingon ako sa kanila. Mukhang may nakita din na lagusan si June, they all looked back at me and I swallowed. "How can we even do this? I'm pretty sure bullets can kill us."