Ryo stood on a blacked, ashed floor. As he took a step ahead and took a step back continously as the floor made a raspy sound few times.
He wanted to go and explore that place but at the same time something in his very core wanted to avoid that place.
It was a simple, inner conflict. Yet unending.
The hiss of lift on that floor was made.
A mid-mascular but strong man with great height came. He was wearing sunglasses with silver rimmed frame and a black suit with a black tie over white shirt.
A very formal uniform like attire.
He was a bodyguard of the boy's big brother.
He made his footsteps rushed as he spotted the boy.
"Ryoho-sama...! Reiji-sama is asking what you are doing here? Is everything okay?"
Ryo's eyes didn't withered nor shifted their view. He answered with an uncanny voice.
"Nothing remarkable, Nakajima. I just wanted to remember every single step Dad took here. Every single machine and parts he connected. Every single button he pressed. And that's all."
"But... It is not my place to advise, nor do I know anything certain, but isn't that is impossible." Nakajima had very concerning voice. A sweat cracked on his sideburn.
"I know... That's why I am going from here." He took steps backward and exited that floor. He took his steps to the stairs.
"Ryoho-sama, you should take lift. It is better for your legs. Plus, staris are a waste of time."
"No, it's far better. It can be referred to as practice, more or less. Rather, it's beneficial to legs."
"Does he mean by training to give pressure on legs to make them withstand standing longer?"
"My apologies, I didn't—"
"It doesn't matter you did knew or not. You had worry about me and that's okay."
"But, why did you wanted to go there and remember those things?" Nakajima asked without moving his face.
"Because I want to find what he was making, no, what he was creating is a more profound explanation."
"But that same thing might've caused that explosion." Nakajima said flatly.
Ryo's footsteps stopped halfway. He looked back straight to Nakajima's face.
"My apologies! It's a very sensitive topic to bring now! It is such a heavy and hurtful topic for you so much!" He bowed with sincerity.
Ryo had no anger nor madness on his face, nor in his eyes. And yet, Nakajima felt very regretful. It was just how much Nakajima had devoted himself to Akabas. Perhaps he had his own reasons.
"I am not disturbed anyhow with that topic." Ryo said, looking eye to eye to Nakajima. "Just thinking about that thing might have caused that explosion was rather unpleasant to hear, although I had already thought about it several times in my mind. But actually hearing it from someone just gives a different experience."
"Then why?"
"I just couldn't get on conclusion that how Dad made a mistake. He must had forseen it if something was wrong. He couldn't have just gotten out of that without scratch, and yet no one can find him."
"Then are you implying that Leo-sama had purposely caused that explosion?"
"Yes. Mistakes can appear out of nowhere, but a mistake that can be prevented before occurrence, yet if it still appears, it is just a handcrafted mirage."
Drops of sweat started to roll over Nakajima's face. "If that is true, but isn't it also possible that Leo-sama knew that a mistake might happen, but he just let it happen, not because he wanted it to happen?"
"Perhaps. But there is no point in us discussing what is already far discussed."
Nakajima purposefully didn't ask further about why Ryo was trying to remember it, believing what Ryo said was it, no more to it.
But it wasn't it. Ryo telecasted all events and all steps Leo did there in his head. He simulated every single change and movement of Leo in that lab. Only to get the conclusion that it was indeed a blast not on purpose, but not stopping the blast was on purpose.
He rehearsed all actions and phrased every word he remembered Leo to speak in that room. Every mutter and whisper Leo did through Ryo's lip-reading.
He inputed every possibility, but the output was same. He simply let that thought slide for now since it was getting nowhere. He asked Nakajima.
"Why did Reiji ask about me?"
"A doctor is gonna have a talk with you. Himeka-sama and Reiji-sama have granted the permission. That doctor have some questions."
He didn't ask further.
It took then 11 minutes to get at office.
Ryo pushed the door open. Nakajima is a bodyguard, not a servant. He just followed Ryo, standing firm behind him.
A female old granny was there, sitting in the guest, rich leather sit. In front of her was Himika. For a surprise, Reiji-san was also present. Ryo assumed Himika wouldn't make Reiji waste his time. It meant this was a very important talk.
"You are Ryoho Akaba, right?" Without waiting for an answer, she continued. "It's a weird name, so I will call you just Ryo."
"Then what was the point of asking?
"I don't mind, call me however you want." Ryo said simply.
"She is a world renowned and famous herbal specialist and homeopathic expert. She also has deep knowledge of psychology and human understandings." Hikima introduced the granny. She had a curious expression.
"My name is Koundri." She was in an old lady's attire. It was just a pure white dress that had few stitches on it and a white silk palazzo pant. It was an unnatural combination. But fitting one of some hermit granny.
"I am here to ask you something."
"She isn't even requesting nor is asking for permission. But going direct."
"The state you were in was certain death is what I've heard. An absolute sealing of fate. But you are here. Standing as through some child model of world famous industry is before my eyes. But I can tell you have indeed faced death. You have looked straight to the face of death. Eye to eye. Life to zero~." She had a rather carefree smile. And her tone was of some lecherous person. Her personality was anything but some ancient granny.
"Can I ask what you wanted to ask me?"
"From seeing your behavior and that way of speech, I have nothing to ask about your health now. Your very appearance told me I have nothing to ask about your health. I just wanted to inquire something, only you can tell."
"If it is something I can help with."
"Only you can. All people who were like you just passed away before I could've reached out to them~."
"What does it include about me...?"
"Nothing special. I just can't get at those people at times, and they just pass away before I can go to them. You are the first one I have gotten to meet~."
Ryo didn't feel proud.
Himika and Reiji gave no response. Meanwhile, Nakajima was also still, no change in expression. It gave a feeling that, except Ryo, everyone knew what this was about.
"I wanted to ask what you saw in those last moments."
"Last moments?"
"Yeah, don't play it naive. Even if you are here, you certainly had seen the gates of the underworld. Those gates of afterlife are always open for those who are about to cross it. Even if they didn't enter, they saw what is inside them. The underworld. The afterlife. I want to know about that."
"I don't know what you are talking about." Ryo said flatly.
"Come on~ you know. Something you saw when your eyes were closed. Closed eyes, which were never gonna open."
She gave a very chilled smile. Without getting standing from that luxurious seat.
"When a person dies, they see a flash of life. Remembrance of past. Or even previous life. It is the only thing I have yet to be an expert of. The only thing that inspires me, drives me towards what is beyond a human's limit of body and soul." She was empty-handed. She wasn't having anything as a gesture of welcome.
Did Himika not bring her as a guest, or did Koundri herself come here? Either way, it is natural to give a gesture of coming. Perhaps, it is also a possibility that Koundri herself didn't want anything to feast upon and just wanted to start her business with Ryo as soon as possible, without any hassle.
"All other titles came as just a gist for having my knowledge of such concepts, experience and my achievements. The results I had gotten out of it, but it is yet to be one a point to be called concluded." She fixed her gaze, which was wandering to Himeka and Reiji between Ryo to only Ryo. "So you don't have to give strong or forceful pressure on your brain. Who knows what the brain itself is hiding. Just tell me what you saw, anything you remember, even if it was an illusion or what you heard."
Ryo blinked a few times before closing his eyes. Not forceful but with intent to open his mind. To remember everything he saw on that day.
"Normally, for anyone who has gone through such time, let alone so gruesome , the brain can create and connect all sorts of memories based on past experiences. Brain goes through such intense and conflicting phases that the singles commanding from the person can get entangled in any sort of memory. Even all memories and past experiences stored in the brain and intellect can get bounced between every part of its system. To having problems remembering such a thing that is only part of the phase of experiencing death is natural and nothing new comes. But for each person to person, its entangling varies from variable to variable." Koundri explained.
"I am having hard time remembering here."
"Sorry. Guess I disturbed you." Koundri apologized.
Ryo thought his brain out the whole time. He only remembered that operation table of that same night explosion happened and the day he went berserk on his first awaked state since then. He had only one answer in his throat.
"I don't have anything to remember in the first place." He said flatly. "I just went into blake out. The only thing I remember is the time I got awakened. I couldn't comprehend or process anything. Everywhere was just light and four corners. All machines were just flashing red lights without stopping. I remember just one thing of that moment before I went crazy."
"What is it?" Her voice rose. She leaned toward Ryo from her seat.
"Everything was red and noisy. It was just so much pressure on that room, I didn't even think and just destroyed everything I saw in my view."
"I see. That is natural but curious at the same time." She leaned back. Closing her eyes and her voice rising down.
"What is it." Himika asked. Her ten fingers backing her chin up.
"He woke up with that pain in him."
"?"
Koundri didn't wait for any inquiries. She knew no one understood it.
"The pain and suffering he gone through due to that explosion. If it was his instant blake out, then his mind must be scorching to let the pain out."
"You mean his body remembered everything?"
"Yes, for everyone. I said it's normal. Just his case was unnatural, but yeah. It's so natural for the brain to signal the body to let out all the pain the body has felt or perhaps stored forcefully. The psychological part where we can't resist our inner rage is also a over the limit part of this. We just want to release all frustration and tension through physical means. It goes without saying. Everyone experiences this kind of mental and physical state from time to time."
"You mean?" Himika muttered.
"Yes. His body and brain remembered all that. Plus, due to all the wait and not working of body, all the pain and frustration in his mind just went up and up. And finally, the time to release it came, and he went berserk due to it."
"But why only few machines? Even If they were very hard to destroy?"
"Because brain got satisfied. It had started to release everything. Once the signal went out, the body went crazy but once the signal was out of the brain to body, the brain didn't cared about how much distruction they caused."
"So it was just about actually doing it, not mattering how much to do?"
"Yes. Precisely. It's natural for all beings to release wrath. Hmm? Are you all confused? You yourself said, Himika-sama, about I have deep knowledge on psychology. So, of course, it is not a direct indication, but my knowledge isn't limited to humans on that part but all creatures. Of course, it is not complete as well, I am still learning and gaining knowledge."
"But there is something I am certain about." Ryo spoke, ignoring the confusion. "I don't know or remember. But I remember the feeling."
"Feeling... I see!"
"?!"
"Yes! You don't remember any memory but you know what your body went through!"
"Actually," He paused for a second. To find right words to explain that feeling, only to find nothing but just plain words." I felt four kinds of different experiences. One after another. I can tell that much with certainty. It was all but just a fleeting moment. But I felt it was just eternity."
"I see." Koundri looked disappointed. "Well, thanks. This was a great help. My business is finished now."
"I see. Well then." Ryo left the room, same way he had entered.
Himeka ordered Nakajima to go after him, just by a mere glance. He went out in no rush.
"Was that all you wanted to ask?" Himika asked Koundri with genuine curiosity. "I thought you would be quite excited to ask about his super recovery... or perhaps impossible recovery."
Reiji looked curious as well.
"No, it was all. I just didn't had any need to know."
"Really?"
"Yeah." She answered as though she knew the answer. "It was just a mere sacrifice." She said in disappointment.
"Sacrifice?" Both Himeka and Reiji were dazed.
"Nothing special. Nothing new. All was just in my limit of thoughts. Maybe coming here wasn't anything needed to be done, but it was, in a way, beneficial to you."
"What do you mean by sacrifice?!"
"As it sounds, but not violated concept nor any gruesome. But you could call it cruel in a certain way."
"That is what I am asking!"
"'Sigh...' I meant he just sacrificed himself."
"?"
"Let me start from start. I was curious when I heard about a boy saved by God. I came here. And you have my gratitude to tell me everything about your son and giving me permission to ask directly to him, Miss Himika."
"Lot of doctors and all the biological scholars have been asking to him time to time. But no one has gotten anything. And it is inconvenience for my son as well. So I thought giving a hand to different approach will bring results."
"Thank you for your trust in me. And I assure you that I will not have any word leak out about this." She gave elderly cough. "And now, to main thing; when he said he had gotten blake out and woke at that day, I had figured more or less. And when he said all he knows about is feeling, it told me the whole story."
"Then, what was it about?"
"He sacrificed his life. In a different way. A person gets healed by his own body. His own blood. His own cells. And it all works by the biological system we all know about. It is a natural thing, but when natural, common and simple things are pushed out of limits, even they brought beyond terrible consequences. Which is limited to this universal law; to gain something you have to lose something."
"You don't mean...?" Himika got the gist, more or less.
"Yeah. His, who know how much, life spam was sucked and absorbed by his own body. Healing and restoring of the body takes spam of the owner's lifer when it does forcefully. The more healing the more spam it takes, the more the body will lose age and perhaps even growth, but its livehood will get drastically decreased."
Himika and Reiji starred at Koundri in shock.
"And after hearing from you and seeing photos of that accident, the state that boy was at that time, and now seeing how well he has gotten. In seeing this condition, I can say without any perhaps or doubt that his lifetime to live on earth have become very small. It also depends on how much one can live, but in these ages, humans just don't live more than 70 years."
"So we can't tell how much he will live since he has become healthy again, and there is no way to find it?" Raiji asked
"Kind of... but there is just one thing that is still bugging me. Like red ants are all crawling on me, biting me, no matter how much I slam them, I just got more hurt, and they just come back."
"What is it?" Himika asked.
"A body's natural factor as well as its function to heal itself based on its condition and situation, and circumstances around it is limited to just acceptable level, or perhaps phase or stage. Decreasing its own lifespan means killing itself more early, so the body heals itself to a level where it can live more, and it would also not be problematic for the person."
Himika and Reiji heard Koundri's reasoning very deeply, carving it in their heart, mind, and ears.
"But he hasn't just healed himself. He has evolved his body to a level where only humans can go through bio-experiments and constant, brutal training. Even his hair getting back like a forest, the same way as before, while hair is no need for body, and his movements like an athlete are out of common sense. As if his body was making him ready to face something far more dangerous a human can handle physically."
It gave shivers to both of them. Their very spine moved.
"So it means..." Reiji was the first one to open the box of words. "He have lost much more than he could had lost? And so does his life spam is decreased and have gotten at a very low point is also a possibility?"
"Yes... I can't reject or avoid those possibilities. It's rather a fact than possibilities. It is not my place to say, but I suggest you take care of him and make him have no regrets until... his last moment. At this point, I can't even roughly guess how less time he have left."
"But if he is healthy, then shouldn't his life also be good?" Reiji asked.
"Reiji-san, if what Koundri-san said about a person's certain life spam, then perhaps it is true. The thing about his body getting to a point to be called of an athlete is no joke either." Himika said simply, untouched by Koundri's explanation. "It is biologically proven: a person's age and how much a person lives are two different thing."
"Still...," Koundri said. "If time is on his side, then who knows."
"You mean if he is gifted with long life spam? I am not sure. The part where a person in these age, a human can at most live 70 years is true. I agree on that part."
"Maybe, if his life spam was of 100 years. But yeah, it what it is."
"Koundri-san, for experiencing lot of things in my life I am absolutely certain that time is on no one's side. It is no one's ally." Himika laughed.
"Yeah, but again, who knows. In a village I once visited, there was a myth more than a story, that time is alive and is watching every action, every microsecond in every part, every edge of all places."
"Then perhaps we have to pray to time." Himika laughed this subject off.
"Even I don't know. There is a limit of how much something can be called out true and certain from stories and myths. But I saw two boys there. Seeing them, I felt as though anything can happen. As if nothing absolutely certain, perfect 100% exists."
Reiji asked Koundri about that village and about the boys. And Koundri answered all of Reiji's questions.
# Ashed Lab
Meanwhile, Ryo had tailed off Nakajima and had gotten at a certain place. He had secretly gathered all sorts of parts, cables, wires and machines, to confirm one thing himself.
Miraculously, a pod connected with all monitors and cables with a big machine was just burned, not destroyed nor ashed, along with cables and monitors.
The boy was thinking and preparing this thing for so much long time that he had to make sure about one thing, nothing would go wrong.
He had even secretly gathered all his self-created things, experiments, and knowledge. And make sure that no one would know any single thing about this.
He make sure of one thing, "Success." This time for sure.
After numerously typing shining buttons and doing all the work, he entered the pod, opening the now shady door. He stood on center.
Multiple colored lights suddenly glowed on the buttons and monitors.
The digital buttons on the monitors automatically glowed, and then the light faded without stopping. At that instant moment, the ceiling of the big tube connected to the large machine radiated multiple colors, and the full force of that colorful lights fell upon the boy.
Without shedding a single drop of sweat and without any uneasiness, he simply let the machine do its work, exactly the way he had thought and predicted, along with his discovery.
The device's transparent door also glowed due to the inner light, letting the luminescence shine, even through that door was ashed.
And the boy disappeared from there!