The Hawk

Young genius

'Daichi!'

A sweet, genuine voice was heard in the street. It immediately drew the attention of a man. He was in his late twenties, wore glasses, and looked a little bit out of place. As if there were far more important and interesting things in the world than meeting one more stranger. The owner of the voice was a Japanese woman of delicate face and fragile appearance.

'Good to see you, Risa,' said the man, finally focusing on something else than his own thoughts. 

It seemed as if he was raised to sound polite, but his face was expressionless. Risa was absolutely sure Daichi just didn't understand why exactly he should be polite to others. It was strange to have a friend, who didn't understand emotions well. She wasn't even sure he considers her his friend, but he was really fun to talk to and she decided to see where it goes.

'Daichi, this is Nakajima Haru, my friend,' said Risa, pointing her hand to another woman, who came here with her.

Daichi immediately felt intimidated. Not by her beauty, oh no. Haru had something in her expression, which was terrifying for the young lab worker.

'Haru, this is my new friend Sato Daichi. He works in the lab as a physicist,' said Risa 

'Konnichiwa,' responded Haru with a foreign accent, and Daichi immediately knew that apart from other words in Japanese, she absolutely cannot speak this language. She didn't seem fazed in any way, as if was sure of herself.

'Is she American?' he thought, instinctively avoiding her gaze. She seemed tough, concrete, and proud, though he wasn't exactly sure what was she proud of.

'I'd be easier if we stick to English,' said Daichi in a matter-of-fact way. Haru frowned. She didn't understand he wasn't trying to underestimate her gesture to say 'Hello' in his language. For him, it was just a fact; nothing less, and nothing more.

In his eyes, Haru was the total opposite of Risa. She was higher, tougher, and wore a sterner expression. As if she permanently waited to be attacked. She wore long earrings with feathers, had a few hair stands dyed red, and she had tattoos on the back of her forearms, depicting the wings of a bird. She was also more cautious and logical in her decisions than Risa. But Yuzuki Risa was the most heartwarming girl both of them have ever met. She had a clear moral compass, allowing her to be loyal to the ones she loved. And in return, everybody seemed to love her, including Haru.

'Risa, I thought you were to show me Tokyo. You didn't mention meeting anyone,' Haru tried to sting Daichi with her comment, but he didn't seem to catch any more of her sentence than just the literal meaning of her words.

'Risa wanted me to show you both something. Though I'm not sure I should. It may be... unpredictable,' Daichi frowned, losing himself in his own thoughts. Haru raised her eyebrows.

'How can anyone be so oblivious to human interactions,' she thought, focusing her eyes on Risa instead of a man, who was a total riddle for her. Maybe he really was a genius, as Risa said?

'Oh, c'mon, Daichi! It's exciting! You should be proud!' exclaimed Risa, smiling sweetly. The mysterious topic caught Haru's attention, but she decided not to pry. Daichi didn't look convinced but he wasn't very good at dealing with women, so seeing Risa's smile made him clear his throat and making up his mind.

***

'Could somebody finally tell me where are we?' asked Haru, not being shy enough to hide her irritation. The old metro station was the last place she wanted to be right now, especially when she knew it's going to rain soon and she had no guarantee the tunnels here won't soon be flooded.

Though it seemed deserted, one could easily spot some graffiti, which meant someone still bothered to come here and God knows what for. Risa was hanging on Haru's arm as if she was excited and terrified at the same time. No wonder who was the braver one here.

Daichi put his finger on his mouth to silence Haru. She sighed with resignation and looked at Risa with a look-what-have-you-done kind of glance. Risa was tired of trying to smooth things over between those two. She just couldn't wait to see THAT once again.

'Nakajima,' started Daichi, probably deciding that using her first name would be too much of an effort for him, 'There are a few safety information I'd like to share with you. Nobody knows about this place and it has to be that way for now, since I have difficulties with finishing some calculations, allowing me to adjust the timeline...' he paused, seeing Haru looking at him as if she saw him for the first time in her life. She didn't have the faintest idea what he was talking about.

'Nevermind. No touching, six feet distance, and be quiet,' said the man, making Haru dislike him even more. She just hated to be ordered around. It felt as if her mother was here with them and this is the last person Haru wanted to see or listen to right now.

'Okay, I got it lab rat,' she commented and Risa gave her a soft punch in the arm, indicating she should be more polite. Daichi didn't seem to catch the snarky nickname Haru just gave him and beckoned women to follow him further into the metro tunnels.

It was a damp, cold, and stinky place, especially in Risa's opinion as she was sensitive to awful environments. She liked her surroundings clean and fresh, she hated the view of trash, dead animals, and blood. She looked at Haru and felt a sting of envy, as Nakajima seemed more angry than disgusted.

Suddenly, Haru stopped.

'Sato... what is that?' she asked quietly as if a sudden chill of something bad ran through her spine. Risa, not paying attention to the six-feet-rule, jogged to the huge piece of dark cloth hanging in one of the metro tunnel technical cavities. Beneath the cloth, Haru could see a giant, unknown shape and radiating icy blue light.

'Risa, please, don't...' started Daichi, trying to stop Yuzuki from reaching and grabbing the cloth. Risa pulled it down, exposing a machine built around a strange fissure in the wall.

'I don't think I should be here,' said Haru, taking a few steps backward. There was a first, quiet thunder of storm coming near. Risa pouted, ignoring the sound.

'Haru, it's not dangerous! Daichi is a physicist, he is currently working on some calculations to see how it works.'

'May I know on what basis do you claim it's not dangerous?' snapped Haru, trying to make Risa realize that they are currently in the abandoned metro tunnel with some strange device, ominous light with an unknown energy and none of them exactly knew what it is or how does it work.

'Girls, please stop. As far as I managed to determine, it's a similar device we are currently studying in our lab. The only strange thing is I didn't expect both similar devices to show up in such a short time...' Daichi was again lost in thoughts, apparently seeing nothing wrong with this situation.

'Wo-ho, wait.' Haru stopped, trying to make any sense from this and to shove away a sudden strange feeling. Feeling as if something is going to happen. Something bad? Exciting? She wasn't sure. Haru averted her gaze from the icy blue light, feeling slightly but strangely attracted to it.

'Daichi, please explain everything to Haru,' said Risa, locking her sight at the machine, as if enchanted. Her long, dark hair glowed in the light.

'We suspect it is a device which may be helpful in, well, how to put it plainly... time-travel,' Daichi gazed at Haru, who was earlier slightly confused, now snorted with laughter.

'And you hoped I'll fall for it?' she laughed, apparently not believing their theory. Haru wiped a single tear from the corner of her eye. 'Okay, Risa, you got me there. It really was funny.'

Before anybody could say anything, the second lighting struck and they heard a clap of thunder. It was evidently louder than the previous one. They looked at the ceiling with consternation. The old cables sparked dangerously with electricity.

'It's not a joke, Nakajima. Scientifically speaking, the energy in the device as we calculated it, in theory, makes it possible for an item to exceed the speed of light, which means time and space bends. However, even though it has all the expected parameters, we aren't able to make it work in the lab. I am currently keeping this in a secret, afraid that our methods may destroy both devices.'

'Assuming I believe you,' started Haru, averting her gaze from Daichi and focusing on the device, 'if we did something wrong, it could take us for instance hundred years ago?'

'Wrong? No, that wouldn't be wrong. I'd love to see when it works,' stated Daichi, sure of his words. Haru couldn't stay calm.

'What is wrong with you? You are taking Risa near the device which could sweep her off ground and put her in totally different times?'

'Haru...' Risa whispered, looking up.

'Don't interrupt me. You are one to blame too. Even if it's a joke, you are absolutely irresponsible to come here. What if some junkies were hiding here?'

'Nakajima...' Daichi said a little louder, also looking up at the cables.

'We are getting out of here. Now. I don't wanna hear about this anymore. You are either crazy or... what?' Haru looked at the man and froze.

She felt a little tremble beneath her feet. She looked up and saw the cables spark again with electricity. They heard the patter of the heavy rain. And suddenly they also heard the third thunder just above their heads. Every electrical device just burst with sparks, Risa covered her eyes, and Haru looked at the "time-travel machine". She suddenly felt the urge to touch it.

'Oh my...' whispered Daichi, looking at the mysterious device on the wall. The ground trembled once more, and the electricity made it dangerous to touch anything. The device was now shining even more, almost consuming the surroundings with the light.

'Girls, give me your hands, NOW!' the man shouted and reached for them. But even though they rushed to one another, none of them managed to hold hands, as the icy blue energy ran through the tunnel consuming all three of them.