The Earth After Rebirth

Chapter 331: Outskirts Of The Middle District

Kiro managed to calm down his friend, but he couldn't hope to get rid of his guilt-ridden and broken self. While his father told him it wasn't his fault, he knew it'd be almost impossible to convince him otherwise.

So he left him seated on the ground and approached the incoming buses. But someone was already meeting him halfway, his heart almost fell out of his mouth when he saw the familiar face.

"President Scott? I didn't think you'd come here yourself, aren't you too busy?" The last thing he wanted was to drag him into this, it was fine when he helped them indirectly.

Kiro was sure that he was not known in the past because the Blakesons made it so. But he was prepared to give him freedom to invent whatever he wanted and he'd already proven his genius with the explosives and weapons he provided them with.

"It sounded interesting, I was curious." He said way chipper than the current mood that plagued the field they stood on. "What's with the mood, who died?" He jokingly asked.

Kiro gave him the deadliest of looks. He quickly checked Hiro, who was still like a zombie and wouldn't have heard the President's comments. He then nodded to where they were attempting to take the body.

"Terrible timing to be social President."

"Ha, yes, I see. Sorry."

He still didn't ask the details. He just helped them load up the kids to the buses. His idea was that, if they used such transportation they were less likely to be stopped by nosy law enforcement. Packaging was something of a sacred thing, it couldn't be easily tempered with, unless it was believed to be a threat to society.

"Hey kid, Micah, it's time to go." Kiro told him, he was staring into the night, rigid and unmoving unlike his compatriots.

"Don't have family, don't have home, Micah stay." He spoke for the first time.

It was clear now that most of these kids were taken quite young, their etiquette in speech hadn't quite developed yet and once they were prisoners, it was impossible to teach them anything since they just needed them as fighters for entertainment.

"Don't worry little guy, there's a new home for all of you." He said looking hopefully at the president.

He nodded, "quite right, managed to get an abandoned estate in the middle district. Since you called earlier, there have been renovations. They should be done by tomorrow."

Kiro gave him a look of appreciation. He wasn't someone who liked getting involved but he went above and beyond for him. It may have been because of the fact that he was a major shareholder but he noticed he was a man with a big heart.

"Come on Hiro, it's time to go."

Their biggest obstacle now was getting Jin home. Hiro's mother would obviously need answers as to where they found him and how he died.

"What are we gonna do?" Hiro asked, suddenly emotionless. Kiro could feel that a part of him died today, he knew his friend will never be the same again.

"Well, we can't exactly tell the truth."

The vehicles flew on the roads, nobody was talking, time felt like it had stopped for most. Ishaan was fast asleep, Kiro was fighting to stay awake.

Even though they had won this battle, it felt like a loss. They didn't know Hiro's father that well but they knew Hiro, and his grief was shared amongst them, it leaked and eventually reached them too.

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Everyone was grieving for him but Hiro was too busy blaming himself to actually appreciated the unspoken sadness they radiated for a man they didn't know.

Kiro felt himself falling, only it wasn't the kind that would jerk you awake when you hit the ground. As he never quite reached the ground, just free falling into the abyss that was his mind.

"If you have managed to buy them time, why aren't you using this opportunity to make him understand?"

Kiro heard the familiar voices that would have indecipherable conversations. But he thought these were just game mechanics, the last time he checked, he was not logged into Asgard.

'Wait what, I thought...what is going on?' He meant to say but his voice failed him so he thought it instead.

"Look at that, he's found you again." The other voice said clearly mocking.

"Yes, but it's not yet time."

Kiro felt a swirling feeling in his head, it was so fast that he awoken by falling from his seat to the bus floor. He looked around disoriented, for a time he didn't know where he was because the bus had stopped.

He felt a burning sensation in his stomach, he tried getting up quickly but his legs failed him, that's when he emptied the contents of his stomach on the bus floor.

He hadn't eaten anything in a while so what came out as just a translucent liquid. It came out in buckets as though his stomach was made of only that.

"Hey, man, are you alright?" Nikolai touched him on shoulder.

He felt like his touch was striking his very soul as gentle as Nikolai had been, it didn't translate well for Kiro. He felt his every cell screaming at him, as if this was his fault.

He didn't understand why his sensory shot up for no reason at all. He jumped away from Nikolai, and touched his own shoulder, but nothing happened.

"Touch me again." He pleaded.

Nikolai was clearly confused but he obliged and nothing happened.

'Maybe I imagined it? The pain? But the conversations, what could they all mean anyway?'

The bus was empty, he'd slept through the ride. He was stepping out of the bus when he suddenly blurted out.

"The game, I think it's real."

"What?" Nikolai was even more confused, "you sure you're alright? You made quite a mess in there."

He shook his head but quickly realised what they could that have meant, "I'm alright. It's nothing."

The estate was quite big, everyone else had already gotten inside. The building was massive, with workers all over it, and some building extra buildings on the land to accommodate every child.

The first floor had already been done, and the President has made it a point to get them sleeping bags for now. The food was ordered in and they sat on their bittersweet victory, sharing a meal with children that didn't quite trust them yet.