“Nee, Onii-san, that day is coming fast. “

“Ah yes, I have been training hard, Nadeshi. Believe in me, I`m very well prepared now.”

The young girl put on a grin, and held the man`s face with both hands.

“Make sure, that you wipe out those creatures. Save our planet, Onii-san.”

“Don`t worry Nadeshi, I will. They will not destroy humanity.”

The man smiled, his eyes were anything but sane.

The bell rang, signalling the awaited end of exams. Students in that room were thrilled with their upcoming one week break. However, some were bored to the bone, like Takumi. Even NK`s elite English test couldn`t make him blink. Whatever felt right to him was the answer, as if the language was his mother`s tongue. Yawning so hard that tears filled his eye sockets, Takumi gladly turned in his answer sheet and got the hell out of the room.

Ignoring the fact that Nadeshi would be waiting for him at the front entrance, he took the back gate. Squeezing through waves of people, he finally reached the hallway that led to the exit. In front of him, however, was a familiar figure. Short, small, and wearing a male uniform. It was Kyoya. Takumi stopped, but then he shrugged and went ahead. The evidence that denied his theory outweighed the ones that did, so he just let it go.

Instead of going to the movies or karaoke with his classmates, Takumi got home and took a shower. He wore a tank top inside his jacket, with trainers and tight joggers. Digging out the Bluetooth earphone that has been buried in dust for the longest time, he went to the gym.

“97…98…99…100!”

Letting out a breath, Takumi looked at the extra long list of exercises he needed to finish. (How the hell was I able to do all this before?!). The line dividing his abdominal muscles had long faded, and although he did not look out of shape, his stamina wasn`t even close to what it had been a year ago. He had given up training for too long, and now his body felt like a rusty armor set.

The cold wind steadily blew the sun away from the Japanese sky, as night slowly crawled onto the empty winter sky.

Takumi`s mom would be late as usual, but this time he tried to cook. Although failed miserably, the food was organic and not harmful to his health. When he looked at the time, he hesitated. He was already fatigued from all the work at that gym, but he didn`t want to sleep.

(Because… that day… I will be closer to seeing that day…)

But his head quickly became drowsy, and he had no choice but to go to bed. In the dark room, Takumi slept well. A slight smile appeared on his lips.

2:24 AM. The door flung opened, and a woman staggered inside. She closed the door with haste, and locked it tightly. Trembling, she sat down and closed her eyes. It took a while for her to stop hyperventilating, and Takumi woke up to the noises downstairs.

“What`s wrong, Kaa-san?”

Takumi startled her, and she jerked her head up. Looking into her shocked eyes, Takumi`s brain fired up its engine. In the middle of the night, he became wide awake.

“Takumi…”

He moved closer, and his mom hugged him with both arms. Judging from his observations, Takumi already knew why his mom was acting like this.

“*sobs* I was going home. On the same route I used every day. *sobs* But… but today I saw the murderer that was on TV… I saw him!”

Takumi`s heart throbbed as his theory is confirmed. His mother didn`t stop:

“I was so scared I couldn`t have done anything. The man… He was killed right in front of me. And then… And then *sobs* That psycho turned to me!”

“What?!” He escaped her embrace to look at his mother in the eye.

“He asked me…”Are you one of the aliens?” I shook my head as fast as possible, and as soon as I heard “Fuck off” I ran away.”

Only strangled sobs could be heard afterwards. Takumi was overwhelmed with rage. Clenching his fist, he threw the window a piercing gaze. The wind replied by playfully rattling the dry branches outside.