My Lost Soul

Chapter 28 - Protecting

Omega, Enjō, and Uyama walked out of the conference room in silence. Enjō gently scratched a burn scar on his arm, and Uyama clutched his tie loose tie. Omega never noticed how many scars Enjō had, just from his baggy t-shirt and shorts. There was two on each of his forearms, one peeking through his left sleeve, three on his legs, and two near his neck. I wonder...how many of those scars were-

"Hey, guys? Want to get some ice-cream? I heard the JanuErian ice cream is the best." Uyama interrupted his thoughts. Enjō halted mid-scratch and flinched, "Mm! Oh yeah sure, sure!" His face scrunched for a moment from the pain. Omega nodded.

Uyama got butter pecan, Enjō got strawberry, and Omega got vanilla. It was a good option for an ice-cream novice like himself. As they sat down to eat, Omega thought, This is the second time he's done something like this after something serious.

"You don't gotta do this every time something like this happens, y'know. We can talk." Enjō looked up at Uyama, spoon in hand. Uyama looked at both of them, fiddling with the plastic the spoons came in, then looked outside at the city. "Alright then. You guys got any questions?"

Omega raised his hand, "What did Steele whisper to those people?"
"He really did come to a compromise with them, but I'm guessing it was more of a threat. You can't live by demanding things when there's no supply, and Steele is all of the supply."
"What did Steele mean when he talked about "accepting Artificials"?" Uyama furrowed a brow and looked at Enjō. Enjō threw a thumbs-up as he chewed on the ice-cream. "So, because Shacia isn't really the most passionate place on Earth, you haven't really seen that kind of stuff. People just about anywhere else aren't too...tolerant of Artificials. That's why most of them hide their symbol when they're in public. The whole thing is kind of like how people didn't like robots and AI earlier this century, but this time it's just fueled by pure ignorance in my opinion. Now that they're, uh..." Uyama shrugged, "...Maybe getting their rights, people will want to have a last minute show of their hatred."

Omega began to sweat, despite this new cold feeling enveloping his mouth.
"Wait, for real? No joke?" Enjō's eyes widened.
"No joke. If you were on a swim team and they were planning to make it illegal to swim, wouldn't you swim as much as you could before then?"
Enjō whistled, "Oooh, you might be right. But there's that Ael guy, right? He'll probably stop them."

Uyama cocked his head to the side, "I remind you, they'd happen literally everywhere at once. There's no way he'd be able to stop them all."
Enjō scratched his imaginary beard, "Fair point," and went back to chewing his ice cream.

"Wait, I have a something for you too, actually." Uyama wagged his finger in front of him. "You just saw President Dawa for yourself, so how do you feel?"

"Like I missed a solid opportunity to kill 'em right there and then." A few sparks flew from the clamping of his teeth on the ice cream.

Omega wondered how he was chewing down on such a cold treat, so he tried it himself. As his teeth clamped down on the ice-cream, his eyes widened in shock. It was like he could feel every nerve flare up from the tip of his teeth to the end of his root canal. He rocked in his chair, not enough for the others to notice. His hand darted to cover his mouth before he could make a sound. How does he do that?! What is he?!

"Well I'm damn happy you didn't!" Uyama laughed with ice cream in his mouth. "You would've gotten all of us killed in a flash! Damn man, you've got to be patient."
Enjō rolled his eyes, "Whatever you say, boss-man."

"Now, I actually have some advice for you too. I know you don't really like talking about this, but did you ever see what it was your father worked on before he disappeared?"
Enjō's eyes met Uyama's as he said, "No, not really. Why?"