Hottest Day

 "This is the JAZZ Radio station and I'm your host, Risk, with the hottest news in town! The current temperature is hotter than the burning solar flames of a forest fire in the mountains. Here's a Public Service Tip: Keep cool and stay safe…" Risk ends his radio announcement with some upbeat jazz music.

I have the fan on high. There’s a small compartment where ice water mix in. It's too hot to go outside and I want to cry. Not to mention, I haven’t seen any hurricanes in the past coming days. It's the heat that makes me angry on the inside. I watch from my window and the kids have already bust the fire hydrant for the day. The street is cover in water. Most of the residents complain that they are wasting water. Well, I'm not mad at them. Just tired and hot.

I hear footsteps making its way into my apartment. Someone knocks on the door. I tell them to come in. An older lady comes into my apartment complex. 

"Ms..." I say.

"Sorry to bother you, Silent. Are you busy?" She asks me.

"No..." I play with my phone. "Not really. You need something?"

She closes the door behind her. "Yes, the air conditioner is broken. Can you fix it." I sigh. "It's fine, Silent. Don't worry yourself. I can get someone else--"

"No. It's fine, Irie."

My father used to take care of these things during the summer. So, since he's gone and retire. I have to take over. In order to fix the conditioner, ice is available. Some people don't have access to water. So the only way that I can get access, is the cooling system in the basement to get the already frozen water and place it inside the compartment in Irie’s air conditioner.

Now, it’s not easy anymore. A new order is taking place at the Parliament in Midorii. There has been a number of droughts cropping up because of monsters called: Kashimas. I’m not familiar with that term except for they live inside the city. After I taken care of Irie in her apartment. I spot a slender looking guy coming in my direction as I left her apartment. I drop my head down to avoid eye contact.

When we cross paths, he grabs my arm. “Don’t think you can just up and leave without saying hello, Silent.” His voice is low and threatening. I suck my teeth at him. He let’s go of me. I look up at him. “Kuro—I mean, Hack.” I give him a smug look. There’s an ‘X’ scar across his face. The iris in his left eye is white. He growls at me. “Don’t call me that. My name is Batsu now.” “Why did you change your name again?” I wonder. He ties his hair in a bun with the hair bow on his wrist and says, “Because I hate my real name.” He answers. I shrug. It didn’t really matter. I love calling him Kuro. It suits him. Batsu and I aren’t on good terms since high school. I never knew the reason why, but he claims that we weren’t good for each other. Whatever that means.

“I got an update announcement on the Navi.” He crosses his arms, lowering his voice above a whisper. “Kashimas have been spotted again near the watering hole.” “Are you sure?” I ask him. He nods. “Yeah. As apart of Shinobino. I’m taking you with me.”

We drive out of the city and into sand territory. I can feel the heat burning me as I fix my sunglasses on my face. The buildings are under the sand. This desert wasteland used to be a bustling city. It was part of Midorii until Kashimas began to attack the people. Fast forward, sand blows from the east and this what happens. As we get close to the watering hole, I notice a tall water tower. Batsu points to it. “There. They’re behind the tower.”

He parks the car behind a school that wasn’t cover in sand. Behind the school there are portable classrooms all around. The sound of roaring catches my attention. Batsu gestures me to follow him. As I make my way to the huge water hole, tall, black creatures that look like dinosaurs roams the watering hole. They appear to have holes on their back that are fill with steaming water. “What am I looking at?” I ask Batsu. He pulls out his Navi as it transforms into a sword.

“These dinosaur creatures are the Kashimas. They are connected to the heatwave and water shortage.”

“Are they drinking up all the water?” I look at the long strips of glowing lines. The lines look like magma flowing down their bodies and encasing some sort of black net around the water hole. Batsu shrug his left shoulder. “You can say. Shinobino takes them out. Staring for today. You are not some ‘repair man’ you are going to help me clear these things.”

“What, you can’t just recruit me?”

Batsu rolls his eyes at me. “I have too. We are running low on Shinobinos lately. These vicious things are killing our good people. If the Parliament aren’t helping combat the heat wave...who else do we turn to, Silent.”

They don’t look vicious to me. Unless, I’m not seeing something. “Don’t I get a say in any of this?” “Yes, you do.” He says. “Okay, what if I don’t want to become a Shinobino, then what?” “That’s fine with me as long you aren’t hurting anyone.”

“What about the Parliament in Midorii? What’s their deal?”

“From what I’m hearing, they’re not helping combat the heat wave in water shortage it seems. But other people think that they are. It’s a mix bag of public opinion so it’s hard to tell who’s tell the truth.” Batsu turns to me. “Let’s go.”

We slowly make our way to the Kashimas. There’s about three of them. The tallest one looks like a Brachio and the smallest ones are Veloraptors. We hide behind a sand mount. Batsu searches for something. When he spots it, he rams his sword into the ground. The sword shakes around and stops. On the grip of his sword there’s a thermometer and a gauge that tells the distance. “Okay, were close to the core.”

“What core?” I say.

“Kashimas carry a bright orange core that is full of water. My sword can also locate the weak points in the body. Where ever the weak points are at. That’s were we take them out.” Batsu pulls out another sword from his bag and hands it to me. I know that he’s not going to force me. He knows me to well. He drops the sword at my feet and says. “It’s your choice.” “And it’s your funeral.” I tell him. I don’t follow behind him. He takes the sword out of sand and rushes up to one of them.

Watching Batsu charge into them is daring for him. He moves likes water. He finds the weak spot in no time, and his sword stabs into the back of the Veloraptors. They screech loudly, making my ears bleed. I catch a glimpse of black blood spraying from them and a soft hissing noise. The Veloraptors doesn’t put up a fight. Suddenly, steam rises from their bodies as they shake violently and burst. Batsu quickly transforms his sword into a container. A mixture of black blood and water is sprays all over him. The water somehow finds it’s way into the container. The container now transform into the sword again. Not a moment to soon, he finishes off the remaining two. My eyes didn’t blink once. My heart skips a beat. I look down at my sword. I couldn’t kill the Kashimas even if I am force to. When he comes back he says. “I’m done.” I look over the mound. The black net over the water hole hadn’t disappear. I turn back to him. “What’s going to happen to the net?” I ask him.

“It will disappear over time. Just like erosion. Then the sand will come and cover it up.” He sighs. He takes his hand covers his left eye. “What’s wrong with your eye?”

“It still hurts from the Kashimas attack.” I drops his hand. “If only...I could’ve been more quicker with the antidote. My wound will heal more.”

“What’s going to happen to the water? Is that going to fix the drought?”

“It will.” He says. “In the meantime. It’s going to take a village to clear out the watering hole.”

We talk all the way back to Midorii. When we enter the city, a group of Shinobinos attacks another Kashimas. The Kashimas burst into black blood as it sprays everywhere and they collect the water. The Kashimas didn’t attack Batsu. Their movements were slow and weak. Seeing one up close with my own eyes, it makes me wonder if this is their habitat. Suddenly we stop. I look out the window and one of the guards walk up to the car. Batsu roll down the windows.

“I got the rest of the water from that desert wasteland.” Batsu tells them. “Thanks.” They say. They look at me. “Who’s the new recruit?” I turn to them. “Silent—I ask them to join...for now.” Batsu says. “Really? Well, if you ever feel like joining us. We are always looking for new members to help bring. water into Midorii.” The guard smile. I smile back at them. “I’ll keep that in mind for them.” Batsu drives away, and we make our way to a warehouse. This probably where all of the water is store for the city.

He gets out of the car, taking his Navi with him. I follow behind Batsu to the back door of the warehouse. He knocks on the door and waits for someone to answer. “The Shinobinos are different from the Parliament here. We actually care about our people. The person who is running this is a close friend of mine. Our goal is to not overthrow but protect the people. The only thing that the government can do is stay out of our business and we stay out of theirs—”

I cut him off. “Can I ask why? Ever since that new order has been set in place. Droughts are cause by the Kashimas—”

“That’s what’s causing them. We kill them off in order to get back our water. Then we collect the water—”

“You said that sand covers that deserted wasteland. So you can’t get access to them—”

Then the door opens, a lanky looking boy stands in the door way. He looks older than me. “Signal..” Batsu says. His hair short, crop hair is lavender, but his right eye is cover by a white eye-patch on him. He looks at me. “Who’s this?”

“They’re the new recruit.” Batsu holds out his Navi to Signal. “Him?” Signal takes the Navil and ushers us inside.

The whole building smells like rust and cleaning products. Several people wheels in full tanks of water through the main lobby. We enter through a doorway that says: Shipment. Signal let’s us through. I watch Signal take his Navi and attaches it to a container. The Navigator fills the large tank with water. Signal faces me. He looks at me up and down. “Why did you bring him here, Batsu?”

“Because we needed more members—“

Signal cuts him off. “More members or potential?” Signal brushes me off. Rude. “Batsu. I’m aware of Silent’s ‘abilities’ like fixing air condioners.”

I speak up. “You know who I am?”

“Yes, I do. Through your father. He works for the city as a repair man.”

“I don’t see any potential in you, Silent. No hard feelings. We just don’t ‘recruit’ anyone—”

Batsu speaks up. “I recommend them. I think Silent have what it takes—”

“No!” The two turn to me. “I didn’t agree on anything, Batsu. You literally force me without my consent. I’m not up for killing a creature just to get water from them.” Before I can walk away from them. Batsu grabs my arm. I react by pushing him into Signal. The two nearly fell. My heart races.

I walk away from them. I head outside and the city feels like a sauna now. The only thing that can do is go back to my duties as a repair man. As I sit in my apartment, all I can think about is Batsu and I. I convince myself that if I could save anyone it would be him. It was the day when the New Order was set by the Parliament in Midorii. The New Order was set to keep the Kashimas out of the city and into the wasteland. We didn’t have any problems until the drought started and then heatwaves came after that.

On that day, two days before the Kashimas entered the city. Batsu was attacked by one. We were no where near the wastland, but it was guarded by a wall. I don’t remember what happen on that day, I blocked it out. But I remembered the blood seeping from his left eye, and he was screaming in pain. The doctors was able to save his eye, but it turned white. He had lost fifty percent of his vision that day.

I blamed myself and that was probably why he never liked me. Until now. I don’t what came cover him. But I don’t want anything to do with those creatures. I force my myself to learn about them. At least that’s the safest way. The safest way that might lead me to some great discoveries.