"I thought you said you knew how to drive this thing!" Kasai shouted in horror, his heart racing as the car's side screeched against the jagged mountain edge, crushing on impact, and sending a shower of gravel cascading down the steep slope.
The air was thick with tension, and the scent of burning material filled the car as the vehicle lurched violently, threatening to careen straight down from the sky.
Kasai couldn't help but wince slightly when his elbow crashed into Hikaru's.
Hikaru's eyes widened in terror as he frantically jabbed at the unresponsive holographic interface, the vibrant icons appearing eerily frozen in place.
The relentless beeping echoed around him, each sound amplifying his rising anxiety as he struggled to regain control over the chaotic situation unfolding before him.
"Oh, come on! Why now of all times!?" Hikaru exclaimed anxiously, a mix of frustration and urgency flooding his voice as he urgently pounded his fingertip against the glowing hologram, its vibrant colors flickering deadly with each desperate tap.
"Here, let me try," Kasai urged softly, his voice carrying a weight of determination.
Kasai took a deep breath, steadying himself.
He was deliberately trying to diffuse the escalating emotions that surrounded them.
Hikaru cast a cautious glance at the other man, his brow furrowing with suspicion as he slowly withdrew his hand from the glowing hologram.
The flickering light danced across his features, revealing a hint of uncertainty in his eyes as if he were grappling with a deep-seated doubt about Kasai's intentions.
"There's no need to look at me like I'm gonna hijack this thing. I wouldn't have saved you if I wanted you to die."
That was a lie.
The only reason Kasai had agreed to join Hikaru in the first place was because of his mission.
He needed to gain the other man's trust, and by doing so, he had to play the role of a friend.
Letting his words hang in the stillness of the air, Kasai leaned forward and calmly reached out, his fingers skimming the surface of the holographic interface.
As he expected, the icons glimmered in a state of frozen suspension, untouched by his attempts to engage with them.
He tapped them repeatedly, a growing sense of frustration gnawing at him as each futile interaction yielded no response, the vivid displays remaining stubbornly inert.
No matter how many times Kasai tried tapping them, nothing was happening.
"Hurry up! We're both gonna be dead if this thing crashes again." Hikaru exclaimed, looking around anxiously.
"It was my impression that you wanted to die. No worries though, I'm not a suicidal maniac like you." Kasai replied with a nonchalant shrug, his focus drifting to the glowing menu tab displayed in the upper right corner.
As he clicked into it, he caught Hikaru's eyes, which simmered with irritation at his offhand remark.
A snicker threatened to break through Kasai's composure, but he stifled his reaction, fully aware of the gravity of their predicament.
The car's auto-flight system hummed softly, but he knew it could only sustain them for a bit longer now that the metal was all jacked up.
The tension in the air was becoming suffocating.
"I can feel you staring, you know," Kasai remarked casually, his narrowed eyes fixed on the illuminated menu before him.
The vibrant colors flickered once more, reflecting off his face as he concentrated, his finger poised over a peculiar star-shaped icon.
The moment his fingertip lifted from the icon, the screen erupted in a harsh error message, accompanied by a loud, jarring beep that sliced through the air like a blade.
Kasai sighed, irritation flashing across his features as he mentally prepared for yet another technical mishap.
"Now look what you've done!" Hikaru snapped, frustration lacing his voice as he frantically pounded the hologram with his fingertips.
He felt a knot of anxiety tighten in his stomach, desperately trying to exit the menu.
Yet, despite his frantic efforts, the screen erupted into a chaotic flurry of more error messages, shimmering like a digital storm, each box overlapping the last in an avalanche.
Kasai immediately covered his ears.
The pitch of those beeps was genuinely painful.
"Do you have any idea what this might be?" Kasai questioned Hikaru, probing him with a steady gaze.
Just then, he felt the car begin to tilt precariously, the world outside blurring as it lurched through the air, sending a rush of adrenaline coursing through him.
He instinctively braced himself for whatever death sentence was about to unfold.
That was definitely not a good sign at all.
"I'm not sure…I've never come across anything like this," Hikaru admitted softly, his voice barely above a whisper.
A deep exhaustion settled in his eyes, shadowing his gaze as he grappled with the unsettling realization that the menu was irretrievably broken.
The flicker of hope that had lingered within him dimmed, leaving behind a heavy sense of defeat.
They really were as good as dead.
Kasai cursed softly under his breath.
"If we're gonna die anyway, I have something to admit," Kasai muttered softly, preparing himself for the impending outcome as he braced himself for whatever fate awaited them.
If they were both dying, he didn't need to complete his mission, as angering as that was to him.
Hikaru immediately shifted his gaze to Kasai in confusion, but before Kasai could even part his lips to speak, a strangely robotic voice cut into the silence.
"This is Marcus Newman, streaming an announcement to you from SOEP-Corporation! We'd recommend bringing in your family members for this announcement, because this one will be a ride.
Recently, there's been an influx of pollution,"
"Go figure," Kasai said with a roll of his eyes, the colored lenses beginning to hurt.
He could vividly remember commenting on how polluted the sky was earlier.
It was hideous.
"After months of deep exploration and intriguing discoveries, we've finally unveiled the mystery behind this strange phenomenon. We know many of you are familiar with the extraordinary individuals known as Elementalists. Imagine them as your neighbors, but with an incredible twist—they possess superhuman abilities, each one as unique as their family heritage! As much as we'd love to dive into the fascinating world of these remarkable beings, we have an issue."
Hikaru furrowed his brows in confusion, the lines on his forehead deepening as he strained to make sense of the announcement unfolding before them.
He cast a sidelong glance at Kasai, whose expression mirrored his own bewilderment.
Kasai's shoulders rose and fell in a half-hearted shrug, a silent acknowledgment of their shared perplexity. The atmosphere buzzed with unspoken questions, leaving both of them feeling adrift in a sea of uncertainty.
"The overuse of mana has spiraled into a global crisis, saturating the air with toxic fumes that threaten us all. People from every walk of life—both the mighty and the vulnerable—are falling ill with a strange but fatal virus, gasping for breath as this invisible menace seeps into their lungs. We cannot allow this to persist. Our organization has embarked on a crucial mission: to meticulously document anyone suspected or confirmed to be an Elementalist. With determination, we are tracking them down to put an end to this escalating peril by any means necessary."
Hikaru's glacier-like eyes widened in shock, reflecting a deep well of emotion as he abruptly turned to face Kasai.
"Do you think they've been jamming the holograms of Elementalists who are under suspicion of trying to escape the hunt?"
Panic gripped him, and his words spilled forth in a frantic rush, each syllable drenched in fear.
"I wouldn't put it past them. The government is full of sneaky bastards like your dad, no offense," Kasai muttered with a sigh.
"In an effort to tackle this crisis head-on, we've joined forces with our remarkable leader to track down and apprehend these delinquents, exterminating them before they can continue to wreak havoc. Together, we're committed to making a difference! How will we do this, you may ask? They'll be battling fiercely to the death, and only the ones who prove their worth will earn the right to remain."
Hikaru's jaw dropped in horror as he desperately hammered the hologram with his fingertips, his heart racing with an overwhelming sense of panic. The car lurched violently one last time, its metal frame groaning as it plunged downward.
He could barely comprehend the chaos around him, and he couldn't even tell if the chilling scream that pierced the air might have been his own.
The noise was swallowed up by the cacophony of impending disaster, and horror filled him the moment that he saw Kasai's head smash into the side of the window, crimson beginning to leak down in a steady stream.
Amidst the haze of his tears, he could barely make out the movement of Kasai's lips, a silent whisper that seemed to echo in the depths of his mind.
Yet, before he could grasp the meaning behind those words buried beneath the ringing in his ears, darkness engulfed him, swallowing his vision and pulling him into an abyss where nothing remained but the oppressive stillness.