Date - 5th April 2010
Place - North District, Home
Time - 9:49 pm
26th July 2004, it was the start of a new week, a wearisome day for many as it meant waking up for work once again after a short break from the cycle of vicious non-stop labour, and forge their will to go out for the umpteenth time to earn bread for themselves and/or their loved ones – only for that mustered will to come down crumbling, utterly shattered then torn apart to nothing when they woke up that day.
Whether it was through newspapers, through people calling one another to talk about it, or the morning gossip talk between neighbours; that day, this world's common folk, Thysia's people found out about it's superstar's demise, about the Queen's, about my Mom's, the 2nd Top Lord's death unforeseen by all.
Mom was…special. For the ordinary folk, she was an extremely important person and why wouldn't she be? She was the 2nd Top Lord, everyone loves the lords; yet her presence was far more prominent than even the King himself, so much so that if you asked a random person who has no interest within the higher ups about the names of the lords, chances are they wouldn't know a single one even including the King, yet somehow at least know about Mom. They'd probably say something like, "Oh I do know about Ms Amane though, everyone knows about her and some even call her the 'Queen', my colleagues always seem to be talking about her".
For her fans, she was this sacred existence to be praised and worshipped…she was a symbol of hard work and never ending belief which they appreciated with all their heart and saw her as a role model, encouraging them to strive harder. It came as a shock to many (or I should say all) of her fans when one day it came out that Mom was pregnant. This incident reduced her fan following by quite a significant amount, though from what I know, her devoted admirers truly only came (or at least increased by many folds…) after an insane episode when she accidently telecasted her irritation regarding Central 20 through the Disaster Communication Device that is in the Lab Department of The Heart, it's a thin layered coating of energy that covers the entirety of the Thysia's sky, capable of transmitting a person's voice by using that coated layer in a specific manner to do so. It is used in the cases of emergency to inform people about things urgently. In other words, it's a massive speaker that can communicate with almost everyone on the provision at once and it had been decades since it was last used.
Imagine sleeping in your house peacefully at midnight, or perhaps being in the middle of something important when suddenly, the Disaster Communication Device is activated after who knows how many decades, only for a drunk woman to start badmouthing Central 20 and how they piss her – must've been hilarious because everyone hates the government in one way or the other. It took her about 10 minutes to realise what she had done, and I imagine every single person on this provision still remembers what she said after realisation dawned upon her,
"Oh…I…I just realised something…damn, I've been using this Disasscommunication shit all this time…ohhhhhhh…I think that's bad…like…very…really very bad. Is everyone awake now? Oh boy… I, Amane humbly apologises for waking you all up buuuuut I am not wrong though, am I now? The government suuuuckksssss pffthahaha! cough cough Ah…I am sleepy now…you all should sleep as well…2nd Top Lord signing off, goodnight!... snore…!" Announcing that to the world, she passed out…without even turning the communicator off (which fortunately was turned off by Ari and someone else in the very next minute who rushed there from their homes).
This was back when I hadn't met Mom yet…but she left quite the impression, it stopped the ongoing argument that was going on at the time in my old house between my 'parents' and gave me something funny to ponder about. That incident was the talk of the town…no, the entirety of Thysia for some time and still is even to this day. The event got dubbed 'Midnight Whining, with the 2nd Top Lord' and only made her existence more popular among the populous and increased her fans when they saw that she's still the same person despite having had a kid.
About Central20's relationship with Mom, her existence was like a threat to them. People hate the government for a very long list of reasons that I can't keep count of, while on the flipside, the lords system is loved by everyone – the two are like the sides of a coin. Now when you have a literal superstar in the lords system, it only makes things worse for said government, however…many of the people working over there as well adored her despite everything. It's not that Mom hated the people who worked there, but a clash in opinions was inevitable no matter what. Whatever the case, that incident of Mom's rant caused the Disaster Communicator to be put exclusively in Central 20's premises from the Lab Department which in all honesty…makes perfect sense.
For the people who were close to her, she was just a weirdo. Even though she was revered as this holy entity by the masses; to her loved ones, she was just a woman who lived in the moment more than anyone else did, a peculiar gleaming existence.
"That's right, I am a weird person, and everyone is in their own special unique way. If someone was extremely normal then that too would be weird, it's just that I am a little weirder than others that they pale in comparison heh!" Those were her words when I told her that she's odd the next day after I first met her…and perhaps truer words hadn't ever been spoken before.
For Ari, it was painfully evident that he loved her in THAT manner, so clearly visible that Hiro and I would make fun of him whenever we found the chance. Unfortunately, Mom was head over heels for someone else and Hiro was the proof of that – nonetheless, ignoring our charade of taunting and teasing him, it's obvious that he respected her the most out of everyone as the two knew each other for a very long time. According to him, Mom wasn't always this bubbling enthusiastic person, but slowly changed over time after an incident. It's hard for me to imagine her being anything but a ball of exhilaration.
As for me…Mom was weird at first, she saved me for no particular reason, then trained me about various things, showed me what living life meant rather than surviving. And after all that, Mom was still weird…but dazzling more than anyone…she was the hope that pierced through every sorrow and saved me and my sister…
The higher ups including me already knew about what had happened to Mom, however, the truth was news for the common folk. That's why, on that day, on 26th July 2004, it was as if the world stopped for everyone as they found out about Amane's death… And then…absenteeism skyrocketed, both the students and teachers didn't show up in classes for studying, those in the workforce took leave, shops closed down, people lost their will to work, even the most bustling streets became devoid of life. Whether it had been because of the potential politics that could occur now or because of grievances regarding this entire surreal situation, everyone was distraught regardless.
For the first two days during which the masses knew of what had happened, people were frustrated beyond measure as nobody knew how all of this even came to be in the first place. People were hungry for the truth, willing to search out the truth behind the entire situation. Nobody was just going to accept that it was a suicide, there was no way anyone could – but there were absolutely no leads to take into consideration and follow through with. The common folk weren't informed of Yumi's energy traces found on the 8th lord as there were many doubts regarding even the only lead we had, fortunately this info never got leaked though – or else it would've caused a shattering uproar.
Then on 28th July 2004, a district wide funeral was held in The Heart's yard with strict rules and protocols to adhere to. Tens of thousands of people crowded together, both inside and outside the premises; yet the only thing that could be heard was the loudest silence for the longest of time… Many people wished that, although unlike even for her, this was perhaps just a bit too much of an extreme prank that she was playing with everyone.
At first it was people hoping that she'd come walking out of The Heart's entrance like everything was normal – but that didn't happen. Instead a coffin was brought out, witnessing which many people started breaking down and the long silence was finally broken. Yet even that wasn't enough for many others to believe what really was happening, some started screeching to stop with tear gushing and flooding down their eyes.
"THIS IS ENOUGH!! YOU ARE JUST HIDING IN THAT COFFIN RIGHT?! JUST COME ON OUT ALREADY…!!" I remember some shouting that at the top of their lungs, but what they hoped for never happened and the ceremony continued on, then finished up as it should have.
Upset, devastated, distressed, wailing, miserable, shattered from within, depressed; I could keep the list of all these adjectives going to describe how everyone felt there and it'd still fall short to retell what the atmosphere in that moment was, and this only became more apparent as the sky turned black in a few hours of time. It was the result of an influx of energy from people all around, after all, everything exerts it and emotions of a person affect the shape one's energy takes. Looking at that dark sky, it felt as if Thysia itself was weeping and grieving this loss…
Even so people move on…even if it takes time… About three weeks later, the sky started clearing up and returned back to normal completely in a month more of time. It's been nearly six years since then…people haven't forgotten about Mom and still do miss her presence, but the initial shock factor and misery that came forth back then have obviously since subsided…except for one person…who still doesn't know of it…and how would she…she too was a victim in that situation…
For Rebecca…my little sister…much like me…she loved Mom a lot…despite her nature of immediately being mildly hostile against things she finds odd, it was different with Mom. That child loved her very deeply, Mom was probably her whole world…and…cruelly she's the only one who doesn't know of it, of what happened…I hate it…the fact that life not only gave her scum parents, not only stole from us the only mother we loved but even robbed her off of getting to know of that for SIX YEARS…robbing my sister's precious childhood and her right to know the truth…I despise this…
What…am I supposed to do… She probably thinks Mom is doing something odd at this moment… How the hell do I approach this situation and destroy her world like this… Despite racking my head over this for the entire day, no, for all these years – now that the time is really here, all I can do is hold onto my head while lying down and cry…just weep endlessly… I don't understand…what to do…