Maybe this all was a bad idea. Maybe I shouldn’t have agreed. Whatever the case was, it was too late to go back. Saturday morning came in a flash, and we were already in the elevator going up the levels of my father’s company. I hadn’t got much sleep the night before, considering I still had so many questions about this game of my mother’s. Millie didn’t seem to be concerned at all, giving me one of her warm hugs after Friday’s dinner. “Thank you for doing it with me, Ruru. You’re gonna love Tengoku!” She had said.
I wasn’t so sure. How did she even know what it was going to be like? I guessed she was just trying to be optimistic and cheer me up.
As we left the elevator, I noticed there seemed to be a lot less people than usual at Motoyo Inc, half the offices were empty. That was normal, probably, it was a weekend after all. My mother strayed away from the rest of us to go talk to an old friend she knew years ago. Millie on the other hand was smiling at every employee she saw, tugging at the sleeves of her bright pink hoodie. I swear, my sister has worn that color everyday of her life. As for me, I was wearing a simple grey t-shirt and my favorite pair of black boots. Now thats something I could wear everyday, thicker shoes made me look a few inches taller than my actual height. I was sadly born to be ridiculously short, even smaller than the kids in the grade below me. I know, it’s depressing.. but at least Millie was forced to share the same genes as me.
One of the people Millie grinned at returned with a wave, clicking her heels as she walked over towards us. Blonde hair, pale skin, she looked unalike any of the other Japanese people that were working around her. “Ah, well if it isn’t the young Motoyo twins…and my boss of course.” She chirped, her bright blue eyes shined like sapphire gems reflecting the sun. “Good morning to you too, Miss Nilsen.” Papa chuckled. I looked up at her, tilting my head. She was so much taller than me, especially with those high heels of hers. “Do I.. know you?” I asked hesitantly.
The young blonde woman knelt down to my eye level, she smelled like some sort of rose perfume. “Oh, no. I guess I should introduce myself properly, huh?” She laughed. “My name is Miss Nilsen, but you can call me by my first name, Wren! I’m the head of simulation coding here at Motoyo.”
Millie nudged beside me to stand in front of the woman. “Hi Wren! I’m Millie! This is Haru, he doesn’t like to talk a lot. Where are you from? I like your hair color! It’s pretty, I wish my hair was blonde like that!” Millie chattered, smiling the whole time. “Okayyy,” Papa hushed her. “Millie, can you please go find Mama? You’re going be trying Tengoku soon.”
My twin immediately got up and skipped away, waving to numerous other Motoyo employees as she passed. “Geez, what’s up with her?” I blinked.
Wren got up from where she knelt. “She’s probably just excited to try The Game of Tengoku today! Speaking of which,” Wren looked at her watch. “I should be taking you to it now. Your father said he wants you to try it as soon as possible.”
“Oh boy…” I moaned.
Papa and Wren and I broke away from the large space that had all the office desks, and walked down a small hallway of doors all labelled with titles of game simulations. We walked on for what seemed like a few minutes, until suddenly Wren paused. She took out a key and unlocked a door that had a sign saying, “The Game of Tengoku: MODIFIED”, as Papa followed her inside. “Come on Haru, there’s nothing to be scared of.” He said as he took my hand, though I wasn’t so sure about that. There were chairs lining one side of the wall, a door on the other. But directly on the front wall of the room was a TV that looked like something out of a spy movie.
It was all just a bunch of numbers and codes, and tons of random gibberish in another language I couldn’t make out. “Ah, here we are. Your mother and sister should be arriving any second to join us in this briefing.” Wren said, putting her hands in her pockets. I slowly took a seat. The metal chair made my spine shiver. “What.. briefing?”
“Oh, It’s just to show you what to do during the game. Also what not to do, and things you’ll need during your trip there!” Wren replied, casual as ever. My dad, inattentive to our conversation, inspected the TV for a moment. “Miss Nilsen, why are all the programming codes in Norwegian? What were you doing?”
Wren coughed, stammering for a moment. “I-I was just doing some last minute updates to the coding system, sir. It should help the game be less laggy for Haru and Millie.”
My dad took that as a good enough answer. “Alright then, if it’s helping the game, that’s all that matters. Good job, Miss Nilsen.”
“Wait, you’re Norwegian? That’s really cool actually!” I remarked.
Wren nodded “Yup! That would explain the blonde hair I guess.”
Suddenly the door opened for the second time, letting my mother and sister walk in. Millie still looked just as thrilled as earlier that morning, nothing was going to change her mind about playing Tengoku apparently. “Hi again!” She smiled. “Hey there, Millie.” Wren murmured, adjusting the TV. “Now that everyone is here, I’d like you all to sit down so Mrs. Motoyo can give you the game rundown.”
We all took a seat on the side of the wall as Mama went to stand by Wren. “Millie, Haru, please pay attention to what I’m going to say. Otherwise you won’t be able to complete the game properly.”
“If I even get halfway..” I whined. My mother ignored me, she knew I was just getting nervous about it.
“Back to what I was saying. In Tengoku, there will be small pieces of trash to collect. The more trash you find, the cleaner Tengoku gets, helping you level up. Once you pick up a piece of garbage, it should disintegrate in your hands. Easy enough?” Mama asked, raising an eyebrow. “Easy enough!” Millie replied confidently.
Our mother smiled. “There’s also something I should give you two..” She went to another corner of the room where a table was, and picked up a grey and blue backpack, small enough for me to carry. “This has everything you’ll need in it. The most important thing in here however is this,” Mama pulled a small phone out of the side pocket of the backpack. My eyes lit up for a moment, for I had never gotten a phone before.
“Is that for us? Why would we need a phone to help us play Tengoku?” I questioned. My mother passed me the small black device. “This isn’t a regular phone, Haru. It only gives directions for the game. It tells you when you’ve leveled up, or if there’s something nearby you should know about.”
“Sweet fiddlesticks,” Millie murmured as she took the phone from my hands, cradling it in her arms. “I’ve always wanted something like this! Even if it can’t do things like regular phones.”
Mama kissed her head. “Well then it’s your lucky day, sweet pea.”
“Is there anything else the kids need to know about before you show them how to get in the simulation?” Papa sat with his arms crossed in the seat next to me.
Mama paused, thinking for a second. “I don’t think so, love. Everything should be going as planned.”
For some reason, that made Wren look uncomfortable. She fidgeted from where she was, leaning against the wall. Yet, she said nothing.
“Did you see that?” I whispered in my twin’s ear. Millie looked confused, still not giving up admiring our new phone. “See what?!” She murmured.
“I dunno, it just looked like..” I gulped, getting closer to Millie so that only she could hear. “It just looked like Wren did something… Who knows, maybe it was just me.”
Millie didn’t seem to be listening, leaning her head on my shoulders and swinging her legs. “Hmm, it probably was just you.”
Mama snapped her fingers, getting our attention.266Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdwfRFDGtqs
“Are you two ready? I’m going to show you how to play the game now. Come over here.” She motioned both of us to follow her. We walked over to the table next to where she was, there lay a control panel on it with buttons of all sorts. “What are these for?” Millie asked.
“They’re for entering the game. Behind that door over there,” Mama pointed to an exit that was painted the same color as the rest of the room, making it look well hidden. “That’s where Tengoku is. It’ll be very dark in there, until you see light appear. I’ll be controlling it from inside this room, putting your names into the game system so it knows people are currently playing it. Got it?”
Millie said yes. I simply nodded, since I was definitely not looking forward to it. “Sweet, let’s go!! Millie grabbed the phone, I pulled the backpack over my shoulders.. We were ready as we’d ever be.
After Papa had hugged us both and Wren had wished us good luck, Mama hit one of the buttons on the panel. The disguised door slid open, it looked completely dark on the inside. “Oh and Haru,” My mother pulled me aside for a moment, stroking my hair like she always did. “If you’re ever afraid, remember what Papa and I told you.. you can leave anytime you want.”
“I know, Mama..” I whimpered for a moment, but then Millie grabbed my hand, a look of excitement in her eyes. “It’s gonna be okay Haru, I’m really glad you’re coming with me! It’s gonna be so fun together!”
I nodded, trying to put on a brave face for all of them. Millie went through the door first, and I followed in her footsteps. I shut my eyes and squeezed her hand as tight as a could, daring not to speak. I felt the darkness all around me, and even if I wanted to open my eyes I’d probably see nothing. It was silent and eerie… too eerie. The door slammed shut behind us, and then we heard a “click”. Nothing happened for a few moments, until abruptly it felt like the floor gave way. Was I… falling?! I could’t hear Millie at all. In fact, I didn’t even know if I was holding her hand anymore. “WHAT ON EARTH IS HAPPENING?!?” I tried to scream. Even weirder, it felt as though I was only talking in my head. Everything seemed to be shaking, yet I still didn’t dare opening my eyes. Then, “BOOM”. It all stopped as soon as it had come. Suddenly, I heard a quiet mechanical voice say, “Welcome to The Game of Tengoku, enjoy the adventure.”
I slowly opened my eyes, my whole body felt incredibly dizzy. I moaned, only comprehending one thing: Bright light.
ns 172.70.131.179da2
and then Add to home screen.