I look at my phone to see what the time is, 9:30 PM. Since the train arrives at 10 and I’m close by, I should be able to make it just in time, assuming I don’t get lost. Which is not impossible as I am currently in the heart of Tokyo, when I myself can't speak a lick of Japanese. All that’s guiding me through the busy back alleys, neon lights, and crowded streets of this undeniably beautiful city, is my trusty google maps, my 2 words of Japanese, and the feeling of where I should be.
I also have an “ear piece” with my “handeler” on the other side, but since she’s as useful as google maps, and I quite frankly not in the mood to ask, I don’t talk to her just yet. Fortunately, it didn't take me 1000 years to find the place as before I even locked my eyes on the building, I heard the familiar notes of a song that I dreaded listening to: Stayin’ Alive by Avu-chan, aka the japanese version. “Damn.”
I hear a familiar voice that seems to have noticed my dismay as she chuckles and says, “What, it's a perfectly normal song to hear in Japan.”
I prayed that it was just a simple coincidence as I replied, “I hope that you're right. Though I doubt coping with it would change anything.” As I approached the intersection I briefly turn left to see if any cars are coming. Seeing nothing, I continue my walk, but I hear a honk from the right, so I stop before and turn to the direction. A small storage truck that was advertising some sort of spicy sauce with a dragon on it drove by, and since it rained earlier, water splashed all over my clothes.
I couldn’t help but sigh and say, “God damn it.” This made my mood much worse, and it unfortunately wasn’t just because of my soaked clothes.
“Did you almost get run over by a truck and got water all over yourself?” I give the biggest sigh I could muster, indirectly answering her. “Was the truck holding oranges?”
I shake my head and continue my walk, “No Elisa, it was some stupid hot sauce.”
Elisa sounds a bit disappointed when she replies, “Makes sense. Just because you're resonating with your tale doesn't mean it’ll be a 1 to 1 copy. Just 90% copy
I adamantly refuse what she’s saying, “I’m not resonating, I just forgot people drive on the left side of the road. That and my bad luck.” I say that, but I couldn’t help but check my stats. A transparent window appears in front of me, glowing with a blue hue, and inside, it showes various information that I already knew from heart, mostly.
Name: Ladybug (Real name hidden because of Story Resonance)
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Tale: The Ladybug Of Luck, Karma, And Trains
Status: Normal, wet
States:
Strength D+
Dexterity C-
Toughness D-
Intelligence E
Pressance F
Willpower D
Tale synergy D (Story Resonance activated: B-)
Abilities
Bearer of misfortune: level 5 (Story Resonance activated: 7) - As the Ladybug, you are both cursed and blessed with luck. In normal everyday life, you will receive normal bouts of bad luck. The timing of these bouts are inconsistent, even with abilities that provide fortune telling. Fortunately, this luck will never be life threatening, in fact, you will be blessed with good luck when your life is in danger, to an extent.
Giver of Fortuin: level 3 (Story Resonance activated: 4) - When you are close with entities who you consider as friendly, bad luck will automatically be drawn towards you, increasing the effects of Bearer of misfortune. In exchange, the targets will be blessed with good luck.
Giver of Misfortune : level 4 (Story Resonance activated: 2) - When you are close with entities who you consider as hostile, you will siphon their good luck, leaving them with bad luck. The extra luck will not be used by you, but will be used in Giver Of Fortuin, not using your own luck.
Master of unconventional weapons: level 2 (Story resonance activated: 3) - You have proficiency when it comes to using normal objects as impromptu weapons, increasing their potency and durability.
As you have interred in a Story Resonance Event, you will not be called by your name. Instead, you will use the title of Ladybug
Of course. I gave an even bigger sigh, it was loud enough for my handler to hear.
She replies, “Did you check your stats?”
“Yep, and it’s a B- and increases my skill except my stealing luck skill, which was lowered. And not only that it gave me a role, the ladybug.”
She chuckles even more, “Damn, the world didn’t give you a chance to be anonymous. But on the bright side, the chances of you dying a horrific death will be low, since your tale lived by the end of the movie, I think.” I couldn’t particularly disagree with Elise. But that also meant that this job will not be a simple “In and out” job, like my boss described. After all, such things won't be Narratively fulfilling.
I hear the song becoming louder and louder, coming from around the corner. As I did, I saw a normal looking train station that seemed to go underground, if you ignore the fact that it was much more colorful then the rest of the train stations around the city. More specifically, It has an outer space theme, the roof which is dark with white dots above mimicking stars, some stupid overpriced tourist sovereigns that somehow weren't fully stoked, the company mascot of a knight in a 90s space suit performing to the younger audience, and various signs with multiple different languages, one which is English.
The Astral Express: which is probably the name of the train station or company. I enter the building and ask, “So what is my mission? All I know is that there's a macguffin but no one told me what it looks like.”
“Sorry, can’t give you more information until you get on the train. Whatever happens in there will probably be dangerous, so the closer we stick to the movie, the better our chances of success will be.”
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
As I look to see where my train will be, I am concerned and ask, “You… did watch the movie right.”
“Only the first part, as I made it my life’s mission to not watch any movie with Brad Pitt, why?” I resisted the urge to face palm, but it wasn’t surprising she hadn’t watched it as she’s a massive contrarian.
I answers her, “Because in the movie, the train goes through and destroys a good chunk of a random town.”
“What are you talking about, their…” She seems to pause and ask around the office to see if anyone even watched the damn movie. As she hasn’t deactivated her ability, I could hear each word she says, even if it was one-sided. By the time I found out where my station is at, she began to speak with me, “So your mission is to make sure an organization called ‘The String Cutters’ does not get the macguffin. The macguffin in question is a brown suitcase with a sticker of a blue dragon on the handle.”
As much as I appreciate that she didn’t wait until I got on the blasted train to tell me my objective, I couldn’t help but be frustrated when I said, “So I was sent all the way to Japan just to take a train back home in order for me to resonate with my tale more, but no one watched the movie that my tale is based on?”
She pauses for a bit before saying, “Robert started the book it’s based on last night, if that’s any constellation.”
The fact that it does makes me wonder if I’m just way too forgiving, or my unit is just that incompetent/busy… Honestly, it’s probably both. I sigh, “Do I have any clues to identify them?”
“Nope, their a secret society/cult, still not sure which they lean on more, so information about them is very limited.”
So I have to guess who the hidden members are and make sure they don’t take the briefcase, wonderful. Wait, we have someone who’s tale is a detective character, wouldn’t she be better at the job then me, even if my tale would resonate with the upcoming mission. But I soon remember both my luck and the story I’m probably about to go in, “Let me guess, Mallisa was busy.”
After a bit, she replies, “Yea, with something very… weird. Wait, how did-”
“Just call it a Storyborn’s intuition. Anyway, is there any other information, like the capabilities of the train?”
She says, “Only that it uses “black hole” to shorten the distances. But I can look up some more details.”
I have so many things to say, like saying it's a worm hole not black hole, or complaining how they don’t know any more, but didn’t voice them as it would just be pointless. As I see the station where my train will arrive, there are 2 lines with a metal detector like device on the one that says, “Non-storyborn line.” Naturally, the other line is the "Storyborn line.” I look at the side of the Storyborn line and see an older asian security guard on the side casually observing, in case some trouble appears. It’s been a while since I entered any sort of Gates, so I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be considered a Storyborn. So I go to the non-Storyborn line and pray that my guess is correct.
Unfortunately, as soon as I passed it, the device starts to beep. It isn’t a loud piercing sound, but loud enough to get the guard's attention. He looks at me and says something in Japanese. But it’s clear that he want me to come over where he is standing
I comply as I go around the railings to meet him. He clicks on an app on his phone and says something with a tired voice, but I still couldn’t understand him. Seeing that I obviously didn’t speak the language, he grabs and unwraps a piece of gum, chews on it for 10 seconds, and spits it into a trash can. He then says, “Please show me your ID and state your reason for being here.” He is still speaking in Japanese, but I could understand him despite the language barrier.
I grab my phone and send him a part of my ID. This ID only shows what guild I’m a part of and very basic information about my abilities and tale. This would be a stupid thing to do, as it would just make me even more suspicious.
But once he realizes who I’m a part of, he sighs. Seeing that, I say low enough that only he can hear, “I’m a part of the DFA, and I’m on a mission to prevent an organization from getting a macguffin.”
As soon as I said that, he sighs, “Damn it, alright. Do you need anything that will help you in your… investigation.” I knew why he paused when he said investigation, anything that’s related to Gates or Storyborn have a tendency to be chaotic.
I look at the time on my phone, 9:17, so only 13 minutes before the train arrives. “I doubt you can give me a detailed description on all of the Storyborn on the train. But can you tell me how easy it is to have stow aways on the train?”
He raised an eyebrow, “No offence, but shouldn’t your “guild” have given you information about the train? Sure the website wouldn’t have given you anything specific, but you're a part of a government agency.”
I explained, "There's been a lot of things that happened recently, and this mission is very last minute.”
The security guard did not push any further, “It’s easy for Storyborns to get on the train while keeping their identity as a Storyborn a secret, as the Fiction Detectors are an older model and are very inconsistent, especially with the one we have. It’s a miracle that it worked when you walked through it.”
Sometimes I wonder if I could somehow trade my tale for someone else's.
He continues, “But inside the train, there's some device that makes sure everyone has paid for their ticket. So it’s basically impossible for someone who hasn't paid to be there by the time the train departs”
“So everyone who enters the train is a paid customer?”
He nods, "Correct."
I handed him a phone number, “Although you can’t give me details on everyone on the train right now, can you please send the information to this number.”
He takes the number but has a confused look, “I can, but service will not reach you. How-”
“Storyborn ability.”
“Of course, none of you make any sense." He seems a bit disappointed in himself for not realizing it sooner. “Is there anything else-” As soon as he says that, it suddenly became colder by at least 10 degrees, and the screen that displayed when the train will arrive changed from 10 PM to in progress. The guard’s face sours, “Looks like we don’t have time.”
I couldn’t help but sigh, “Yea, but you are a big help. Thank you and sorry for taking some time away from your schedule… assuming I can go.”
He nods, “Can’t really stop you if I want to keep my job.”
I was about to walk away when I remembered something, “By the way, have you seen the end of Bullet Train.”
The guard nods warily, “Yea, I watched it with some of my friends a couple of months…” He face contorts from confusion to disbelief, “...No, don’t tell me-”
A speaker announced in Japanese something that I couldn’t understand, but I could guess it’s something about how the train will be arriving soon. So I began to walk away, leaving him with the slow realization that his night will be very long. A dick move for sure, but I think warning him is the best call, when things inevitably go south. Hm, would I have warned him if the alarm didn’t work… I don’t know, but I do know this train of thought will get me nowhere.
As I approach, I see the train slow down from its probably incredible speed until it reaches its stop. The train itself is mostly black with some gold accents to make it fancy, and seems to be producing an almost comical amount of steam, but that gas didn’t smell and quickly dissipated. The train itself didn’t have that smooth design bullet trains have around the country, but a western design, what most children would imagine a train to look like from watching Thomas the Tank Engine. There are about 15 train cars, not including the locomotive, each having very tinted windows, to the point that I can barely see what’s inside.
After a few moments, the doors open and those who have arrived at their location exit the train, and then those who got the ticket headed inside the train, including me.
I am the last one to enter, as I look at the train for a bit too long, until I sigh and enter the train, knowing that I won't exit this train until this story has concluded, or until the train got derailed.
