Day 1 - Inside the Plant before the Incident
Yokani walked up the workers board in the lounge. He was 33 years old, and had been working in the plant since it had opened, around the time he was 19. He was roughly 6 feet inches and weight about 175 pounds, most of which were defined muscle from all the heavy lifting he had done in his earlier years in the plant. A mop of chocolate brown hair covered most of his head, and some of his face. The dangling nature of the hair only sharpened his rough green eyes, making them appear like a hunter ready to leap out and take down it’s pray. That couldn’t have been further from the truth as Yokani was a kind hearted man that didn’t get into many arguments he didn’t yield in. It was a good stable job that he could perform while doing his studies, since most of his classes were in the morning and he had the afternoon shift at work. Once he’d started working he’d worked as hard as he could in order to get as much money as he could to help finances his university studies. After the first his efforts hadn’t paid off but 10 years later, after he had graduated with a Master’s in mechanical engineering he’d been promoted to shift manager. Then 3 years later when he’d gotten his PhD in mechanical engineering he’d been promoted to day manager, as he would be working full days instead of half days. Now there was talking that the owner of the power plant was going to retire and that Yokani was going to run the plant. The workers’ board however said otherwise. The owner had retired and had put his son in charge of the plant, obviously wishing to keep the business within the family. Yokani sighed and raised his hand to tear down the newsletter but someone walked in before he could tear it off and he retracted his hand. Yokani turned to face the person and it was his work buddy, Kaza. Kaza was 2 years Yokani’s senior but had the look for a man in his 20s. He was 5 feet 10 inches weighed about 160 pounds, also defined from heavy lifting in the plant, but where as Yokani’s hair was unkempt Kaza’s hair was always straight and pulled back. He had the face that made its bearer look a perpetual young age no matter how old he got. And his blue eyes still had that young man’s shine to it.
“Hey Yokani, I guess you saw the newsletter.” Kaza said walking to the coffee pot, “Sorry you got passed up for that promotion, everyone still thinks you should have gotten it.”
Yokani sighed, “It’s alright. I’m sure he had his reasons.” Yokani said
Later that day – After work at the Iron Fist Bar
Yokani entered the bar, it wasn’t crowded today, since it was a weekday and few people drank on weekdays. He noticed that a few of the workers from the plant were eating dinner here, probably talking about the new boss’s plan. The new boss, Heshi, wanted to improve production and his approach was rotating workers around to find exactly what each was best at. He’d tried to demote Yokani and make him chief engineer and make the chief engineer the new manager, but the chief engineer had refused. Yokani had considered quitting when the new boss had proposed that position swap but the chief engineer had cut him off. Now he was in a bar, deciding to wallow in his anger at not being promoted to owner. He picked a spot at the bar and waved the bartender over. Like was custom when Yokani drank he handed the bartender his credit card.
“Keep the sake coming.” Yokani said
A Few Hours Later
Yokani stumbled and tripped as he got out of the Iron Fist. He couldn’t remember the last time he had drunk that much sake in one day, he probably hadn’t drank that much sake in his college days. He spotted his car, which seemed to be miles away and started stumbling towards the vehicle. One of the plant workers who had noticed him had offered to drive Yokani home but he refused, not that same worker was following him to make sure Yokani got to his car in one piece. Yokani stopped and swayed from side to side, he looked up at the full moon and scuffed.
“I hope you die Heshi.” Yokani said
Yokani continued his walk to his car, and after a few stumbles he finally made it. The worker, whose name he couldn’t remember sighed and walked back to the bar. Yokani got in his car and started driving home. His car swerved from lane to lane and traffic lights and stop signs seemed unusually spaced apart to Yokani in is drunken state. He stopped at one red light which seemed to take forever and he decided to turn off his car. He’d been told that shutting off your car at long red lights saved gas, and Yokani was always up for something that saved gas. Unfortunately for him the pickup truck that came speeding down the intersecting road didn’t see Yokani’s car until he hit it, and by then it was too late for either of them.
Day 2 – Inside the Plant
Kaza was the first to arrive that day. He’d heard from Yeni that Yokani had gotten drunk last night and had driven home. He hoped that Yokani was ok, and wouldn’t come in with too bad a hangover. He walked to the coffee pot and brewed some coffee. He walked over to the workers board and didn’t see anything that caught his attention. He felt an eerie draft enter the room as the pressure door finally shut. He sighed and worried for Yokani as he went to man his station.
Day 2 – Lunch Break
Heshi entered the workers mess hall and sighed, he hated being the bearer of bad news. He was a portly man, weighing easily 200 pounds and was only 5 feet 8 inches. He appeared as dumpling when he was standing or walking, and like an over inflated balloon when he sat down.
“Attention everyone I have some news.” Heshi said with a somber expression on his face, “As you all noticed Yokani wasn’t in for work today. You might have heard that he was spotted at a bar last night drinking the night away. This morning I received a phone call from the police station. A pickup truck had hit his car and killed both drivers. As there were no witnesses they don’t know much about the accident. There’s going to be a memorial service around 6 in the afternoon. Consider that many of you knew Yokani I’ve decided to let you all out a few hours early so you can prepare for the service if you decide to attend.” Heshi sighed deeply and a few tears escaped his eyes, he turned and left for his office.
Day 2 – At night outside the plant
Yokani grumbled as he approached the plant. He couldn’t remember the previous night’s events or this morning’s. All he knew was that the plant was closed, and he had missed his first day of work. He figured he was going to get an ear full from that portly jerk Heshi when he reported tomorrow. He walked around the plant figuring how he would explain these strange events to Heshi. He’d woken up on the middle of the sidewalk in the afternoon and found a chain dangling from his chest. It only had a few thick links, five from his count. He saw something surprising as he came around to the service entrance, an unclosed door. He grumbled, he was going to have to fire someone for that. He decided that he’d give the inside of the plant a look over, see if anything else had been left in a manner it shouldn’t have been. Moon light filtered in from the various windows, and the open door, and provided an eerie glow to the place. The moon light reflected off the various metallic and glass surfaces throughout the plant providing barely enough light for Yokani to make his way through the deserted building. He didn’t find anything wrong in the main work area and proceed to the offices. The first he encountered was Heshi’s he stood in front of the door and spat curses at the office for some time. When he finally came to he was out of breathe and sat down and took in a deep breathe. After a few minutes of resting he continued his pointless walk through the office areas and came to his office. He peered through the window and what he saw stunned him, there was nothing in the office, it had been cleared out entirely. The door didn’t even have his nameplate on it. He heard a strange sound, at first he couldn’t make it out but he eventually pinned it as a roar. He looked around and shuttered, something didn’t feel right to Yokani, and he couldn’t pin it. He started running for the way out, but that roar got louder and louder as he got closer to the service exit. Then he saw the source, a creature with a white mask. He charged for Yokani, knocking over valuable pieces of machinery, and hit the main generator for the plant. It stumbled over that, and Yokani dashed for the exit and ran through the surrounding shrubbery trying to get as far away from the plant and the monster as he could.
At Kaza’s house
Kaza and his family sat in prayer, even though they had attended the memorial service Yokani was a really good friend of the family. After all the two of them, Yokani and Kaza had been friends for years, and while Yokani hadn’t taken to a family yet Kaza had and Yokani spent a lot of time over. Once Kaza had gotten home he had told his family about Yokani’s death and they’d all gotten ready and gone to the memorial service, they’d been the first to arrive and the last ones to leave. Then when they’d gotten home an hour ago they’d set up an altar with the all photos of Yokani they had. Now they were kneeled before it praying that Yokani found his afterlife, if he had one, a peaceful and trouble free one.
At the same time in 12th division’s bureau
“Sir I’m getting a reading, a hollow has appeared in Tokyo’s outskirts.” The 12th division member said
“Alright send the report to 1st division.” The ranking member said, “They’ll send someone to deal with it.”
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