Called by the Siren

Chapter 44: Target

Bee followed Hōgen down the corridor into a shared sleeping area. There were 10 other men in the test group and she was instantly treated as an outsider. Bee didn’t mind and she understood, but there was one man who tried to sabotage her at every opportunity. His name was Touma and had black curly hair, which he dyed blonde at the tips. Tomuna’s eyes were light grey and he smirked when he first saw Bee.

“Man, the Ghosts must be getting desperate! Are you lost, little fish?” Tomuna had asked mockingly.

“No, more than you!” Bee had retorted, making the group laugh.

“We will see, little fish!” Touma sneered.

Hōgen had then explained to them that they would be three tests that would test them to their limits. Hōgen made it clear that only one or two would pass and the rest would just fail if they were lucky. The chances are a lot of them would be dead by the end of this. Touma had muttered, “No guessing who is going to die first!”

Touma had then taken every opportunity to push, slam or degrade her. But Bee just kept her goal in mind and ignored him. The first test had been relatively simple, it was a written test on Japanese and Ninja history. Bee had to learn this sort of thing on her rotation, it is vital to know the country's history to see where they are coming from. Besides, there was not much to do on ships but read sometimes.

Ena had also made her cram information in her six weeks of training. “There is more to being a Ghost than the ability to fight!” Ena had repeated.

“Yes, I know!” Bee had answered.

“Recite it!” Ena ordered.

“What? Again!” Bee moaned and Ena nodded. Bee sighed and said” The Code of Bushido, most commonly the samurai code contains eight elements. The first is Rectitude or Justice. This is the strongest virtue of Bushido. Rectitude is one’s power to decide upon a course of conduct in accordance with reason, without wavering; to die when to die is right, to strike when to strike is right.”

“Well done, all actions of a Ghost must be reasoned as well!” Ena said.

“The second is courage. A Ghost must always have courage which means we must always do what is right, even when it is not the easiest path.’ Bee said.

“Correct, continue!” Ena commanded.

“The third is benevolence or mercy. As Confucius said, Love, magnanimity, affection for others, sympathy and pity, are traits of benevolence, the highest attribute of the human soul. The fourth is Politeness. Politeness should be the expression of a benevolent regard for the feelings of others. The fifth is Honesty and Sincerity. A Ghost shuns luxury as it is thought the greatest menace to obtaining wisdom. Therefore, Ghosts are required to live a simple life!” Bee explained.

“Very good, Bee! Now, can we have the last three?” Ena said.

“Of course there is Honor. A Ghost should always act honourably when carrying out their duties. The seventh element is loyalty. A Ghost should not only be loyal to the organisation, but also to each other.” Bee said.

“And the last?” Ena said encouragingly.

“Is……character and self-control! A Ghost should behave according to an absolute moral standard, one that transcends logic. This means what is right is right, and what’s wrong is wrong.” Bee said happily.

“Excellent Bee! Remember these well Bee, as you will be tested on all of them!” Ena advised.

Ena’s lessons helped Bee score the top marks in the exam. The two lowest-scoring candidates were sent home in disgraced. 

The next day, the remaining candidates were told to get on an old bus. The driver was an old-looking man and had a toothy grin. The most distinguished feature of this old man was how he smelt. He had an odour that was a sweet mixture of rotten pieces of meat and dung. Touma sneered at the Driver and was extremely rude. This behaviour was followed by the other men, only Bee smiled and acknowledged the Driver’s existence. The Driver smiled and nodded.

After a while, the old bus pulled into an abandoned underpass. “Oh, look, the old fool has lost his way!” Touma sneered, making the group of men laugh. The Driver  ignored them and kept going for miles until the bus started to make strange sounds. The bus shuddered a couple of times before it slowly came to a stop.

“What the f**k?” One of the candidate's shouted as he ran to the front of the bus. “We have ran out of fuel!”

“What? No! We need to arrive at the test site or we will all fail! That can not happen!” Touma roared as he stomped to the front of the bus. He grabbed the Driver by his uniform and punched him. “You f*****g i***t! You will get this bus started, do you hear me?”

Touma was about to hit the Driver again when he felt someone stopping him. He turned and saw a pair of stone grey eyes looking at him. “No!” Bee simply said as she released Touma’s arm.

“What?” Touma said, shocked.

“Do not hit him! As potential Ghosts, we must act with honour, politeness and with justice at all times!” Bee scolded.

“How dare you explain our ways to me, little fish? Who do you think you are?” Touma snapped as he tried to strike her.

Bee caught his fist easily and said,” Trust me, you do not want to do that! I am not someone to be trifled with Touma!” 

Touma was about to reply when they heard a voice over a tannoy system. A voice that sounded an awful lot like Hōgen's, began to speak. “Good morning, welcome to the distance challenge. This challenge is to test your stamina, as Ghosts, you will need it. The test is easy, all you need to do is find a target that is located somewhere in the underpass.”

“Sounds simple enough!” One of the candidates remarked.

The tannoy system burst into life again. “Oh, before I forget. You need to find the target in the next 45 minutes. If you don't, there is a high chance that you will drown when we flood the underpass!”

“What?” A man squeaked.

Bee was too busy setting her watch to count down 45 mins and thinking of a plan. 

“Everyone, off the bus now!” Touma ordered and everyone complied. The bus Driver struggled to get up and limped off the bus.

“We need to find the target otherwise we will drown. The voice said that this was a distance challenge, meaning it is not a bad bet the target is at the other end of this tunnel.” Touma said.

“I can't argue with that logic!” Bee said with a shrug.

“No one asked you, b***h!” Tomua said and Bee rolled her eyes. Even when some people faced death, they still could be petty!

“Well, let's get going! We don't know how far this target is and we are wasting time!” a candidate said. Everyone nodded and started to jog towards the other end of the underpass. 

“Wait everyone, the Driver!” Bee said as she saw the Driver limping. There is no way that he could keep up.

“Why?” Tomua snapped.

“Well….he can't keep up...and..” Bee said, shocked at the question.

“He is a Driver and is nothing to us! Now, are you coming or not?” Tomua asked.

“You are going to leave him to die? Surely you don't all feel like that?” Bee asked as she looked at everyone in the group. All of them looked to the ground, silently, answering Bee’s question.

“No!” Bee whispered.

“We are sorry Bee!” one of the group said as they ran off. Bee watched them all disappear down the tunnel before turning to the Driver. “ I am sorry, it looks like it is just you and me! I suppose we should see if we can find the target!”

The Driver smiled and said, “I am afraid I cannot walk far, you should leave me!”

“No!” Bee said firmly.

“Why not? All your other friends did!” The Driver pointed out.

“They are not my friends and I won't leave you! I come from the Sea Gangs and we never leave a sailor behind. Besides, it goes against the Code of Bushido!” Bee explained. 

“I see someone has taught you well! Why don't we sit back on the bus? Often answers come when we clear our mind!” The Driver suggested.

“Why not?” Bee said as she helped the Driver back onto the bus. Bee helped him sit down on the first seat, whilst Bee sat in the Driver's seat.

“You have 20 minutes remaining and none of you has found the target yet!” The voice over the speaker system said.

“s**t!” Bee said as she turned the engine over, maybe by some miracle it would start. The engine sputtered and then went dead. “Ahhhh!” Bee said in frustration and threw her head back and closed her eyes. “It can't end like this!” Bee thought.

“I see, it is highly likely we are going to die!” The Driver said.

“Yes,” Bee answered simply.

“I see!” The Driver said, sounding like he had accepted his fate. 

Bee opened her eyes and looked at the roof of the bus. Like all old commercial buses, they had adverts pasted on the inside above the seats. Bee looked at the advert and it suddenly occurred how odd it was to be positioned above the driver's head.   

Bee got up and studied it more closely. On the surface, it looked like a normal advert for Matcha green tea, but someone had circled the M. “ Why would someone do that?” Bee murmured.

Bee’s gut told her that it was important and she started to look at the other adverts. There was one that was advertising Kashu or singing lessons and Bee found that the A had been underlined. On the next advert for a flower store that sold Kikus (chrysanthemums), Bee found the “K” was circled. 

“10 mins left to find the target!” The voice said as Bee spotted the R that had been highlighted in a Ramen noodle advert.

“M A K R?” Bee said thinking out loud.

“8 minutes!” The voice said.

Bee thought for a minute before her eyes opened wide in realisation. “Mark! Mark is another word for target in hunting! Surely, it could not be that simple! But...but that would mean this bus was the target for the challenge all along!” Bee said.

“4 minutes left!” The countdown said.

The Driver smiled and said “ Well done Bonny Clearwater, you have solved the riddle! Ena was right, you have the makings of an incredible Ghost!

“You are a Ghost?” Bee said, shocked.

The Driver smirked and said, “You could say that!”

“Two minutes!” The voice said.

“But what about the others? We have to go and help them!” Bee said.

“Oh, I think we will see the survivors in a minute!” The Driver said drily.

“Times up!” The voice said.

Bee was about to ask what the driver meant, but she suddenly heard a deafening roar echoing through the underpass. “What the hell?” Bee said as she suddenly heard shouting. Bee looked out the front windscreen and saw three men running desperately towards them. Behind them was a wall of water that was as high as the underpass. “Oh, shiiiiit!” Bee shouted.

“We need to shut the door and windows!” The Driver suddenly ordered as he seated himself into the driver’s seat. 

“We have got to leave the door open for as long as possible!” Bee shouted as she secured all the windows. 

“Why? They are not your friends, you said so yourself!” The Driver pointed out.

“No one deserves to die, especially by being drowned!” Bee snapped.

The driver sighed as he pressed a button and the engine roared into life. He put it into gear and drove it forward towards the men.

“You f*****g arsehole!” Bee muttered under her breath.

“I might be, but your sentimentality is going to get you killed!” The Driver huffed as Bee raced to the front and hung herself out the bus door. The bus accelerated and was close to the men. Bee helped the first two men in, leaving only Touma. Bee saw the desperation in his eyes as she stretched and grabbed him. With all her strength she swung Touma and herself into the bus. 

The Driver slammed the doors shut seconds before the wall of water hit the bus. Bee felt herself bee flung around as the bus rolled over and over. The last thought Bee had was being in the Twin’s arms before she was knocked unconscious.