1. Introduction

Japan's plan doesn't go as they wanted to and now Italy is completely closed and protected by the Black Metal, the biggest alliance in history. Even then they search for the Eureka..But what are they?

- Earth, third planet in order of distance from the Sun. It has a surface of 5, 100 656 x 10⁴ m² and about a 70% is covered by oceans of salt water, meanwhile the remaining 29% is land or small islands in which, about, 1.8 million species live on, from which: 370.000 are plants, 4.500 mammals; 8.700 birds; 6.300 reptiles; 3.00 amphibious; 23.000 fishes; 900.000 insects and 500.000 is formed by other groups. Among the species of mammals exists the humans: about 7 billion - said a monotone voice in a dark and solitary room.

 

It all begun in 2012, now we are on the 2016, when Japan decided to invade the whole world even at the cost of starting a new war. Now her units are concentrated on Italy, who formed an alliance with the nations that weren't still occupied, among whom the U.S.A; France and the U.K. The Black-Metal Legacy, the name of the alliance, convinced the Italian government to not let anyone travel outside Italy because it was dangerous, but I am sure that that’s not the only motive and that the Japanese are searching for something, something very important that will decide the winners of this war.

I still don’t know what it is, save for the name. The name is “Eureka”. I learned this fact only after infiltrating the highly protected system of the Black-Metal legacy, which I don’t exactly know how I did. I opened the first folder only after the 24 hours I spent on decoding the seven passwords of entrance. Decoding all seven wasn't an easy job but if I wanted to know what was really happening I needed to try my very best. At the end however I succeeded! Obviously all the documents were in a secret code, so I decided to copy them and then calmly decode them later, but they were all protected by an self-destruction system if they were ever forced open. I was only able to copy the first phrase of the first document I opened, which turned out to be the proof I was searching. It was written in an ancient code, Linear A of the Cretan. Every symbol corresponded to a letter and together it formed a phrase in Italian that said:

“Due Eureka sono già caduti nelle mani dei Giapponesi, ne rimangono cinque. Dato che siamo riusciti a trovarne due anche noi, rimangono solo tre da trovare.”

Which translates to:

“Two Eureka have already fallen into the hands of the Japanese, there are only five left. Since we too found two, only three remain to find.”

Eureka could be weapons, objects or.. People.

- Lucy? - shrilled someone opening my room’s door.

“I’m sure it’s my brother..” I thought, turning around to face the door’s direction.

- Something wrong, Luke? - I asked, getting up from my chair and opening the window next to my desk to let some light in, but instead only an annoying wind, which messed up my long hair even more, entered.

“I should probably cut them… They are becoming a little bit too long” I thought, playing around with the tips that arrived to the waist.

- You won’t be going to school even today? - he asked worried.

“If I don’t go he will start crying, even though he’s eight years old he’s a crybaby..” I thought with a sigh.

- Okay, I will go.

- Che bello! I will go get prepared, so that we can go together! - he exclaimed, then took off like a cheetah towards his room.

- I better get changed.. - I mumbled closing the door to my room and heading towards the bathroom.

 

The sky was gray, it has been like this since the beginning of the war.

- Sis, cycle harder or you won’t arrive in time - shouted Luke, who was a good two meters away from me.

- Sure, sure, but it’s not like I want to arrive in time - I said with a sarcastic tone.

- I heard you! - he shouted turning my way.

- Look in front of you, idiot.

After a turn we arrived at Luke’s school.

- See you at home, sis! - he said and disappeared inside the school’s parking lot among the other students.

“My school is a little further but if my calculations are right I will arrive only five minutes after the second bell. I hope nothing bad happens today because at the first sign of something happening, I will scram away.”

Just like I predicted I arrived at school five minutes after the second bell and fortunately they let me enter.

Today’s high school’s are much more understanding than they used to be. You can enter class after 5 minutes if you live that far away. 

Now comes the biggest obstacle: entering the classroom after a two weeks absence, plus the five minutes of tardiness.

I take a deep breath and enter.

- Good morning.

- You’re late! Tomorrow bring a justification for your tardiness and most important you interrupted your new classmates presentation - said the cyber-teacher, or cyber-teach.

- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt your presentation.

- No, don’t worry, I hadn’t even started yet - said the guy next to teacher’s desk.

“He’s not only cute, with those teal eyes and brown-grayish hair, but he’s always nice!” I exclaimed to myself.

- Don’t stay there gaping like a fish and go take your sit - ordered the cyber-teach.

- Yes teacher.

“Could the day get any worse? No, worse than this and Hell seems like a nice place” I thought sarcastically.

- How dare she comes back to school - and - She was better off staying at home - were the whispers going around the class.

- Be quiet! - shouted the cyber-teach.

- It’s all her fault! - squeaked someone.

“I wasn’t the one badmouthing other people in front of them” I thought, glaring at whoever said that.

- Go on, you can now start your presentation - said the teacher, the flesh one.

- My name is Shawn Blaze and I’m 16 years old.

“Shawn? He’s probably American. I don’t know why but he looks awfully familiar to the Shawn I used to know when I was two years old but that I had to say goodbye when I was four because my parents decided to transfer to Italy. But it’s impossible that that’s him, right?” I thought spacing out.

- Lucy Russo!

- Yes? - I asked, standing up.

- I called you five times already, yet you didn't answer even once! May I know why? - demanded the teacher.

- I was thinking….?

- Then don’t think and pay attention to what I am about to say! - shouted the teacher.

- Yes ma’am - I said, sounding like a soldier answering his commander.

- Blaze will be your seatmate  therefore you’ll give him a tour of the school. Are we clear?

- Yes, obviously.

She turned towards Shawn and said: - Now Blaze you can go sit near Russo, the girl with the strange hair color I was talking to.

“It’s not my fault if I have strawberry-blonde hair instead of black or brown.. Neither the fact that my eyes are steal-blue instead of a normal brown or green.”

Meanwhile I was spacing out once more, Shawn took his bag and sat next to me.

Author's Note

This is a translation of the original chapter, which is, like you could guess, in Italian.

Reviews

[Jules]

Interesting idea for a story, and I like that it is in Italy. However, I am having troubles with the fact that Japan decided to invade and start war. I have been to Japan many times, and due to World War II they are all about keeping the peace. Their peace memorials in Hiroshima are very emotional and focused on peace. I could however believe that Japan might start a war if many nations were already at war, and they thought it might bring peace. Anyways, write more, I will be reading it! :)

[Camellia]

Thank you very much for your review! It made me think a lot, it made me doubt my story to the point that I understood that I wasn't writing a story but just putting words together. I'm currently writing this... Since I read your review I've been thinking, for four long years, and now I've got everything covered, and I'm planning to write as an even more interesting story! If you're still willing to read it, it would mean a lot to me.