Shadow Under the Sun [Complete]

Chapter 4: Surveillance System

The morning after the game, a black van pulled in front of Kaito’s dorm. The driver was the very same person who drove him home last night, and he started to think if he actually worked as a chauffeur to the group. He chimed in greetings and latest news as the redhead closed the door to his van, including weather forecast and an offer to stop by a coffee shop.

“No, thanks. I’m fine,” the younger answered politely. He wasn’t at all a coffee lover anyway. Arthur insisted, and in the end they stop by the town’s famous coffee shop and fetch two cups of latte from the take away window.

“Fine woman, that barista,” he joked as they left the place, “did you notice the way she talks? Very sweet and polite, though a little faint.”

“Your girlfriend is a nice too. Dude did she tell you how many men tried to woo her? None ever succeeded. She loves you very much.” Arthur flicked his wrist and grinned, “you’re lucky”

The lad sipped on his coffee nonchalantly. He started tapping on his cup and twirling his finger on each other, holding back the urge to steer the topic away, “I am, thanks.”

Kaito leant back and stared at the street of his beloved country. Huge concrete buildings lined up both sides of the road, staring down at the four-laneway road through their dead, dark tinted windows. Most of them were built in elongated fashion, with beam running on their length and staircases displayed on the front as a featured decor. The materials are hardly other than bare concrete, polished light grey, intercepted by narrow, high frameless windows spanning either the entire height or length. It gave off a feelings of fortresses, slab after slab of concretes with no decorations except signage written in square letters, introverted, uniformed. Bridges occasionally spanned above the road, connecting pedestrian streets and buildings across each other.

“We’re here,” the young driver whistled and stepped on the gear pedal, turning the wheel to the right. Kaito leant forward, trying to see the top of the much familiar building with its massive concrete walls running from the roof down to its root. Sitting at one third of a wall was the majestic symbol of the peace department, beaming with pride under the flapping country flag.

“So this is the peace department.” Kaito turned to Arthur, who grinned and raised his thumb as an answer. He turned to enter the basement, driving the van a bit further to the back where it opened to a concrete courtyard at the end. He parked the van next to a black high-end sedan, carefully aligned the vehicle with the white mark on the cement finished floor.

“Here is the place to park your bike, car, whatever, when you finally drive here on your own,” he jumped off the van and close the door with a loud bang, “don’t park in the yard, seriously.”

Kaito expected to see police cars and vans in the basement, but instead of the usual black and white cars sporting huge ‘POLICE’ and red-blue lights on the top, there were three black luxurious sedan and several bike, many can be categorized as high end. It was not at all looked like an officer’s method of travelling.

“This way,” The young man pointed to the concrete courtyard lies behind the basement. It was apparently lower than street level, a huge empty space with a single pond in the middle, reflecting the wide building encompassing the courtyard. White, smooth finished concrete walls made up most of the façade, with slits and occasional glass pane lightens the seemingly powerful, monumental structure. A grand staircase, ten meters wide, preceded the disproportionately humble glass entrance. Everything about the architecture seemed intimidating to the boy. Its size, its design, its monochromatic color, every single elements sent forth enough grandiosity to make people involuntarily kept their head low.

“Building has 6 floors in total,” Arthur explained as they stepped up the staircase, keeping them shielded by the building’s shadow on their left, “four stories up, two basements down. Rules are a little stricter than most places, but you’ll get used to it.”