"Just a few minutes ago, a tech hub in Aoyama, Tokyo mysteriously shut down just after an American inventor was seen moodily leaving the building. Could he be the cause of-"

Mairin grumbled as the screen went black. She could see in its reflection her dad standing behind her, balancing the remote in his hand.

"Come on, Mairin", he moaned, "Unless you want to end up like your brother, you're gonna go do your homework"

The girl huffed before throwing herself off the sofa and stomping over to her room, slamming the door in a rage.

Perhaps she wouldn't have been so angry if she'd have known her brother was being cornered in an alleyway in Japan, by three worryingly muscular schoolboys.

"You don't do a lot of exercise, do you?", one teased in Japanese.

"What...? Please, don't hurt me. I-"

"Silence. It's our turn to speak. And when we're done, you won't be able to-"

The unexpected darkness cut him off. Alain saw his opportunity to run, despite the fact that he was practically blind in a city he'd never been to.

It was the most running he'd ever done in his life. He ran as far as his long legs could carry him, until he met a grand structure, one of which a rich person must be living. He found his way through the entrance and up several flights of stairs, after stupidly trying to use the lift. He didn't care where he was going, he needed to get away from those angry men. The look on their faces. If the power hadn't went out, he'd be leaving that alleyway on a stretcher.

On a higher point in the same building, a boy had managed to force open a coded door, a trick which he had learnt on his own years ago. He looked around with the vision available to him, and creeped out, listening for any people who would find him, whether it was good or bad.

Alain made his way up what had to be the twentieth set of stairs, barely able to move from the aching of his knees. He wished he could when the echoing of footsteps reached him, gradually getting louder and louder. They didn't seem so far away, especially since he could see a light rounding the corner. Once again, he was cornered. In defeat, he froze and slowly raised his hands.

"P-p-please don't hurt me...", he whimpered, loud enough for Ash to hear and understand.

"I won't", he reassured, showing him that he, too, had no weapons.

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, Alain's sister had managed to sneak on the TV in her room, a privilege she'd earned by being so well-behaved all of the time.

"-say they saw the inventor identified as Clemont, leaving the building, stopping for a second, then going back. The public is sure Mr. Citron is responsible for the power cut, and will be questioned as soon as police can locate him. Onto more joyful news, international K-Pop star Ash, known in Korea as Han-Jiu is a popular conversation across the world, especially in East Asia, where people have been reported chasing after him"

For the first time, Mairin was furious with her father. He'd asked her to turn off the TV even after seeing that there was a crisis happening where his son was, not even trying to reach him. She found herself doing research on whether minors by the age of 12 could travel abroad on their own, figuring she'd have to take care of her stupid big brother herself. 

Besides, if she made it to the East of the continent, maybe she herself could meet Han-Jiu. She was grateful reporter Malva was the one reading this news, otherwise she mightn't have payed attention.

Speaking of her stupid big brother, he was barely catching up behind Ash, unsure whether he could ask him to slow down or not. 

"Wh...why are we going so fast?! Are those schoolboys chasing after you, too?"

Ash skidded to a halt, almost causing Alain to bump into him, and pulled something out of his pocket.

"What's that?"

The device extended itself into a pod that he held, projecting a holographic screen showing two sides. One side labelled 'Japanese', the other labelled 'English'.

"Woah...it's like a real-life google translate"

"It's a holographic real-time translator", Ash explained, "But it's not mine"

"You stole it?"

"Not exactly. An inventor dropped it, so I figured I'd pick it up and give it back to him later. Can you understand me?"

"Yup. Damn you speak fast"

Ash's eyes darted around in worry, using the light from the hologram and the torch on his phone to find a way out.

"Why do we need to escape? We can't just wait until someone finds us?"

"I have to get to the police station"

"Oh, good. Then you can report those lowlifes who cornered me-"

"No. The inventor was angry when he left the building. He must've noticed the translator wasn't with him and went back for it. It's likely the public thinks he's responsible for the power cut"

"How do you figure that?"

"I've...had a lot of experience with these things. With tech and, finding ways out, you know"

"Why?"