The last song of the ancestors

Spin Bomb looked at the old wall clock with its digital display. Akachi hadn't arrived. She didn't want to show any concern. She was too busy. She had received a lot of money in advance from illegal fishermen to produce a dozen bombs for fishing with bombs. She was unfocused and mis-measured the ingredients.

She had experience in making explosives, and wouldn't admit to making mistakes in the one thing she knew how to do so well. Production required time and skill. The fireworks craftsman had to be careful, otherwise he could cause a huge explosion when making a heavy firework.

Outside, in the small yard, a copper pot cooked thirty-centimeter pieces of bamboo. This increased the drying process of the artifact. After that, the bamboo tubes were tied together with cerol, string greased with glue and iron powder. This would prevent them from cracking after being filled.

Spin Bomb then closed the bamboo tubes with the cerol already wrapped around them. He sat on the stool and supported the tube between his feet. He punched the sifted dry clay into the bamboo. With a hammer, he hit the clay with a small steel cylinder so that it would settle at the bottom of the tube.

After making the base of the firework sword, the firework maker poured gunpowder and iron filings that she had collected with a spoon into a plastic bowl on the side. She repeated the process until she had three layers. With an aluminum skewer, Spin Bomb inserted the wick.

The front door opened. She stopped what she was doing and tilted her head to see who it was.

"Akachi, is that you?"

"Yes, it's me. Sorry I'm late for lunch."

"Relax, I'll order something on the app in a bit. You took too long on the street. I hope you didn't get into any trouble."

Akachi looked around. There were a hundred fireworks ready.

"Wow, how many bombs!"

"They're not just bombs, they're fireworks swords. Each one has a different function. I attached a different colored string to each one to remind me of its function."

"What if you're in a situation where you can't see anything?"

"Each one is still a different size. For example, the green ones have a single barrel of gunpowder. They're fireworks swords with high explosive power. Efficient for opening stubborn doors or destroying vehicles. The yellow ones are throwing swords. They can knock out a grown man if hit on the head, not to mention the fact that they whirl around sending sparks everywhere. They also serve as a distraction. The blue ones are small. There's cotton-powder inside them and they produce a good smoke screen. I could use them in an escape. This mine here is prepared. Speaking of which, where have you been all morning?"

Akachi stared at her. The boy looked tired. His eyes were dead, as if he had run out of batteries.

"I had a… setback before I came here. Spin Bomb, listen to me. I know it sounds absurd, but I have some abilities. A power that allows me to see and talk to the dead. I went to the cemetery, I talked to Fenyang."

Spin Bomb put down his tools. He wrapped his hands around his body. Her face emanated a deep sadness. Her lips trembled, and she bit them to hold back the sobs.

"How can you prove it?"

"He helped me fight back an attack by Smoke and Yard. He asked me to mirror his maculelê moves."

Akachi repeated the moves he had made mimicking Fenyang. The girl's eyes watered. She went out into the yard. After a couple of minutes, she came back with red, swollen eyes. She seemed to have cried herself.

"Fenyang, that idiot! He had come here to Chrome Hill with one hand in front of him and the other behind. He liked reggae and hummed the music in the streets. He was a kind guy and helped everyone on the hill. His dream was to set up a maculelê academy. He believed that martial arts could change people's lives, transform them into something better. The community embraced Fenyang's dream. They built a sports center through a joint effort. He taught the young people of the community for free. I was one of his students, one of the hardest working."

Spin Bomb reported that this began to annoy the local drug dealers. Back then, they didn't have as much power as they do today. There were many factions fighting for domination of the Slum. They tried to coerce Fenyang into selling drugs at the sports center, but he refused. The center was demolished with bulldozers.

The community watched passively. After that, Fenyang disappeared from the Slum. He started acting differently. He started hunting down the local drug dealers one by one. The criminals feared a popular uprising and banded together. They cowardly murdered the vigilante with a traitorous shot in the back.

After that, everyone went back to their lives of being oppressed by urban violence. The Central Command instituted iron law in Chrome Hill. It controlled all the streets; the water, energy and sewage services; charged protection fees; instituted curfews; created courts with arbitrary trials and decreed mourning which everyone had to carry out at the risk of death.

"You're being harsh on Fenyang, Spin Bomb. He put his trust in your future, he put his life at risk."

"Actually, I don't hate Fenyang, Akachi. I hate how his image reminds me of dreams that can't come true. After he died, and the Central Command took over the Slum, they demanded that my clan make explosives for them. They refused and were expelled from the Slum. But not me, Akachi, I stayed here in the Slum. I'm a coward. I left my clan behind to live like a…"

The tears could no longer be contained. They poured down like cascades of disappointment. The pain was palpable. There was a sincerity in her words. Spin Bomb was disappointed in herself.

"Now I have to make a hundred fireworks every month and give them to these cretins. I hate that! Crafting swords is an ancient trade, and a dangerous one too. In our community, they weren't used to kill or injure people. Accidents happened to those who made them and tried to manipulate them in pyrotechnic shows in the streets on our clan's festive dates. We were sent away from Ilu Nla. The government banned the practice, and when my clan flouted the measures, we were banished from the city and came to live here. After that, life turned to shit…"

Akachi had nothing to say. He didn't know how to comfort Spin Bomb. He clenched his fists tightly. There was something he could do to change his reality. First, strengthen himself to face the future challenges that would come on his journey. Finally, to return to Ilu Nla and find his father again.