CH 2: THE VERGAD SYSTEM (PT 1)
*RING* The repeated buzzing of the apartment's doorbell had finally startled and awoken the man, who was more than dazed after an hour of slumber. The buzzing would continue as Kazuo slowly and methodically folded himself out of the bed, a couch that had no right being that comfortable. It was clear though that he lived a quite sedentary life.
As his eyes adjusted from waking up, he took a look at the room. It was one he spent very little time in. In reality, it was a room no one really lived in, and it showed. It was fit with a lawn chair, a tv with no stand, a PlayStation accompanied by zero games, and lastly, a really comfortable couch. One would assume from its utilitarian furnishings that it was some sort of bachelor’s pad.
That poorly kept, bottom-level one room apartment was made specifically to appear barren and pedestrian. No one would assume that anything interesting goes on in the life of its tenets; though no one ever entered or visited the uninhabited flat.
And yet, at the end of that hallway, from the entrance of the apartment and through that bedroom door, there held a very important key to the completion of a certain operation. Those behind that operation simply found it necessary, or rather serviceable, for the low rent, low visibility location to act as a sort of ‘lobby’ for the agents assigned to the task.
As for Kazuo Ito, it only served to remind him of his weary personal situation.
For a quick second, Kazuo checked his watch to see how long he was out. It was 3:05 PM. Once he reached the door, he slowly looked through the peephole to make sure it was his partner in crime. And just on time…
Ah, yes, Ms. Smith, he smiled wryly.
After unlocking the door, he drew a breath and prepared himself to respond to the stiff wind he was about to be hit with alongside the cold weather. He failed to get a word in before the woman behind the door responded.
“Let’s get started right away Kazuo; I’ve got other appointments to meet.” The woman said quickly as she barged through the door, walking towards the end of a hallway in the apartment.
Her appearance matched her attitude quite aptly. Raven black hair, tired dark green eyes, and a black overcoat worn over a two piece suit. In her hand was a plastic bag which seemed to come from a local gas station mart.
In all honesty, Kazuo had run out of quips, and the elephant in the room was rearing its ugly head. In hopes that the exchange might not be so unpleasant before he had to do…that, Kazuo tried to set the matter straight.
“Look, I get it Miharu. I don’t like it either; being here…” Kazuo said as he spread his hands out theatrically to gesture towards the whole room, “with you…doing this dance we do.” Once again, he gestured towards Miharu, then performing other expressive hand waving to make his point. “ I mean, I was really about to say to you ‘It’s nice seeing you too’, and then smirtle into the fourth wall like this is some sort of odd couple sitcom.”
“...Smirtle, huh?” Miharu responded with her back to Kazuo as she walked towards the door, reaching the end of the hallway. Without any response, she opened the door.
She was quite the professional kind of lady; one who despised her job for one reason or another, but would do anything, be anywhere, just for the sake of obeying orders. Miharu Takada had that aura about her that one could just pick out if they had been anywhere near this sector of work. There were not many, however, who would find themselves in this small circle. Not even Miharu truly knew why she, or that Kazuo for that matter, were chosen for this specific job.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
And yet, that woman was chosen for a purpose. Really, there were always two types of people that entered this sector of work; and they were always paired together for their unique set of circumstances. These circumstances made them invaluable to the success of the job at hand.
There was not much difference between Type B and Type A, at least not to the type casters. After all, they both arrived here, and that meant much more to the story than where they began. When it comes to the differences, It’s not always a matter of personality, but perhaps similar traits gave birth to a certain particular kind of obsession that this operation could take advantage of.
It dumbfounded Kazuo, however, how he and Miharu were chosen together without the least amount of consideration towards compatibility. Sure, it’s not like he would be communicating much after…that. Sooner or later, though, one of them was going to go off, start a fight, and then a certain collection of expensive systems found within that claustrophobic sanctum of an office room would be down for repair.
But we are getting ahead of ourselves. Just what could command so much secrecy within that office room, yet be considered with such reckless abandon as to put these individuals in its care; and what operation was soon to begin?
Kazuo stood solemnly at the room's entrance, and stared at that familiar view with dread. The office room was fitted with a plethora of compact machinery cascading all four walls with a hall of switches, computers, and one large monitor embedded within a section of the inner frame of all the connected wires and cords. A huge circular light sat alongside the top wall of the room with chords connecting from out of it into the modules surrounding it. The technology certainly was advanced, and yet parts of its design seemed to come from decades prior. Everything was coded with a manila sheen like that of an office printer from the dawn of the millennium.
While Miharu was booting and configuring a machine near one wall of the room, Kazuo walked towards…that. There it was. The centerpiece of all this incomprehensible equipment was a metal chair which sat uncomfortably in the room. Fitted with its own contraptions around the arms and the headrest, it was a wonder whether someone was to sit there and interact with any of the techno-junk surrounding it, or to be tortured mercilessly by neuroelectric shock of some kind.
Well, it was a sort of torture…
“Hah..” Kazuo said with a fake smile that quickly dissipated. He began to walk toward the dentist chair/contraption, then turned his head to look at the bag Miharu had brought with her. Within it was a magazine, and just as it always was when they met for this job, it was V-Across. He would usually bring his own copy and read some along the bus ride to location, but for some reason he couldn’t quite remember, he forgot to bring it with him today.
It was a long nap.
Kazuo thumbed through the magazine, and again tried to have some constructive conversation with Miharu.
“This week's chapter was quite exciting, don’t you think?” Kazuo said with a knowing smile, which Miharu could feel despite his position being completely opposite of her. He had been facing the far wall of the room, staring upward at what seemed to be a camera that was now in operation.
She rolled her eyes and he began fidgeting with the different mechanisms within the room, seeming to calibrate and position them to some order. There was a name at the top of the Machine she was working on; engraved in the encasing manilla plastic was the word VERGAD.
“...Truly.” For once, Miharu spoke with a flat and direct tone.
“I feel like a schoolboy again, Miharu. This arc has been pressing on for almost a year, but with this issue, the climax has finally come!”
“Yea...To think Felt would uncover such a secret; The orphaned child, then bastard son of the Galactic Emperor..,” Miharu turned around with an angry expression before stating the reveal.
“..was really just one of the defective artificial beings created by the empire.”
“Usually at this point in the story, the MC would realize an even greater potential, going from underdog to legend!”
Kazuo looked at a poster near the back of the room, it was the same character that was on the front of the magazine. The series was entitled INTEGRAL.
“Only the master Hasegawa could pull such a subversive move 447 chapters into a flagship series; Truly a deconstruction!”
Miharu shook her head after computing some information. “You’re really on something, aren’t you huh?” She angrily turned her face to reveal her piercing green eyes.
“You well know that wasn’t supposed to happen. That's why we’re here. Now get in the chair before the guys upstairs call reinforcements.” Miharu said as she completed her end of the operation before initialization.
Kazuo looked intensely still into the camera with a rye smile. “I know, I know, but it would have been nice. Just a little change from the regular beat em' up ending eh?”
“Be Serious!” Miharu shouted.
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In this world, one that is very much like ours, comics are a serious matter. They can be a teacher of justice to the children of the future. What justice will this operation bring about? How will you fare in the big chair, Kazuo Ito?