The waving stalks of corn long ago reached maturity, and now all that lay in those once endless green fields were thousands of shredded harvested plants. Though the sun still provided its warmth down onto the HCC compound, the bitter notes of an early autumn could already be felt in the breeze. Gemmei tried to remember the last time she saw tree foliage changing color as her wheelchair moved through the well maintained grounds. It couldn’t have been that long- a couple years at most? Somehow it felt like a lifetime ago.
“Now this is my favorite spot.” A cheerful but clearly detached tone came out from Gemmei’s attendant, who continued to push her up a slope. As she did so a flock of crows surrounding a pile of discarded garbage took off, causing a slight noise of disgust from the woman. “Ugh. Well, anyway, you can see the whole compound- I’d put my office here, if I could.”
As they crested the top of the incline and rolled out into the sunshine Gemmei squinted at the sudden deluge of light. The bandages around her head provided only a token protection from the sun; her pale skin would burn to a crisp if left undefended. However once vision returned Gemmei could see the truth: from that central hill, the entire Hibiya Correctional Complex in all its...glory wasn’t the right word. Her head ached too much to think of anything else.
On one side, down in what might be called the ‘valley’, lay the HCC’s garbage incinerator, waste lagoon, and other unsightly necessities. Gemmei’s experience up until then had been cycling between the ‘dredger’ worksite and the main buildings, and cutting the grass along the boundary of the prison where most inmates hated to work. However, with the last few months spent exclusively in the prison’s infirmary wing, she could already tell the amount of work needed there had built up significantly.The stripped bare cornfields lay on the other far end, nearer to the inmate maintained gardens where a few brave souls still withstood the slight chill to enjoy their lunches outside, though the crows constantly harassed them for every scrap of food. From up at the highest point Gemmei could even see just how far the one paved road to the prison extended, with nary a house or dwelling in sight.
The momentary silence broke as reality once again began worming its way back into Gemmei’s mind. “Personally, I love taking in the radio towers. Such exquisite pieces of engineering!” Unable to resist any longer, Gemmei turned her sore eyes towards the four structures positioned roughly at each corner of the compound. Nothing about them looked particularly worth caring about- they weren’t even fenced off and looked like bare steel scaffolding with a few radio dishes perched across each. It hardly matched the grandeur of nature or even of the prisons uglier buildings like the kitchen or gym.
“See how they are all pointed inward? There’s something called destructive interference- when two waves of equal strength meet, they cancel out. But they haven’t actually disappeared!” Gemmei’s wheelchair spun around and faced away from the compound, and out towards the endless empty fields. “So, each of those towers broadcast a signal, but within the boundaries of the HCC, they all cancel out in perfect...negative harmony, I guess. But once you step outside, the signals no longer cancel, and...boom!” A sudden snap of her fingers made Gemmei flinch. “So as long as even one tower remains, there’s no escape. Of course, when one goes down for maintenance, everyone complains, since the signal doesn't cancel out perfectly...but we’ll be building four more next year and then that'll never happen again. It’s such a great system!”
“That’s great, Miss Warden.” Gemmei grumbled, shifting her weight anxiously in the wheelchair. “Can I go back to the infirmary now? I’ve got a bunch of sudoku books I need to erase the answers from so I can start them over again.”
“Tsk.” Warden Keio shrugged and let go of the wheelchair, and for a stomach churning second Gemmei thought she was about to lurch off the side of the hill. Instead a small break on the wheel kept her from rolling anyway. “Come on, aren’t you planning some big escape now? Isn’t this a great place to let your imagination run wild?”
“I’m trying to imagine what I could possibly gain from talking to you anymore.” Gemmei finally relaxed as the warden turned away from her and sank into her seat. “I told you everything already. Wasn’t I acquitted?”
“Yes, yes. Self defense, poor Kokona.” Keio shook her head as she continued staring off away from Gemmei. She wore less armor today than normal, almost resembling an office worker in her current getup. “Who picks a fight with a former MOED? What a shame. What a shame.”
Other than the wind nothing else was said. Gemmei’s bandages felt even worse once she started sweating. She opened her mouth to try and ask to be taken back again, but Warden Keio interrupted as if anticipating it. “You’re being discharged by the end of the week, duckling. I’m sure your buddies will welcome you back with open arms.”
“Oh. Is that it?” Gemmei exhaled and closed her eyes. “I kept telling the attendant, I’m good to go again. If I wasn’t cuffed to this wheelchair-”
“Has anyone told you?” Warden Keio’s smile could be heard in her words alone. “The last few months have been an absolute bloodbath. Machii has been on the warpath after Kokona got outed as a spy. They say fall is when the snakes all go into hibernation, but it seems like they're all crawling out of the woodwork now. Isn't that something?”
“Gee, how terrible.” Gemmei yawned. “Why can’t we all just get along?”
“We’ve lost a lot of assets as a result.” Warden Keio gave a fake sigh. “Machii was very thorough, purging all our informants...we don’t have any left, sadly.”
Even that was a bit much for Gemmei, who just scoffed and started picking at her half bitten nails. “Oh, I get it. You think Machii is going to grab me and force me to say what you told me, right? So she’ll think she got all the spies, and then-”
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“Not at all. That’s a good idea, though!” Warden Keio finally turned around and an uneasy feeling pulsed through Gemmei’s veins. The warden was still too amiable, too friendly. “What I’m trying to say is you really screwed everybody, Gemmei. Exposing Kokona like that, bless her soul, resulted in everyone suffering. Didn’t you think through your actions at all?”
Rather than immediately respond Gemmei just threw her hands up in a mock surrender, then went back to pouting. As if she needed to hear this again after months of recovery and threats of sending her back to the Supermax. “Maybe tell your snitches to not be so obvious. Kokona would have gotten found out eventually anyway. How does Machii not just discover them all instantly, anyway? And how can anyone even be a snitch, the Hakkyou lets you just ask anyone anything and get an honest answer.”
“See? You understand it perfectly.” Keio nodded and Gemmei grimaced, not expecting that response. “Kokona was already suspicious even before you showed up. But the 'Hakk', as you folks lovingly call it, only forces you to obey. Honesty is a fun byproduct, but not strictly something that always happens. Ducklings can shut their mouth and refuse to speak- that's technically not lying! Or they can give sneaky answers that aren't lies, but aren't helpful either- Kokona was particularly good at that. But you can't run from the truth forever, and Kokona was slowly coming under suspicion anyway. What she needed was a patsy, someone to take the fall and throw Machii off her her trail, some unlikable ex-law enforcement kid who arrived under mysterious circumstances...”
Hearing it come out of the warden’s mouth gave Gemmei all the puzzle pieces she needed. The picture fell into place after given time to chew on the facts. She immediately let out a gawking croak. “That’s- THAT’S why you accepted my transfer? So I could take it up the ass for Kokona and get the heat off her?”
“Did I say that?” Keio put a finger on her lips and frowned. “I don’t think I said that. Wouldn’t that be a thing, though? And if that was the case,” Keio somehow had gotten close to Gemmei again, and now her cool shadow fell across the girl’s face. “You wouldn’t have much of a purpose in this prison anymore, would you? What a scary place to be!”
Now the sweating came back in earnest, even though the sun wasn’t beating down on her anymore.
“Buuuuuuut...”
Gemmei held her breath.
“I’ve been warden for a while, you know. Won some awards for it, even. What we had here was an equilibrium. You know that word?” Keio leaned down so she was eye level with Gemmei. “It means balance, kind of. Machii is a nasty piece of work, but a power vacuum is even worse. We’ve tolerated her antics because the alternative was chaos.” Keio placed both her hands together and interwove her fingers. “But it’s hard to keep a balance. We can’t let her get away with too much, after all. You’ve upset that. You and your damned existence.”
Thinking hard, Gemmei quietly swallowed, and bared her teeth. “Sorry it worked out like that. Not really any of my business, though.”
“No. It isn’t, is it.” Keio frowned, then stood back up, her face still cast in shadow. “I think we’re similar, duckling. We both make the best with what bad hands fate deals us.”
A short hiss came out of Gemmei as if she wanted to speak, but she held her tongue. That earned a little smile from Keio. “Ah, my bad. It isn’t fate at all, is it? It’s the consequences of our own actions. Well,” Keio dusted her hands off and gave a big exhale. “Here’s the real scoop. Machii’s inner circle is small now- so small, only her most trusted allies are left. She’s done something we couldn’t and narrowed our pool of ideal informants down to just a handful.”
“Nobody is going to snitch on Machii-”
“-because she can bypass her Houzou Hakkyou, right? Well, not completely.” Keio tapped her chin to feign deep thought. “She can refuse orders, feel the whole range of suppressed emotions, and outright lie to us...but she still can’t get past the boundary. It’s very perplexing!” Keio shook her head and shrugged as if giving up. “And nobody we’ve interrogated- worked with, that is- seemed to have an answer on how. The rumors have worked their way up the ladder and now even the bigwigs in charge of the whole country are worried it might mean something.”
“I’m sure.” Gemmei grumbled. “Machii could undermine the whole justice system, eh? Throw people like you out of the job. If all the prisoners could bypass the Hakkyou like Machii, there’d be no problem crushing the small guard force you have here. What a nightmare.”
“Again, I like to see it as an opportunity.” Warden Keio turned to face Gemmei again, but this time in a far less threatening manner. “Rather than punt your sorry ass back to the depths of hell, I think you could be an asset. Find out Machii’s secret, and there could be big rewards in it for you. How does that sound?”
“Big risks, too. I’m not agreeing to squat.” Gemmei thrust a finger out at Keio, a gesture that seemed to surprise her. “Put it in writing and maybe-”
“Writing? Pffft!” A burst of laughter came out of Keio’s nose. “Do you think we're standing on equal ground here? I’m not promising you jack. No lawyer will touch someone with your crimes, so you’re never getting out of prison. The best you can hope for is mercy from me. You find out how Machii is countering the Hakkyou, and then maybe you’re worth keeping around here. Screw up our plans again and it’s back to the hole for you. That’s the only deal you’re gonna get, duckling. Best square up and start thinking how you’re gonna avoid squealing all this once I release you back into the open.”
So many words, so many phrases, all trying to bubble up to the surface at once. Gemmei gripped the side of her wheelchair as if she could pull the handles off and throw them at the warden. A total setup! Corruption at every level! Not as if Gemmei herself could pretend she had been any better, but still! The audacity, to have pulled an injured inmate like herself out of bed and all the way up here, just to threaten her! And, and, and...
And maybe all that didn’t matter. As expected the rage bled out of Gemmei as easily as she breathed. The prison curse worked its magic as efficiently as usual. Warden Keio wasn’t looking out for Gemmei. The only reason she wasn’t being charged with what happened to Kokona was just so the Warden could try to use her for something else. It was a maneuver Gemmei herself would have pulled. She needed to let go and approach the situation rationally, even if holding a grudge would feel really, really, really good.
Keio seemed to recognize Gemmei’s acceptance almost as soon as it appeared on the girl’s face. A slow grin spread over the warden’s now lit up face. “You’re welcome, by the way. I’ll be expecting a nice thank you present the next time we talk.”