Sector 1- Tenno Academy [9 September 2121 7:40]
The morning was unusually noisy as Keiko, Arisa, and Aku entered the floor where their classes were. Keiko sighed, “Another one of Seiji’s crowds?” she started to walk toward her classroom.
Arisa chuckled and followed Keiko, but Aku turned to her own classroom and froze, “Ryu…?”
Arisa turned to Aku and crossed the hallway to peek into her classroom- a curious Keiko close behind her, “Oooooh,”
Class 2-B was full with many girls, some 2nd year students, some first years and some thirds- all surrounding Ryuichi. His shoulder was fully bandaged and his arm was in a splint, he had other bandages here and there as well, but his shoulder was clearly the main injury. With his other hand he rubbed the back of his neck and thanked those around him with an air of embarrassment.
“If it weren’t for you Ryuichi, my mother and sister would have-” a young student clutched tightly onto her skirt as she squeezed her eyes shut, “I’m truly thankful!”
“Ryu! You are so amazing to take out that monster! Why are you only rank 3?!”
“Kyaaaa his injuries are soooo attractive!”
“He’s basically the hero of Sector 14!”
“Ryuichi! I like you!”
“Rank 3, fighting!”
Ryu nodded his head and tried to accept all of the thanks even though they were all happening at once. Although, he didn’t feel like a hero. In truth he felt like a monster. He had let a little girl die...he couldn’t even save one little girl.
From the doorway, the three girls watched the scenario with interest, “Hmmmm, Ryuichi saved Sector 14 last night?” Arisa asked the others, “What from?”
Keiko blinked, bringing up the omni-books interface in her eye and scrolled through NewsNet as well as MRPA’s reports, “Ahhh it was Ryu and Hiro who had to clean up that mazoku who rampaged Sector 14 last night. We haven’t seen one of those in a while.” Unlike normal mazoku, who MRPA strived to protect, rampant mazoku were beyond protecting. They were mindless beasts that just attacked without thought, “We would have been tasked with disposing of it too.”
“Oooh...” Arisa’s voice trickled away in her concern, “He looks hurt,”
Keiko’s voice dropped to a whisper, “That's what happens when you send a human to do a mazoku’s job.”
With that Arisa and Keiko left Aku in the doorway.
Aku’s eyes were glued to the thick bandages on his shoulder; her ears only picking up every other word that the crowd murmured. What was this feeling creeping over her? Worry? No- she was a child of Mr.Black, she wasn’t allowed to worry about anyone. She wasn’t even supposed to care about anyone. She was alone.
And yet-
Ryu’s eyes suddenly found her, his dark brown eyes making contact with her own- his eyes that seemed to be hiding a great deal of pain. She was pushed back into a memory. A memory she had thought she forgot.
She had been a young child at the time. She was crying. Her eyes were swollen with tears as she looked down at her bloody scraped palm. She sniffed and turned at the sound of her name. The young her smiled up at the older boy- his dark skin and warm smile made her almost forget the pain of her hands-
Aku shook the memory from her mind- she told herself she would never think of those times again- and quickly sat down at her desk and tried to tune out the cluttered noise of the morning.
Kyou was leaning against the wall. His eyes were fixed on Arisa. He watched her closely. Could she really be the shapeshifter?
Keiko and Arisa walked into their classroom to see another commotion. This time Seiji and his fan club, “- and then!! Shou pulled out his gun and held it to his own head- BANG!” the fan girls around him squealed, “One by one Shou made his way through the train car until suddenly- a man gave himself up as being a mazoku!” the girls shrieked this time, “Shou went to arrest the mazoku but then! A mazoku jumped out from the crowd to attack Shou!!” the girls held their breath, “That’s when I sprang from my seat! I grabbed the mazoku and took him down before he could hurt anyone!” he posed triumphantly as the girls clapped.
Keiko huffed and shoved through the crowd to get to her seat beside Seiji.
Seiji grinned and leaned over to Keiko, “What do you think Keiko? I made the world safer yesterday for you by taking out a few mazoku-”
An image of Ojii flashed in Keiko’s mind but she pushed it away. It wasn’t the time for emotions. She had to fake it, “Wow I’m so glad you are around to keep me safe from those terrifying mazoku,” her tone was flat and lacked sincerity.
The girls around Seiji writhed at all his attention being on Keiko.
“Don’t worry Keiko!” he gestured grandly, “If you’re ever in danger,” he turned her chair to face him, “I’ll be there to save you,”
The group erupted in squeals and Seiji quickly turned around to give them his attention.
Keiko clenched a fist, you’re the dangerous one.
Sector 1: Thrice Inc.[12:03]
“...we expect the entire operation to crumble within the next few days.” Chihiyo stood beside Mr.Black’s desk flipping through data on her tablet.
Mr.Black sighed, his gaze fixed through the large window wall, “That’s an unfortunate loss.”
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Without looking up from her tablet she continued, “Even though STAM has the MS they have yet to expedite the testing...the Human Party sided against full public testing for financial reasons.”
“Ah well that’s a slight setback,” he shook his head, “What about our ties?”
“They’ve been taken care of.”
“Good. What about the STAM program?”
“The files for the intern program-” Chihiyo placed a tablet on Mr.Black’s desk and a display opened up with the STAM logo displayed.
Mr.Black turned in his chair from the large window to the display, “Let’s see what we have shall we?”
Chihiyo flipped through the applicant's, “Most of them are unattractive prospects for our benefit. The top 3 are likely to be chosen for us….” the display popped up 3 pictures, a man with dark black hair and green eyes, another man, slightly younger, with short tightly curled hair and deep black eyes, and a woman with long blonde hair and grey eyes, “Naturally I believe Lanse will realize at least one of them comes from us...”
“Hmmmm,” Mr.Black laid his chin on a loose fist, “What about the agent manager position?”
Chihiyo nodded, “Lanse will be most critical of that. He doesn’t want Thrice’s influence anywhere near his precious agents.”
“Hmmmm. What about my precious’ friends?”
Chihiyo tapped on the tablet and the display changed to MRPA’s database. The profiles of the top agents popped up- both their mazoku pictures and their human shells.
Mr.Black grinned widely as he tapped on Keiko’s picture, “I think it’s time we call in that favor with Hong.” he turned his chair back around to the window, “I want her in the top 3. And do make it obvious Chihiyo dear. I don’t want Lanse to miss out on this present.”
Sector 27: MRPA [17:22]
Arisa was humming to herself as she set the infants down for a short nap. Things had been so hectic recently, she was thankful for a day that felt more normal.
“00!”
From the observing room she saw Nell waving at her. She quickly set down the last infant before hurrying over to Nell, “I didn’t think you were working today!” she smiled warmly at her.
Nell’s face flushed at her smile, “I uh- I’m not but I-” she stuttered nervously, “I have this for you!” she held out a small bottle with what looked like green pills.
“What’s this?” Arisa took the bottle.
“You said you shift uncontrollably sometimes….I uh- I made you some medicine...”
Arisa blinked several times trying to understand, “You made this?”
Nell nodded, “I have uh…” she flushed bright right and raised her shirt slightly to show the skin on her stomach. There were green, moss-like patches, “I can grow things. Depending on what I eat and several other factors I can make plants with some medicinal properties….” she caught Arisa’s gaze and quickly looked away, “I uh- I don’t- you don’t have to use it- I just-”
“You made this?!” Arisa’s eyes widened and a smile grew across her face, “You made a medicine?!”
Nell nodded quickly.
“And you made it to control my shifting?”
Nell nodded again.
Arisa grabbed Nell’s wrist, her face lighting up, “Come with me!”
Nell’s face flushed again at Arisa’s touch.
MRPA: Science and Research Team
Arisa pushed open the door, “Darrius!!!” she called out. All the white coats turned to see her.
From the back of the room she heard him, “Oh 00 what’s up?!”
She zoomed through the room and set the bottle of green pills in front of Darrius.
“What’s this?” He looked at it quizzically.
Arisa presented Nell, “The breakthrough you’ve been looking for.”
Nell looked at him nervously, “H-hello...”
Darrius looked at her, his pupils shifting. He looked down at the bottle of pills, his pupils shifting once again. He jumped from his chair, “THIS!” he gawked at Arisa, “How?” he was so shocked he couldn’t speak.
The other white coats looked over curiously.
Arisa grinned widely at him.
Sector 1: STAM HQ [17:30]
Ryu sat in the lab of the doctor- there were wires and tubes and monitors all over his shoulder. He was still being treated, something about making sure all the poison was out of his body or something.
Ryu didn’t care about all that. I don’t deserve to be alive right now. His mind was still haunted by that little girl- the one he couldn’t save...the one his partner murdered. What was worse was that he was being treated like a hero! A hero? What kind of hero lets a little girl die...There were officers in STAM fighting to have his rank increased- but he didn’t want that. He didn’t deserve a promotion. He should have been fired. He should be hated...but he was loved.
He sighed and clenched his fist over and over again at the doctor's request. He was disappointed at how well he was healing...he would have liked to carry pain for the rest of his life...for the little girl. Everytime he closed his eyes he saw her. The little mazoku girl with a pink dress and white hair. He wondered if Hiroto ever even gave that moment a second thought. Ryu felt his jaw clench. Mazoku or not it was a little girl. Could Hiro really be that cruel?
“Good new’s Ryuichi,” the doctor looked through Ryu’s chart, “You should be back on missions in no time. You’re healing perfectly!”
Ryu sighed, “Great.”
The doctor looked at him closely, “Are you having nightmares? Trouble sleeping?”
Ryu bit his tongue, he couldn’t say he felt guilt from the death of a mazoku, “I usually lay on my right side so it’s a little uncomfortable.”
The doctor nodded, “But no nightmares? No trauma from the incident?”
Ryu looked at the doctor questioningly.
“Getting so gravely wounded by a mazoku can bring out some anger issues. Maybe a shorter temper, urge for revenge, that kind of thing.”
“No, nothing like that.” Ryu shook his head, he didn’t think about the rampant that hurt him at all. His mind was consumed with the little girl who died so suddenly in his arms. The only anger he felt was toward his partner who killed her.
Rank 1 Container Quarters
Kyoushirou was sitting at his desk looking through his family photo album- or what was left of it. His nightmares had started up again, more vicious than before. He desperately tried to remember his mother and sister. His memories from his childhood were few. He remembered his mother, he remembered a baby sister that seemed to replace her, and he remembered being told to forget his sister.
The photo album had few traces of his mom and sister. When she first disappeared Kyou slept with the photo album every night. One day he awoke to find his father had cut them from all his pictures and removed the picture Kyou had glued together to create a family portrait. Kyou flipped through the pages of the ripped pictures. There was him as a baby playing with blocks. The picture ripped down the middle, he saw the small fist of his sister on a block. Another picture of Kyou ripped just above his head, his sister's small legs dangled over his shoulders. One of the few pictures left unaltered was of Kyou and his father. His father stood tall and straight in a suit with Kyou by his side in his pre-school uniform. Kyou slammed the book shut angrily. He had been searching for weeks now but there was nothing. No clues to his mother or sister. The files of his sister’s birth vanished, the family registry showed a single child, and even a death certificate for his mother was lost or hidden. They were beyond his reach.
There was a soft knock on the door; Kyou didn’t even turn to face it, “Yes?”
The door opened slightly and Shou poked his head in, “We’ve been called to a meeting,”
Kyou sighed and stood from his desk. He tried to push the thoughts from his mind. He wouldn’t find the answers he wanted today.