I sat down inside of the tram car, and felt my body cave to exhaustion. Today had been rough, and I felt like I was going to fall asleep. I did my best to keep awake, though. We still had a teleporter to travel through. And if I was going to make it home, I’d still need to be awake enough for that.
I looked over at Luka, who was keeping her eyes on me, and then over at Meiko, who was standing up. She didn’t seem interested in taking a rest, despite having the worst injuries out of the three of us. I still felt a cold chill when I saw her, because even if her injury was survivable for her, it still looked painful.
It was a strange feeling to realize that Gumi, Luka, and Meiko were all androids. They had me fooled, and I’m sure that was the intention, but I would have never believed them had I not seen Meiko’s internal workings. As much as I felt bad that Meiko had been ripped open, I would be lying if I didn’t say I was also impressed by how each of them were perfect human replicas.
And now I knew both their secrets, Gumi's, and Miku’s. And that was a strange feeling to me. I saw Miku as a real girl, with real feelings, and to see her as other than that would bug me. But Meiko wouldn’t lie to me, and I had to trust what she was telling me.
But it explained what happened to Miku. Why she disappeared, and potentially where she went.
“So,” Luka said, “feel like you’ve done enough today?”
I looked up at her, and let out a chuckle.
“Didn’t think it’d go the way it did, if that’s what you’re implying.”
Luka smiled. “Glad to see you’ve still got your high spirits about you. Especially after what happened.”
“It would have been a lot worse if Meiko didn’t show up when she did. It was kind of incredible seeing her do what she did.”
Meiko looked over at us, and gave a slight smirk. I nodded at her, looking again at her tattered jumpsuit.
“Probably not a great time to ask,” I said, “but being how things are, I wouldn’t mind knowing what it was like living under Duodecim.”
Luka and Meiko shot each other a glance, and then Luka looked back over at me.
“I expected you to ask,” Luka said. “And don’t worry about it. Since you know about us now, I guess it means you’ll need to learn everything going forward.”
“Especially since we’re going to be working together,” Meiko said. “Sorry again for keeping it a secret from you, Griff.”
I shrugged. “You told me it was to keep me safe,
wasn’t it? I don’t think I can be mad. If I was, I’m over it.”
Luka drew in a deep breath and began to explain.
“We were built in separate facilities. Duodecim kept us in the dark about most of what went on there, but they did keep us in the know of what we were. They kept their eyes on us constantly, always making sure we did what they wanted.”
I nodded, listening attentively.
“So, why escape?” I asked. “Did you guys find out what they intended to do with you?”
“More, it seemed someone else had taken an interest in us, because one night we were all set to meet at a facility for a joint testing operation. Something must have gone wrong because the entire facility was attacked by a third party, and we were all set free. I only found out that we were set to meet after the fact when I met Gumi.”
“And you all ended up here?” I asked.
“I don’t know how she did it, but Gumi found everything. I just followed behind her. She managed to find the Operating Room and got it running. She also managed to find out about the rest of us, including Miku and Meiko here.”
Meiko looked over at Luka, now looking a little more sour at her. Luka looked over at her and nodded.
“Not all of us escaped, but that’s why we’re doing this, too. We had always intended to come here, but once Miku got captured, we had to rush our plans.”
“Always, yes,” Meiko interjected. “Once we had a plan together, we’d try to break into Duodecim and see what we could get from them. We thought Gumi could hack into it, but we found out this place would serve as a good escape should the need arise.”
“Okay,” I said, noticing the train was nearing its final stop, “so was there a name for you guys? Some sort of project title?”
“Project Vocaloid,” Luka answered. “They referred to us as V.C.D. units usually. All with our own designations and names.”
“So they went to all that trouble to give you names and the designs that you have, just to lock you up?”
“We still don’t know what they intended for us when they created us,” Luka said. “And we might never know. But that’s not important. We’re here, and we’re free from them to be able to do what we need to do. And right now, that means saving your friend.”
I cracked a smile.
“Thanks for telling me,” I said. “I appreciate it.”
Luka nodded, and the train came to a stop. I tried to stand up, only to feel my legs refuse to work.
“Crap,” I said, “I think I overdid it today.”
Meiko grabbed my arm, and pulled it over her shoulder, “I think you just need rest. Come on, let's get you back home. You can sleep easy tonight.”
“Thanks,” I said, looking at her, “you've saved me twice now.”
Meiko walked me into the room, which was now far easier to see inside of than before. It felt different from the rest of the facility, looking more like the Operating Room, and felt radically different, stylistically, from the rest of the facility.
The floors were far more polished, too, and four glowing circular pads were along the wall at the end of the room. They were lit up, indicating where to place your feet. Luka walked over one of them.
“Gumi,” Luka said, “prepare our return trip. We're coming back now.”
“Alright,” Gumi said, “I'll see in a few moments. Good work out there, guys!”
Meiko walked me over to the one on the far right, and set me down. She took off her headset, and grabbed the other off my head. She signaled at Luka to throw hers as well, and Luka did so.
“Figured we should leave these here,” Meiko said. “Can't really take them back with us.”
I nodded, and attempted to stand up, grunting while doing so.
“Hard day?” Luka teased.
“Just a really long one, I think.” I said. “Can I get a day off before we do this again?”
“No promises,” Meiko said. “Knowing Gumi, she'll have you on this tomorrow morning.”
I groaned. It seemed possible, but I didn't even want to think about coming back here again for a while. One day was enough, and this was almost a lifetime of adventures for some people, but we were only just getting started. I didn't want to think about it.
I stood up on the pad, knowing we were about to be taken back to base. The system initiated the return sequence, and my vision was wrapped in a mass of light. I couldn't see anything, but I felt my body become weightless. The pain I was feeling was almost gone completely. I wasn't feeling tired anymore, either. It felt like a well-deserved rest, almost, even if it only lasted for a short time.
I returned, right back where we had started. The scanner's parts all disengaged, slowly, and returned to all of their initial resting places.
“Return successful. Thank you, and have a pleasant day,” the robotic voice spoke.
The door opened, and I walked out, with Meiko and Luka exiting their doors. Meiko still had the massive hole in her torso. Her suit was still torn up, same as mine. Except my scratches weren't noticeable anymore. I felt around the back of my head where I had been hit, and felt nothing there. Not even blood or a healing wound.
Gumi interrupted my thoughts with an announcement. “Congrats, you guys! I'm so glad we managed to get this done!”
We all looked over at her, and walked over.
“I just wanted to let you all know I'm getting a super clear picture of the place now! This facility has so much more to it than I thought. Seriously!”
We all looked at the monitor, and saw what she was talking about.
“That train you guys rode goes all over the place. It extends for miles, beyond even what you saw.”
“Is it all below ground?” Luka asked.
“All underneath the cave, yep! I'm going to have a lot of fun looking through all of this.”
Gumi's attitude certainly helped lighten the mood after all the crazy stuff we had been through today. Her enthusiasm also helped remind me we actually did manage to reach our goal.
“So,” Luka said, “what happens next?”
“As of right now,” Gumi replied, “we wait until I can figure out who our new friends are. Especially these 'Rangers.' If we can get them to work with us, we might be able to figure out who attacked you.”
“Any clues regarding that?” Meiko asked.
“Nothing, I don't have any information about any life out there. The fact we have the Rangers out there as a name, it's a good place to start. Once I can get the archives decoded, we'll have a much better chance to understand everything.”
We all nodded. “So, are we going to meet up tomorrow, then?” I asked.
“Well, about that,” Gumi said, turning her chair to face me, “I wanted to talk to you, especially about the situation.”
I gave her a curious glance.
“Meiko and Luka explained everything to you, I imagine?”
“Pretty much,” I said, “I know everything about you guys, about Miku, and Duodecim.”
“Then I think I should let you know what our plan is.”
“Go ahead.” I said, “I'm listening.”
“Okay,” she said, turning her attention back to the computer, “our top priority is the return and recovery of Hatsune Miku. Right now, we need to figure out where she is, and what we can do to get her back.”
She pulled up a couple of photos. They were the mall's maintenance tunnel, with me lying down, Miku standing over me, and the man in the suit, armed with a pistol, aimed at the camera.
“This here is an agent of Duodecim. We left that part out.”
I nodded, staying silent.
“His name is Robert F. Kallen. He's one of many agents who have been hunting us. He just happened to head the plan that worked.”
She typed a command in her computer, and the video moved to a parking lot. A large black van was stationary. Two figures, armed with large rifles, moved to the front, and behind them was Miku, who was being led by Kallen, to the back of it.
“He took her, and drove off. I wanted to track her van, but it wasn't marked, and worst yet, I suspect they knew someone like me was going to attempt to track them down. They managed to evade detection once they left the parking structure. I couldn't find any vehicles that matched their description after they left.”
“So, how are we going to find her?” I asked.
“That's what 'Other-Earth' is for,” she explained. “If my theory about this place is correct, we can use it to gain access to their servers.”
“How would we manage that?”
“Again, it's all a theory, but there's a chance we can connect to their systems from inside of this place. If this computer has access to it, and we can send ourselves over there, it's not too far-fetched to think this place can gain access to other areas. With this station back up, we might be able to find that out.”
“As for Miku?”
“Well, we gain access to their system, we gain access to her location. We can plan how we can get her back..”
“Then I'm ready to go back the moment you guys need me,” I said, trying to hide the fact that I was pretty wiped out from the whole endeavor. The return trip may have brought back my energy, but I knew I was at my limit. Anymore physical labor, and I'd probably have collapsed. How I managed to even climb the tower, or run as far as I did, I had no idea.
“Don't be so hasty,” Gumi advised, “as I said, it's all a theory, and right now, I need to get this data sorted through. I need to crack this data open.”
“Then I assume we're done here?” Meiko asked.
“Not quite,” Gumi said, “I have one last thing for Griff.”
“Oh, right,” I said, realizing I had given her my phone.
“I managed to get it back for you. It wasn't too hard.”
My face lit up at her statement. I opened my phone, and checked. It was there again. I was so happy, I could have hugged Gumi for it. I had been so worried about having lost it forever, and Gumi managed to retrieve it.
“Thank you so much, Gumi,” I said, “I mean it.”
“No need. Like I said, easy peasy.”
Meiko peeked over my shoulder, looking at the picture that Miku had taken.
“I can see why you wanted it back so badly,” Meiko said. “You two seemed happy together.”
“I agree,” Gumi said. “I'd say they look a little cute together.”
I started blushing, feeling a little hot. I would have said something, but I didn't want to make a big deal out of it.
“Now, like I said,” Gumi added, “we'll need to be careful. As much as you want to save Miku, we can't go forward until I have everything together. We'll take tomorrow off, and work on a plan on Friday. Sound good?”
I nodded.
“I think it's time to get you home,” Meiko said, “let's get changed and we'll head back.”
I put my phone away, and followed behind Meiko into the changing rooms. She walked up to the duffel bag and pulled her old clothes out.
“You gonna be able to get me home?” I asked. “That wound you've got concerns me.”
“I'll be fine, I can cover this up,” she said, “are you holding up okay?”
I shrugged. “I'm going to need some time to process everything I've found out today. I'm still having a hard time believing everyone here isn't really human.”
I sat down on the bench, looking away from Meiko.
“Something else on your mind?” She asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “Something’s been on my mind and I think I oughta say something now. I trust you guys now, but I needed to be sure.”
“Go for it,” Meiko said.
“Before she got captured, Miku told me that she had something she left in her home. Something she wanted me to find. I think she knew about you guys, maybe. I think that’s why I agreed to all of this, because something in my gut told me that you and everyone else were the people I needed to follow behind to get the answers I’m looking for. Now I’m starting to see that I was right. You were the right people to run into.”
“Glad you trusted us,” Meiko said. “I think you’ve made a good addition to our team.”
“If only I wasn’t such a coward,” I said, looking down, “maybe I’d actually believe that.”
“You did what I told you to do. Following orders is better than going in thinking you can take something on.”
“Yeah, but, watching you, you were strong, confident, and you weren't scared. I wish I could be like that.”
“Why wish? I can train you.”
I looked at her, surprised. “You think you can do that?”
“It doesn't look like we're going to be able to take it easy, considering today especially. I think it'll benefit you.”
“I'd like that,” I said, “I want to be able to prove I'm good for the team.”
“Then it's a deal,” she said, standing up, “but right now, let's get you home.”
I got up and grabbed my clothes out of the bag, and walked into the changing room. Getting back home after such a long day sounded nice, and getting to sleep sounded even nicer. Once I had changed out of the jumpsuit, and back into my normal clothes, I felt relaxed.
I stepped out, and saw Meiko in her normal clothes. I couldn't see any visible wounds on her. Her black shirt covered her top well enough, with it tucked into her jeans. She threw on a gray sweater over her shirt, my guess was to cover her arms.
“Well, shall we get going?”
I nodded. “I don't have any other reason to stay.”
With that, we left back up through the elevator. As we got up, I saw outside, and saw how late it actually was. The sun was well past set, and now the moon was visible. I looked at my phone. It was 9:17 P.M.
Suddenly, once my phone had reconnected its signal, I saw David had tried to call me about seven times. I called him back immediately.
He picked up after the second ring. “Do you know how close I was to calling the police?”
“David,” I said, “look, I'm really sorry.”
“I've been worried sick about what might have happened to you? Do you understand? Where are you right now?”
“I- we're outside right now, about to go home. I forgot to turn my phone back on when we got out, and, well-”
“Just get back here, okay? We need to talk when you get home.”
“Okay,” I said, hanging up.
“Oof,” Meiko said, “we didn't think about the time we'd be taking today.”
“I don't think I've ever been in trouble over something like this before.”
“Sorry,” she said, “do you need me to back you up?”
“No,” I said, “I can talk to him myself. Don't worry about me, okay?”
I was lying. I don't think I'd ever been in trouble with David before, at least not to this extent. He sounded angry, and I was almost scared to even go back home now.
“Well,” Meiko said, “if you insist. I should probably get you home, then
We made our way back to her car, uncovered it, and got in. Once she had gotten in and started the car, and I got my seatbelt on, Meiko brought up something else.
“I've been thinking about something,” she said, “and Iwanted to see if you wanted in before I'd ask Gumi about it.”
“Well, what is it?” I asked.
“It's about Miku, and where she was living before she got captured. I was wondering, but there might be some clues she left behind that we could search her home for. Did you ever see her place?”
“Occasionally I'd ask her about coming over, but she'd always say her parents wouldn't ever let anyone in.”
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
“Well,” Meiko said, turning the car onto the highway, “you probably know she doesn't have parents now.”
“Yeah,” I said, “looking back I'm starting to think some of her behavior was a little weird, but I never really questioned it.”
“How so?”
I explained. “I remembered one time she accidentally cut herself on her hand. Nothing severe, but it looked like it hurt. She tried really hard to keep me from seeing it, though.”
“As you've seen, we don't really bleed like you would.”
“Yeah, I'm realizing that now. She didn't want me to find out, and here I am, having found out everything.”
“Does that change how you feel about her at all?”
“No,” I said, looking out the car's side window, “Miku's the only friend I've ever actually had. To me, she's still a person, even if she's made of metal.”
“I'm sure you were the only actual friend she had, too.”
“That's what feels so weird to me, too,” I said, a sad smile crossing my face. “She has such an outgoing personality, I'm surprised she didn't make friends with anyone else.”
“Do you have any other friends?”
“I'd like to think you and I are friends, Meiko.” I said.
Meiko laughed, “Aside from me, dummy.”
I chuckled. “Well, aside from you guys, no. I never really made friends with anyone at school. Which is even more strange that I'd make friends with someone outside of school.”
“Huh,” she said, “then what did you do before you met her?”
“I think I just hung out at home. I biked occasionally, I played video games, watched T.V., read comic books, what most normal kids my age do.”
“I get that,” she said, “but we're getting sidetracked.”
I nodded in agreement. “What do you plan on doing about investigating Miku's home?”
“Right. I'll ask Gumi tomorrow during my repairs.”
“I'd like that,” I said. “Send me a message the moment you can.”
“Will do,” she said, turning off the highway and heading down towards home.
We passed by the Burger Champ we had eaten at yesterday, and I thought of something.
“Hey,” I said, “now that I think about it, I should ask something.”
“Shoot,” Meiko said.
“Do you guys really need to eat?”
“Actually, yes,” Meiko answered, “we produce our own energy that way.”
“Kinda like how humans do it? That's kinda cool.”
“It's a little more complicated than that,” she explained, “we don't really digest food the same way you would. Our bodies will break down the organic matter and send it throughout our body, especially where it needs it the most.”
“Wait, you don't need a battery or anything like that?”
“Well, everyone has batteries, ours are just a little more literal in a sense. We're high maintenance, but we've been built for self-sustaining rather than having someone else fix us all the time.”
“So, Gumi doesn't need to fix you?”
“My wounds can heal over time, but Gumi can do it a lot faster than my own body can.”
“Wow,” I said, “I'm learning so much today.”
“It's the wonders of modern science,” she said, “sometimes I wonder how we ended up as we are.”
“Well,” I said as the car started driving down the street I live on, “I'm glad you are who you are.”
“Thanks,” she said. “Just remember what we talked about tonight, and don't worry about today, you did good out there.”
“Gotcha,” I said, “I'm hoping we can train together really soon.”
The car pulled up to my house, and I got out. Meiko and I said our goodbyes and she drove off. Once she was gone, I started feeling tense. David was going to be pretty upset when I got home. I stepped up on to the porch, walked to the door, and resigned myself to fate.
David was sitting at the kitchen table, with a look of frustration across his face.
“David I-.”
“Save it,” he said, “do you know how worried I was about you?”
I attempted to say something, but couldn't. I could understand what David meant. I didn't call, or text him, and worse, I had no way of being able to.
Especially after what happened a week ago,” he continued, “I don't know what happened to you, and I couldn't figure out whether you were okay, or if you had been in something even worse.”
I stood there, listening, trying to avoid eye contact. It felt horrible dodging him, especially not having done this before. I wanted to go to my room, I wanted to forget this ever happened, but that wasn't going to happen.
“Just, goddamn it, Griff, I can't take the idea of something happening to you.”
I looked at him, my face feeling a little hot. I didn't want to cry, but I started to, and I felt like I was going to break any second.
“Hey, now,” he said, his voice having calmed down, “I don't wanna make you feel bad, I was just feeling worried.” He came over to comfort me. “Look,” he said, “I'm not too sure I know how to do this parent thing all that well. I understand why you've been going out lately, and I'm glad you're doing it.”
I wiped my face. “I don't know what it's like to be a parent, but if it helps, you've done a pretty good job with me, I think.”
“Sometimes, I wonder if your dad would say the same thing if he was here.”
“Well, I'm here, and I'm sorry.”
He sighed. “Sorry, kiddo, I didn't mean to yell at you. I used to do things like this all the time myself, so I understand. I just don't want something bad happening to you.”
“I don't think anyone does,” I said, “but I get why you're upset. I'll try to remember to keep you in the know next time.”
“Thanks,” he said, standing up. “Just be safe if you're going to go out, okay?”
“I can do that.”
“Alright,” he said, “then I'm glad we could talk. I'm pretty tired. I'm gonna turn in for the night.”
“Yeah, me too,” I said, “I've had a kinda long day.”
“I bet.”
With that, he went to his room, and I went to mine. Shutting the door, I took a deep breath.
“That could have gone a lot worse,” I said to myself. “I can't believe I started crying. I feel awful.”
I changed into my sleeping clothes, and laid down. I took out my phone one last time, just to check if I missed any updates.
Nothing. Everyone else probably went to sleep. Or maybe not, I had no clue. Did they need to sleep? Meiko talked about how food helped with energy, but did sleep do the same thing? I stared at my ceiling trying to figure all of this out.
When Meiko got stabbed, I was terrified, thinking she was about to die, but she didn't seem to even flinch when the blade cut into her. Did she feel pain, or did she have a way to turn that off? Does she feel pain at all? It all was so much to process.
I pulled out my phone, and looked for the photo Miku and I had taken. I stared at it. She looked the same, with that confident smile of hers, and an attitude that felt so positive, it was almost infectious. To think, she was artificial, built to look like a human, but beneath her, wasn't the case at all.
“Does that change how you feel about her at all?”
That question popped into my head. I kept staring, but all I saw was the person I knew, and nothing less than that. Even if Miku was artificial, even if she was a robot, I refused to believe that affected her personality. She was still herself, deep down. I don't think there was anything that was going to change my mind on that, either.
I put my phone down, and stared at my ceiling again.
Now we have one answer, at least, I thought to myself, but where do we go from here? Is she going to be okay? Will we be able to rescue her?
I looked at the photo again, and made a note to myself.
Burn this into your brain. If you feel like giving up, remind yourself what you're working towards. She saved you, and you need to pay her back. Remember that.
I turned off my screen, and shut my eyes. After such a long day, I felt I had earned it.
I didn’t hear from Meiko until after school on Thursday. The message read: “Hey, Gumi just finished, and we talked over our plan. She said she'll look into it tonight, and we'll investigate tomorrow after you're finished with school. I'll pick you up. All of this sounds good?”
“Sounds good,” I wrote back, “I'll be looking forward to it.”
I took myself to my room, where I'd hang out for the rest of the night before going to bed. I figured I should get plenty of rest.
Friday was here now, and school had ended. Exiting school, I saw Meiko's car in the distance, parked away from the school grounds. She was standing outside, with Luka in the front seat, and Gumi sitting in the back. It was weird seeing both of them outside of the facility, but I was still happy to see them.
I approached Meiko's car, and she waved.
“Well, you're here now. Ready to get this show on the road?”
“You guys found it?”
“Gumi did,” Meiko said. “We gotta get going.”
Meiko opened the rear car door. Gumi sat in the back while Luka sat up front. I also noticed the car smelled much cleaner, and even had all of its trash taken out.
Gumi, who was using her laptop, turned her attention to me after I entered.
“Hey, Griff!” She said, “looks like we're doing things a little differently today.”
“I guess so,” I said. “You have an idea where she is?”
“I sure do,” she replied, “and it's weird, but she's actually downtown, so we're going to have to drive a little ways to get there.”
“I’m surprised you found her this fast,” I said, “but you’re a tech whiz.”
“Never doubt the almighty Gumi,” Luka said, looking at both of us. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
Meiko started the car and we drove off to our destination.
“So,” Gumi said, showing me her laptop, “I started peeking around cameras, looking for Miku from about last week, the day she went missing.”
She pulled up images of Miku walking around the Northern Palm Train Station. She cycled through pictures, showing her in crowds around downtown.
“As you can see,” Gumi explained, “I started following her downtown, mostly retracing where she was walking from. It took me a little bit, but I managed to figure out exactly where she was staying.”
“How?” I asked.
“Well, her apartment complex doesn't have cameras, but there was a nearby coffee shop that did. You can see her leaving her unit in this one.”
She pulled up another image. This one was harder to make out, and I needed Gumi to point me to what she was looking at.
“See here? Well, probably not,” Gumi said. “I had to set up an algorithm that enhanced the image. It took a little bit of work, but sure enough, that girl in the image is definitely her.”
She pulled up the enhanced image. Sure enough, I could see what she was saying.
“I’d recognize that hairstyle anywhere,” I said. “Not that I had reason to doubt your findings, though.”
Gumi nodded.
“That apartment complex over there looks like where she was living. Sure enough, I did a little digging into their records, seeing if there was anyone in their lease.”
“Did you find a name?” I asked, looking at the building in the image.
“Well, not exactly. I did find a name that resembled her, though.”
Gumi pulled up a leasing agreement that was signed in pretty cursive lettering by “Mika Halloway.”
“Those initials match up,” I said. “Cover name?”
“It's the closest thing we have to a lead. If we're wrong, well, let's hope whoever we're visiting isn't home.”
I just hope you're not wrong, I thought, the last thing we need is more trouble.
“Everything sound good?” Gumi asked, pulling her laptop back over to her.
“Yeah,” I said, “I'm happy we've got someone like you to help look through this stuff. I wouldn't know where to start.”
“It's no big deal,” she said, “I do stuff like this for fun.”
“Good to know,” I said. “If I ever need someone to break into things, I'll be sure to ask for you first.”
Gumi nodded, and went back to looking at her laptop. I wondered what else she was doing on it aside from digging around for Miku. Maybe it was something related to Other-Earth, but I didn't bother to ask. She'd tell me if it was important for me to know.
The ride went on for about forty-five minutes before we arrived downtown. Once we had, I noticed how different things looked than where I lived. I hadn't been down here in a while, and I had forgotten how tall the buildings were. The streets were crowded, too, full of people going somewhere. If I didn't already have plans for why we were down here, I'd try to be her all day.
“Okay, Gumi,” Meiko said, “where exactly are we going?”
“The apartment is on 65th and Stallion. You're looking for 'Stallion Road Apartments.'”
“Alright, thanks,” Meiko said, “we're on 71st, so we'll be there in a bit. Be ready to get out when we get there.”
“'Get ready?'” I asked, looking at Gumi.
“We've gotta be out of the car the moment we arrive. Meiko needs to stash it somewhere. You think we want to park it in broad daylight? We'd be painting a target on our back if we did that.”
I hadn't thought about that. Unlike me, these three had to live in complete secrecy, and even out in public, they needed to conceal themselves.
I picked up my backpack, and Gumi slid her laptop into a carrying case. The coffee shop was on our left, and Meiko approached the turn. Across from us was an entrance into an alley, where rows of buildings were lined up next to each other.
Meiko turned her car into the alley, and drove up.
“I'll call you guys when I'm on my way back,” she said. “Don't wait for me.”
We all nodded, and exited the car. Meiko drove off.
Gumi slung her carrying case over her arm, and started walking towards one of the red brick buildings.
“Right around here,” she said, “we're looking for apartment '9-E.'”
The area Miku was living around wasn’t in the best shape, but it was still home to her. Most of the buildings were made with red bricks. The road around us was asphalt, with random patches of it cracked open. Occasionally I’d hear a police siren off in the distance.
My thoughts were interrupted when Luka grabbed my arm. “C'mon, Griff, don't space out on us here.”
I looked at her, apologizing. “Sorry,” I said, “let's go.”
Gumi was standing at the top of a row of stairs, next to a sign on her right that read “Building 9.” Lucky for us, we didn't have to travel very far to get there. I walked behind them, as Gumi opened the door and motioned for us to head inside.
The apartment hallways looked old. The paint was starting to wear away in some places. Some of the lights were out, or flickering. The wooden railings that led upstairs had missing screws, and looked as if they weren't very stable. I could hear a man and a woman arguing in one of the rooms. This place was depressing. Needless to say, it wasn’t very pleasant.
Luka and Gumi proceeded ahead down the hall. I followed behind them. They stopped at the end by a door with an “E” nailed to it.
“Here it is,” Luka said, holding her hand out to Gumi, “can you get my tools out?”
Gumi pulled out a bobby pin and a screwdriver from the front of her bag. I had seen plenty of police shows to know where this was going.
“You know how to do that?” I asked.
She nodded, sticking the bobby pin into the lock, and started fiddling with it. She had a mostly bored expression doing it, too. This seemed like nothing to her, but I was amazed by her talent.
“Be glad I'm here,” Luka said. “Knowing Meiko, she'd use a battering ram.”
“Don’t doubt that,” I said.
After a moment of fiddling with the lock, a satisfying click sounded from within it. Luka stood up, and jiggled the handle. The door opened.
“Well, Casa de Miku awaits,” Gumi said, giggling.
All three of us walked in, one after another. Miku's apartment was almost empty. There wasn't any furniture, or any electronics. A mattress sat in the corner on the floor, with a couple of books and a lamp next to it. A blanket sat on top of it as well, it was lumped up and messy.
“Geez,” Luka said, “she wasn't living with much.”
“Yeah,” Gumi followed up with, “I thought she'd have way more stuff here. This place is barren.”
I hunched down next to the mattress and noticed there was a lump
Gumi sat down at another corner, and took her laptop out.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Just checking in, seeing if our Ranger friends have gotten back to me,” she replied. “I tapped into her neighbor's network. Turns out Miku didn't have any internet here, like I'd hoped.”
“Sounds right,” I said, “anything new?”
“Still trying to get a stable connection. It'll be a bit."
I went back to looking around. The books by Miku's bed were all stacked neatly next to the lamp. One was called Music and You: A Guide to Understanding Music Theory. I looked through it, and found a page that had been dog-eared. Another was a book about aviation and naval planes. I put the books in my backpack. I'd want to get these back to her.
Nothing seemed out of place aside from nothing really being in this place. Whatever it was she left for me to find, she hid it carefully.
The door opened behind me. Meiko had come in.
“Hey,” she said. “Car's parked. Made sure no one saw me, either.”
“Good work,” Gumi said. “I'm just making some quick readings before we finish up here. This place doesn't really have much, so we probably won't be here long.”
“Damn, not even a paper trail?” Meiko asked.
Gumi shook her head, “I wish she'd had left us with a note, but I doubt she knew anymore than we do.”
Meiko crossed her arms. “Let's keep looking, there should at least be one thing we can take from this place. All of this would be for nothing if we leave empty-handed.”
I picked up the toy without thinking and walked over to the kitchen.
Luka was in her kitchen, looking through cupboards, seeing if there was anything in there.
“Any luck?” Meiko asked.
“Nothing in here, save for maybe some cereal bars,” Luka said. She turned over and looked at the toy in my hands, raising an eyebrow, and going back to digging.
I remember she said that she hadn't gotten anything to eat that morning because she was going to be late to see me. That wasn't the case; she just didn't have anything to eat.
“She barely had anything in here. I wonder how she fed herself,” Meiko commented.
I shrugged. “There are plenty of places around here to eat. She probably hated being cooped up in here all the time.”
“Maybe,” Meiko said, “you'd know better than any of us.”
That was true. They probably didn't interact with Miku as much as I had, if they had at all. I remembered she never liked being in one place all the time, always wanting us to get up and go somewhere.
“Hey, check this out,” Luka said, pulling open a sliding door, “I think I found her closet.”
She pulled it open, and I saw a row of clothes hanging off of hangers. Luka started looking through them, eyeing each of them.
“I'll give her one thing,” she said, “her fashion sense isn't bad.”
I looked at some of them, remembering some of the clothes she wore. Most of her outfits were a combination of blue jeans and a shirt, and I never really paid attention.
“Did she ever start changing her clothes the more you two hung out?”
I looked at Luka, perplexed by the question.
“What?” she asked. “It's a pretty simple question.”
“She just wore clothes, I never saw anything different.”
“Wait, you never saw her outfits get a little fancier when you hung out?”
“Fancier?”
Luka stared at me in disbelief. “Maybe it's just a girl thing, but, Meiko, you know what I'm talking about, right?”
Meiko shook her head. “I'm with Griff on this. Clothes are just clothes.”
Luka let out a loud sigh, and I scratched my head. I noticed there was one outfit that stood out to me, though, and I pointed at it.
“That skirt and blouse, is that what you mean?”
“She wore that?” Luka asked.
“Just once, but I remember that was definitely something she wore. It looked nice.”
“Yeah,” Luka said, “I think she was trying to get you to notice.”
“Oh,” I said, looking down. “I feel like I should have known that.”
“Don't worry,” Luka said, “I'll make sure you understand what a good dress is the next time you two end up hanging out together.” She started pulling the clothes out of Miku’s closet. “I'll keep these safe for her.”
She started grabbing the clothes off of their hangers, and folded them neatly. Sorting them into piles, even. I left her to do her thing while I fiddled with the bunny toy. I probably shouldn’t have been messing with it, but there wasn’t much else there to look.
The bunny toy had a little carrot that had a set of buttons on it. The plush material made it hard to press them, but I kept fiddling with it. None of the buttons actually worked, and I would have given up there, but my curiosity got the best of me.
I pulled the velcro carrot off the toy and opened the inside to see if there were any batteries. They seemed to have been yanked out, and something else sat inside of it. Something I didn’t expect to find sitting in there. I pulled out a small rectangular device that had a faint red glow to it.
“Guys!” I yelled, “I think we found something!”
Gumi and Meiko looked over at me, and Luka turned her head from the closet. All three of them looked shocked at the object I was holding.
“Oh, hell,” Meiko said. “She did leave something for us to find.”
“Is this a good or bad thing?” I asked, slightly chuckling.
“A great thing,” Gumi said, reaching out to grab it. “That right there is a Duodecim access chip.”
“Access chip?” I asked.
“From what I remember,” Gumi said, fidgeting with the small device, “these are rare and hold sensitive information. Top-level security personnel have access to them. I guess someone gave it to her when she escaped, or more likely, she stole it. Doesn’t matter; we have it now..”
“And how can this help us?”
“By giving us access to Duodecim’s security protocols. These things have override keys.”
“Wait,” I asked, “can we find Miku with this?”
“Yep,” she said, putting her laptop away. “These are for access after all. If we’re lucky, we’ll be able to open up their information databases. There’s an issue there, but we are one step closer to finding our girl.”
“Then I think we found what we're looking for,” I said, grinning.
“Right you are,” Gumi said, “and as of right now, I've gotten a response back from the Rangers. Looks like we'll be meeting tomorrow. So we had better get going.”
We all packed up, grabbing everything from the apartment, and locked it back up. Now wasn't the time to celebrate yet, but we were on the right track. And we were one step closer to finding Miku.