Drive

We drove off shortly after, with the main base of operations as our target.

“You’ll need another check-up when we’re there. It’s already been scheduled. That’s what I agreed on with your father.”

“I thought you’re at full discretion to do whatever you want with me?”

“Which I still am, but you’ll also undergo regular check-ups to evaluate your development in a non-combat environment. I see my intimidation worked wonders, though.”

I almost thought of making a joke to ease up the atmosphere, but I was still tense around her, no matter how closely she resembled my own experiences.

She opened the glovebox and reached for one of many CD cases scattered inside. A quick glance was enough for her to identify whether or not she had grabbed the right one. She fed the CD to the central radio, and turned up the volume. Her hands drummed along to the steady beat of the intro.

As soon as the lyrics set in, she hummed them while nodding her head along. It was an incredibly popular Enka song from the 70’s called Tsugaru Kaikyō Fuyugeshiki, last I could remember.

“This song is all I remember from back then. Before the catastrophe, I mean. My grandmother always used to play the original vinyl on our record player, at least I think so. Everything before it is hazy, except for the lyrics of this song.”

I rummaged through the other cases in her glovebox while she was distracted from driving, only to find that on every single one the song was included at least once.

“So do you like it?”

“It keeps me from going insane, that’s all. Reminds me of a better time, before all of this.”

“And the dress?”

“You’re really daring right now, huh? If you really need to know, I just can’t wear anything else. I can barely manage to wear shoes for longer than an hour without collapsing. I need the earth under my feet to properly breathe. Ironic, isn’t it?”

“How do you do this? Any of it, I mean. I can’t understand. Why? I barely managed to cling on to life until now thanks to Satoru and Kaori, but there was nobody there for you back then, was there?”

“Does it matter? I’m here now. That’s really all there is to it. The Department took me in as the sole survivor and swept it under a rug. You’re actually lucky, with the connections you have to all the research going on. I’ve read about the avalanche in many files. You were only mentioned in a single one, which was heavily redacted. Your parents actually tried to change all of this for the better.”

She raised the volume back up and continued driving without any further interruption, humming along to the endless loop of that song.

Before we exited the car, she said one final thing.

“Power. That’s all that matters in this world. We both know it.”

After that, she closed the car door as hordes of agents ran towards her.

“Miss Matsumoto, there’s an urgent matter you need to attend to. We need to hurry.”

With that, I was finally alone for once in the past few dozens of hours. Genuine relief washed over me as I was completely ignored by any and all staff walking past me.

I guess they’ve only seen me with white hair and those glowing eyes before. Good for me then. Finally, some peace and quiet. Now, where is that mysterious check-up?

After searching for ten minutes and losing myself in the maze-like structure of the floor design, I approached an agent passing by.

“Excuse me, but where is the area for health check-ups? I couldn’t find it anywhere, and there’s no signage on the walls for it either.”

“And who exactly are you? Do you have any ID Ma’am?”

“Oh, do you need one? I don’t think anyone gave me an ID, me not being human anymore and all. Isn’t that what your philosophy says? Why would I need identification without rights?”

“Oh, so you’re… Just wait one minute, I’ll quickly call someone. Could you specify your “abilities” please?”

He muttered something into his cuffs, and two more agents appeared from behind seconds later.

“They’ll guide you to where you need to go, Ma’am.” He seemed slightly tense as I walked off.

“Please follow me, we’ll be there right away.”

We passed multiple empty corridors until we reached my destination at last.

“Thank you, I couldn’t have found it without you. You probably know how Miss Matsumoto gets when you don’t obey her commands, right? You really saved me there.”

“No need to thank us, just doing our jobs. Have a nice day.”

The entire walk through the facility, both of them had their trigger fingers itching to react. Their urge to kill reeked all the way back to me. Without a doubt, both of them would have happily riddled me with bullets at any moment.

“There you are Miss Wada, I’ve been waiting.”

The room had the exact same layout as the last testing room I was in, a single, futuristic examination table in the center, with nothing else but the eerie white color palette of the facility filling the loneliness caused by the chemical lighting.

“I believe you are familiar with the procedure?”

A new, unfamiliar voice spoke to me through the room’s hidden speakers.

“Let’s get it over with.”

I reclined myself on the examination table and simply accepted my fate. I could feel Matsumoto’s presence from here, so there was no way around it. She may have opened up a little, but that doesn’t change her general sentiment toward her responsibilities.

The weird scanner descended from the ceiling once more.

“I see the recorded wounds have already healed. Do you have any idea how exactly that happened?”

She said it herself. She’ll tear me limb from limb if I say anything. I don’t know how exactly it happened anyway.

“No, I am completely clueless as to how that happened. I’m just glad it did.”