Chapter Seventeen - Tuesday III - The Beginning And The End

You’re still on the bed? It’s mid-afternoon. Cute as it is seeing you so lightly dressed, it is mildly concerning… ‘Please tell me you’ve not been sat there since you woke up?’

‘You know how it is sometimes; you wake up excited to work on something and literally forget about pretty much everything else, in favour of making progress…’

Really; you’re not even gonna look away from the screen to talk to me? ‘Okayy… Tell me you at least went to or will stop to, um, relieve yourself in a dignified manner when the time necessitates it?’

‘Yes, I did, mother. Now, if you don’t mind, could you please go away?’

‘Well, we’ve recovered the truck and neatly inventoried the rest of our recently acquired supplies, as well as all of the other housekeeping stuff that the captain desired, so, now we’re simply researching where we can get the remaining parts to build something that can take care of this place while we’re out.’ After loosening the straps around her left thigh and taking a seat at the edge of the doctor’s bed, she continued, ‘Are you sure there isn’t any way that I can help? I know! Maybe food or drink? Water at least? It’d suck if you went through all of what you did last night, only to collapse from something as trivial as desk work.’

Ugh, at least it’ll get you to go away for a bit and leave me in peace. ‘Well, I haven’t eaten yet today, so maybe you could find me something to make up for the breakfast and lunch that I haven’t eaten yet,’ Tsubaki waywardly replied.

There really is no shaking your focus is there? Just you wait…

As the sun lingered near the horizon with a bright orange glow while it made its descent, Hikari returned to the bedroom areas of the hangar. With a gentle and steady opening of the door to her room. ‘Hey, um, I’m sorry it took so long, but I’ve returned, bringing nourishment.’

Hmm, something smells nice. Nice? Actually, now that the aroma’s gotten closer, it’s teasing my nose; an earnest attempt at tempting me away from the screen, right when I’m at such an important point.

‘Hey, um,’ Hikari tentatively offered.

Yeah; there’s no escaping – the smell significantly amplifies my desire for food and is only going to completely kill my concentration eventually. ‘You have two plates? You’re not planning on us having dinner together, are you?’ Tsubaki cautiously questioned, following an ephemeral glance in Hikari’s direction.

‘I’ll keep that idea for another time, thanks,’ she playfully replied. ‘They’re both for you, actually,’ she confirmed, while lowering the plates to beside the notebook keyboard which sat in the doctor’s lap.

‘Did you make those yourself?’

‘Uh, yeah. I kinda took a leaf out of Aki and Saki’s book and figured you might like a cooked veggie dish, though I’m not really used to making these kinds of things. Well, that and I figured it’d be a good way to say thanks for you helping rescue my ass last night.’

‘YES!! Finally!’

‘Huh? Are you that happy that I’ve cooked for you?’ Hikari quizzed, with brows furrowed in confusion.

‘Not that, silly. I’ve finally managed to work my way into the information databases that they left behind! After such a long quest, we finally have the treasure that I’d been seeking.’

Ah, great. It’s nice to see you smile, but I can’t help but feel a bit disregarded and undervalued right here.

‘Now I can start snooping around and seeking out info that can help us in all manner of ways. It looks like we have a full database of facilities, personnel assigned and projects in development as well…’ the doctor gleefully murmured. ‘You’re awfully quiet; are yo-. Eep!’ There’s a face I didn’t even know you could make; your eyes look like a dam that’s one minor tremor away from bursting. ‘I’m sorry! I was so into the decryption thing that I kind of got carried away. I was listening and I appreciate the gesture, honestly!’

Yeah; I was upset, but seeing you react in such a panic is pretty hard not to laugh at or derive pleasure from. Heh... ‘So long as you’re aware of the error of your ways, it’s okay,’ the black and purple haired woman lightly replied, with a little smile.

‘Right. Sooo, what have you got for me? It smells lovely.’

‘Here’s hoping it tastes as good then. This, is a shaved asparagus and daikon salad and this, is Chikuzenni, made using tofu rather than meat.’

‘Ah, thank you, I guess I’ll have them now, before I do anything else with the information stores,’ Tsubaki informed, as she set her laptop down.

‘So, what are you going to do now, having finished catering to my needs and all?’

‘I don’t know, probably read a magazine or story or something.’

‘Why are you setting down there then? You are aware that your bed is over there,’ the doctor reminded, eyeing the other bed in the room.

After a brief period of staring blankly into the purple eyes of the woman sat in front of her, Tsubaki continued. ‘Seeing as you’re so insistent on being close to me, why don’t you make yourself useful and tell me a story while I eat. For example, say, what the deal is behind that water lily in your hair. Do you ever wear anything else or take it off?’ Ah; whoops. That was probably the wrong question to reel off so casually. She’s gone back to looking oddly melancholic. Meekly, she followed up. ‘Sorry, that was probably insensitive of me, forget that I-.’

‘No, it’s fine. I’d have to tell you at some point anyway, I guess,’ Hikari conceded with a note of despair as she stared directly into the doctor’s emerald eyes.

Yep; judging by how your voice is lacking its usual steadiness, I’ve definitely stepped on a landmine. This must be what your mother was referring to when we visited. I guess having accidentally asked now saves me trouble of having to painfully and carefully ask what happened if I’d actually thought, or overthought it. ‘Actually, I’d been meaning to ask, but because we’ve been so busy, I kind of never got around to it.’

‘Huh?’

‘Yuri told me that there was something that happened to you as a teenager; I’m guessing the water lily is connected to that?’

‘Yeah; that does sound like something she’d do. Do you really want to know what happened though? It could take a while.’

‘I want to know.’ You can’t say I’m not trying, Kasumi.

❀

‘So, Hikari, what did you get?’

‘Yeah; show us!’

‘I bet you more or less aced it like you usually do, right?’

Ugh; I wish you’d all just leave me alone. It’s not even like my test results are the highest in the class, anyway. I know who’s claimed that honour. I’ve never outscored her once in my life and I highly doubt I did this time either.

‘So, how’d you do this time?’

As soon as I heard her gentle yet teasing voice, I immediately diverted my gaze upwards from my test paper and there she stood. Her playful grin while asking, which she maintained as she watched me closely review my test paper should have pissed me off, but I could never bring myself to be so much as mildly annoyed with her, even if she did come over to my desk purely to rub her test score in my face and remind me where I sat in the pecking order.

‘Ninety-two,’ I meekly admitted. ‘Let me guess; you got another perfect score?’ I reluctantly enquired.

‘Not quite; ninety-nine on this occasion, but I guess you can’t win them all, right?’

Says the girl who always outscores me, despite myself pretty much always having excellent test results. I was relieved that she stopped by my desk though; essentially rescuing me from being interrogated by the other guys and girls in class that tended to flock towards me around that time. ‘I guess it depends on what your definition of winning is,’ I blankly replied.

‘Eh? You got an almost perfect score? I barely scraped a passing score,’ one of the girls nearby remarked.

‘Well, I did spend a good while studying for the exam. Maybe I’ll give you a bit of help with studying when the next one’s coming up.’ As I listened to her chat with our classmate, I couldn’t help but admire. I have no idea how you do it; always so cheerful and positive, with seemingly unending kindness. It’s probably the main thing that I’ve always loved about you.

She returned to silence and continued to spectate me, well, at least that’s the feeling I got from seeing her tights, pleated skirt and blazer still lingering in front of my desk out of the edge of my vision. I looked up once more and sure enough, she stood there beaming a friendly smile directly at me.

‘Can I help you?’ I asked.

‘It’s lunchtime, you’re not going to spend it alone with that test paper, are you?’ she quizzed back, with a playfully irritated glare and frown.

‘Ah, right, sorry. Um, I made boxed lunches for the both of us, just like I’d promised yesterday. Should we get going?’

Her cheerfulness returned, with the display of a radiant smile; one which negated the need to use words and also comforted me far more than any of the pandering that the others guys and girls in class around us could ever come up with.

As we scuttled through the crowded and bustling halls, the sea of students reminded me just how much I appreciated having her close by. The intensity of the stares that turned my way, the disruption to chatter as I passed, the following murmurs of admiration and unwanted gawking often made me want to run away and hide, but having her with me often helped fade all of the unnecessary and unwarranted attention into insignificance. I know it sounds selfish; but I firmly believed that beside each other was were we belonged, given that I’ve always been the only one she’s really comfortable baring her whole personality to and vice-versa.

Fast forward a few weeks, to Thursday, 4th June, 2017; after getting changed back into my uniform, I checked my phone for the time, as I buttoned up my shirt. Little more than a month left until the regional gymnastics tournament which I’d just come from practise for. While I’d been going to competitions like those for a few years at that point, that’d be the first time I competed in high school. As I folded away my training suit, I once again repeated my target. Hopefully this year will be the one where I finally take home a gold medal at the national gymnastics’ competition…

As I strolled out from the changing room, into the hallway, there she stood, resting, back against the wall and playing with her phone.

‘Naoka!’ I called out, prompting her to instantly turn and reveal the side ponytail that she usually wore on her left. Though she flashed me a smile as she turned, her brown eyes suggested to me a mild state of discomfort, which planted a seed of unsettled concern within me. Still, I continued, ‘You waited around for me all this time? I thought you’d be out enjoying the sun and pick me up at the gate or the front entrance, like you usually do?’

As we slowly made our way through the hallways, she replied, though from the first few strangely flat words alone, the seed of concern quickly sprouted. ‘Um, yeah, I’ve kinda been thrown off a bit this afternoon. As soon as the student council meeting finished, one of the guys from the second year asked me to stay back; to then invite me out on a date.’

Aside from the stress which audibly weighed down her usually cheery tone, the actual words also left me a bit short on breath, with a light stinging at the corners of my eyes, but also on the verge of breaking into a sweat; and not because of the summer heat. I flitted between being irritated that she wasn’t feeling her usual self and irritated that somebody had threatened to take my closest friend from me. Sounds bitchy, but a mixture of anger and despair welled up within me, after hearing her reveal why she’d come to me and why her usual cheery aura appeared and sounded disturbed.

While I continued to silently process and manage my emotions, she carried on. Turning to face me while we sauntered, with a slightly more cheerful tone, ‘You know me; I’ve never really been interested in romance or whatever, so that kind of thing really caught me by surprise. I’ve never given anything like that any thought. I didn’t really know how to respond, so rather than give him a chance and venture in uncharted waters, I simply shot him down. I told him the truth; that I wasn’t really looking for anything romantic right now.’

Her last two sentences dissolved the then almighty weight of anxiety which bore down on me though Naoka still sounded uneasy, which obviously still left me a bit worried. Her happiness and mine essentially became interlocked, intertwined or melted into one common property many years ago.

‘Heh, I mean, if there is anybody I’d probably accept a confession from, it’d probably be you, Hikari.’

Her wayward comment made me flinch. It came as a completely unexpected surprise, which sparked a wild and rampant series of questioning within my head. ‘Is that an invitation? You are messing with me, right?’

She softly informed, ‘Well, we have known each other and been pretty close as far back as either of us can remember, right? It’d be no exaggeration to say that you’re by far and away the person I take delight in being with more than anybody else.’

‘Please stop. You’ll make me melt, silly,’ I told her, as I linked onto one of her arms and nestled my head against her shoulder, like a cat that’s pleased to have been fed. In this instance however, the cat’s pleasure came from her closest friend filling her with a warm fuzzy feeling which she truly loved and could happily lose herself in. The cat had also been given a lovely reminder as to why that friend would probably always be the girl or woman that she’d always hold dear.

Fast forward almost twenty-four hours and I stood in the changing room again, though after having pulled my phone from the locker, I looked at the screen and didn’t even bother with getting dressed back into my school uniform. I hurriedly slipped my trainers back on and dashed at full-speed for the nearest exit.

“Sports shed in trouble come quick.” My heart sank as I caught sight of the words and the sender’s name, before racing like a sprinter at an Olympic final.

My shoes squealed as I turned corners and darted through the fairly narrow stretches before emerging out into the late afternoon heat and the green expanse which sat around the school’s sports track.

I bolted straight toward the shed.

Sweating and a bit worn down from the gym practise and the ensuing sprint to reach the large wooden double door that so stubbornly refused my entry, I repeatedly rammed into the staunch barrier with a shoulder, before eventually deciding that a more elaborate method would probably yield a better result.

I retracted roughly twenty metres or so, and like a long jump competitor, darted towards the door as rapidly as my legs would afford me before diving headfirst into the door.

‘Ugh, ouch,’ I moaned, as I considered that there’s probably a splinter or two in places that they really shouldn’t be and that the throbbing of my head probably wasn’t a good sign.

Those thoughts quickly evaporated into total irrelevance however.

I rolled over and froze briefly. My heart, which raced moments earlier, found another gear and would probably have flung itself from my chest if my heart rate climbed any further.

Hesitantly, I crawled forward and saw her laying there, with a pool of blood near her left side. Her beautiful face lay motionless, and out of sorts. I could see that one of her cheeks had been coloured markedly red as well, as if she’d been slapped. While my mind whipped itself into a storm, the sight of her skirt being slightly hiked up and her underwear being part way down her legs added fury into the mess of emotions whirling within me. I desperately crawled towards her, and checked her right wrist for a pulse.

Her wrist gave me nothing.

As I received confirmation of what I most feared, my vision blurred and my face soon became soaked, as the torrents flowed from my eyes.

My guiding star, the one person who I’d been completely at home around for pretty much my entire life; my greatest source of comfort and joy was no longer alive.

Never again would she grace anybody with her cheerful presence, wonderful smile, admirable intelligence and personality or see me as just a regular person and treat me like a friend rather than an idol.

No thoughts of going to alert a teacher or the police crossed my mind until darkness descended on the shed and the staff on lock-up duty toured the campus.

I’d been paralysed and drained of all strength and willpower to the point where I too ended up laying on the floor, unable to think about anything really.

---

Fast forward to October and the girl who started her first year of high school as the star of the gymnastics team, who consistently had great test results and had gravitas that drew attention from all of the student body whenever she passed nearby had apparently disappeared.

She’d been replaced by a troublemaker with a pretty aggressive attitude problem; her uniform always had the hallmark rebellious adjustments (shorter skirt, untucked shirt, loose ribbon, etc…) and she’d taken to consistently ignoring the school’s rules about makeup, jewellery and nail polish as well.

Star of the gym team? An ancient memory; after taking a little while out, when she did return to the performance floor, she found it impossible to maintain anything close to resembling good focus, essentially making her worthless as anything other than a casual participant.

Test results? Scoring over ninety percent on a test also became a thing of the past. By mid-autumn, I’d be happy to score in the giddy heights of over fifty percent. It’s not like I wasn’t even studying either, which made the fact that much worse.

Interacting with my peers? Yeah; I did as little of that as possible. I went out of my way to avoid everybody as much as I could and keep conversations or any other interactions to a minimum. I spent pretty much every day lost in my own little world, not that the landscape of said world had anything besides chilly winds, dead trees, wilting foliage and bleak grey skies as far as the eye could see.

There came a day where one of the guys from the student council pulled me up because my skirt was too short and rather than complying to get the guy out of my face, I told him to fuck off and die. I guess whatever pain had resolutely taken up residence within me really held a grudge against the guys of the student council; who’d have thought, huh?

That flare of anger turned out to be the beginning of yet another life-changing spiral of events. Within a week or so, I’d planned on doing something to hopefully relieve me from the painful grip that Naoka’s death had firmly locked me in.

I didn’t think anybody would tell me, but after putting on a wounded puppy act, one of the student council girls told me exactly who asked Naoka to stay back on that Friday afternoon in June. Using one of the oldest tricks in the books, I’d strung along one group of those student council pricks well enough to get one of them to believe that I was gonna confess my love to one of his friends. I’d picked a good sport and he delightfully gave me the contact information that I sought.

I’d borrowed a phone from one of the girls in my class, claiming that the battery of mine had died and that I needed to contact my mother.

Rather than that, I sent an invitation…

The next weekend, I lingered outside a café, with the crisp autumn wind enthusiastically stroking my face as the dull blanket of grey above casually ventured across the sky. I ran through my plan over and over again while I waited, thinking of every possible thing which could go wrong and how it could be mitigated; I was never really a particularly organised girl, but desperate times call for desperate measures or whatever, I guess.

‘Hey,’ a confident voice called out, forcefully wresting me from my thinking.

What a piece of shit; standing there happy and smiling, without even a small hint of guilt or remorse. I turned to look toward the voice and struggled to fight down and bite back the wild plumes of rage which fired from my heart.

Rather than say anything, I took him by the hand and hurriedly led him to the nearby alleyway, despite his limited protesting. As had been the case on the numerous times when I’d studied the thin stretch of walkway, nobody else lingered, nor passed through as we advanced.

I stopped him suddenly, turned and looked up at him, directly into eyes. I could see his lips tremble and before he could make a sound I leaned in toward him and kissed his cheek.

I could tell that it caught him by surprise, as he remained silent and motionless in the immediate moment which followed. I’d expected that it’d probably only be a few seconds before he’d wrap his arms around me in reciprocation, so I reached down, under my skirt, to my left thigh, for something that I’d clipped to the top of my sock.

In less than a second, a sharp flick of my left hand and a succinct snap, followed by a strong push of the thumb had readied the tool, with a quick click.

I didn’t hesitate to retract slightly and plunge the angled blade into the side of his neck, along with kneeing him between the legs and swiftly using my right hand to muffle him. His eyes widened and he fidgeted while I hurriedly took a few more slices and jabs at his throat.

His muffled whining grew more intense, along with his albeit wayward attempts to force me away and the red streams which poured from various points of his neck.

Noticing his mumbling growing quieter, I quickly sliced each of his hands and when they retreated from me, I spiked the blade through them, for good measure.

With indignant rage in his eyes, he attempted to form fists and haphazardly attempted to take a swipe at me.

After pulling back, a forceful low kick and lunge quickly left him lying on the floor, at which point, I quickly knelt down on top of him, pinning him firmly to the floor, on his back.

Amid the blood which continued to splutter from his neck, he whimpered and smugly chuckled a bit. ‘You know this won’t bring her back. You really are a stupid bitch; while she got an easy out, you’re going to prison, where they’ll probably do the sa-’

The plumes of rage had fully consumed me by that point and I saw nothing but red beyond the watery blur that filled my vision.

I slashed continuously at any and everything until no motion or sound other than my own hasty, ragged breathing remained.

I returned to my feet and looked around, wiping the moisture from around my eyes and my cheeks.

I looked down at the heavily reddened guy, covered in slashes, until a dark, cold, and incredibly fearsome voice sent a shiver down my spine.

‘Oh ho? How does it feel to take a life?’

I slowly and reluctantly looked up, to find a woman, fairly smartly dressed, with black court heels, trousers, a long trench coat and a peach-coloured scarf, as well as a dark grey hat, which more or less matched her sharp grey irises. Her face remained mostly covered, but her eyes alone painted the image of supreme control, even despite her long, shiny, black hair elegantly flowing in the wind.

However, I wasn’t in the mood to go to prison so soon, so I set my thumb against the latch of my retractable knife’s blade-carrying section once more.

Before I could flick the sharp metal element out, the woman interjected. ‘I wouldn’t bother; you definitely won’t make it in time,’ she advised, while holding open one side of her trench coat, revealing a smart shirt, black waistcoat and more importantly, a holstered gun, with a silencer.

I’d only ever seen them in films, so seeing one in real life threatened to have sweat surging down my back like a waterfall, though the ensuing prompt did the trick anyway.

‘Don’t make me repeat myself, young lady,’ she sternly warned.

I squirmed for a moment, while I considered my response. ‘Honestly, I feel nothing; he’s gone and that’s that. At least he won’t be fucking with any other women, I guess,’ I bluntly replied.

‘Eh? Is that right?’ she asked me, with eyes narrowed in suspicion. ‘The judge and jury probably wouldn’t have much sympathy for you. Speaking of the law; the police will probably be here soon to take you away.’

Although I knew this fate awaited me, hearing it uttered aloud left me paralysed with fear.

‘That is, unless you’d like me to help. I have a sibling who can ensure that this little mess that you’ve made here disappears. However, in return, I’d like you to join her organisation and work for them. After this cute display you put on this afternoon, it’s clear that you have a unique set of skills and talent which would make you at home there, though you definitely have a lot to learn.’

‘Cute?’ I protested, hoping to communicate my indignation.

‘Please; you’re a lone teenager. Travelling alone with a dead look in your eyes; even with your weapon concealed, it was pretty obvious to a trained eye that you were either on your way to end somebody or put an end to your own life.’

As much as I hated to admit it; she’d given a totally accurate summary of the situation. ‘So, what kind of work would I be doing?’ I asked, still fearful but my voice had at least regained some steadiness.

‘That is information classified only to those who work in the organisation and select individuals of the government,’ she bluntly replied.

‘Well, it beats prison I guess and my life has already fallen apart, so, if anything you’re probably doing me a favour,’ I joked, with a weak smile.

‘A wise decision. Now, go home and get your affairs in order. We’ll be in touch within the next twenty-four hours.’

‘Yes, master!’ Although uncertain about what path I would head down, following that extraordinary encounter, the fact that I’d seemingly dodged a guaranteed life sentence in prison and been offered a job that I might be good at lifted an impossibly heavy weight from my conscience, despite my life still being a total disaster.

My thoughts remained in a jumble while I sat on my bed that night. I mostly lingered there, considering the (in)significance of that prick’s death and how it contrasted with how I felt when I’d found that Naoka had been killed.

I wondered if she’d be disappointed in me or accepting of the fact that for once, I meticulously planned and executed something without her help or input. That said, I guess taking inspiration from how efficient and assured she always could probably be argued as me taking her help.

God, everything always leads back to her, not that I want to have it any other way really, but still...

My mother called from the dining room, indicating that dinner had been prepared, shaking me from my intense deliberations.

I found myself staring straight at the dressing table.

A violet-coloured water lily hair accessory.

Tears began to well up as I focused on it.

Before we started upper-secondary education, Naoka gave it to me as a gift, to celebrate our entering the same high school together. I still remember the reassuring and comforting smile that she beamed to me when presenting it. It sucks how it brings me pain more than anything now. I genuinely hate that she of all people could make me feel like that, not that it’s her fault, of course.

I traipsed over to the desk and picked up the flower. Amid a strong torrent of sorrow and despair flowing through and ravaging the landscape of my mind, I ran through a series of memories, ranging from our smallest years, up to the two months of our first term of high school.

I took a pair of scissors from one of the drawers and snipped away my hair, reducing it to around shoulder-length. When the flowing mass no longer extended down my back, I retrieved a small hairband, to tie my hair.

As I looked in the mirror, a little flash of long-lost optimism sparked from the reflected image presented to me. Though the fringe is different and my hair black, rather than her dark brown, the look definitely does what I want it to.

With this precious water lily that you gave me, sitting atop a side ponytail, where you always wore yours, I’ll try to best use the chance at redemption that I’ve been given and I’ll keep your memory alive until if/ when there comes a time where we can meet again, Naoka (尚 for precious 華 for flower).

❀

‘Don’t tell me you’re about to cry, Tsubaki; we can’t both turn into emotional disasters here.’

‘Sorry, it’s just that I’d never had you pegged for having that kind of depth behind why you do what you do and that very distinct style of yours. I guess your mother was right, then…’

‘Eh? What else did she tell you?’

Your mother wasn’t far off at all then; it’s impressive that she could figure out all of what she did with such limited communication with you. Though I’m still not a fan of the murderous rampages, I can sort of understand where you’re coming from now; it’s not a simple surface-level desire to be a hero, but rather, it all leads back to one person.

One person who I could probably never match up to, though I guess you took to me as we both likely have intelligence in common. That said, I should probably try to squash or at least better manage my reservations and be a bit more cheerful, rather than blowing hot air as an automatic defence mechanism, especially when you’re probably acting on whatever feelings you have for her and/ or me. ‘Oh, nothing important, maybe I’ll tell you about it another time.’

‘Really? That’s what you’re going with? What better time is there than while we’re already in the midst of sharing secrets and stories?’

‘Ugh, will there ever be a time where you let me take the easy way out,’ Tsubaki sighed.

‘You got the easy way out last night; getting to lie down, while the rest of us actually got rid of the assclowns who would’ve abducted you. Besides, if you weren’t thinking about telling me what my mother said, then why’d you mention it?’

‘Careless slip of the tongue,’ the doctor nervously shrugged.

‘For which I’m suitably punishing you; now spill,’ Hikari playfully and bluntly informed.

After groaning in complaint, ‘She spoke about how you’d never told anybody how you felt about what happened back then, including her and the rest of your family. She also mentioned that you’d probably tell me everything, for reasons that I had no idea about at the time. Listening to some of the details about your departed friend, I can sort of see why you would tell me.

‘I’ve never had any particularly close friends or any romantic relationships, even casually or for short periods, so I’m pretty much clueless, but I am learning, or at least trying to. That said, I should probably thank you for helping me in that area, at least.’

Gah; there really is no escaping from mother then, is there? Even when I don’t tell her things, she’s somehow able to read me completely. I’d be willing to bet that she knew exactly how I felt back then, but refused to tell anybody else as she’d prefer me to tell them. That’d probably explain why she didn’t tell you there and then as well. In that respect, I’ll admit, she’s pretty awesome.

More immediately though; Tsubaki’s just given what sounds like an unprompted expression of gratitude, so I guess we’re making progress, even if it’s only baby steps.

‘It’s okay; we all have our own issues, right?’ Hikari replied, with a comforting smile, as she continued to gaze into the emerald eyes of the doctor while they sat face to face on the bed.

❀

Hours later, as the half-moon soaked the areas of the mountain lacking forest coverage in bright illumination, the sparse population of clouds casually drifted by.

Four women exited from an LSV which rested at the side of the narrow mountain road.

Among the quartet, the black and purple-haired member assessed. So much for spending today simply regrouping and getting our things back in order. Here we are once again, having a dance with our hunters. Things were so much easier before I met the others; run-of-the-mill gunmen and demolitionists were my biggest concern. Now it looks like I’m facing threats who are gearing up to overthrow the government or something, with the amount of high-tech combat tools, weapons and vehicles they have at hand.

That said, slipping into their site, stealing the freshly-located component and disappearing into the small hours of the morning probably won’t be a walk in the park. If only we still lived in the days of heists with laser-beam arrays as the height of security measures; my ability would make this a breeze.

It looks like blasting through the front gates is a definite no-go because they have mammoth machine gun turrets on the inside of either wall at the entrance. They aren’t panning and scanning, but they’ll still rip apart any uninvited guests that get too close, I guess. I get that they’re protecting some coveted technology, but do they really need a pair of them at the gate? Then again, I guess we’re about to prove that even they’re not enough…

The four women disappeared from sight and proceeded through the woods, with barely audible rustling of undergrowth marking their progress, amid the gentle sounds of the leaves swaying in the night breeze and crickets rapidly chirping away.

Great; so much as touching the wall’s out of the question. With buzzing that loud, it’s a dead certainty that there’s enough current running through that top layer of the perimeter wall to kill any human being with even brief contact.

After a fleeting flash of a defiant frown, Hikari scampered up the nearest tree that she could find. This flight and landing is gonna suck…, she commented, before flinging herself from a branch and coursing through the air with the grace and control of an Olympic pole vault competitor. A fairly loud thump against the concrete within the buzzing fence prompted her to emit a low grunt.

Yeah; that’s why they always had crash mats for any routines featuring moves above a couple of metres or so. ‘Let’s see what we’ve got here…’ Hikari quietly murmured, while retrieving a tool from within her skirt.

Lifting its plastic body to her eyes, she surveyed. Splendid; they’ve got more of those turrets and they’re mounted on the walls near to every entrance it seems. There are guards patrolling, but they’re minimal; they must have tapped my brain when I suggested that they just let the automated machines do all of the work. It’s a good thing they haven’t gone the full distance though, as it leaves us a small window of opportunity to infiltrate.

Now that I think about it, this place is almost the same as that drone station where I picked up that lovely Evo from. Three floors above ground, staggered polygonal shape in plan view and unnecessary luminescent strip patterns embedded(?) into the walls.

‘Aside from the auto-turrets, I wonder what new killer toys we’ll find today…’ Hikari quietly mumbled as she skittered across the park. Her short and quick journey resulted in her stalking one of HiPer handgun-carrying staff, maintaining a half-metre gap behind him.

Her expression remained neutral as she silently crept along behind her male, uniform-wearing chaperone. Her eyes maintained their fix on the man ahead as the pair approached the building, while the metal machine assembly jutting from the wall slowly rotated and its menacing .50 BMG muzzle perfectly tracked their movements.

Just as I thought; their movements aren’t instructed by camera lenses, which makes it dicey even for invisible targets.

After the pair had passed through a large glass door, Hikari resorted to a convoluted, yet careful vault over desks to the side, to bypass the large metal detector which almost immediately greeted her upon entering the building.

Her eyes darted away from the man and fixed on a little figure, which roamed the marble floors of the main lobby area. Interesting lighting scheme they’ve got going on in here, with the strip lighting on the desks, walls and floor pattern keeping it from being totally dark.

Off-topic much. They have ground drones patrolling in here as well; at this point, I’m not even surprised. Thankfully, it doesn’t look like they move particularly fast or have any weapons, but they’ll almost certainly set the alarms off if they sense any funny business. I won’t let the others down again, so it’s probably best to presume that those domes they’ve got for heads means that they can see and sense 360°.

The infiltrator continued to follow the guard as if she were a tail, up a flight of stairs and into a small, dark room, where another man turned away from his desk and the array of monitors in front of him. ‘Nothing out there?’

‘Is there ever anything out there? I don’t even know why they employ us; the big-ass turrets and those little things that they’ve got rolling around in the hallways would pick up and deal with anything way quicker than we could.’

‘Is that a complaint I hear?’

‘Nah; why would I complain about getting paid to do fuck all?’

‘Mhmm, that’s what I thought. Well, I guess it’s my turn to take a tour. Did you see any of the other guys on your way here?’

‘No, why?’

‘It’s been a little while since they last checked in. You know how it’s been for the past couple of weeks; there’s been a bunch of girls running around picking us off. At first, it was just one overconfident bitch, but now she’s got friends and they’ve reportedly formed a strike team or some shit as well.’

‘Pfft! You’re just paranoid, man. The guys are probably busy wanking or some other time-theft nonsense. There’s no way a bunch of girls could infiltrate a place with automated security, like this. Besides; why would they even want to?’

‘You never know, man; they claimed pretty much everything from a team that was receiving seaside shipments and took an outpost as well last week. Who knows what else they could be after…’

‘You need to chill out; I’m sure they’ll go back to the kitchen or sucking di–,’

A sharp jolt into the side of the man’s neck abruptly arrested his speech. In short order, a darkish liquid trail, illuminated by the glow of the many screens amid the darkness, sprayed out across the floor, with some drops splattering on the various panels which lined one of the walls. While one of the men’s eyes remained glazed over, his colleague stared back at him with eyes frozen in terror.

While the body clumsily tumbled to the floor, he shuffled back, cursing under his breath as he clunked into the desk behind him.

As the impact broke the silence within the room, a figure appeared, with a blue and white uniform, amethyst eyes, black hair with purple ends and a water lily-topped side ponytail.

She brandished a sharp metal flower and stared coldly at him.

The man flinched.

The sudden jerk triggered a flick of the woman’s left wrist, which instantly propelled the small metal tool rapidly into the front of his head, a short distance above his eyes, making a distinct cracking sound on impact.

Within moments, he limply slumped back against the desk and the lone attacker slowly advanced. While removing the embedded shuriken, she defiantly murmured, with an unamused expression, ‘I don’t mind going back to the kitchen, but if it’s pleasure I seek, I only have a taste for women.’ Well, woman, singular. You were right to be paranoid though, I’ll give you that.

After wiping down the dark red liquid which coated both her tanto’s dark grey blade and a shuriken petal on one of the men’s armour vests, ‘Now, let’s see just how much of a blessing it was that these clowns led me straight to the security command room…’

After five or so minutes spent rifling through menus and repeatedly “borrowing” the fingerprint of one of the guards, ‘Ugh, finally, it looks like that’s all of the automated turrets taken care of. Nothing we can do about the ground drones and the alarms though, but that’s no big deal,’ she quietly remarked, as she swivelled around in the office chair. I’m sure the captain would have a field day picking components to overheat or melt anyway…

Hikari removed the least bloody of the guards’ armour vests and frisked, surely there has to be something that tells the drones who should and shouldn’t be here, unless it’s embedded into something… I don’t have time to waste searching for it and there’s nothing in their clothes, so I’m guessing there’s something in the vests? Carrying one of those would be such a pain though…

Nonetheless, after finding a suitable location to hide the two bodies, she set off again, with one of the armour vests in hand. After a few seconds of scampering through the relatively dimly-lit hallways, her presence once again vanished from view.

A map would be helpful. I know which room number the thing is in, but have no clue where that number is.

Of course; there would be another one of those drones rolling around here… Well, I guess taking them out by force would probably also set off the alarms, so it’s best to avoid them altogether, at least for now anyway. Fortunately, their wheels and motors make noise and whir, otherwise I’d really be out of options for reliably tracing them.

Hikari cautiously navigated her way through the array of hallways and down one of the stairs, which led her back to the main lobby. Right, so 3-HC-01 sits here. Final piece of the puzzle, here I come.

After another period of delicately meandering her way up through the building, like a King Cobra working its way through its native rainforest while hunting, the purple-eyed woman came to a halt.

Really?? I probably should have seen this coming though. I am not hauling a whole-ass guy up here though, so I’ll just take his fingers.

After heading off and subsequently returning to the large metal double door, Hikari once again held up the vest to the scanner and then pressed five or six different disconnected fingertips on the designated reader before a loud beep shattered the silence and a bright red strobe light activated above the hefty-looking barrier which prevented her entry.

Hikari froze on the spot, eyes fixed on the entrance.

The metal masses rolled outwards in opposite directions, with a heavy, low and dull rolling sound.

‘Ah; almost had me there, to be honest.’

Holy shit; not just laser tripwires, but they’re connected to gas dispensers and remote explosives as well?? Hikari assessed, as she studied the walls in the short walkway that connected the room beyond the glass doors ahead to the rest of the building.

After sauntering straight through the beams without effect, Hikari proceeded through the large glass doors at the end of the illuminated section. They really do love the strip lighting at this company, don’t they? The captain would probably love it in here, with the colour-matching of her nails and hair highlight and all. I hope they’re getting on alright; it feels strange, not hearing from at least one of them for so long now.

Huh? What’s that loud clunking so-, Fuck!

As the loud blaring of the building’s alarms could be heard in the distance, Hikari ducked behind the nearest desks and hurriedly scampered towards the small glass display case which sat in the middle of the room, taking care to keep her head down.

Why am I even surprised? A gargantuan walking robot with two massive railguns for arms? Surely that thing’s at least two metres tall and weighs at least half a ton, thanks to all of that bulky armour-plating that it’s covered in. Still, it’s not all bad, the big guy might be able to help me out…

Hikari tossed some of the fingers into the air, which drew the lumbering robot’s attention for long enough to allow her to slink through the busy maze-like space and lean her back up against the central display case’s pedestal. While momentarily peeking at her enemy, ‘Oi! I’m over heeere!’ she playfully exclaimed, sticking her tongue out after finishing.

Following a rapturous sparking noise, a wild, almost blinding, light blue flash ripped through the air, illuminating the entire labratory and leaving a trail of steam lingering behind it.

As glass rained down over her head, Hikari held position. Well, that’s the case taken care of. Now there’s just the small matter of getting the contents and getting out of here before that thing sends me on an electrifying ride straight to the afterlife.

The clunking’s growing louder as well, and I’ve only got one finger left.

Oh well, here goes nothing…

Hikari flung the digit in the opposite direction that the sound grew louder from and once more for an instant, the orange glow of the strip lighting became insignificant compared to a borderline-deafening bright blue trail hurriedly tearing through the air in the lab.

As soon as she heard the terrifying sound, the squirrel-like woman popped up briefly and quickly swiped the small metal case from atop the pedestal. After a fleeting check of its contents, she darted away from her seated position and dove behind a row of desks.

She hissed, grimaced and checked her upper left arm.

Toasty.

At least I’m better off than the desks; that it is one big fucking hole and it’s bored all the way through to the walls as well. I’m pretty sure with that much charring and steam, they’ll–

The lab fell silent, aside from the flicker and crackle of molten metal and plastic erupting into small, slow-burning flames.

It’s not moving?

I’m not moving again, without some cover fire or a distraction though. I hate to do this little buddy, but your sacrifice won’t be forgotten. Hikari retrieved a metal flower from her skirt and slung it away from the exit.

Still nothing? Has it caught on to how I work?

Hikari shuffled away from the still smouldering hole in the desks before launching into another swift scamper, towards the exit. She stopped beyond the glass door and observed. Ah; all of the lights have gone off; it’s probably run out of power. Prototypes and dev models, eh?

After collecting her slung shuriken, Hikari returned through the lattice of hallways, to the almost deafening ringing of the alarms, dispatching a few unwitting HiPer-wielding guards along the way, with quick and sharp series of slices and stabs to the neck.

Ah, there they are, she remarked, as the other three women approached the lobby from the opposing set of stairs, led by one glasses-wearing captain wearing a teasing smile on her face.

The four women skittered across the paved area which separated the building from the entrance and hurriedly jumped back into the LSV which lingered at the roadside. Hikari slid into the driver’s seat and briefly glanced at the thick plume of black smoke rising into the night sky from the building. She fleetingly donned a smug smile at the sight.

As the combined 1000kW brushless electric motors whirred into life, the buggy-like machine kicked a cloud of dirt behind it before the screech of the tyres marked its abrupt turning around and the start of its rapid descent through the mountain forest. The pale blue beams from the headlamps and four spot lamps sitting on the vehicle’s front disappeared as it whizzed beneath the thick woodland cover. Using the IR cameras rather than the light bar might help with evasion if/ when any incoming reinforcements come charging up the mountain…

After a bit over five minutes, accentuated with the screech of tyres at fairly regular intervals, the armed buggy speedily emerged from the lush green canopy of the forest, out onto roadways which laid beneath only the twinkling and moonlight sky.

‘These guys just don’t know when to quit, do they?!’ Hikari snarled. They have the drones again but they’ve also got a gunship as well? It’s no help that we’re on a straight high-speed stretch of the national route.

As the LSV frantically swerved across the three lanes for a short period, a hail of heavy projectiles swished in, ripping up the tarmac and occasionally piercing parts of the LSV, with loud clanking.

The LSV straightened up for a brief period, and its whirring grew weaker and quieter amid the incoming storm of high-calibre rounds.

The four women who occupied the vehicle exchanged desperate glances.

Following a loud whoosh and screaming rocket sound coming from above, an earth-shaking, bright orange blast rocked the national route.

Emerging from the furiously rising fireball, the blazing wreckage of a destroyed LSV, painting a thick, grey trail as it dejectedly rolled forth.