[Omake] Sumie and Rito 3

October 31st, U.C. 0157, 3:53 AM (Eight years prior)

It had been four months since Élisabeth last inhabited a physical body. With the help of the gynoids, she had learned how to etch her brain patterns into her magical energy. In this form, she couldn’t leave the dimension her magical energy inhabited or cast too many spells without destroying herself, so she had to create a new body whenever the need arose.

The intrusion of three magical girls into her dimension definitely constituted such a need. It was the first time anyone had trespassed on her dimension uninvited. From their movements, she could tell that they were trying to avoid detection, but it was pointless. She had become the entire dimension itself; nothing could escape her notice. However, since the three intruders were strong enough to break in, they were strong enough to be a threat.

“Nanimono da?” Élisabeth bellowed with her newly-formed mouth. Her words echoed through the formless space around them.

“Watashi-tachi wa akuma.” Two women with gargoyle wings stepped forward, pointing swords at Élisabeth. It was an obvious distraction. Élisabeth knew there were three of them, and she even knew where the third was. She contemplated for a moment allowing the third to behead her so that she could recreate her body in a show of strength, but it was better that they focus their attacks on her body and not her magical energy.

As soon as she avoided the first attack, the other two intruders rushed forward to join the fray, but by this time, Élisabeth had succeeded in narrowing the apertures by which they were focing their own magical energies into her dimension. That they fought well with their swords mattered little, and soon Élisabeth had them restrained in magical bonds.

They were dangerous, and she knew that she should kill them, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Better to confound their minds and send them back to Earth, where Aina would inevitably deal with them.

“Akuma?” Élisabeth sneered. “You look like ningen to me.”

“To kill a god, we will become akuma,” one of them shot back.

“I am no god. Gods do not exist. I am a ningen, just like you.”

“You are an oppressor,” one of the assailants yelled.

“Naze is it that assassins always have such a simplistic worldview?” Élisabeth sighed. “They are always good, and I am always evil. Is it because you can’t see all the moral complexities of the world, or because you turn your eyes from them?” When this elicited no response, she continued, “You claim to be akuma, but akuma are cursed. Let me help you. I will share my curse with you.”

“Your… curse?” one of the would-be assassins asked.

“The curse of doubt.”

Holding up one hand, she began to transmit knowledge directly into their brains. Not dangerous knowledge, like the true nature of magic, but knowledge of the world and its history, of politics big and small. Enough knowledge for them to realize that their cause was neither just nor evil, and that everything was vastly more complicated than they realized.

When she was finished, she cut them off from their magic and sent them back to Earth.

⁂

August 5th, U.C. 0165, 4:15 PM

“I understand how strongly you feel about this, Aina-sama,” Sumie said, “and I apologize that you were not informed of this operation.” The two of them were in Sumie’s office, but Aina was sitting in Sumie’s chair. “Demo, I will not shut it down.”

“You don’t have a choice,” Aina said. “Shut it down or I’ll shut you down.”

“May I ask what your objections are?”

“We are not the fucking CIA. We don’t collect intelligence under the guise of fake medical services. Our purpose is to better shakai, not undermine its mental health.”

“I can assure you, there is nothing fake about our practice. Our therapists are properly qualified, and helping our patients is our primary objective. Turning them to our cause is merely a bonus.”

“(Nani) do you do with the ones who don’t actually need counseling?”

“Minna could use help with something. At the very least, we’re not hurting them.”

“I’m not convinced of that, and that’s why I’m shutting this operation down.”

“Aina-sama.” Sumie looked Aina directly in the eyes. “With all due respect, that would be a mistake. This operation wasn’t approved by your office. If you move against it, it would be seen as an attempt to increase your power within the organization, and that will end badly for you.”

Although Aina was the official leader of HIMITSU, it was a position she had been placed in by the group, and it was a position that could be revoked by the group. She had been chosen because she was strong, intelligent, and their politics aligned, but that did not make her irreplaceable. If she tried to exert her authority in ways the other power centers within the group felt undermined the cause, they would not hesitate to have her killed. Knowing this, Aina had done her best to surround herself with loyalists. Given enough time, the old guard would retire and be replaced by new recruits in Aina’s faction, but until that happened, Aina would be outnumbered.

“I’ve been very careful so far. I don’t think anyone will move against me over a minor issue like this.”

“You vastly underestimate how successful this operation has been. In just a year, we have placed hundreds of moles in key positions in governments, corporations, and universities worldwide.”

“Sou ka?” Aina frowned. “That is impressive.” She stood up and walked slowly to the door. “By the way, I hear that you’re in a unique relationship with another gynoid.”

Sumie recognized this for the threat that Aina intended it to be.

“Ito-san is certainly a unique individual,” Sumie admitted, “but we are merely roommates. It is not an uncommon arrangement for gynoids in Akihabara.”

“Oh, do all gynoids in Akihabara kiss each other?”

“Ito-san seems to believe that in order to lay claim to her humanity, she needs to behave like homo sapiens. I do not agree, so I do not return her kisses.”

“That is an interesting idea. I have always considered gynoids to be human, but we naturally share some behaviors. If we had no common behaviors, would you still be human? Would you want to be?”

Sumie decided not to point out that Aina did not see gynoids as humans until Sena had declared their humanity to the world, and instead answered, “A meido uniform is not the clothes that a meido must wear. Instead, whatever clothes a meido wears becomes her uniform.”

“That’s a good answer, though you delivered it in the most annoying way possible.” With a grimace on her face, Aina opened the door to the waiting room. She had expected to find it as empty as she had left it, but Hayate was sitting in a chair facing the door, spinning a pen in his hand. When he saw her, he froze in terror. “Nani are you doing here?” Aina asked him. “Can’t you see this place is closed?”

“I have an appointment,” Hayate whimpered.

“Leave,” Aina shouted at him.

“D-d-demo, I need this appointment.”

“OK.” Aina sighed, realizing that she had been taking the frustration of her defeat out on this hapless boy.

Shakily, Hayate got to his feet. His mind was still numb from the unexpected turn of events as Aina walked past him. Had he been thinking clearly, he would have tried to get as far away from her as possible, but when he realized he may never get this close to her again, he impulsively lunged at her, attempting to stab his pen into her neck.

Faster than he could comprehend, Aina grabbed Hayate by the throat and slammed him against the nearest wall.

“Naze did you attack me?” she hissed.

It took Hayate a full minute to respond. Panic had overtaken him as he realized that what he had done was stupid and that he was about to die. Sounds spilled from his mouth, but he was unable to form words. Finally, he managed, “Viva Neo Paris?”

“For fuck’s sake.” Aina tossed him to the ground. He tried to scramble away, but his body only thrashed weakly, and he quickly realized he was hyperventilating. “Sumie-sensei, cure this aho of his naivety,” Aina said before walking out of the room.

Bending down, Sumie dragged Hayate into her office and laid him on the sofa.

“Drink this.” She handed him a cup of tea. He reached out for it, but his hands were trembling too much. Sumie tipped the cup into his mouth, but he choked on the liquid and spat it out. “OK, I’m going to have to inject you. Try to hold still.”

“I—inject?”

“It’s just a sedative. Relax.”

⁂

7:12 PM

“Doko…” Hayate groaned as he regained consciousness.

“You are in my office,” Sumie said. “You have been asleep for about san hours. How do you feel?”

“Better. I should go. I need to warn my kazoku—”

“Aina-sama has agreed not to punish anyone for your actions today, as long as you promise never to tell anyone she let you live.”

“Deal.” Relief washed over Hayate, and he tried to sit up.

“Take it slow. I have already contacted your otousan and told him not to expect you for dinner.”

“I really messed up, didn’t I?” Allowing himself to relax, he sunk back down onto the sofa.

“You certainly surprised me. I did not expect that from you. Naze did you do that?”

“I’m still not sure. I surprised myself. I guess because she’s a goshujin. Iie, she’s worse than a goshujin. She chose to join them.”

“If you had a shot at a less powerful goshujin, would you take it?”

“Tabun. At this point, I don’t think political change will happen without some violence. I know my life would be forfeit if I got caught, but if I’m not willing to make that sacrifice, how can I expect others to?”

“How far would you go for political change? Would you detonate a nuclear explosive?”

“Iie! Hontou.”

“Would Wataru-san?”

It took Hayate longer to respond to that question. “Shirimasen. Is this going to ruin my chances for university?”

“It might. Even with my recommendation, Aina-sama could put her thumb on the scale. It is all going to depend on the contents of my report, and I think we are going to need more sessions together. I erred in focusing too much on sex. You have other powerful motivations which I did not detect.”

“I don’t think you made a mistake. This is going to sound stupid, but when Aina-sama was choking me, I couldn’t stop thinking about how pathetic it was that I was going to die a virgin.”

“You are right, that does sound stupid. There is no shame in being a virgin at your age, and in my estimation, you are not mature enough to handle sexual relations.”

“Demo, lots of my classmates are doing it. If I’m not mature enough, they certainly aren’t.”

“Lots of your classmates claim to be doing it,” Sumie corrected. “Statistically speaking, some are bluffing, and those who really are are unlikely to be equipped to handle it well. Remember how Wataru-san treated his ex-girlfriends?”

“Demo, I’ve never even been on a date.”

“That is slightly more unusual. Many parents believe it is important for their children to experience dating in their teenage years in order to improve their social skills, but evidence suggests the opposite is true. Those who wait are usually better adjusted, and less likely to regret their first times.”

“So you’re saying I haven’t started dating because I’m smarter than them?”

“Iie. I suspect it is because you are less motivated, and, more importantly, you are still innocent.”

“Isn’t that circular reasoning?”

“I do not mean innocent in the sexual sense. Like Aina-sama said, you are naive. You have a hard time accepting that hito often conduct themselves in socially-unacceptable ways in private.”

“‘m not unaware of that,” Hayate said, remembering the messages Wataru had left on Makiko’s phone.

“You have not internalized it. As much as you want to experience romance and have sex, you hold yourself back because you do not consider it proper to do those things. You value social norms over your own desires. Your peers—the few who are actually having sex—have realized that there is no one to enforce shakai’s rules in private, and they can exploit that to get what they want. You, on the other hand, are confused by such behavior.”

“Wakarimasen. Are you trying to tell me that hito are selfish and undisciplined? That’s not news to me.”

“Quite the opposite. They have realized that, for the most part, teenage sex isn’t something that just happens. They have to actively work towards it. That means not just winning the affections of another, but also maneuvering so that they can be alone together without getting caught. It takes a lot of effort, and sometimes requires doing things they feel uncomfortable with, such as lying to their friends and families.”

“You’re saying only bad people have sex?”

“It is far more complicated than that, but the fact that you think about it in those terms shows that we have a lot of work ahead of us.”

⁂

9:10 PM

“Tadaima,” Sumie said as she entered her apartment.

“Okaeri,” Ito replied, walking up to Sumie and embracing her. Before she could kiss Sumie, however, Sumie pushed her away.

Aina-sama has threatened to separate us, Sumie communicated through the palms of her hands. She thinks she can use you as leverage to force me to obey her. I’m going to have to act cold towards you to convince her otherwise.

Wakatta, Ito communicated back. I will play along. I want to stay with you.

I want to stay with you too.

It was the first time Sumie had clearly communicated what they both secretly knew.

⁂

June 4th, U.C. 0167, 10:22 PM

Wataru had a big grin on his face as Kiki led him into an unoccupied storage warehouse. He had just gotten out of the bath after his shift, and she had intercepted him on his way back to his sleeping quarters. She had given him no explanation, but he suspected that he was about to get lucky.

The two of them had been flirting for weeks now, ever since he arrived on this island. His job never kept him in one place for more than a few months, and that had made romance difficult. As one of the youngest people working on the geoengineering plants, his options were limited to women older than himself, and Kiki was no exception, but she wasn’t as highly educated as the scientists he had been involved with up until now. Those relationships had all quickly disintegrated when it became clear that he couldn’t control them, that they would stand up for themselves.

Feeling like he wasn’t in control of the relationship stressed Wataru out. That was why, in his younger days, he had sought out partners who he considered unintelligent, and thus easier to manipulate. That strategy had always backfired, as he found himself unable to like them.

Kiki, on the other hand, was a mechanic. She was smarter than the girls he dated in middle school, but not so smart that Wataru felt threatened. They occasionally discussed politics after work, and their beliefs largely aligned. They both thought that the goshujin caste needed to be purged, but Wataru went further in his belief that anime should be purged as well. Whenever they debated it, Kiki put forward great arguments and observations, but ultimately, she always let Wataru win.

“We’re here,” Kiki whispered, pushing open the door to an office at the back of the warehouse.

To Wataru’s consternation, there was a lamp at the far side of the office, illuminating two women wearing oni masks.

“Kudakeyo, daichi,” one of the women said from behind her mask. Wataru didn’t know it at the time, but this was the group’s secret handshake.

“Kareyo, umi,” recited the other.

“Moetsukiyo, taiyou,” Kiki said, placing an oni mask over her own face.

“Watashi-tachi wa akuma,” the three said in unison.