Hello, this is a story I salvaged from some old documents back from August 2013 when it was first posted that I'd like to continue sometime. Please enjoy what's here, thus far.
01: Nobody Knows Your Intent
A solemn figure, garbed in all black attire from head to toe, stood on a makeshift center stage, hastily created for the speech she was about to give, staring out at the grime covered crowd gathered below. The ones washed away by the Sibyl System, inhabiting the now long abandoned industrial island of Ogishima, after Japan ceased international trade with the outlying countries; Korea excluded, as it had been annihilated prior to the decision. In the government's reasoning, there was no need to trade with the former shell of an already dying country in the first place, and certainly not after its destruction.
Though, despite isolating themselves as they have done countless times in past eras, the Japanese government was still taking in immigrants; whether from Korea or another country, it was an irrelevance. With the full implication of the Sibyl System a few decades prior, the fluctuation of immigrants of any kind was severely lessened, and it took more than just a sad tale to get into Japan in the current era: the era ruled by the Sibyl System. The black garbed figure would use this fact to her advantage.
Clearing her throat, the Dominator at her belt swayed, as it was loosely tied down by the handle, and any shift of her waist made it move. Peeling back the hood obscuring her face, she let her dark brown hair, just past chin length, fall down freely; at the same time briefly pulling on the cloth that helped against the smell of strong sulfurous crude oil that filled the dirty air, and inhaling contemptuously through her nose. She was used to the multitude of dust that mixed itself into the air, giving it a dismal texture that clung to the decaying walls of the former warehouse as she searched her way through the crowd, but not the oil; she didn't like that smell. Air hoses connecting along the walls periodically spewed out hot air, as if it were the structure's dying breaths. Waiting a moment more, she finally opened her mouth to speak.
"Allies, friends, acquaintances," she started, her voice muffled by the cloth, but still loud enough for everyone in the tightly packed room to hear, "the Sibyl System is a blight upon the free will of the Japanese people. It controls every aspect of our lives, and if we make one slip up, one tiny mistake, that life is ruined." Lifting her hands up, as if she were trying to embrace the ground between her arms, she continued. "Thus, here we are. Tossed aside by the very system that we entrusted our lives to, living on this dirty island amongst the decaying corpses of rats and foul smelling oil. The very system we trusted has abandoned us to die like the rats, and sink into the black muck of the oil." Peering around, she put down her hands, wanting to get this little speech over as quickly as possible. "And so, I ask of you brothers and sisters, allies and friends, to rise up against this system that has taken our lives and our very existences from us. I ask that you join the growing resistance to end this unjust system. After all, isn't it only fair that we take down the very system that took us and cast us out to dry? Isn't it our right to end this unfair judgment?" she finished, waiting for a response from the crowd. At first, it was quiet. Then, murmurs, whispers of agreement, swept through the crowd as they all came together in their answer: the destruction of the Sibyl System.
Amidst the cheers and shouts from the crowd, the figure bowed sharply and left the makeshift center stage, the same contemptuous smile resting on her lips, as she disappeared from view down a hidden tunnel. She stopped, as another figure appeared from the shadows, the light casting diagonally across his body, concealing his features.
His hands were tucked into his pockets, as he looked at the now closed trapdoor to the makeshift stage above. "So, I take it that everything went smoothly, as predicted?"
"Everything went fine, just like back in Tokyo," the woman responded, pulling her hood back up. "Now, all I want to do is leave this cesspool, it reminds me too much of my days as an Enforcer."
The man chuckled. "Of course. One we get back to the mainland, we'll proceed with the next step," he said, turning to leave as the woman watched him become fully engulfed by the darkness.
"One step closer." The woman remarked, one hand resting on her Dominator out of habit, as she followed him into the darkness.
:-:0110:-:
"Mika... Shimotsuki..."
Akane let the name fall from her lips, clicking through the databanks of the Ministry of Welfare's aptitude tests, having searched through all relevant files related to the girl. Out of all the test-takers—of which there weren't many—she was the second one to get an A ranking for the Public Safety Bureau. The first had been herself. She flipped through the file of Unit One's newly appointed Inspector and simultaneously drew up a report of the girl's aptitude scores on the screen, scrolling through all one of them and bit her nail. Why the Sibyl System recommended this as her one and only choice, she had no clue. It were as if they were pointing her in this direction, as if to say: this is where we want you, you'll be a valuable use to us. That was one of the its purposes, recommending the appropriate ministries and companies that were most in line with your score results. Yet...
"Did you find something?" Ginoza, one of the First Division's Enforcers, designation Hound One, asked. Standing in the open doorway to the office, arms relaxed at his sides, he waited patiently for her answer.
She spun in her chair and closed all confidential databanks in the same motion, leaning forward. "The new Inspector that's supposed to be meeting up with us on today's assignment..." Letting a faint smile start at the edge of her mouth, Akane peered down at her wristwatch. On it was the information she'd deemed relevant to her first evaluation of the girl: hue color, personality type, the more intellectual-inclined aptitude scores—all collected and organized into a linear graph that projected itself outward, being displayed as a projected hologram before her eyes. It was such a very... calm... shade of teal that she couldn't help but feel all the more anxious, gazing at it.
Or, perhaps, it was the fact that the girl's stats were all within the normal range, despite her A ranking. What then did that A ranking really mean? Sibyl System had a use for this girl, whether it be good or ill and, the data collapsing back into her wristwatch, she covered it with her hand then sighed. They were up to something... and this girl was the key to that something. She was sure of it. Gazing up at Ginoza, she couldn't help but smile. "She's very... interesting..."
His head tilted, "Is that what you believe?" The Enforcer walked into the dimly lit office that housed all of Unit One's work stations; three for the Inspectors and six for the Enforcers. Though, with the limited manpower that the Criminal Investigation Department was currently forced to work with, only six stations were being used. Two spots for the Inspectors, four spots for the Enforcers. Ginoza looked down at her, tone of voice betraying his true feelings even if his face remained static. "Is something bothering you regarding it?"
"What?! Oh... Nothing. It's nothing," she said, putting the uneasy feelings of the Sibyl System's true intentions away for the time being. Standing to her feet, Akane put on her Public Safety Bureau vest; synthetic fibers of a dark shade of blue with the Ministry of Welfare's logo printed on the back.
"I see."
"What of the others, are they ready to go?"
"Yes, they're all waiting your arrival by the paddy wagon."
"Any complaints?" she then asked, stretching out the stiffness of sitting in her chair too long.
"Hound Four wanted to know when they would get to meet the new Inspector, and also, if they would be stopping for anything to eat on the way to the crime scene."
She sighed. "Tell her to be patient, and for the last time: no snacks."
"Right."
Ginoza left the room to gather with the rest of the Enforcers down below, as Akane stood there alone, the thoughts of Shimotsuki's place in Sibyl's plans still gnawing at the back of her mind, despite her effort to dismiss them earlier. Why only the Public Safety Bureau? Again, placing the uneasy feelings away as best she could, Inspector Tsunemori started out the office, preparing for her first encounter with the girl who was to be her new partner—steeling herself to be the candid and strict senior Inspector that she needed to be.
