Meakashi-hen : Hajimari / Eye Opening Chapter : Beginning

MARCH 6TH 2025

The CAT machine whirred noisily around her, and not for the first time, Akane was all-too-grateful for the earplugs lodged in her ears, blocking it out. Ever since she woke up from her coma following an accident three months earlier, she'd been forced to have regular scans like this, once a week. It had been another three months to get back into the swing of things, and she always joked that despite being asleep for such a long time, she didn't really feel all that well-rested. She was fortunate, really; since her family owned a pharmaceuticals company, named Iryo, her scans were completely free of charge. It should be- she basically ran the company, after all.

Whilst she was in her coma, her cousin, Mika, had been taking care of things for her, which was always good- the company seemed to be as productive as ever, though the current drug they were manufacturing, which was a strong painkiller, was still in trials. That was rather expected though, so all really was in order. As she was getting dressed out of her patient's robe, her cousin burst in, flipping through a file, which were probably the results. Naturally, their technology was the fastest in the country, and if she was being daring, the world, so the results were almost imminent. "There hasn't been any change at all," Mika announced. "Your brain is still mostly healthy, apart from your complaints about memory gaps, but I'm sure they'll return in time. You have your diary from the times you're missing, don't you? If you try re-reading again, it might stir up some part of your lost memory." She looked up from the files.

"Good news, then," Akane flashed a smile at the company's vice president. "It's part of my therapy to read that stupid journal anyway, though I have to say it's hardly helpful."

"You don't get any sort of flashbacks, or shaky imagery at all? Nothing?" Mika prompted.

"Well, it's like reading a story- you can maybe see shaky images in the back of your mind, but you know it's not real," Akane replied. "I know you're all trying your best, and it's still not enough."

"One day it will be," Mika called over her shoulder. "Now hurry up, we have a meeting with Naosu's company president as well today. It seems they want to collaborate on something with us." She smirked to herself. "I told you hiring that Kamui guy was the best thing to do- now everyone wants to work with us. He works wonders."

"I know, I know," Akane replied, "You're always right, I get it."

"And don't you forget it!" came the snappy retort as her heels clicked further and further away from Akane's cubicle.

Mika had always been bossy, that much Akane remembered. There wasn't a whole lot Akane had forgotten, which was good – she remembered her family, her friends, her school, and most importantly, how to run Iryo properly and efficiently. It was just the time leading up to her accident that made her draw a complete blank, but her therapists and doctors told that was quite normal. However, for the best part of a year leading up to her accident, fragments of her memory were missing, and no matter what, she was determined to get them back- and she didn't want to rely on doctors to do that. She needed to prove to her family that she was strong, and could get through this herself; nobody was expecting her to, but Akane just felt that she had to. Her therapists said this was due to her knocked self-esteem following her 'accident', since she was unable to prevent it.

And she really should stop calling it an accident and dancing around the topic. It was an attack, plain and simple, and it could even be classed as an attempt on her life. Somebody had attacked her, and despite all her self-defence training, she had been completely useless. Or maybe she fought back, she had no idea. But either way, the outcome was the same: she still ended up comatose for three months.

To her credit, Mika had been really nice to Akane when she'd woken up and was well on the road to recovery. Her cousin had even gone so far as to tell her information that technically, she shouldn't have done, but she just liked Akane THAT much that she'd make an exception. Mika had revealed the name of Akane's attacker to her. Once learning of that name, Akane had made plans – plans where she would be the one to bring her attacker to justice. Despite her new wish for the future, she knew she had obligations with Iryo, so wasn't pursuing her goal just yet.

But one day, she would bring the person who had attacked her down to his knees. One day, she would surely kill Shinya Kogami.

Yet she had never said that wish aloud, and kept that desire securely in her heart; nor did the smile on her face as she chased after Mika to the meeting with Naosu's company president show a single shred of the darkness she held within. She was good at guarding her intentions like that, but whether Mika – or anybody in her family – knew that particular skill, she didn't know. For some odd reason, having a secret from the family made her feel a little more liberated. She always felt like her family intruded way too far in her private life, but if she spoke up about it, they would shower her with guilt trips and emotional blackmails.

The odds were against her; even so, she wouldn't allow such a petty thing like amnesia prevent her from discovering the truth and why exactly Shinya Kogami had attacked her. Perhaps she had uncovered something terrible, and he had attempted to kill her to guard this precious secret of his. If this was the case, it only served to increase her almost desperate need to rediscover that dirty little secret. A secret that was worth somebody's life, and the consequences that came with it. That only left Akane questioning: What? What is it? What is being hidden from me?

MARCH 7TH 2025

It was late evening when she first saw him.

It had rained pretty hard all day, but she had finished work early and gone home, relaxing. She lived alone in a rather large house, and she always found herself wondering what it would be like if there was somebody else to share it with. Fill it with noise and laughter and conversation. Just thinking about it made her feel incredibly lonely. If she closed her eyes, she could almost sense it. The voice of someone she loved echoing down the hallways, maybe calling her name, or maybe they were embracing her from behind. What would it be like to have that?

She'd often confided in Mika, who snubbed her fantasies rather harshly. Her excuse for this cold treatment was simply: "If I encourage your fantasies, you might start believing they're real! That would hinder the excellent progress you've made!"

Akane had gone for a nice long soak, washed and conditioned her hair before getting into comfy clothes. She'd then padded up to her room armed with The Republic by Plato, and turned the light on. When she did, she discovered with some distaste that in her hurry earlier that day to get to work on time, she'd left the window slightly open, so the wind was whistling through it, explaining why it was so chilly up here. Grumpily, she noted that some rain had splattered in on the floor, and she'd have to clean it up later. Which was mildly inconvenient for a relaxing evening. She put her book on her desk and hurried into her bathroom to grab a towel to soak up the water. Crouching down, she placed the towel on the puddle and stood up to close the window and preserve what little heat was left.

And it was at that moment the two of them first laid eyes on each other. Akane's body froze up as she stared at him (or would it be more accurate to say sized him up?) He had evidently been stood out in the rain for an indeterminate amount of time- he was soaked to the skin, droplets of rain running down his attractive face. He had hair as dark as the night itself, and his eyes as grey as smoke. He was saying something to her, but she couldn't hear from the distance separating them- but she was gifted at lip reading. Why did he seem so familiar? She peered more intently at his lips, trying to discern what he was trying to say. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. "I'm… sorry…" her lips subconsciously formed the words. When he saw she'd received the message, he flashed a tiny content smile at her. And then he began mouthing something at her again.

Good night. Sweet dreams. Good night. Sweet dreams.

With a shriek of realisation, she slammed the window shut. What if he was a stalker? She rushed out her room and down stairs and checked all the doors and windows on the first floor and then the second to make sure they were locked, though they did little to quell the uneasiness that had blossomed in her heart. She knew she'd have to keep that little encounter secret- Mika would say it was an unprecedented hallucination.

After that, she couldn't focus on her book, her mind reeling back to the stranger. Who was he? And why was he apologising? Did she… know him? She shook her head- she would surely remember meeting and knowing and being friends with a person – she remembered everybody else, didn't she? She went to bed with that same uneasy feeling, doing her best to ignore it. Negative emotions would hinder her progress, as Mika liked to remind her whenever Akane got upset.

MARCH 8TH 2025

Her phone beeping beside her bedside table was what woke her up the next morning. Blinking blearily, she looked around and saw that it was still dark outside, which meant that it was some time before sunrise. She checked the screen and confirmed that it was 2:17, and she barely stifled her groan of irritation. What was so important that it needed to be sent at this ungodly hour? She yawned loudly and unlocked her phone to read the 'urgent' message.

Do you want to know the truth?

Akane's eyes snapped open, her heart hammering in her chest. What did this message mean? It was from an unknown sender, which was always annoying. Her mouth dry, she typed a response to the text. The truth about what? I don't understand.

She waited for the response and nearly leapt out of her skin when her phone buzzed again. Well, why you lost your memories. Why you were attacked. So, I'll ask again. Do you want to know the truth?

Her hand shook, weighing up her options. This was the first lead she'd gotten in over a year… but she could still be walking straight into a trap. Strengthening her resolve, she swallowed and text back her answer, her thumb hovering over 'reply' before pushing down. Yes.

The response was almost imminent. Banken Facility. Passcode to get in is: 5651112259. On the top floor, there's an office. The door has a passcode: K-03-15-2004-K. The answers you need should be in there. Go now, whilst it's dark. It's undefended at this time- if it was, it would attract unwanted attention.

Are you going to tell me who you are?

Not yet. Soon, I will. Not yet.

Akane sat in bed for another ten minutes, weighing up her options. She could follow the advice from the unknown number, and the only lead she'd had in months for information about her attack, or she could forget the whole thing and confide in Mika about it all. But… the Banken Facility? Why there? It was one of the many Iryo Company labs, but from what she knew, it was running tests and producing antidepressants, which was the company's main profit. She knew everything all the labs were doing in all their locations, and Banken was just another small part of it, and it didn't strike her as anything out the ordinary. As guilty as she felt about it, she made her choice – a quick survey around Banken wouldn't do that much harm – hell, it could even help her track down Shinya Kogami.

She decided to dress in easy-to-move about in, dark-coloured clothes. As quietly as she could, she unlocked her door several times (since the attack, she'd been on edge, so installed more locks), before stealing into the shadowy morning air. It was chilly, as expected of a mid-March morning, and she couldn't help but shiver. Yet she wasn't sure if it was the temperature outside that made her shudder, or the prickling sensation on her skin which made her feel like somebody was watching her. And if she was being watched, then was it a friend or a foe? Maybe it would be best to assume foe- if it turned out to be a friend, then she had a pleasant surprise; it was a foe, she would be ready for them. She slid into her car and started the engine, before steadily snaking her way to the Banken Facility thirty miles away.

After forty minutes of driving, she finally turned down the long driveway leading to the laboratory. It was shielded completely by trees, and in the darkness, it looked truly ominous and Akane supressed an unbidden tremble, and kept her eyes focused solely on the road. The Banken Facility, now that she thought about it, really was cut off from the rest of the world. Mika had always relished in telling Akane scary stories about the facility – how a worker went insane before the two of them were born and killed people inside of it. When she'd gone crying to her grandma about it, her grandma had laughed and said, "Well, isn't Mika inventive? Don't cry, dear, it was only a story. Ghosts aren't real, and if they were, I'm sure they'd want to be your friends."

As the message had dictated, there was nobody around except for her. Her mind also flitted over the possibility that she could be walking head first into a trap, but she knew there was CCTV installed, and she had her mobile handy in case of an emergency. With a nod to herself, she walked up to the doors. The lonely whistle of the wind did very little to quell her nerves as she punched in the code. 5651112259. The door made a loud sound which echoed across the empty space, but Akane ignored it and pushed on.

It didn't get any less lonely or dark on the inside; if anything, it was creepier, and that omnipresent sense of being watched only increased, and Akane was convinced that when she took a step forward, she could hear someone else's footsteps behind her. It's an echo! She told herself, but still, those childhood creepy stories crawled up on her. With an unprecedented burst of paranoia, she ended up running, looking for the stairs- she'd been to Banken a few times before, so she knew her way around. It had been daunting in the daytime, and was positively nightmarish in the dark. She thought she heard whispers in the walls, and maybe a scream, but at this point she was confident she was hallucinating. It took all of her willpower to not bolt out of there as fast as she could, but it did make her move just that bit faster.

After half an hour of nerve-wracking exploration and peeking around corners, she found the one she was looking for, right on the top floor. It was the only room up there with a passcode lock, so she brought her phone out to check it. Tentatively, she typed it in. K-03-15-2004-K. When the light switched to green, she pushed open the door and entered the office, relaxing only when she heard it swing closed behind her. She switched her phone's display on to find a light switch, and turned it on, grateful for the visibility that kept the shadows at bay.

She had no idea where to look for whatever she was looking for- maybe something that could store information, maybe like the laptop, or a tablet, or maybe a file? She frowned. It could look really out of place, or uniform. She had no idea why but she felt like she was quickly running out of time. She checked the bookshelf, but it was stacked full of medical books and books written about the Iryo Company. Next she checked the laptop on the desk, which was completely dead- a closer inspection revealed the battery was missing, which made no sense, and with a slight pang of dismay, she found herself asking: what if the 'answers' were on the laptop? What if that person is tricking me? Giving me false hope? She decided to not give in just yet, and check the desk. The top drawer was full of general stationary, none which gave any clue as to why she was attacked, and the second one filled with notes about the drugs produced specifically at Banken.

The bottom drawer, however… was locked. Akane scanned quickly for a key, but found none, and with using her entire strength, she yanked the drawer out so hard the lock snapped. It required some effort, and she was panting from the quick burst. She then listened eagerly for footsteps or anything to indicate anybody had heard her, but there were none. There were two files in the drawer, one named 'Perfect World', and the other… Target Juliet- Akane Tsunemori.

"What the… hell is this?" Akane whispered aloud, discarding the 'Perfect World' file. Why was she called Target Juliet? Did this mean she really was a target? She opened the file hastily, watching it shake in her fingers, and read the opening entries:

Day 1: Juliet woke up today at precisely 10:17 p.m. There was evident confusion- as to where she was, but none that cast us in suspicious light.

Day 2: The situation has been explained to Juliet- the cover story, a random strike against her. Name of assailant not been revealed to her as of yet. Complained about missing memory. Hired therapists said this was normal, and they should return with help.

Day 7: Entered therapy to recover lost memories. Hired therapist at time has been covering tracks for us. DPW has made her more open to suggestion, and she's beginning to assent to suggestions.

Day 14: Fake memories successfully transplanted. Minor, yet progress.

Day 28: Taking commands easily. Programmed to listen to commands of ****, and unable to keep secrets. Or, if Juliet does hide things, she will reveal them to **** within a few days.

Day 30: Associates Target Delta with her attack. Juliet and Delta are now foes essentially. Target Delta should not be a problem, moving forward.

On and on they went, making progressively less sense. She re-read it, all the code names and blacked out words only adding to her confusion. Who had written this? Maybe she was being paranoid- maybe these were the conclusions from her CAT scans. Saying that, that would be optimistic. These notes were incredibly shady – if they were innocent, why would they have been locked in a drawer? She checked her phone for the time, and discovered with some horror that it was now creeping past 6:30. She put the files back in the drawer along and closed it, when she heard footsteps clicking along the corridor.

She barely had time to react when Mika had thrown open the door and yelled:

"What the fuck do you think you're doing in here?!"