A.N: I'd like to send a huge thank you to kisshuismylife for my first ever review! It means so much to me \(;w;)/
I was drawn out of sleep by a quiet, high-pitched buzzing sound and bright, flickering lights behind my eyelids. A sharp, clean smell made my nostrils feel as if they were being scrubbed raw.
"Oh crap, where the hell am I?" I bolted upright. I was lying in a bland hospital bed with white sheets which crinkled noisily whenever I moved. I was still in my school uniform and my hand instantly flew to my pocket, but it seemed as if someone had taken my phone while I'd been napping. Who would have…? Then the memories came flooding back – the suspicious injections and the even more suspicious Dr. Akasaka.
Why am I in a hospital? I didn't think skipping out on a needle was serious enough to land me in here. No, wait, Dr. Akasaka had used some chemical on me to knock me out. So… I've been kidnapped!
"Hey!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. "What the hell is going on?" I stood up and flung the blankets aside. I was in a small while room with only one bed and a few chairs. There was a bedside table next to the bed, which I started investigating. There was only an entirely blank notepad, absolutely nothing to indicate where I was – this could be any hospital in any city. There were footsteps passing by outside, but nobody came into the room.
I moved to the door and tried the handle, but of course it was locked. I'm starting to get really sick of all these locked doors, I thought angrily. I hadn't found a key anywhere inside the drawers either, so maybe I was stuck here until Dr. Akasaka felt the urge to let me go. Well, too bad for him. I still had my heavy-duty school shoes on.
I made sure my balance was perfect and then struck out at the handle with my heel. It made a loud thudding sound but nothing else. Damn. There was no glass for me to try smashing either, or any windows to jump out of. I had to figure out how the handle works. I tried jiggling it up and down and turning it in multiple directions to no avail. When I peeked through the keyhole, I could only see a white wall on the other side.
I screamed in frustration. This is so stupid! I want to get out! Maybe I have to get someone to release me, then. I grabbed the thinnest blanket from the bed and began sliding it out the crack beneath the door into whatever room was outside. Eventually, one of the passing footsteps paused outside the door and I heard a key click into the lock. Finally!
The door opened to reveal a girl my age wearing a long black cloak. I could only see her face, but she was beautiful – pale skin, large brown eyes and thick lashes. Her lips were pursed and eyebrows furrowed, as if letting me out of this weird room was extremely annoying.
"Thanks," I said whole-heartedly.
"Who are you?" she responded coolly. She had a slight accent but I couldn't tell where it came from.
"Huh? I could ask you the same thing. More importantly, where are we?"
"Oh, no," she sighed.
"What?"
"You're a new recruit, aren't you?"
"Not this MEW Project rubbish again," I moaned. "Surely not. Please tell me there's a way out of here. I want to go home."
"Judging from your accent, you're a long way from home," she smirked. "Hm, are you from New Zealand or Australia? Well, right now we're in the MEW Project headquarters, in Tokyo."
"Tokyo?" I repeated, dumb-founded. I'd always wanted to visit Tokyo, but how did I get here?! Did that freaky doctor sneak me on a plane while I was unconscious? What about my family? I was going to hang the washing out tonight!
Or maybe it wasn't even 'tonight'. I have no idea how long I've been unconscious for.
The girl laughed. "Oh, you really don't know anything. Didn't Dr. Akasaka give you any of the details?" I shook my head. She continued, "well, I suppose I shouldn't be the one to tell you about it. Where's that lazy Shirogane? This is meant to be his job."
"Um," I started hesitantly, "can everyone here speak English?" I knew Shirogane was a Japanese name and although I could speak the basics I really didn't want to try and interpret an explanation of whatever the hell was going on.
"Most people can, Shirogane's half American though so don't worry. I'm from Italy so I speak Italian, English and Japanese, but most people only speak English and Japanese. You'll have to learn how to speak Japanese eventually though," she told me.
"Okay. Lucky I did Japanese classes in Australia," I nodded as I tried to take in all the information. "So, how do I find Shirogane?"
"Ah, I suppose I'll have to take you," she sighed loudly. I smiled to myself – this girl was acting prickly on the outside, but she was actually really helping me out so she couldn't be all bad. She walked back out the door and I followed her into a long corridor. Once I was out of the small hospital-like room, I breathed a sigh of relief. It's not as if I'm claustrophobic, but being trapped in there without knowing my surroundings wasn't a pleasant experience.
The corridor looked the same as the room – bare, white, harsh lighting. I walked in silence behind the girl, but I had to be careful not to tread on the end of her cloak. Although, when I looked closely, I noticed dark stains patching the bottom half of her cloak. I tried to tell myself it was water, yet I thought otherwise. I grimaced, wondering if I was falling into a trap, but this girl didn't seem to be acting, and I was quickly learning to trust my instincts.
We reached two blue doors at the end of the corridor and she shoved them open -confidently. We appeared to be in a large foyer area, although there were no doors leading to outside. In fact, there were still no windows to be seen. Instead, elevators and doors seemed to line the walls, and there was an office area in the centre of the room. The girl ignored the office area and led me to one of the elevators.
We stepped inside and she pushed a button for level 10. It seemed we were currently on level 3, which explained the lack of doors leading to outside.
"This is a big building," I gasped.
"What, don't you have multi-storey buildings in Australia?" she snorted.
"Of course we do," I muttered. She chuckled to herself as we arrived at our destination. The elevator doors opened to reveal another large room with elegant furnishings. Everything was clean and modern, and although it looked stylish, I thought it seemed quite impersonal. Then again, I suppose that suited the whole ominous-evil-corporation vibe that they had going on.
As the girl and I started through the room, heading for a set of doors to the left, a burly security guard appeared, seemingly from nowhere.
"Business?" he asked gruffly. I nearly laughed at how stereotypical this scene was, almost like something from a film.
"It's Mint. Requesting permission to speak with Shirogane," the girl said confidently. She didn't flinch, even as the man loomed over her threateningly. I was quietly jealous of her bravery. Perhaps not her name, though – I'd never heard of someone calling their child Mint before. I suppose it's an Italian thing.
The guard frowned for a moment, then escorted us towards the door which I supposed led to Shirogane's office. He rapped on the door and opened it for us, and I followed Mint inside.
When we got inside the room, the only item of interest was a large desk with paper spread on it and a wide window with a view of the city. I sighed in relief – it was nice to actually see the sky again, even if it was the grey and polluted sky of a crowded city. I realised that during the adventure with Mint, I'd forgotten that we were actually in Tokyo!
Then I noticed the office chair facing away from us. Suddenly it spun around, revealing a blonde man with bright blue eyes and a serious expression. He had tan skin and was dressed casually (considering the setting) in a black t-shirt. This must be Shirogane! I actually thought he was quite cute, even though he looked a fair bit older than Mint and I, maybe in his twenties. Although he's not as cute as Andrew, I loyally insisted to myself.
"I've always wanted to do that," he suddenly chuckled.
"Do what?" Mint asked.
"Dramatically spin around in a chair when someone enters the room, of course," he said, as if it were obvious. Mint rolled her eyes but I couldn't help but giggle. Shirogane's eyes flicked to mine. "So this is the newbie, huh? Keiichiro said she was a feisty one."
"Keiichiro..?"
"Dr. Akasaka," he explained. "Did he – no, of course he didn't explain everything. Apparently you were going to jump out a window so he had to knock you out. You must be even stupider than you look."
"Excuse me!?" I snapped angrily. Who the hell does this guy think he is?
"He has a terrible sense of humour," Mint whispered.
"Anyway, I bet you're desperate to hear everything about the MEW Project, right? Oh Mint, you've heard this all before, so you're dismissed." She nodded and turned to go. I wanted to reach out and grab her cloak to make her stay with me – she wasn't a friend, but she was the closest I had in this madhouse. She gave me a slightly disdainful yet pitying look before turning and exiting with a sweep of her cloak.
"What's going on?" I asked him directly.
"Take a seat and I'll explain it all," Shirogane said.