XII. CARPET OVERTURE
"People need to watch out for engineers: they begin with air conditioning and car engines and end up building bombs"
Marcel Pagnol
"Hello, Protectorate 78"
"It's me"
"Who is 'me'?"
"It's... me"
"Son of a... Hiroto? Why didn't you call the principal? This is a public line"
"I know. You can erase the recording later. And I don't trust the principal"
"Why didn't you tell me? I could have had him reassigned "
"There is no need. I have names"
"You're kidding me. Ha! That was rather quick"
"I don't think they're the ones, though"
"Why not?"
"They're very homely for a bunch of terrorists"
"That's how all terrorists start out, my friend. Who are they?"
"You don't seem to understand me, Sarge: I can't hand them over yet"
"What are you talking about?"
"I think they know something we don't. They trust me somewhat"
"Just give me their names, for the record, Hiroto"
"No. I have a feeling this goes deeper than we believe. Just wait for a while"
"Hiroto, we have to check them"
"I said no. I'll call you back when I have more to give you. Good bye"
"Wait a second... Hiroto..."
A click.
Another.
A crash.
Another crash.
And another.
Silence.
It was pure genius. They were just there. Sun Tzu would have been proud. Batman himself, even, would have been proud. They were just there. They blended in quite well. There are others like them: girls walking down the street, giggling, chattering, purses around their arms, heels clackering away the afternoon. School was out now, and they popped up from everywhere. And they were together, and they dissapeared into the crowds. Koitsumi knew all of their faces, but otherwise he wouldn't have even noticed them. It was hiding in plain sight what they were doing. It was just... pure genius. Of course, now, a little sneaking around gets things managed.
"Nice uniform, officer" says a voice above Koitsumi.
"I had a feeling someone was watching me" he responds.
"Amazing how you've stood there since this morning"
"I've been thinking"
"About our arrangement?"
"No, about when to turn all of you in"
"I'm not amused"
"Wasn't my aim"
"You shan't turn us in"
"Keep telling yourself that"
"You have questions? Ask them, we have nothing to hide"
"Are you leaders of the riots?"
"Absolutely not. I wouldn't permit it"
"You're their leader?"
"I know most than all of them, and that isn't saying much"
"So this crap about a past life; is it really true?"
"You saw it for yourself. These girls are special"
"I'm sure the Judges will agree when he hands out the sentencing"
"Your courts are corrupted along with your legislation"
"I wouldn't call them legislation, but OK; with what, exactly?"
"We are no longer sure. We thought them eradicated"
"You've faced them before?"
"There were two groups: first the Dark Kingdom, then the Black Moon"
"Threat level?"
"The first, sufficient for me to be awakened and for the girls to reveal themselves"
"The second?"
"Sufficient to be driven away. We were rid of them... or so we thought"
"What makes you think it could be these people?"
"It is their... modus operandi, you could say"
"Infiltration? Bribing? What?"
"Mind control"
"Ok, you lost me again"
"They weaken people in order to control them"
"And how do they do that?"
"By sucking them dry of their life energy"
"Life... energy"
"Life force, life line, etc. They tempt them, then they steal their bodies"
"And why do you doubt their culpability if they can do all this?"
"Again, we thought them done for"
"You didn't finish them off?"
"We made sure of that. But, apparently, it was not enough"
"Who's their leader?"
"Her... it's name is Queen Metalia"
"You mean it's an alien?"
"A being of malignant energy, born of the universal void"
"So, what, she's extra bad or something?"
"She may be using your political leaders"
"I don't believe it"
"That is where you come in; you work for the Corporate Police"
"I'm a para-legal intern, cat... lady... I have as much standing as a bat boy at a baseball game"
"I told you, it's Luna! You have a friend"
"He's already suspicious"
"He can help you set up a meeting"
"With who?"
"Your leaders, of course"
"You're crazy"
"You shall tell them... the Police need more funding"
"They've very busy men"
"They'll eat it up; I know how the businesses of Japan operate"
"Why don't I just turn you in? The meeting will be easier that way"
"I'm not amused"
"Wasn't my aim..."
Luna tutted at him. She leaped away, to where the girls were walking down the street. He wanted to go home and sleep, but when he saw the girls crossing the intersection toward his corner, he stood stiff and still, his hat hiding his eyes. Their giggling seized as they came to where he stood. The black haired-girl, Rei, was the first to speak.
"Are you spying on us, mappo?"
"It's called surveillance, you dirty little shrine fantasy girl"
"How dare you! I ought to smack you silly" she says, waving her fist at him.
"You hit me, they'll charge all of you with treason"
"Rei, you'd better calm down" says, to Koitsumi's amazement, Makoto Kino.
"So, we never caught your name..." says odanga girl.
"It's Hiroto" he says.
"How very interesting" says Rei, "come on, let's go"
"Maybe we should be nicer to him, dolt. He's a cop AND he's supposed to help us"
"Don't tell how to behave, you fat ditz"
"Did Luna find you?" says the shy girl, Ami.
"Yes, she did"
"She explicated our situation to you, yes?"
"Very interesting how this all happens... and there's no proof"
"Our enemies disguise it. That's how they spread their influence"
"Ami, you sent Luna to divulge MORE of our lives to this pig?" says Rei.
"I agree with Luna; he needs to know"
"He is not to be trusted" says Rei.
"He did save Mako-chan's life" says Mina, smiling.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, ladies..."
"You've yet to show us anything about you; I'm not letting my guard down"
"And you shouldn't, shrine girl; your little bed-time monsters are nothing big"
"That's rich. They have taken over the government, fool" says Kino.
"But they're not the ones destroying Tokyo"
"You're blaming the freedom fighters?" says odanga girl, Usagi
"They're criminals; they've killed hundreds of people"
"All government workers. They deserve to die" says Rei.
"Zaibatsu takes no prisoners, only job applications"
"That's a lie. They went there voluntarily, and you know it, pig"
"Either way, you don't understand the situation fully"
"Oh, no? Why don't you educate us, officer?"
"Right now, there are 400,000 documented insurgents"
"Numbers. Yawn" says Usagi.
"Shhh" says Ami.
"Now that's 400,000 terrorists, capable of each constructing a home-made bomb and blowing a building to bits. It's why the government consented to the corporate take-over: riots were present even before the collapse"
"The Nationalist Struggle" says Ami.
"Correct"
"But I thought the Corporations liked the Nationalists" says Rei.
"It was a facade to gain support from the actual political parties" says Ami.
"You're kidding"
"No, I'm not. They keep them today, of course, but they are more their pawns"
"She's the smart one, right?"
"Screw you!" they all chant, in total unison.
His laugh was awkward. Lying on the ground, the callof 100,000,641 more things to worry about impaling his ears, making them ring and tingle and ringle like someone had placed a bell over him and struck it with a sledgehammer; someone falling on him, cutting his breath short; raising his arm above whoever had fallen on him; whoever it was falling on him jabbing him with the point of their elbow right in the chest; the jump each of his blood and skin and nerve cells had taken... all collided and interchanged with the other to make a most strange sound come out of his lungs indeed. He thought he could hear someone screaming.
"... Horror.
Horror has a face.
An ugly mask.
A grafted facade...
To hide itself.
And you must make a friend of horror.
Horror and moral terror are your friends.
If they are not, then they are enemies to be feared.
They are truly enemies..."
