XLV
Gegenseitigkeit
"Indeed, I am referring to her. We both know that her current attitude is far from satisfactory and that she is not willing to change if circumstances demand it, hopefully nothing serious has happened so far."
Nana came forward to tell him what had happened earlier when Kyou had pushed Yuka and how she had acted at dinner. "You see what I mean."
"I was afraid of that. Then it is even more crucial that Saeko-chan is taught on how to handle her own vectors and learns how to numb another diclonius. The two of you should have no problems with subduing Kyou if she gets out of hand."
"Isn't that a bit harsh on her?"
Dreachon shook his head in disagreement. "Until she understands that things go different in the real world and learns to understand the concept of controlling her emotions there will be no other choice to prevent her from causing trouble when she regains her vectors."
"How did you disable theirs?"
"We have our ways but suffice to say that this is not a permanent solution. In time they must learn how to use and control their vectors otherwise they will not be able to co-exist alongside humans."
This was true, there was no other way for them to exist in this world if they could not control themselves. It pained her to know that still for the majority of her kind this could never be achieved. "Tell me how long do I have before they can use them again?"
"In a couple of days though we do have the ability to administer another dose should they prove to be too violent, keep your attention on them both. Despite being more silent and shy Ryou could still pose a problem."
Discussing for some time Nana left eventually when she was called out by the others, apparently they were all eager to start watching the movie and they wanted her to join them.
"Nana-san what took you so long?" Mayu asked as she had been keeping a seat reserved for her. "I was worried you would not want to join us?"
"I had to discuss something, it was about the twins and Saeko-chan." She answered her quickly as she seated down, from here she had a nice view and good access to all the snacks that were even now being prepared in the kitchen.
"Do we have everything?" Kouta asked as he kept looking to see if they hadn't missed a thing, the lists they had compiled had been rather big but then with the amount of people here they were going to need all of it.
"You worry too much." Nyu teased him as she brought the last bowl. "Everything is ready and we just need to put it on the table. Now come on and help us with that." She gestured for him to move and make himself useful.
"You heard her Kouta!" Yuka chimed in when he wasn't fast enough to pick up one of the bowls. "If you don't help then you won't get any snacks for tonight!"
"A-Ah but Yuka!" He cried as another bowl was swiped from his hands by Nyu.
She laughed at her stood there. "Too slow." Before leaving while having her tongue stuck out before disappearing around the corner. Great he told himself, they were teaming up against him again. Well at least none of the others girls were joining in on it as well.
"Here we go again." He mumbled as he lifted a bowl but before he had left the kitchen both Yuka and Nyu came back already and this time Nozomi had joined them as well, dammit seemed like they had gotten reinforcements.
"Kouta-san, please let me help you with that." She remarked as she grabbed it from him. To think she was even offering to help him, she was way to kind but then that was Nozomi.
"That won't be necessary, I can handle this one just fine." Barely had he said the words when he slipped on the floor and the bowl would have landed on his head if it hadn't been for a certain somebody.
"Hardly a good impression I should add." Dreachon remarked as he caught the bowl. "There does not appear to be much grace and elegance to your motoric functions, flailing with your arms like that will not assist in any form or way."
"Nice catch." Yuka mentinoed swiftly as she grabbed another bowl. "Maybe you can teach that to Kouta?"
"Most people lack the reflexes for that, besides I highly doubt that Kouta-san has the strength to hold it after catching it."
They laughed at Kouta's expense, still he did not mind it at all as he knew perfectly that in every way his body was not in the best of shapes and truth be told he didn't really care all that much about that, there was no point for him to become like others.
"If it comes to strength then isn't that what we have you for?" He returned the favor and despite Dreachon keeping a rather serious look he did start to crack a smile at hearing that.
"Starting to grow a backbone. Good. You will need it."
The girls laughed even harder this time and Kouta just joined them in, he could feel how the atmosphere was starting to become quite relaxed. Hopefully it would remain like that for the duration of the night, he certainly could do with a less tense period.
Getting back up on his feet he took the bowl back from him but not before asking one important question. "Will you be staying for the evening?"
"It seems that things are in order here, if so I will head back to Hirano and aid to settle matters there. We have to make sure that the woman he brought with him is not going to become an issue, I'm certain you will understand that."
Pondering for a moment Kouta wanted know more. "Can we trust her, do we gain anything for allowing her to meet the girls?"
"There is much too gain yes, she is a physician specializing in children and she has prior experience with diclonius. The fact that a DRI operative is set out to kill her does seem to speak in her benefit but I would still exercise caution."
"You expect it to be a set-up?"
"I would not put it behind the chief to employ such a method to gain a better understanding of where the real price is hiding."
Nodding in agreement Kouta considered it best if he where to go and make sure that this woman would not pose a danger to them all, for now everything was fine in the house though he did make it clear that if anything happened he would call him instantly.
"Of course, that is why I provided you with that phone in the first place. With your knowledge I will take my leave then, if Saeko-chan where to ask tell her that I will come back at the earliest opportunity."
"Take care of yourself." Kouta mentioned as he walked past him, the girls were no doubt getting impatient for him to bring the by now last bowl. Yuka, Nyu and Nozomi had been pretty fast to collect the rest.
"You too."
Still feeling a bit groggy she slowly opened her eyes, well she was feeling much better that before and that sick feeling in her stomach was also gone. Though for the life of her she could not remember at all getting back home, now that she thought about it this certainly did not feel like her bed at in the least. Could it be that Onishi had brought her to her own home? No that didn't make much sense as she lived further out than Mako, flashes started to come back. She could vaguely remember a person talking about a car crash, was she in the hospital perhaps?
Opening her eyes further she could already tell that she was most certainly not in any hospital, this place was anything but clean. She could hear some noise coming from the adjacent room.
Making sure that she didn't produce too much nice she slowly started to get up, she was still feeling weak in her arms and legs but despite that she pushed on. Finally she got up straight, scanning the room she looked for what she could use as a weapon. Not planning on staying here for any longer than she needed to be she was glad to see her purse lying there as well.
Reaching inside it was with some dismay that she learned that the battery on her phone was dead.
"Just wonderful, now how am I going to call for help?" She thought to herself, well not much she could do about this now. Searching further there were very little items that could aid her in making her escape.
"Think Mako, think. There has got to be something you can use." Trying to lift herself from the bed she made it her best attempt at sneaking closer to the entrance to the other room, if she could catch a glimpse of the other person then maybe she could have a better understanding on where she was at the moment.
Sneaking closer she nearly tripped over some stuff she had barely noticed, cursing herself for not paying enough attention she kept on walking. Almost reaching the entrance she tripped for real this time, with a loud scream she landed in the middle of the next room.
"Nice work Mako, now you have done it." Went through her mind as the pain shot through her body, she groaned as she could feel the pounding of her head.
Approaching footsteps already told her enough, whoever it was that had brought her here was now fully aware that she had woken up.
Not to give up now she reached out for the nearest thing she could lay her hands on and swung it as hard as she could in the direction she know this person was, his screams and cursing told her that she had hit home. Now all that she needed to do was to get out of here and fast, scanning she quickly noticed the main door and limped for it.
Pushing it open she was suddenly overcome as she lost her breath, struggling she felt a crushing force around her neck. Feeling the ground disappearing from underneath her feet she dared to open her eyes, what she saw scared her to death. Glowing red orbs were staring back her, they signaled nothing except a cruel death.
"You cause to many problems." The person told her, the voice was deep and commanding, she couldn't move as her fear stricken body was rendered mute.
The other person who had appeared to have recovered from her blow was approaching her from the back, stuck like this she couldn't see him.
"Takebe-san, what are you doing out of bed?" He groaned as he reached out for her. "Damn you hit me hard back there, I think I might have a concussion."
"Are you going to whine for the duration of her stay." The other person remarked, slowly she was feeling how his grip on her loosened allowing her to catch some air again. Taking in a deep breath she coughed.
"Just let her go and let's try this again shall we, Takebe-san you do still recognize me right?"
Touching the ground again she turned around only to be confronted by Dai's face, the man she had been hoping to find when she had landed back at the heliport.
Dropping to her knees upon realizing it had been him she had hit she apologized, if she had known it would have been him she would not have intended to hurt him.
"As long as you promise you won't do it again I can forgive you. Besides it is not like we didn't scare you enough. Please have a seat and I will tell you what has happened today, you must have a lot of questions."
They stopped as they all heard her stomach rumble in response.
"I guess you will want to have something to eat as well." Dai scratched his head as he looked down at her belly. "The only thing I can offer for now is a cold pizza."
Sitting down she listened as Dai started to explain everything but not once did she take her eyes off from the other person staring at her, she didn't feel all that comfortable with his presence.
Going through all the paperwork he could already feel his blood sugar starting to drop, the only thing left to do for him now was to get more sweets and that meant chocolate and lots of it.
Nousou was still feeling depressed from all the trouble that had gone on ever since the terrorists had attacked the DRI and had managed to get away with several precious silpelits, their escape was interesting but what had really caught his curiosity were certain rumors that had been going round.
To a man like him with such an insatiable appetite for knowledge they were just too tasty to pass on, that was off course provided that the rumors were true; a diclonius had accompanied them, word had reached him that this one had once belonged to Ritsuko's department.
Could it be that this was the fabled nr. 28, the silpelit that had been amputated her limbs and lower torso by surgery and had yet made a miraculous recovery. Left to die for certain even with the aid of a life-support unit she could not have survived for more than a couple of days but she had. and she had done so in a truly fascinating way.
Oh the thought of a diclonius possessing such regenerative powers was too good to ignore, the sheer myriad of experiments and tests he could perform on her would see his knowledge expanded beyond what was possible. Already the highest ranking and most accomplished researcher when it came to their biology who know what he could add to his work if he had such a specimen in his possession.
Even the remote chance that it could be used for humans was a golden opportunity, scientist had been trying to find a way to regrow lost limbs for years if not decades and yet it had always eluded them. Now this silpelit held for him a possible promise that he could succeed where others had failed.
For now he did have to content himself with finding and capturing Lucy but after that he would most certainly turns his attention to finding this other silpelit. With Diana well on her recovery it would be only a matter of time before she could rejoin with the others clones, the loss of Felicia had been a sore blow but with still five of them remaining he was confident they still had the edge over Lucy.
His staff had been working overtime in an effort to provide him with the answer on what had went wrong with Felicia, so far they had been able to come up with just a single answer; the Ajina had malfunctioned but to it's exact cause the opinions were divided.
But none of them could tell him why or how this had happened, already his technical experts were already going through the schematics trying to find a cause for it. An answer had to be found or there existed a risk that the remaining clones would suffer a similar fate and if that were to happen during combat he was certain the results would be catastrophic.
Looking at the reports thus far again they had remained quiet and obedient, nothing indicated they were about to break free from his control or go on a rampage, that said he had already issued for several counter measures to be taken just in case. It had pained him to give such an order on his prized specimens but he could not risk they going out of control.
Borrowing an idea from Ritsuko they had made one small adjustment to the Ajina, a tiny charge was now placed within the device, not enough to do damage to anybody except to the one wearing the Ajina, it would be sufficient. He had already the first remote with him, just at the press of the button and it would overload, destroying what remained of their frontal lobes not to mention the rest of the brain.
Leaning back in his chair he looked at it, so small and yet it held the power of life and death over the clones. His pride made him pray that he didn't need to use it but his mind did make certain that he would keep it with him at all times, just in case.
Nyu leaned closer towards Kouta as she was starting to feel a little tired, already it was starting to get late but despite that she had been enjoying herself. For a lack of going to the cinema this movie night at home was just if not more enjoyable than she had thought.
"Yuka-san I want to thank for having shared this movie with us, I really like it." She whispered in an attempt not to disturb the others who seemed to be fully captivated by it.
"Don't mentioned it." Yuka remarked as she gestured for her to keep watching, by now she was leaner closer to him as well.
Situated nicely in between them he had noticed what they were doing and it was making him feel rather nervous, to think they were fighting for his attention even if neither of them was fully aware of it, or where they?
"Yuka could you pass me something to drink?" He quickly asked as he attempted to get them off him, for now it seemed that Yuka took the bait but that still left Nyu.
"Nyu-chan. You see that bowl in front of you, could you pass me some of those?" He quickly turned to her, with a sigh of relief both girls leaned away to get their respective goods granting him some much needed breathing space. Wiping away some of the sweat that had gathered on his forehead he swallowed hard as both of them now turned their heads back to him.
"Here you go Kouta." Yuka mentioned as she offered him a bottle and just as quickly she was leaning against his arm again, oh this was not going well.
"Here it is." Nyu remarked as she allowed her head to rest in his lap, now he was starting to get really nervous. Nervous wasn't the right word, panic would be more like it.
His heart skipped several beats as Yuka snuggled a little closer again, her head was resting on his shoulder. Not be outdone Nyu moved in closer again, her head now firmly resting a good bit higher than his lap. It was supposed to be a guy's dream and yet he was utterly scared.
Looking for a way out he finally rested his hope on Nana though for the moment her full attention was drawn to the TV, why did they have to buy that thing in the first place.
Gently poking her with his foot he took great care to try and not make it obvious to Yuka and Nyu what he was doing, oh god he was glad that Mayu wasn't paying much attention to what was going on behind her back. Getting spotted by her in the current predicament he was in would no doubt lead it would earn him a tidal wave of hurt as he knew that she was not a fan of his prior antics with Nyu.
Nana didn't seem to offer him any attention despite him poking her again, to her the movie was more interesting than it appeared. That left him just on his own to sort this out.
Right now he was just praying that the movie would soon be over or that he really needed to go use the bathroom, at least either of them would provide him with a good excuse to get away from the girls for some time.
He couldn't go through with this, this did not feel right to him at all. He loved both of them and even though he enjoyed the comfort of their thouch this was being a little bit too much of a good thing.
Deciding that he would go anyway he started to get up. "Excuse me girls but I need to go." He smiled as both Yuka and Nyu allowed him to get though he could clearly see the reluctance not to mention the disappointment in their eyes.
Making his way to the bathroom the first thing he did was locking the door behind him, right now he needed some time for himself. Turning open the water tap he splashed the cold water into his face, the cold thouch to his skin felt really good after what he had just been through.
Now he was starting to understand that at some point he was going to need to make a choice, a difficult and painful choice between them. Thinking about it he was feeling guilty as he knew that the other one would be heartbroken, but how could he choose between Yuka and Nyu, they had been there for him all this time.
Mako had been listening with ever growing interest, despite the annoying presence of Dreachon still making her feel less than welcome.
Dai on the other hand had been welcome company and right now she could most certainly use that as she needed some support in trying to process that the DRI had sanctioned for her to be killed. How could Onishi have this done to her? They had been friends at some time.
She had been foolish to think she could have gotten away but there was nothing she could do about it anymore, still it would make no difference in the end as she was aware the amount of resources that were at the disposal of the chief. There was no hope for her to get help from the authorities, best chance for her now was to stay low and remain out of sight.
"If I may ask, have you found her?"
Dai shook his head, at the moment there was no sign of her but that also meant they were likely safe here for the time being. "Still I would not recommend you to go to your place, she might actually be waiting there for you. If you want you can spend the night here."
Dreachon added to that. "Tomorrow we will make certain that you own residence will be secured, we will also continue then with our own search for your former colleague."
Mako looked at him. "Then let me ask you another question, what happened to those girls?"
"They are fine and for the moment quite safe but do not assume that you can go and visit them. It is still considered unwise to let others found out their location."
"I have a right to see them!" Mako rebuked as she stood up. "I have risked everything to help them escape and I-."
She was swiftly interrupted by him. "Enough! You don't have any right and if you want to meet them then you will have to earn it by proving that you can be considered trustworthy!" He pointed at her. "The decision is not up to me to make but to others and they will be the ones you will need to convince."
She felt kind of betrayed at hearing that, she had come to Kamakura in the hope of seeing those girls and learn if her gut feeling had been right all this time. To be cheated of it felt wrong to her and despite desperately wanting to know more she had to agree that he had a point.
For those girls a normal life was only possible if they kept themselves out of sight, she would just need to be a little bit more patient. "How can I prove that I mean no harm?"
Dai answered this one. "By simply being yourself and just taking it one step at a time, I did not get to go to their location the first time. We kept meeting at one of the parks during the night when as few people as possible could bump into us."
"Do not be rash in this Hirano, the decision is still up to them to make and any nighttime meeting has to be planned in advance to deal with that curfew that Shimada wants to enforce."
"Shimada? Who is he?" Mako asked as she heard the name.
"My boss." Dai mentioned and then he began to explain what his real profession had been and who he had been working for. Hearing it Mako almost fell back in the chair from disgust as she now learned to what organization Dai belonged. "H-How could you?"
"I didn't know any better, much like you I was kept in the dark on what was really going on."
He then went on to explain to great length on how he got into contact with the diclonius and what caused him to change his mind into helping them.
"Seeing as the two of you are getting along I will leave you alone for now. I will see if I can find this Onishi, after that I will head back to the others."
Escorting him to the door Dai was glad that he was leaving, a night alone with Mako was certainly not a bad way to spend it even if they were going to talk for most of it.
Opening the door he took a quick glance to make sure neither of them were waiting for him, feeling more at ease for the moment he left the bathroom as he walked back to the living room. He felt glad to see that both Yuka and Nyu had stayed at their place although they were now more or less leaning into each other, Saeko also had come over to enjoy their company as her head was now resting on Yuka's lap. From his point of view it also seemed liked she might have been asleep.
Trying not to make any noise he sat down in between the girls once more. "Is she asleep?" He asked as he pointed at her. As if responding to his question Saeko lifted her head and looked.
"Not really, she had only closed her eyes." Yuka informed as she told Saeko that it was okay for her. "Feeling better now?"
Her hand was on his forehead before he could even move. "Well you don't have a fever, maybe you were just allergic to some of the snacks." She added to it.
"Y-Yeah that was it, didn't feel so good for a moment." Scratching the back of his head he was grateful that Yuka had kind of given him an excuse for his sudden departure.
"You should be more careful." Now Nyu was joining in the conversation as well. "Perhaps we should have asked you if there was anything on the list that you were allergic too."
Already seeing the look in her eyes Kouta was quick to let her know that it wasn't her fault.
"Don't worry I am fine, please don't feel guilty about it." Seeing her like this he was the one who should feel guilty, to make her worry about such a simple thing.
"I'm not." Yuka smiled as she said it. "Besides I don't think you have ever been allergic to anything as far as I can remember but then it was a long time ago…" She was beginning to trail off and at one point Kouta had completely lost her.
Nana let out an irritated puff as she gave an annoyed look at the people behind her, really they had been making enough noise that she couldn't hear what they were saying. "Can you be quiet, I am trying to watch this!"
Next to her Ryou watched with a unsettled look, she wasn't liking where this could be going though Kyou was watching with anticipation of it actually getting worse. "You had better not make my sister cry, I won't go easy on you!" Oh she was looking for a fight alright.
"Stop it all of you." Mayu got in between them. "I am certain that Kouta-san, Yuka-san and Nyu-san didn't mean to be so loud. Can we please go back at watching the movie?"
Mayu was right, it had been a pleasant evening even with the new girls and it would be a shame to let it get spoiled by something so small as a bit of noise.
"Mayu-chan is right." Yuka told them. "We are sorry if our conversation was a nuisance to you girls, I am really sorry for that."
"Me too." Making a small bow Nyu wanted them to know that she had no ill intention.
"It's okay." Nana turned her attention back to the film, the others were right. It would be such a waste to let this moment of them together as a family be ruined.
"Shall we watch further?" She asked making sure that everybody's attention was back to the movie, taking their silence as a yes she rewinded it until they got back to the part they had missed due to some minor distractions.
"Pass me the drinks would you?" Somebody behind her asked and before she knew it more requests for food and drinks where going back and forth. She was glad that she hadn't started it yet as it allowed her to get some new refreshment as well.
"E-Excuse me." A soft voice peeped up behind her back. "I-I really need to go." Looking over she could see that it was much to her surprise Kyou who had made the odd request.
Her legs crossed she seemed to be doing her best not to pee over the floor. "I-I really need to go, p-please I r-really need to go!"
Getting up quickly Yuka didn't waste any time as she grabbed Kyou and dragged her all the way while most of them were still left a bit dazzled by what she had just said. Where she would have normally objected, yelled and even go so far as to use violence to make certain that no human would touch her, here Kyou for a change didn't even say a word.
"Well that was somewhat unexpected." Kouta joked as he saw the still somewhat confused look in their eyes, guess none of them had expected that. "Is there anybody else that needs to go, now would be a good moment anyway?"
The rest of the girls didn't seem to appreciate his attempt at making a catchy joke, he decided to keep his mouth further shut lest he was going to get lectured by them or Yuka when she would get back.
"I would like to go." Saeko mentioned as she got up. "Besides I want to stay up longer so that I can greet him when he comees back, he did promise me he would."
"Who are you talking about?" Ryou now asked, her eyes making it clear that she was curious. "Do you mean the person who was with us before, will he be coming here?"
Nodding in her excitement Saeko was quick to move over and start talking why she liked it to have company when she was sleeping. "It feels nice when somebody holds you at night."
"I-I have always slept alone, they always kept me locked to that thing they kept me on. I wouldn't know what it is like to have company, i-is it really that good?" She turned her attention now to the others as if wanting to hear the answer from them as well.
