Full Summary: The Ajins, organisms that appear to be human, but are unable to die permanently, can't be considered as such.
Because of their potential, those discovered to be one are to be taken into government custody for the safety of those around them and for the benefit of humanity.
Some people, human and ajin alike, beg to differ about those particular aspects, however.
Despite living in a world where anyone could be one of those beings, Chiaki and Hajime were ordinary high school students with trivial things to think of; thinking about immortal humanoids are the least of their worries.
However, a chain reaction of events that started from a mysterious boy showing up in their hometown one day, a road accident, the Japanese government's secrets and conspiracies, and a world revolution will irreversibly change their lives, perhaps forever.
A/N: A big shout-out to Kibou (also known as syldenne here) recommending Ajin and also for being a big inspiration to this AU.
Ajin's a neat and interesting anime (or manga if you're that kind of person) and you should check it out if you want to.
Chapter Summary: A group of researchers conduct some 'experiments' on a detained ajin in one of the government facilities. Little do they know, these will be the last series of tests they'll ever perform on the immortal organism.
A/N: To prevent potential spoilers, warnings are provided at the end of the notes depending on how major/minor they are.
In this chapter, there are major warnings, and if you'd like to know what you're getting into, feel free to check the end notes below.
August 2012
A team of three people stood by inside the lab; due to everyone wearing the same uniform, a lab coat, a surgical cap, and a surgical mask, they all looked virtually identical. One of them leaned against the wall, absentmindedly tapping his pencil against his notepad, another sat patiently on an unoccupied seat, and the last one impatiently paced around the room.
That specific member was their technician, Nagata. His frustrated sigh echoed within the sterile lab room. It admittedly isn't the greatest job they have in the world, but it isn't the worst either. At least they pay really well, and all with a hefty bonus just to keep their mouths shut. At the time, it's also not exactly the cleanest job, but it could've been worse. One of them could've ended up in the sewers instead. Besides, their job here is arguably more important and dignified than that.
They're one of the government's team of researchers tasked with handling and managing tests and experiments on organisms known as ajins, or as some people call them, demihumans. They've only been a recent discovery, ever since sixteen years ago when a soldier fighting a war in Africa, the first ajin to be discovered and detained, had been leaked out to the public.
One thing that everyone knows is this: Ajins may look like humans, but their true nature is anything but that. To die eventually is to be human, and to not do so is against the natural order.
'Freaks of nature, that's what they are.' Nagata crinkled his nose in disgust. Recalling that made him remember about their latest member and groaned. "What's taking Sanada so long? He's supposed to cart the test subject in here five minutes ago."
"That's Sanada to you. Had Nagata here not abused his senior position and did it himself, we'd be making progress ten minutes ago." Tatsumi, the team's main researcher, and official note-taker interjected, glancing up to him for a second before returning to his notes.
Nagata growled. "After what happened last time, I am not going more than three meters near that thing."
"Unfortunately for you, that is part of your job description."
Before their petty squabble could escalate any further, Sendai, the team's veteran surgeon, got in-between the two, arms spread as to keep one away from each other. "That's enough, you two." The two glared at each other one last time and huffed, looking away. Their elder sighed in relief. "It's great that you two learned from last time. Besides, you don't have to be cranky now that Sanada's finally here."
As if on cue, the door was not-so-gently opened. Sanada the newbie and assistant surgeon had his back faced against them. As everyone else did, he too wore the same uniform. "Sorry I got late! Hope I didn't keep everyone waiting." He greeted as he grunted, pulling the medical table in with him.
"Finally. Took you long enough." Tatsumi yawned, stretching himself up.
"Hey, it's not my fault these facilities look all the same. The architects could've at least bothered to make each room distinct from one another."
"Yeah, yeah, sure. Whatever helps you sleep tonight."
Before Sanada's inclusion today, it's always been their team who's handling this ajin subject for years now. Except for Sendai, no one is exactly fond of him. The newbie's first impressions don't help his case either.
As per practical standards, the ajin is wrapped from head to toe in bandages; right now, it's unconscious due to the tranquilizer that's been injected into it. Careful monitoring of dosages is a requirement, as an overdose will only cause the ajin to reset. A fully conscious ajin is far harder to predict and control. Normally, it'll take hours before the effects wear off; in this case, there's nothing that a simple stab to the head or a slash to the throat can't fix.
Sendai, with some help from Sanada, lifted the ajin and placed them onto the testing chair. The ajin's arms were then secured with the leather straps. Tatsumi stepped in and snapped a pair of rubber gloves on, placing several electrodes onto the ajin's body, including its chest and neck as well as a cardiac monitor.
Despite their newbie's tardiness, they've set up just in time for the three cameras inside to go online. Three familiar faces flashed onto the screens. One of them was sent here recently, just about a month ago. They ordered the start of the experiments.
Tatsumi procured a scalpel from the provided medical table and calmly slashed through the ajin's throat. Predictably, the wound healed with no mark in sight. The momentary death expelled the rest of the sedative's effects as the ajin stirred, no doubt fully awake.
"Subject's heart rate is lower than normal," Tatsumi noted. "Roughly forty beats per minute."
The newbie's brow furrowed. "That doesn't sound good. Should we be concerned?"
'Ah, poor silly Sanada. He has no idea this is actually one of the subject's better heart rates.' Tatsumi inwardly rolled his eyes at the newbie. "It doesn't matter."
Nagata will admit, the one positive thing about this ajin was that it's the least fussy of them. They recalled having a close call once or twice, but it was passive enough to be reined back in with little to no trouble at all. It didn't mean that they've allowed lowering their guards around this ajin, however.
A cough from one supervisor prevented any more banter, grabbing everyone's attention back. "On the count of three, Nagata, you will begin administering the voltage to our test subject. Start with two hundred forty volts and keep at it for ten minutes."
He can only nod in reply.
"One...Two..."
The technician dialed up the desired volts.
"Three!"
He pressed the button.
The test subject barely reacted; it's an unfortunately consistent case whenever this particular ajin is involved. Yes, this ajin was the easiest one to handle, but while it surely made managing them easier, it also made collecting data even more frustrating than it already is. It's frustratingly difficult to gauge an accurate analysis if their test subject barely responds to anything; they might as well play a guessing game out of that.
There was a time where reactions were more varied, presumably back when this ajin was first acquired, but for some reason, the only results they received from a few years back are now the same, stagnant response. If it weren't for the subject's barely noticeable heaving chest, it'd be easy to forgive them if one of the researchers thought they'd been conducting tests on a simple dummy and not a dangerous, immortal organism this whole time.
It's rather disappointing, to say the least.
"Increase the intensity by eleven thousand volts." Fujito impatiently ordered and rudely interrupted, his irritated expression visible through the screen. "Extend the duration to twenty minutes as well."
"Pardon me sir, but aren't you supposed to simply observe and not disrupt these experiments? Especially when you were only here a month ago?" Tatsumi, the researcher in charge of taking notes throughout each test, asked with a raised brow.
His inquiry was responded with a harsh bark from Fujito. "Did I stutter? Hurry your useless asses up and get on with it!"
The other two supervisors were less than amused towards his lack of tact and professionalism but did not comment on it. They may not like it, but despite being new, he is in a higher position. Fujito's outburst still did what it's supposed to do, and that was to quickly shut the rest of them up. Tatsumi didn't say anything, but the others aside from Sanada knew him long enough to know that he's seething inside. Oh well, one more thing to release later at karaoke night.
Nagata glanced at the subject for a second. Inwardly, he's glad that he's a good four meters away from the chair it's strapped on; he doesn't exactly know what eleven thousand volts will do to it, and he's not complaining as long as he's away from the exploding range. Shaking his head, his fingers latched onto the dials, turning a few of them further from their last position and once he got the desired volts, he then pressed the button.
The ajin test subject's body violently jerked on the chair it was strapped on, its head reared up, its back arched and its fists tightly clenched.
Two of the researchers who were in closer proximity to it within two meters, Tatsumi and Sanada, bore a close-up witness. Since this was Sanada's first day, he flinched at the rather violent reaction. As for Tatsumi, the rapid grazing of lead against paper isn't audible to anyone but him. 'Interesting.' He glanced back at the continuously-writhing ajin. 'But it's not the results we're looking for.' Anyone who's been working here long enough will know that it's only an involuntary action at best.
As always, not a single noise came from the ajin, nothing that indicated expression of pain.
Thud. Thud.
At first, Nagata thought his ears tricked him. The second time it happened, he wondered out loud, "Did anyone hear that?"
"It's probably just you, Nagata." Tatsumi scoffed.
As much as the technician wanted to bite back, he said nothing. Not like he could anyway, not when their supervisors are right here.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Twenty minutes after the first session finished and their test subject was in the process of regenerating, there it was again. He began to glance around his surroundings. "Hey, everyone-"
The note-taker cut him off, irritation slowly making its way to him. "Will you quit it, Nagata? I swear I'll-"
"Wait, I think I heard it too." The newbie interjected, perking his head up.
"Sanada, you're not helping!"
Witnessing the discourse, one of the supervisors then questioned in a firm tone, "What is going on in there?"
Thud. Thud.
The three supervisor's eyes widened and mouths agape in disbelief.
"Where was that coming from?!" Fujito demanded.
Sendai surveyed his surroundings. A particularly loud noise got his attention. He searched where it was the loudest and looked at where it was located. The rest of the team silently followed where he might've caught it.
A dire realization hit them as it got louder.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
'It's coming from the vents-!'
Clank.
The ambiance grew quieter as everyone witnessed the vent cover fall onto the floor. Sanada's breathing slowed down, tentatively stepping forward to glance up at the now-empty ceiling vent. He squinted his eyes. "Wait, I don't see anything up there."
A second passed. Two more seconds passed.
It all happened too quickly.
It was only a moment ago that Sanada stood below the empty vent. Before everyone knew it, the newbie's right arm had been messily cleaved up as he shrieked, blood pouring out of the stump.
Screams filled the once empty lab. Everyone futilely scrambled out to the exit, their superiors panicked yelling of orders growing deaf to their ears, followed by gunshots in their respective rooms.
When Nagata reached the door, it was then he found that it'd been locked from the outside. His panicked breathing bordered onto near sobs as he turned around. No one made it. He couldn't recognize any of his colleagues, not when they are all a mess on the floor. No human being should be capable of tearing flesh and limbs apart with no effort.
And then, something he can only describe as clawed towards the back of his head. He can only scream as an invisible force pulled him away from the exit, grasping onto his neck and threw him against the other side of the room, aggravating the open injury further as he fell on his back.
He blearily glanced to his side and tensed up when he caught sight of bandaged legs. "Oh for the love of God. Why must I be close to this thing now of all times?!"
A loud click echoed through the silenced lab, interrupting him. The last researcher braced himself for the worse, only to become confused when he heard a high-pitched, "Heyo! What's up?" followed by the clacking of heels towards him and the ajin. He briefly saw a silhouette and then wondered.
'What's a high school student doing in this facility?'
Nagata shook his head. No, it must be the blood loss that's making him see things. There's no way a teenager should be able to trespass into a lab as well-guarded as this one.
No one at that age should have the resources nor the tactics needed to break in. If well-trained spies barely managed to do such a thing without alerting the security or getting caught, then what can a simple high school-aged teen hope to do?
Several rapid and sudden stomps on top of his chest forcefully stopped those thoughts altogether, followed by a loud crack. Nagata let out a choked gasp, coughing out his saliva. Unimaginable pain spread throughout his torso as he rapidly wheezed. Warm blood seeped through his white lab coat, staining his chest in crimson.
Despite his instincts, he forced himself to look; at the very least, he should know who did this. He saw that it was a high heel that'd been pressed onto his now shattered chest bone. Though he hadn't seen their face since leaning back further will worsen the head injury, he can't help but have a feeling that his assailant must've seen the look on his face and wanted to see what other reactions he can do.
The intruder, whom he can now confidently assume was a girl, pulled her heel off his wound with a squelch. His most animalistic instincts screeched at him to take the chance, take advantage of this girl's momentary arrogance and get away while he can. He only managed to succeed pressing a palm onto the floor, a futile attempt to get up.
He'd never be able to do so again after this; he wasn't even a few inches away from forcing his trembling form up when another stomp fell on him. This time, it was one precise strike between his legs.
Nagata had never screamed so much in his life before. It only lasted for a few seconds, and yet it felt longer than that.
The girl pulled away.
Even with tears blocking out his eyes, he was somewhat lucid enough to see the girl once again slip her heel into his chest and dug deeper, twisting it now and then. If further aggravating the injury was what she wanted, then she got it. The researcher left literally beneath her mercy let out primal howls of agony and in each movement, his pitch grew higher.
"Did you need to do that?" A new voice piped in. He wasn't able to see what she, he assumed the new voice to be a girl as well, looked like.
"Huh, didn't you notice? Gee, for someone who's supposed to be the 'best soldier evah', you're so despairingly dense! This smart guy thought he had the balls to insult me! And look at that, poow widdle guy doesn't have any left." Her voice pitched to a high mocking tone as her heel pulled back, only to force itself back into the injury.
"But, I didn't hear him say anything." Judging from the other girl's tone, she might've winced.
"You just proved my point right there, sis!"
A back and forth between the two ensued. The two girls bantered against each other as if they were simply ordinary high school students engaging in gossip; as if they hadn't just trespassed in a government facility and committed mass murder.
He couldn't hear anything clear from those girls; their voices grew softer and more inaudible as seconds passed on. He gritted his teeth, craning his neck and leaning further even as the open wound from the back of his head burned.
Before everything went completely dark, the last thing Nagata saw was the surprisingly delicate face of everyone's killer.
Cold baby blue eyes bored onto his skull. Her soft lips curled upwards into a resemblance of a bear's predatory grin.
A/N: Warning: electrocution, murders, and a crotch shot