Komaru raised a hand to her mouth as she tried to stifle a yawn, her other hand holding a folder full of notes on Toko that she had taken over the past couple of months, although she left out how she can talk and walk on land when her tail drys, after all, she promised Toko she wouldn't say anything.

She headed towards the main board room to give them her notes and to state her thoughts on how she believed the siren was doing. She was a bit giddy to state what she's learned since she really did;t have anyone to talk to that often or those who actually want to talk to her, well besides Hiroko, the boy she met a couple of weeks ago from a different department, Yuta Asahina, and her brother who worked in a different department, and again she didn't tell anyone her secrets with Toko.

She was about to turn a corner when she heard some scientist talking just behind the corner, she froze as she didn't want to interrupt them if she had to walk through them to get to the room. They continued to talk as they must not have heard her coming down the hall, she knew she's not supposed to eavesdrop on others, however, what they said made her blood run cold.

"So how much longer until start the dissection?" One asked, sounding masculine.

"Pretty sure the director said it'd be next week. He wants to have as much information on it while it is still alive after all." The other replied, sounding feminine.

"Such a shame to see such a pretty creature has to die." A third voice added.

The second voice responded, "Nothing can be done about it, the director wants to know everything and that means cutting it open."

Komaru's hand covered her mouth as her eyes widen in shock, were they-were they talking about Toko?

"So what do we tell that caretaker then? Naegi was it? After all, she seems to be attached to it?"

"Probably tell her the same lie they tell the other caretakers. That we released them back in their home environment."

"Hey guys, we should get going, the meeting's about to start."

She heard noises of confirmation and then footsteps. Komaru's legs trembled under her, she used her free hand to support herself before she could fall. They were going to take Toko away, they were going to kill Toko!

She had to stop them, she, she had to get Toko out of here before they could get to her first. Her hand that was pressed firmly on the wall clenched into a fist, she won't take her away from her. Taking a deep breath, she steadied herself and walked towards the meeting room. She was going to save her friend.

Komaru gave a tired wave as the final scientist left for the night, only for the smile she gave her to morph into a scowl. She turned quickly and dashed to the latter for the platform, she scurried up it and crawled to the ledge, "Toko!"

The purple siren emerged from the water with her eyes slightly narrowed, "W-why are you yelling?"

"I need to get you out of here."

"W-what? D-didn't you say they w-were gonna release me?"

Komaru shook her head as her eyes shined with sorrow, "They lied Toko, they lie to the caretakers about what happens to you guys, they don't release them, they kill them and cut them up!"

"W-what!?" A look of horror crossed the mermaid's face, "A-and you didn't know? Y-you better not have been in on this!"

"No never! I would never do anything like that, I want to learn more about what's out there but not at the expect of yours or any others lives."

Toko's eyes were narrowed at the woman for a few moments before she let out a sigh, "W-well if you're telling the truth, how do we get me out of here?"

"I have a plan, but you probably won't like it."

She let out an annoyed groan, "Spit it out I don't wanna die!"

Komari took a deep breath, "Okay, I have some friends here who are against what this place does. With their help, we can get you out."

A look of fear and uncertainty crossed her face, "You trust me Toko?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Then trust me when I say I won't let anything happen to you, but you have to let me get others in on it. I don't want to risk us getting caught, they'd kill you on the spot."

The purple hair mermaid frowned and let out an agitated sigh, "A-alright, but if anything goes wrong it's your fault."

"I won't let that happen."

Komaru counted down every second that passed, her chest twisted with anxiety as the time was ticking near. Tonight she would be getting Toko out of this place, she and the others have already gone over the plan and were ready to start as soon as all the scientists left for the night. She was thankful for those who wanted to help her on this, Hiroko has been wanting to release a creature from the facility's care for years but never had the ability to do so until now when Komaru brought it up with her outside of the building. She volunteered to tamper with the cameras so that nothing would seem suspicious, or would see what they were doing.

Another was Yuta, a boy around her age in a different department, but who had also come to see what the facility really was. He got his sister involved, who was more than willing to join in after hearing what he had to say, she was their getaway driver, while Yuta would be helping her get Toko.

Finally, there was her own brother, Makoto, who was the one who was able to help land her the job in the first place a couple of years ago, and he had been working here a lot longer than she had, but he never knew either. Turns out only the main heads of each department and other higher-ups knew the truth and didn't want that information to spread, well too bad for them.

Makoto was going to be bringing clothes, while also helping her and Yuta get Toko out, also he would be staying with the facility, only for a little while longer. Once they aided in Toko's escape most of them would be leaving the facility and burning all bridges with it, all of them were going to skip town, while Mokoto is going to be bringing the place down from within. He knew people and had several connections, so he would be using those connections to get the place shut down and those involved with the experimentation arrested, and no one would suspect average plain Makoto of being able to do such a thing. He explained after that he'd be leaving the city with his boyfriend.

Komaru let out a shaky breath as she acted like she was preparing for her night shift watching over Toko, she glanced over her shoulder, two scientists remained and they were packing up their things. It was almost time. They didn't give her a second glance as they walked over to the elevator and left. She was alone now, taking a deep she pulled out her phone and pressed a couple of buttons, and then walked over to the latter, taking long strides.

Once she made it to the top she saw Toko waiting, biting her lip as she looked up at her, "I-is it time?"

Komaru nodded as she held up a towel that she brought with her in her bag, she then felt a buzz from her phone from her pocket and looked at the notification, a text from Makoto, [In the elevator.]

And another from Hiroko, [Got the cams Koko.]

She smiled, "They're on their way, here let me help you up and get you dry."

Toko nodded and held up her arms, which Komaru grabbed and proceeded to pull her up, she grunted at the weight but was able to set Toko down once she got her mostly out of the water. She sat her on the ground and proceeded to pull her all the way out where she then wrapped a total around her. The purple mermaid shivered and leaned against the human, causing Komaru to smile, "Don't worry, we're almost there."

The sound of opening doors filled the quiet room, the two womens' eyes darted over but there on the ground floor was a man with short brown hair and green eyes and was rather plain looking holding a bag, and a darker-skinned man around Komaru's age with short brown hair. "Komaru?"

"Up here!"

The two men looked up at her and Toko, "You got the clothes?"

"Yeah, want us to come up?"

Komaru turned to look at Toko who shook her head rapidly, "Let me help her get clothes on first!"

"Alright," the man then tossed the bag up onto the platform, which landed an arm's length away from the couple, the short-haired woman leaned over and grabbed it, removing the few articles of clothes, a pair of panties, a bar, a purple t-shirt, some black stretchy shorts, and a pair of white flip-flops. Toko's tail was now gone, now that she was dry, except for her still dripping hair, she removed the towel, "Okay, let's get you dressed."

Now it was very awkward, to say the least as Toko was still rather wobbly when she walked and had no balance when attempting to put the shorts on, so Komaru had to hold her waist to keep her steady and ended up getting her arms caught in the shirt, but after much struggle, Toko was now dressed, she looked like a normal human. "Ready to leave?" Komaru asked as she extended her hand, the other holding onto the shoes until they got to the ground floor.

Toko took it with little hesitation, "Y-yeah."

Thankfully there was not much of a problem with the latter like the brunet thought there would be, the only thing being Toko went agonizingly slow, but that was to be expected. Once on the ground floor, Komaru dropped the shoes on the ground and watched as Toko awkwardly slid her foot into the plastic footwear.

"So you must be Toko."

Said woman yelped as she clung to Komaru's arm at the sight of the two men. "Oh sorry didn't mean to scare you, I'm Makoto, Komaru's brother."

Toko's eyes narrowed at the man, but Komaru couldn't tell if she was glaring or if it was just because of her poor eyesight, "I'm Yuta."

Her grey eyes traveled over to the other and she frowns, her eyes still narrowed, The brunet woman gave a small laugh, "Sorry she's shy." She then placed an arm around the other, "Ready to get out of here?"

She nodded shyly in return, "Okay," she got out her phone and pressed a couple of buttons, and brought it up to her ear, "Hiroko, how're the cameras?"

"Ready when you are Koko."

"Okay, it's now or never."

She heard Hiroko hum in agreement, I can get them offline for ten minutes, that's what you have, and I'll meet you out."

"Got it, thanks, Hiroko." She pulled the phone away, "Let's go."

Quickly as they could they went to the elevator and went to the main floor. Now some may be wondering why it seems so easy, well Hope's Peak Facility only has so many night guards working at a time to keep up confidentiality and there is one hour every night where there are no guards roaming the grounds. The director is so confident that no one would defect without him knowing and believes his security cameras will catch everything that there is no need to worry. What they focus on more is what could get in, not what could get out. So no one would be the wiser with the four of them walking out if anyone were to walk by them.

Once they were outside they picked up the pace to the minivan that Yuta's sister was driving, the license plate had been removed and it looked like a dime a dozen of others, so it'd be hard to try and track if caught. Once they opened the doors they scrambled in, Hiroko was done there lighting a cigarette with the window open in the front passenger seat and a dark-skinned woman was behind the wheel, Yuta's sister. "Everyone in?"

"Yeah, let's go Aoi!"

The woman nodded, she changed gears and slammed her foot on the gas, driving out of the parking lot. Komaru and many others cheered as the building was leaving their sights from behind, Toko didn't say a word as she was too busy watching the world past them by, but asked, "S-so I'm free?"

Komaru nodded, "Yes, and you'll never have to be locked up again, not when I'm with you."

Toko gave her a wobbly smile and leaned over and gave her a kiss on the lips.

They were free, and nothing was going to stand in their way.