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UCHUUJIN TAISEN: PROLOGUE
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Prologue: The Blank of 90 Years, Part 4
- Author's Notes -
At long last I'm done with the Prologue! It took a lot longer than I thought, and grew a lot bigger too... but for the sake of symmetry, I had no choice. [5parrow assumes a "bishie pose", then dives for cover as rotten fruit gets flung at him from all around] Soon, soon the real story begins.
Oh, and despite the date and year, you will not see any cross-shaped explosions, psychologically disturbed 14-year-olds, or cities with numbers appended to their names in this fic. Just thought I'd let you know. (The author reserves the right, however, to act like a psychologically-disturbed 14-year-old where appropriate.)
Also, I've tossed a couple of Japanese expressions into this one for flavour. Please refer to footnotes where appropriate. More complex sentences (or anything I can't translate) will be "translated" and enclosed in s. The s do not appear when all characters are obviously speaking in Japanese.
The song in Oogami's section is, of course, 'Mirai (Voyage)' from Sakura Taisen 3. Translation courtesy of www.sakuraarchives.com.
Once again, I own neither Sakura Taisen nor X-Com, nor any of the characters from either series of games. (Duuuuuh.)
Finally, it may seem as though the ACCs have stolen the show. They have - but (hopefully) not for long!
- Present Day (Wednesday, December 31st, 2016) -
Ethan Gallagher was lost in a not-entirely-foreign land.
He could read Japanese and had taken a course in conversation in that language, but still wasn't quite able to keep up with the rapid-fire pace of most native speakers. More importantly, he wasn't about to ask for directions. The city of Tokyo loomed over and around him, its architecture very nearly claustrophobic: the low buildings that lined the street might have been described as a "friendlier" face than the steel-and-glass of the business district, but Gallagher found them uncomfortably close. As he stood on the street corner, rubbing at his wild, sandy-brown hair with a perplexed expression, the 28-year-old engineer wondered why his instructions had told him to meet his contact at - of all the places - Ueno Park.
Of course, that meeting point was quite a long way away. Gallagher, being a consummate fan of anime in particular and Japanese culture in general (he was consummate enough to eschew the term "otaku", although privately he had to admit that he was in fact one), had made a pilgrimage to the legendary Ikebukuro district to see it for himself, before he started his new job - and, predictably, had wandered through the place wide-eyed until he was completely and hopelessly lost. A quick scan of his surroundings showed no sign of the one thing he was currently looking for: the JR logo.
Gallagher turned a corner into a side street, and paused for breath: partly because the weather was cold, partly because he wasn't as fit as he'd used to be, but mostly because he was now loaded down with three very large shopping bags full of used doujinshi[1], DVDs, VHS tapes, figures and at least one dakimakura[2], in addition to his luggage and laptop. A few flakes of snow were beginning to drift down from the evening sky, and there were fewer people on the street now.
At length he gave in; after all, he reasoned to himself, he was in an unfamiliar place and there was no shame in doing it. So he approached the nearest passerby, a woman who looked to be about his age. "Anou... chotto sumimasen... [3]"
She turned, fixed him with a piercing gaze. Gallagher froze like a deer caught in the headlights.
Then she smiled, a smile only partially reflected in her grey eyes, and spoke in perfect English. "So... you finally decided to ask for directions." Her voice was a deep contralto.
"You..." He was stunned. "You were following me?"
"Yes, and you're a little late, Mr. Gallagher. HQ is going to be... worried." At this, the worst of all possible times, one of Gallagher's hard-won purchases tumbled from its overloaded surroundings to land in the snow. Before he could pick it up, the woman scooped the slim vinyl-bound volume up with superhuman deftness.
"Ara... 'Bannou Bukkake Nekomusume Nuku-Nuku [4]'? You have... interesting tastes in reading material."
His face burning bright crimson, the engineer snatched the doujinshi back reflexively. "Excuse me, but you haven't introduced yourself."
"Ah - my apologies. I am Kuroyama Miyabi, soon to be your... colleague. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu [5]." She bowed, not the quick perfunctory sort of bow that businessmen in Japan often proffer to their superiors but a slow, graceful movement. Gallagher, being male, couldn't help but notice at this point, courtesy of her rather low-cut blouse, that she was rather well-endowed by Japanese - or, for that matter, any - standards. Absently, he wiped a trickle of blood away from his nose.
When he came back down to earth, Ethan realised that Ms. Kuroyama was giving him that piercing look again. Once again he blushed furiously, attempting to look anywhere but at her... /her/. "Aa... yoroshiku ne." He managed a passable bow.
"Now - " she abruptly switched to a businesslike tone - "you were supposed to meet your contact at the Western Art Museum in Ueno Park, but that's fine. I've already contacted him and informed him to return. Are you done... shopping?"
"Yes... yes." At this point he began to notice a little more about her. Kuroyama Miyabi was probably a few years older than first impressions would suggest, and although her mode of dress (long, black leather coat, white blouse and black ankle-length skirt with lace trim) certainly suited her, it was a little dated. His attention was abruptly drawn to the tiny cellphone she had on a chain around her neck. She pushed a button somewhere, and the little device unfolded like a blooming flower, going from the size of a golf ball to a full-size phone in under a second. "He's here," she announced into the phone's mouthpiece without bothering to dial (although her diction was crisp and measured, Gallagher could barely follow). "Let's get going, shall we?"
A slate-grey Lexus pulled out of a parking space down the street and cruised up next to them.
"After you," Kuroyama said, holding the door open.
- 16 February 1932 -
"This is no good," Iris murmured. The 18-year-old girl quickened her pace, crossing the courtyard of the Academie Cherbourg at a near-run. Around her, chattering students were wandering in all directions, but her attention was sharply focused on two men in navy-blue trench coats. They were meandering across the yard at a steady but leisurely pace, but Iris couldn't take any chances; anyone out of place was a potential threat, and these men were definitely out of place.
She couldn't risk using her powers in public, much as she would have liked to. Nor could she go home; that would be tantamount to exposing the location of the safehouse. She had to mislead them, feed them disinformation without letting them get too close. Iris strode swiftly out of the Academie's front gate, heading in the direction of the Cherbourg market. Maybe she could lose them in the crush of the crowds there...
...footsteps sounded behind her, shockingly loud on the cobblestoned path. The blonde girl whirled, one hand already cocked back with an energy discharge crackling around it -
"Iris, it's me," the originator of the footsteps quickly assured her. "What's going on?"
"You scared me, Reni," Iris answered. "Look - get behind that wall now." The two of them hurried behind the corner of the wall which surrounded the Academie.
"My assessment is that more suspicious people showed up," the German girl stated flatly.
"Your assessment is absolutely right." Iris gestured in the direction of the school gate. "Take a peek back towards the gate and see."
Reni risked a quick glance around the corner, then drew back. "Those two in blue coats? They're heading this way."
Iris managed to avoid cursing out loud. "We'll have to lose them in the market crowds. Where in the world is Coquelicot? And wasn't Miss Kaede supposed to be looking out for us?"
"Haven't seen either of them," the older girl replied as they headed up the road hurriedly. The town and the market were just ahead. "We shouldn't go in by the main road; I know a shortcut." And she darted quickly towards the mouth of an alleyway, Iris reluctantly following her.
As they entered the alley, two figures hurried towards them from the other end. "Are you two alright?"
"We're fine, Miss Fujieda," Reni answered. "There are, however, pursuers behind us."
"Alright," Kaede replied, turning. "Let's go; I came prepared. Head for the waterfront..." She stopped.
And then they saw the man too.
"Kayama," Kaede stated. "Are you going to help us, or..."
"I'm sorry, Kaede-san," the man in white said. "You made a deal with them, remember?"
"The deal's off," Kaede answered. "I've thought about it, and two years simply isn't enough time for them."
"Miss Kaede," Coquelicot interrupted. "What deal...?"
Kayama answered before she could. "Do you think you really could have escaped when the rest of the Hanagumi - highly-trained fighters even without their Koubu - failed?"
Silence.
"Kaede-san," Kayama continued, "made a deal with the Wisemen. She promised that the three of you would come without a fight, if you were given two more years to live."
"But... how... what... /live/? You mean we're supposed to - "
"Enough," Kaede snapped. "Let them go, Kayama, or - "
"You of all people should understand the importance of this, Kaede," he replied. "The ultimate safeguard against the ultimate danger."
"I don't want to die," Iris was murmuring, horrified. "I was willing, when it meant that Onii-chan[6] and Sakura-onee-chan would live, but..."
Kayama addressed her now. "You won't die, Iris. The Wisemen have no reason to have you killed. All they want is for the three of you to sleep for awhile."
Then the sickly-sweet scent of chloroform infiltrated their nostrils, and the world went black.
- Sumire -
"It's time, Young Mistress. Cheer up. After all, it's your wedding day."
Ba-chan[7]'s words didn't appear to have much effect on the young woman standing in the antechamber. The elderly maidservant sighed. "Just think of this as fulfilling your duty to your parents. Kanzaki Heavy Industries needs this to happen."
It's often said that a bride on her wedding day is radiant. This was an exception to the rule; although the younger woman's hair shone and her white kimono was positively luminous, her eyes were dull and distant, and her mind had already wandered to the events of several weeks ago.
She recalled speaking to her parents, remembered their exact words with absolute clarity. "When you were very young," her father was saying, "we made an agreement with the Matsuzawas. In order for our two organizations to coexist in harmony, you were to marry Matsuzawa Kaoru."
"The Matsuzawa Group..."
"Yes, the very same. Kaoru is a fine young man, and I'm quite sure that the two of you will be very happy together."
"But - " Sumire now cursed herself. If she'd only had the wit to feign compliance, she could have slipped out later; as it stood, she'd been confined to her room until the wedding day. It wasn't that her betrothed was a bad person - on the contrary, the few occasions when she'd spoken to him had revealed him to be almost /too/ nice. But...
"/Young Mistress!/" Ba-chan's exclamation brought her back to the here and now. "Please. Everyone is waiting."
The next few minutes devolved into a blur. Leaving the antechamber. Her father's face, uncharacteristically angry. Practically being frog-marched to the front of the chamber; kneeling on the silk cushion - which felt, to her knees, like a bed of nails. The girl in the front row, dabbing at her reddened eyes with a sniffle, and Kaoru glancing back at her for a split-second - /he didn't want this any more than she did/. The matchmaker, an ancient and haggard woman, speaking the vows for them. The miko[8] presenting them with the sacred cups, and then it was time.
Time slowed down. It seemed like it took an eternity for him to perform the three ritual sips from the cup - one, two, three - and then suddenly it was in her hands, and -
- she couldn't. Her hands simply wouldn't move.
And then a voice rang out from above. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Chuu-i-san!"[9] Sumire gasped. Her hands moved - not to drink, but to set the cup down.
"Is it truly your will?" Oogami Ichirou stood, perched like a bird of prey upon a protruding roof-beam. His eyes, hitherto hard, softened. "Or is there another you wish to be with?"
"Chuu-i-san!" She rose, whirling and tearing the head-dress from her hair, poised to run to him, when a steely rasp and the cold touch of metal stopped her dead in her tracks. Both of the miko had naked blades in their hands, barring her path.
Then, another voice - this time from behind her. "Let her go," it said, and the words were accompanied by an infinite sadness.
Sumire turned again to the sight of the shrine-priestess. The woman's eyes were averted, but she could still see the tracks of hot, salty tears running down her cheeks. "Let her go," she repeated in a choked voice. "She loves him more than I ever could."
"/Sakura-san!/"
"Go." Sakura's voice came out in a whisper. "Go, with my blessing." And the miko withdrew their swords, and Sumire left with her beloved, and Sakura was silent.
- Present Day (Wednesday, December 31st, 2016) -
Night had fallen by the time the Lexus pulled into what appeared, at first, to be the underground parking garage of an office building. Kuroyama had been silent for most of the journey, replying to Gallagher's few awkwardly-phrased questions in a concise but not entirely unfriendly manner. This time, though, she seemed to anticipate the next question even before he said it: "Owned by X-Com."
The security guard at the entrance waved them through after a cursory glance. It looked like a normal parking garage, but Gallagher noticed that the machinery and pumps usually located in such a place were present here in abnormal numbers. As the vehicle descended to the next level, and then the next, he began to have flashbacks of every Top-Secret Organization he'd ever seen in an anime.
And then they emerged into a vast and beautifully landscaped park. The engineer was startled at first, wondering how they'd got there, before he noticed the massive steel girders overhead, crisscrossing the "sky". Apparently, they were still underground, and the sky was artificial. "This is...?"
"A disused hangar," Kuroyama answered, pointedly not mentioning exactly WHAT the hangar had been used for. Gallagher wasn't a structural engineer, but even he could see that it was an engineering marvel - it had to be at least a mile long, if not more. Small pavilions and footpaths wound through the park alongside the road, between verdant trees, and there were even a couple of ponds - out of the corner of his eye, the American spotted a golden-orange flash, and realised that koi were swimming in them. "Isn't this, er..."
"Extravagant?" Once again the older woman seemed almost to have read his mind. "Not at all. You'll see - or, hopefully, you won't /have/ to... see." She left it at that, and just then the car stopped and she opened the door. "Your belongings," she added, "will be brought to your quarters. For now, the Commander would like to meet you."
Still a little stunned by the strangeness of it all, Gallagher followed her out of the car and through a sliding door - the door took a moment to open, and he noticed that the usual sensor had been replaced by what looked like a camera. They arrived in a small antechamber - "through that door," Kuroyama explained, pointing to the left, "is the motor pool. You can check a vehicle out once you get your license converted. This way lies the rest of the base." She led him down a short corridor to a lift, which took them even deeper.
The base itself was made up of several large blocks, interconnected by long straight corridors. Despite the regular layout, or perhaps because of it, Gallagher lost his bearings almost immediately. There were few people in the corridors due to the late hour, making the place look almost eerie in spite of the institutionally-bright lighting. Abruptly Kuroyama stopped - "This way" - and stepped through the door of one of the Blocks. Inside was another lift - guarded by two bored-looking security people - and beyond that was the office of (so the sign read) COL. FAYE ANGELIQUE DUJAIME.
As the door slid open, Gallagher blinked. /That's two Attractive Older Women so far. What's with this organization?/ Kuroyama was suddenly stricken with an attack of coughing, but parlayed it into a moderately-graceful bow. "Good evening, Commander." Gallagher, remembering his manners, hastily bowed too.
The Commander was Eurasian in appearance, auburn-haired and probably (Gallagher thought) about the same age as Kuroyama. She nodded in response to their greeting. "Welcome, Mr. Gallagher. Kuroyama-kun?"
"He passed the... security screening. I'll have a full report ready for you tomorrow afternoon."
"Very well." The Commander frowned. "You're overworking yourself, by the way."
"I'll be fine. This is the way we do things around here, Commander - begging your pardon." Kuroyama paused, as if expecting something.
"If you say so. You may leave."
Kuroyama bowed, turned crisply and left the office.
"Now, Mr. Gallagher." Allowing herself a small smile, the Commander waved at one of the chairs. "I'm Faye DuJaime. Welcome to X-Com Tokyo." She consulted a slim manila folder on her desk for a moment. "At this point I imagine that right now you're feeling a bit like Alice... tumbling down the rabbit hole."
"You could say that," Gallagher responded, deciding to play along.
"When you spoke to the recruiter, how did they describe your job?"
"Well, they said I'd be doing engineering work for a UN-funded military organization." The engineer swallowed. "But I didn't quite expect... this."
Commander DuJaime's smile broadened almost imperceptibly. "Most people don't." She paused. "I suspect that that's why Kuroyama-san likes to screen new people personally - she enjoys their dumbfounded reactions. I keep telling her to leave it to the rest of Personal Security Division - by the way, she's the head there - but no, she never listens. But I digress, and it's a little late."
"I'm sorry about that," Gallagher began.
DuJaime shook her head, her expression suddenly a little more serious. "It's perfectly alright. I'll just have to be brief. You're now with our Mechanical Development and Maintenance division - Madam, as we like to call it. I'd like you to meet your division head - Chief D'Angelo - first thing tomorrow morning, at eight sharp." She slid the folder across the desk to him. "This has all the information you'll need for now. Your quarters are in Block R-Fourteen - ask the guards at that block; they've got a temporary pass for you. There's a bit of a problem with the higher-ups, so you won't be getting a permanent pass for awhile, at least until we can nail down your clearance level." She smiled again, this time with a hint of sympathy. "Any questions?"
Gallagher shook his head, accepting the folder. "No, er, ma'am."
The Colonel stood up, and Gallagher followed suit. "Then, all the best and good night." This time, she proffered a hand. Gallagher shook it - her grip was firm but not crushing - then turned and left.
It took him the better part of an hour to locate Block R-Fourteen, and then the guards had to cross-check his retinal pattern and fingerprints before they could issue the pass. By the time the engineer finally lay down to sleep, it was nearly two in the morning. His last thought before he drifted off was: /What security screening?/
- Sakura -
The cherry blossoms drifted in the gentle breeze, coming to rest and covering the ground in a pink-white carpet. Ayame giggled as she scampered through the drifts, gleefully flinging handfuls of petals into the air and trying to catch them as they fell.
"Ayame-chan!" Mama's voice was cross, but she couldn't help smiling. "Try to be a bit more ladylike."
"Yes, Mama," the young girl replied. Glancing at the fistful of blossoms she held, she then tossed them in the air and ran back to the straw mat where her mother was kneeling. She half-fell onto the mat, rolling over and sitting up. "When will Papa be here?"
"Soon, dear. Papa's had to work late." Mama gently adjusted Ayame's posture. "You should be kneeling like this. It isn't proper to sit like that in public." She fiddled with the red ribbon in her hair, adjusted the ties on her hakama[10]. "Where /is/ that man?" she mouthed to herself.
"Sakura-chan! Ayame-chan!" At the sound of the voice, Mama turned, half-rising from where she was. Ayame let out a most undignified "WAI!" and dashed to meet Papa, who caught her and spun her around. Laughing, the girl followed him to the mat.
"I'm so sorry, Sakura. Things dragged on - you know how it is..." Papa planted a kiss on Mama's cheek, eliciting an immediate and indignant blush.
"You think a kiss is enough to make up for that?"
"I'll do whatever it takes." Papa made an expression that Ayame didn't quite understand, and Mama gave him a light tap on the head. "Don't act like that in front of our daughter," she murmured.
"Yes, yes," Papa laughed. "Oh - I brought the sake." He uncovered a small porcelain bottle and began to decant the contents into cups.
"Mama, can I try some?" Ayame had been coming to the cherry-blossom viewing every year since she could remember, but she'd never been allowed to taste any.
"No. I've told you before, Ayame-chan, you're too young."
"But I'm older now than I was the last time," the young girl objected.
At this point, Papa stepped in with a smile. "She's got you there, Sakura. Let her have a little."
"Ichirou!"
"Waaaai! Papa, you're great!" Ayame waited expectantly as Papa poured just a little bit into one of the cups and handed it to her. She took a sip, then another, then a gulp. "It doesn't taste that un - " Then her eyes went very, very wide.
"Ayame-chan!" Mama, shocked, quickly patted Ayame on her back as she began coughing and spluttering. "Look what you've done now, Ichirou."
"Mama, I'm... fine." Ayame managed to get that much out between coughs. "Just... a little... sleepy."
"Now you know why we don't let you drink it." Mama cradled Ayame's head in her lap. The young girl's eyes closed, and in a trice she was snoring lightly.
Sakura sighed. "Oh, Ichirou, you spoil her too much."
Her husband smiled. "Well, now that we're NOT in front of our daughter..."
"Baka," she murmured, but leaned in to accept his kiss anyway.
- Present Day (Thursday, January 1st, 2017) -
It was morning. The lighting in Tokyo Base was controlled to simulate the day/night cycle, and so right now the base's corridors were institutionally bright. A lone figure hurried down one of those corridors, glancing at the block numbers as he did so.
"Oh shit, oh shit, I'm gonna be too late," Gallagher muttered as he lengthened his stride. Glancing at his wristwatch, he was greeted by the numerals 0, 8, 2 and 1 in that order. "'Scuse me," he approached a passerby. "Do you know where Block F-12 is?"
A short conversation later, the engineer set off at a run. "Thanks," he yelled to his benefactor, not noticing the latter's surprised reaction and the reply: "Wait!..."
"...and this should be it." Panting, Gallagher stopped in front of his destination. The block, surprisingly, was unmarked, and it turned out that no guards were posted outside the lift. Hitting the appropriate floor button, Gallagher relaxed as the lift descended, realising slowly that he wasn't only late, but hungry (not having eaten since the previous aftermoon). He made a mental note to look for the base cafeteria at the earliest opportunity.
As the pleasant thought of filling his stomach crossed his mind, the door opened and the engineer realised that two guards were outside, with their weapons at the ready. They turned simultaneously on hearing the "ding" of the lift; one was eyeing him warily, whilst the other seemed more relaxed.
"Excuse me, sir," Wary Guard said, motioning a somewhat nervous Gallagher out. "Please show us your pass."
"I, er, don't have a pass." He stopped, fished in his pocket. "Wait - I've got this temporary one." The lift door slid shut behind him.
"Sir, this pass isn't valid for anywhere other than the residential blocks."
"Uh, well, I was told to report here by the Commander." Gallagher laughed nervously. "They haven't decided my clearance yet, she said. And I'm already late."
At this point, Relaxed tapped Wary on the shoulder. "Excuse me for a moment, sir," Wary said, stepping back a little with his hand still on his weapon. There was a quick, whispered conversation, and in the end the two guards stepped forward again.
"Damn bureaucrats can't even get the clearances straight," Wary scowled. "Which room are you headed to?"
"21," Gallagher answered without hesitation.
"Alright, I'll need to see an ID." Gallagher handed his (American) driver's license over, and the guards perused it. Wary jotted something down in a small notebook, then returned the license. "The door's at the end of the hallway. There's only one door on this floor, so you can't miss it." He paused. "Have a good day, sir."
As the engineer proceeded down the hallway, he heard the guards' voices in conversation. "Just what ARE we supposed to be guarding, anyway?"
The reply came, barely audible, just as the door slid open and he stepped through: "Beats me."
Room P-9-21 was dark, apart from a subtle greenish glow emanating from beneath the grating floor. When Gallagher looked down, he realised that a pale green mist covered everything beneath, reaching through the grating with swirling tendrils. /Photosensitive equipment?/ he wondered to himself, looking around. Clusters of glass tubing gleamed dimly in the darkness, reaching up along the walls, and at the far end of the room he could just make out a set of larger, vaguely ovoid vessels, standing on pedestals which looked like some sort of machinery. He took a few steps forward, then another few steps. As he drew closer, the blurred objects in the vessels became clearer, until...
/People?/
"Yes, and no," a voice spoke behind him. As Gallagher whirled, the mist underfoot swirled spasmodically and rushed from the floor into the tubes, revealing a metallic surface beneath etched with a strange, arcane design.
Kuroyama stood just inside the doorway. Bewildered, the engineer noticed only dimly that she was wearing a peculiar variation on the traditional miko outfit, with a slightly thicker kimono bearing a socket-like attachment on each shoulder; several young women flanked her, dressed similarly. "They are people, and... shall we say, a little more than people." Her voice developed just a bit of an edge. "And I believe you're not... supposed to be here, Mr. Gallagher. Not when the Sleepers are soon to be awakened from their long... dream."
"I... I guess I must have made a wrong turn. I didn't mean to... the guards let me through..." Gallagher was panicking. "You're one of them, aren't you? You're an enemy!"
The older woman didn't laugh; she just smiled sadly at him. "You've got it... all wrong, Mr. Gallagher. Now, were this any other organization, I would have to... silence you. The Commander, however, holds other beliefs, and I'm frankly quite glad she does. It lets me sleep easier at night." She paused. "You do, of course, understand that if the people above the Commander find out that you were here, your life is... forfeit."
"Yes... yes." He was still a little stunned, not quite coherent. Kuroyama's subordinates stepped up to her; one had a pleading look in her eyes, whilst another whispered something. The Head of the "Personal Security Division" nodded, extending one hand with a flourish to the circle which circumscribed the strange design underfoot, and the eight of them proceeded to position themselves around it. "Wait there," Kuroyama said to Gallagher, in a voice which meant /This is a command/. In a brief moment of clarity, half-slumped against the wall, the engineer noticed that the door was sliding shut.
The eight women assumed the lotus position, beginning to chant something which Gallagher couldn't quite make out. The mist in the tubes swirled and lashed against its confinements, glowing brighter and brighter. The pattern on the floor began to emanate the same sickly green glow.
For several minutes the room continued to grow brighter, until the brilliance was almost unbearable. Gallagher had to shield his eyes, and still the miko continued their incantation. Then, abruptly, they stopped, and the light and mist drained out of the room until the same dull glow once again covered the design beneath the floor.
Kuroyama rose gracefully, followed by the other women. She walked towards Gallagher. "It is done. Please forgive me for the interruption; I had a... pressing matter to attend to." The engineer shrank away from her, suddenly terrified. "I showed you this for a reason. There are forces at work here that you cannot easily comprehend. I want you to know this in order to dispel any incorrect assumptions such as... cloning, or alien hybrids, or whatever else you might be thinking." She paused. "'The truth shall set ye free' - doesn't your Bible say something like that? Well - now you have seen the truth."
And then one of the young women gasped. Kuroyama turned, eyes wide - Gallagher had never expected to see her discomfited, but now she was clearly shocked. 'So soon?' she whispered. Beyond her, Gallagher could see the mist seeping through the tubes into one of the vessels, could see it opening like a blooming flower, illuminated by the glow, to reveal the bare torso of a young Asian man. As they watched, the man began to stir...
- Oogami -
It was over.
He'd been discharged from service - honourably, of course - and given a small stipend; it was the government's way of apologising. /Some apology,/ Oogami thought, lugging a small trunk out of the foyer of the Grand Imperial Theatre in the crepuscular light of dawn.
From now on, the various members of the Hanagumi were going to lead their own lives; walk their own paths. The former lieutenant remembered the good times he'd had with them fondly, of course, but now was the time to move on to new things. A new life; new people; new ideals - and, of course, new relationships.
It wasn't that he disliked any of them. He knew, however, that if he chose to stay, he would have to choose one or another, and in so doing break seven hearts. This was nothing more, nor less, than a consequence of his past mistakes, and Oogami was not about to commit another one.
So he boarded a steam bus and headed for the docks. The South Seas, he'd heard, were full of opportunities now - maybe Australia, maybe Batavia, perhaps even the Spice Islands. He had a ticket as far as Singapore - and from there, he'd just have to see. The song he'd heard on the radio in Paris echoed in his ears:
'A journey's miracles should be turned to a song;
I want to find a new me.
I remember many words we said:
These tears of goodbye are unfitting.
'In my heart, I cease the love that you taught me;
I yearn for your face, and now I remember it beautifully.
'Now, let's dream; start a new story.
Now, let's sing, let's dance; fire up your heart.'
At the wharf, he managed a grin as the porter accepted his trunk, then paused. It was still early, and the ship wouldn't be leaving for an hour yet. Turning away from the waterfront, Oogami made his way to a small Western-style cafe which he'd been to a couple of times before. Ducking through the low doorway, he recognised one of the waitresses there - Yukiko, he thought her name was. She always remembered him for some reason, and today was no different. "Ah, sir, you're here again!"
Oogami smiled back at her, taking a seat near the window. "I'll have the usual." He'd developed a taste for croissants since his return, and this was one of the few places in Teito that did them well. Yukiko returned shortly with a steaming cup of coffee and a croissant, cheerfully setting the tray down. "Not many people order this," she observed.
"Well, I pride myself on having good taste." Oogami winked at the girl, whose face immediately went very pink.
At that point, the door of the small cafe slammed open, revealing an enraged Sakura. "Oogami-san!" She marched into the cafe; Yukiko took one look and fled. "Not only do you walk out on us leaving nothing but a note, but you're here carousing with... with..." To his horror, the rest of the Hanagumi was piling in behind her. A waiter attempted to remonstrate with them, but was rapidly rebuffed; it didn't help that at least two of them were openly carrying weapons.
Then a chorus of squeals sounded from the corner of the room. "You're Maria Tachibana-sama, aren't you?" A gaggle of schoolgirls leapt from a corner table and rushed past the bewildered Oogami and Sakura to mob a surprised Maria. "I never thought I'd see Maria-sama in person! You're my idol!" "Please autograph this!" "Yes, please do!" A wide variety of objects, ranging from flowers to napkins to what Oogami could have sworn was a pair of bloomers, were thrust at the Russian woman.
It was at this point that Oogami gave thanks for his training in Evasion and Escape. The correct response when one's pursuers were thrown into confusion was to run, and that was just what he did. Shouldering the back door of the cafe open, he bolted out into the alley behind, followed by a furious yell from Sakura. Whilst running, he dug in his pocket, extracting the liner ticket, and headed back towards the docks.
As he rounded the corner towards the wharf where the liner lay at anchor, Sakura and company burst out from a nearby alleyway, closing in on him. Oogami sprinted for the gangplank, waving his ticket in the air for the guard to see, and at that point a dreadful sight appeared at the opposite end of the plank: the five people he least wanted to see there and then.
"IT-CHIROU! WE CAME HERE TO LOOK FOR YOU!"
"No. No." He sank to his knees. "NOOOOOOO!"
- Glossary -
[1] doujinshi: fan-created magazines or comics. Often, but not always, derived from popular anime/manga/games; often, but not always, contain "adult content".
[2] dakimakura: a huggable pillow or bolster. In this context it refers to one which has the image of some anime/game character, usually female, printed on it.
[3] "Uh... excuse me..."
[4] Bannou Bukkake Nekomusume Nuku-Nuku: All-Purpose Absolutely-Not-Cultural Catgirl Nuku-Nuku.
[5] Yoroshiku onegaishimasu: No direct equivalent; the closest equivalent in this situation is "I look forward to working with you."
[6] Onii-chan: big brother; Onee-chan: big sister (casual).
[7] Ba-chan: lit. "aunt"/"granny" - a very casual term of address for older people.
[8] Miko: a Shinto shrine-maiden. Typically a Shinto wedding is presided over by a senior priest or priestess and two miko.
[9] Chuu-i: lieutenant; Sumire usually addresses Oogami by his rank.
[10] Hakama: a traditional Japanese pleated garment, covering the lower half of the body. Hakama can be either split (like loose trousers) or not (like a long skirt).
UCHUUJIN TAISEN: PROLOGUE
=========================
Prologue: The Blank of 90 Years, Part 4
- Author's Notes -
At long last I'm done with the Prologue! It took a lot longer than I thought, and grew a lot bigger too... but for the sake of symmetry, I had no choice. [5parrow assumes a "bishie pose", then dives for cover as rotten fruit gets flung at him from all around] Soon, soon the real story begins.
Oh, and despite the date and year, you will not see any cross-shaped explosions, psychologically disturbed 14-year-olds, or cities with numbers appended to their names in this fic. Just thought I'd let you know. (The author reserves the right, however, to act like a psychologically-disturbed 14-year-old where appropriate.)
Also, I've tossed a couple of Japanese expressions into this one for flavour. Please refer to footnotes where appropriate. More complex sentences (or anything I can't translate) will be "translated" and enclosed in s. The s do not appear when all characters are obviously speaking in Japanese.
The song in Oogami's section is, of course, 'Mirai (Voyage)' from Sakura Taisen 3. Translation courtesy of www.sakuraarchives.com.
Once again, I own neither Sakura Taisen nor X-Com, nor any of the characters from either series of games. (Duuuuuh.)
Finally, it may seem as though the ACCs have stolen the show. They have - but (hopefully) not for long!
- Present Day (Wednesday, December 31st, 2016) -
Ethan Gallagher was lost in a not-entirely-foreign land.
He could read Japanese and had taken a course in conversation in that language, but still wasn't quite able to keep up with the rapid-fire pace of most native speakers. More importantly, he wasn't about to ask for directions. The city of Tokyo loomed over and around him, its architecture very nearly claustrophobic: the low buildings that lined the street might have been described as a "friendlier" face than the steel-and-glass of the business district, but Gallagher found them uncomfortably close. As he stood on the street corner, rubbing at his wild, sandy-brown hair with a perplexed expression, the 28-year-old engineer wondered why his instructions had told him to meet his contact at - of all the places - Ueno Park.
Of course, that meeting point was quite a long way away. Gallagher, being a consummate fan of anime in particular and Japanese culture in general (he was consummate enough to eschew the term "otaku", although privately he had to admit that he was in fact one), had made a pilgrimage to the legendary Ikebukuro district to see it for himself, before he started his new job - and, predictably, had wandered through the place wide-eyed until he was completely and hopelessly lost. A quick scan of his surroundings showed no sign of the one thing he was currently looking for: the JR logo.
Gallagher turned a corner into a side street, and paused for breath: partly because the weather was cold, partly because he wasn't as fit as he'd used to be, but mostly because he was now loaded down with three very large shopping bags full of used doujinshi[1], DVDs, VHS tapes, figures and at least one dakimakura[2], in addition to his luggage and laptop. A few flakes of snow were beginning to drift down from the evening sky, and there were fewer people on the street now.
At length he gave in; after all, he reasoned to himself, he was in an unfamiliar place and there was no shame in doing it. So he approached the nearest passerby, a woman who looked to be about his age. "Anou... chotto sumimasen... [3]"
She turned, fixed him with a piercing gaze. Gallagher froze like a deer caught in the headlights.
Then she smiled, a smile only partially reflected in her grey eyes, and spoke in perfect English. "So... you finally decided to ask for directions." Her voice was a deep contralto.
"You..." He was stunned. "You were following me?"
"Yes, and you're a little late, Mr. Gallagher. HQ is going to be... worried." At this, the worst of all possible times, one of Gallagher's hard-won purchases tumbled from its overloaded surroundings to land in the snow. Before he could pick it up, the woman scooped the slim vinyl-bound volume up with superhuman deftness.
"Ara... 'Bannou Bukkake Nekomusume Nuku-Nuku [4]'? You have... interesting tastes in reading material."
His face burning bright crimson, the engineer snatched the doujinshi back reflexively. "Excuse me, but you haven't introduced yourself."
"Ah - my apologies. I am Kuroyama Miyabi, soon to be your... colleague. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu [5]." She bowed, not the quick perfunctory sort of bow that businessmen in Japan often proffer to their superiors but a slow, graceful movement. Gallagher, being male, couldn't help but notice at this point, courtesy of her rather low-cut blouse, that she was rather well-endowed by Japanese - or, for that matter, any - standards. Absently, he wiped a trickle of blood away from his nose.
When he came back down to earth, Ethan realised that Ms. Kuroyama was giving him that piercing look again. Once again he blushed furiously, attempting to look anywhere but at her... /her/. "Aa... yoroshiku ne." He managed a passable bow.
"Now - " she abruptly switched to a businesslike tone - "you were supposed to meet your contact at the Western Art Museum in Ueno Park, but that's fine. I've already contacted him and informed him to return. Are you done... shopping?"
"Yes... yes." At this point he began to notice a little more about her. Kuroyama Miyabi was probably a few years older than first impressions would suggest, and although her mode of dress (long, black leather coat, white blouse and black ankle-length skirt with lace trim) certainly suited her, it was a little dated. His attention was abruptly drawn to the tiny cellphone she had on a chain around her neck. She pushed a button somewhere, and the little device unfolded like a blooming flower, going from the size of a golf ball to a full-size phone in under a second. "He's here," she announced into the phone's mouthpiece without bothering to dial (although her diction was crisp and measured, Gallagher could barely follow). "Let's get going, shall we?"
A slate-grey Lexus pulled out of a parking space down the street and cruised up next to them.
"After you," Kuroyama said, holding the door open.
- 16 February 1932 -
"This is no good," Iris murmured. The 18-year-old girl quickened her pace, crossing the courtyard of the Academie Cherbourg at a near-run. Around her, chattering students were wandering in all directions, but her attention was sharply focused on two men in navy-blue trench coats. They were meandering across the yard at a steady but leisurely pace, but Iris couldn't take any chances; anyone out of place was a potential threat, and these men were definitely out of place.
She couldn't risk using her powers in public, much as she would have liked to. Nor could she go home; that would be tantamount to exposing the location of the safehouse. She had to mislead them, feed them disinformation without letting them get too close. Iris strode swiftly out of the Academie's front gate, heading in the direction of the Cherbourg market. Maybe she could lose them in the crush of the crowds there...
...footsteps sounded behind her, shockingly loud on the cobblestoned path. The blonde girl whirled, one hand already cocked back with an energy discharge crackling around it -
"Iris, it's me," the originator of the footsteps quickly assured her. "What's going on?"
"You scared me, Reni," Iris answered. "Look - get behind that wall now." The two of them hurried behind the corner of the wall which surrounded the Academie.
"My assessment is that more suspicious people showed up," the German girl stated flatly.
"Your assessment is absolutely right." Iris gestured in the direction of the school gate. "Take a peek back towards the gate and see."
Reni risked a quick glance around the corner, then drew back. "Those two in blue coats? They're heading this way."
Iris managed to avoid cursing out loud. "We'll have to lose them in the market crowds. Where in the world is Coquelicot? And wasn't Miss Kaede supposed to be looking out for us?"
"Haven't seen either of them," the older girl replied as they headed up the road hurriedly. The town and the market were just ahead. "We shouldn't go in by the main road; I know a shortcut." And she darted quickly towards the mouth of an alleyway, Iris reluctantly following her.
As they entered the alley, two figures hurried towards them from the other end. "Are you two alright?"
"We're fine, Miss Fujieda," Reni answered. "There are, however, pursuers behind us."
"Alright," Kaede replied, turning. "Let's go; I came prepared. Head for the waterfront..." She stopped.
And then they saw the man too.
"Kayama," Kaede stated. "Are you going to help us, or..."
"I'm sorry, Kaede-san," the man in white said. "You made a deal with them, remember?"
"The deal's off," Kaede answered. "I've thought about it, and two years simply isn't enough time for them."
"Miss Kaede," Coquelicot interrupted. "What deal...?"
Kayama answered before she could. "Do you think you really could have escaped when the rest of the Hanagumi - highly-trained fighters even without their Koubu - failed?"
Silence.
"Kaede-san," Kayama continued, "made a deal with the Wisemen. She promised that the three of you would come without a fight, if you were given two more years to live."
"But... how... what... /live/? You mean we're supposed to - "
"Enough," Kaede snapped. "Let them go, Kayama, or - "
"You of all people should understand the importance of this, Kaede," he replied. "The ultimate safeguard against the ultimate danger."
"I don't want to die," Iris was murmuring, horrified. "I was willing, when it meant that Onii-chan[6] and Sakura-onee-chan would live, but..."
Kayama addressed her now. "You won't die, Iris. The Wisemen have no reason to have you killed. All they want is for the three of you to sleep for awhile."
Then the sickly-sweet scent of chloroform infiltrated their nostrils, and the world went black.
- Sumire -
"It's time, Young Mistress. Cheer up. After all, it's your wedding day."
Ba-chan[7]'s words didn't appear to have much effect on the young woman standing in the antechamber. The elderly maidservant sighed. "Just think of this as fulfilling your duty to your parents. Kanzaki Heavy Industries needs this to happen."
It's often said that a bride on her wedding day is radiant. This was an exception to the rule; although the younger woman's hair shone and her white kimono was positively luminous, her eyes were dull and distant, and her mind had already wandered to the events of several weeks ago.
She recalled speaking to her parents, remembered their exact words with absolute clarity. "When you were very young," her father was saying, "we made an agreement with the Matsuzawas. In order for our two organizations to coexist in harmony, you were to marry Matsuzawa Kaoru."
"The Matsuzawa Group..."
"Yes, the very same. Kaoru is a fine young man, and I'm quite sure that the two of you will be very happy together."
"But - " Sumire now cursed herself. If she'd only had the wit to feign compliance, she could have slipped out later; as it stood, she'd been confined to her room until the wedding day. It wasn't that her betrothed was a bad person - on the contrary, the few occasions when she'd spoken to him had revealed him to be almost /too/ nice. But...
"/Young Mistress!/" Ba-chan's exclamation brought her back to the here and now. "Please. Everyone is waiting."
The next few minutes devolved into a blur. Leaving the antechamber. Her father's face, uncharacteristically angry. Practically being frog-marched to the front of the chamber; kneeling on the silk cushion - which felt, to her knees, like a bed of nails. The girl in the front row, dabbing at her reddened eyes with a sniffle, and Kaoru glancing back at her for a split-second - /he didn't want this any more than she did/. The matchmaker, an ancient and haggard woman, speaking the vows for them. The miko[8] presenting them with the sacred cups, and then it was time.
Time slowed down. It seemed like it took an eternity for him to perform the three ritual sips from the cup - one, two, three - and then suddenly it was in her hands, and -
- she couldn't. Her hands simply wouldn't move.
And then a voice rang out from above. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
"Chuu-i-san!"[9] Sumire gasped. Her hands moved - not to drink, but to set the cup down.
"Is it truly your will?" Oogami Ichirou stood, perched like a bird of prey upon a protruding roof-beam. His eyes, hitherto hard, softened. "Or is there another you wish to be with?"
"Chuu-i-san!" She rose, whirling and tearing the head-dress from her hair, poised to run to him, when a steely rasp and the cold touch of metal stopped her dead in her tracks. Both of the miko had naked blades in their hands, barring her path.
Then, another voice - this time from behind her. "Let her go," it said, and the words were accompanied by an infinite sadness.
Sumire turned again to the sight of the shrine-priestess. The woman's eyes were averted, but she could still see the tracks of hot, salty tears running down her cheeks. "Let her go," she repeated in a choked voice. "She loves him more than I ever could."
"/Sakura-san!/"
"Go." Sakura's voice came out in a whisper. "Go, with my blessing." And the miko withdrew their swords, and Sumire left with her beloved, and Sakura was silent.
- Present Day (Wednesday, December 31st, 2016) -
Night had fallen by the time the Lexus pulled into what appeared, at first, to be the underground parking garage of an office building. Kuroyama had been silent for most of the journey, replying to Gallagher's few awkwardly-phrased questions in a concise but not entirely unfriendly manner. This time, though, she seemed to anticipate the next question even before he said it: "Owned by X-Com."
The security guard at the entrance waved them through after a cursory glance. It looked like a normal parking garage, but Gallagher noticed that the machinery and pumps usually located in such a place were present here in abnormal numbers. As the vehicle descended to the next level, and then the next, he began to have flashbacks of every Top-Secret Organization he'd ever seen in an anime.
And then they emerged into a vast and beautifully landscaped park. The engineer was startled at first, wondering how they'd got there, before he noticed the massive steel girders overhead, crisscrossing the "sky". Apparently, they were still underground, and the sky was artificial. "This is...?"
"A disused hangar," Kuroyama answered, pointedly not mentioning exactly WHAT the hangar had been used for. Gallagher wasn't a structural engineer, but even he could see that it was an engineering marvel - it had to be at least a mile long, if not more. Small pavilions and footpaths wound through the park alongside the road, between verdant trees, and there were even a couple of ponds - out of the corner of his eye, the American spotted a golden-orange flash, and realised that koi were swimming in them. "Isn't this, er..."
"Extravagant?" Once again the older woman seemed almost to have read his mind. "Not at all. You'll see - or, hopefully, you won't /have/ to... see." She left it at that, and just then the car stopped and she opened the door. "Your belongings," she added, "will be brought to your quarters. For now, the Commander would like to meet you."
Still a little stunned by the strangeness of it all, Gallagher followed her out of the car and through a sliding door - the door took a moment to open, and he noticed that the usual sensor had been replaced by what looked like a camera. They arrived in a small antechamber - "through that door," Kuroyama explained, pointing to the left, "is the motor pool. You can check a vehicle out once you get your license converted. This way lies the rest of the base." She led him down a short corridor to a lift, which took them even deeper.
The base itself was made up of several large blocks, interconnected by long straight corridors. Despite the regular layout, or perhaps because of it, Gallagher lost his bearings almost immediately. There were few people in the corridors due to the late hour, making the place look almost eerie in spite of the institutionally-bright lighting. Abruptly Kuroyama stopped - "This way" - and stepped through the door of one of the Blocks. Inside was another lift - guarded by two bored-looking security people - and beyond that was the office of (so the sign read) COL. FAYE ANGELIQUE DUJAIME.
As the door slid open, Gallagher blinked. /That's two Attractive Older Women so far. What's with this organization?/ Kuroyama was suddenly stricken with an attack of coughing, but parlayed it into a moderately-graceful bow. "Good evening, Commander." Gallagher, remembering his manners, hastily bowed too.
The Commander was Eurasian in appearance, auburn-haired and probably (Gallagher thought) about the same age as Kuroyama. She nodded in response to their greeting. "Welcome, Mr. Gallagher. Kuroyama-kun?"
"He passed the... security screening. I'll have a full report ready for you tomorrow afternoon."
"Very well." The Commander frowned. "You're overworking yourself, by the way."
"I'll be fine. This is the way we do things around here, Commander - begging your pardon." Kuroyama paused, as if expecting something.
"If you say so. You may leave."
Kuroyama bowed, turned crisply and left the office.
"Now, Mr. Gallagher." Allowing herself a small smile, the Commander waved at one of the chairs. "I'm Faye DuJaime. Welcome to X-Com Tokyo." She consulted a slim manila folder on her desk for a moment. "At this point I imagine that right now you're feeling a bit like Alice... tumbling down the rabbit hole."
"You could say that," Gallagher responded, deciding to play along.
"When you spoke to the recruiter, how did they describe your job?"
"Well, they said I'd be doing engineering work for a UN-funded military organization." The engineer swallowed. "But I didn't quite expect... this."
Commander DuJaime's smile broadened almost imperceptibly. "Most people don't." She paused. "I suspect that that's why Kuroyama-san likes to screen new people personally - she enjoys their dumbfounded reactions. I keep telling her to leave it to the rest of Personal Security Division - by the way, she's the head there - but no, she never listens. But I digress, and it's a little late."
"I'm sorry about that," Gallagher began.
DuJaime shook her head, her expression suddenly a little more serious. "It's perfectly alright. I'll just have to be brief. You're now with our Mechanical Development and Maintenance division - Madam, as we like to call it. I'd like you to meet your division head - Chief D'Angelo - first thing tomorrow morning, at eight sharp." She slid the folder across the desk to him. "This has all the information you'll need for now. Your quarters are in Block R-Fourteen - ask the guards at that block; they've got a temporary pass for you. There's a bit of a problem with the higher-ups, so you won't be getting a permanent pass for awhile, at least until we can nail down your clearance level." She smiled again, this time with a hint of sympathy. "Any questions?"
Gallagher shook his head, accepting the folder. "No, er, ma'am."
The Colonel stood up, and Gallagher followed suit. "Then, all the best and good night." This time, she proffered a hand. Gallagher shook it - her grip was firm but not crushing - then turned and left.
It took him the better part of an hour to locate Block R-Fourteen, and then the guards had to cross-check his retinal pattern and fingerprints before they could issue the pass. By the time the engineer finally lay down to sleep, it was nearly two in the morning. His last thought before he drifted off was: /What security screening?/
- Sakura -
The cherry blossoms drifted in the gentle breeze, coming to rest and covering the ground in a pink-white carpet. Ayame giggled as she scampered through the drifts, gleefully flinging handfuls of petals into the air and trying to catch them as they fell.
"Ayame-chan!" Mama's voice was cross, but she couldn't help smiling. "Try to be a bit more ladylike."
"Yes, Mama," the young girl replied. Glancing at the fistful of blossoms she held, she then tossed them in the air and ran back to the straw mat where her mother was kneeling. She half-fell onto the mat, rolling over and sitting up. "When will Papa be here?"
"Soon, dear. Papa's had to work late." Mama gently adjusted Ayame's posture. "You should be kneeling like this. It isn't proper to sit like that in public." She fiddled with the red ribbon in her hair, adjusted the ties on her hakama[10]. "Where /is/ that man?" she mouthed to herself.
"Sakura-chan! Ayame-chan!" At the sound of the voice, Mama turned, half-rising from where she was. Ayame let out a most undignified "WAI!" and dashed to meet Papa, who caught her and spun her around. Laughing, the girl followed him to the mat.
"I'm so sorry, Sakura. Things dragged on - you know how it is..." Papa planted a kiss on Mama's cheek, eliciting an immediate and indignant blush.
"You think a kiss is enough to make up for that?"
"I'll do whatever it takes." Papa made an expression that Ayame didn't quite understand, and Mama gave him a light tap on the head. "Don't act like that in front of our daughter," she murmured.
"Yes, yes," Papa laughed. "Oh - I brought the sake." He uncovered a small porcelain bottle and began to decant the contents into cups.
"Mama, can I try some?" Ayame had been coming to the cherry-blossom viewing every year since she could remember, but she'd never been allowed to taste any.
"No. I've told you before, Ayame-chan, you're too young."
"But I'm older now than I was the last time," the young girl objected.
At this point, Papa stepped in with a smile. "She's got you there, Sakura. Let her have a little."
"Ichirou!"
"Waaaai! Papa, you're great!" Ayame waited expectantly as Papa poured just a little bit into one of the cups and handed it to her. She took a sip, then another, then a gulp. "It doesn't taste that un - " Then her eyes went very, very wide.
"Ayame-chan!" Mama, shocked, quickly patted Ayame on her back as she began coughing and spluttering. "Look what you've done now, Ichirou."
"Mama, I'm... fine." Ayame managed to get that much out between coughs. "Just... a little... sleepy."
"Now you know why we don't let you drink it." Mama cradled Ayame's head in her lap. The young girl's eyes closed, and in a trice she was snoring lightly.
Sakura sighed. "Oh, Ichirou, you spoil her too much."
Her husband smiled. "Well, now that we're NOT in front of our daughter..."
"Baka," she murmured, but leaned in to accept his kiss anyway.
- Present Day (Thursday, January 1st, 2017) -
It was morning. The lighting in Tokyo Base was controlled to simulate the day/night cycle, and so right now the base's corridors were institutionally bright. A lone figure hurried down one of those corridors, glancing at the block numbers as he did so.
"Oh shit, oh shit, I'm gonna be too late," Gallagher muttered as he lengthened his stride. Glancing at his wristwatch, he was greeted by the numerals 0, 8, 2 and 1 in that order. "'Scuse me," he approached a passerby. "Do you know where Block F-12 is?"
A short conversation later, the engineer set off at a run. "Thanks," he yelled to his benefactor, not noticing the latter's surprised reaction and the reply: "Wait!..."
"...and this should be it." Panting, Gallagher stopped in front of his destination. The block, surprisingly, was unmarked, and it turned out that no guards were posted outside the lift. Hitting the appropriate floor button, Gallagher relaxed as the lift descended, realising slowly that he wasn't only late, but hungry (not having eaten since the previous aftermoon). He made a mental note to look for the base cafeteria at the earliest opportunity.
As the pleasant thought of filling his stomach crossed his mind, the door opened and the engineer realised that two guards were outside, with their weapons at the ready. They turned simultaneously on hearing the "ding" of the lift; one was eyeing him warily, whilst the other seemed more relaxed.
"Excuse me, sir," Wary Guard said, motioning a somewhat nervous Gallagher out. "Please show us your pass."
"I, er, don't have a pass." He stopped, fished in his pocket. "Wait - I've got this temporary one." The lift door slid shut behind him.
"Sir, this pass isn't valid for anywhere other than the residential blocks."
"Uh, well, I was told to report here by the Commander." Gallagher laughed nervously. "They haven't decided my clearance yet, she said. And I'm already late."
At this point, Relaxed tapped Wary on the shoulder. "Excuse me for a moment, sir," Wary said, stepping back a little with his hand still on his weapon. There was a quick, whispered conversation, and in the end the two guards stepped forward again.
"Damn bureaucrats can't even get the clearances straight," Wary scowled. "Which room are you headed to?"
"21," Gallagher answered without hesitation.
"Alright, I'll need to see an ID." Gallagher handed his (American) driver's license over, and the guards perused it. Wary jotted something down in a small notebook, then returned the license. "The door's at the end of the hallway. There's only one door on this floor, so you can't miss it." He paused. "Have a good day, sir."
As the engineer proceeded down the hallway, he heard the guards' voices in conversation. "Just what ARE we supposed to be guarding, anyway?"
The reply came, barely audible, just as the door slid open and he stepped through: "Beats me."
Room P-9-21 was dark, apart from a subtle greenish glow emanating from beneath the grating floor. When Gallagher looked down, he realised that a pale green mist covered everything beneath, reaching through the grating with swirling tendrils. /Photosensitive equipment?/ he wondered to himself, looking around. Clusters of glass tubing gleamed dimly in the darkness, reaching up along the walls, and at the far end of the room he could just make out a set of larger, vaguely ovoid vessels, standing on pedestals which looked like some sort of machinery. He took a few steps forward, then another few steps. As he drew closer, the blurred objects in the vessels became clearer, until...
/People?/
"Yes, and no," a voice spoke behind him. As Gallagher whirled, the mist underfoot swirled spasmodically and rushed from the floor into the tubes, revealing a metallic surface beneath etched with a strange, arcane design.
Kuroyama stood just inside the doorway. Bewildered, the engineer noticed only dimly that she was wearing a peculiar variation on the traditional miko outfit, with a slightly thicker kimono bearing a socket-like attachment on each shoulder; several young women flanked her, dressed similarly. "They are people, and... shall we say, a little more than people." Her voice developed just a bit of an edge. "And I believe you're not... supposed to be here, Mr. Gallagher. Not when the Sleepers are soon to be awakened from their long... dream."
"I... I guess I must have made a wrong turn. I didn't mean to... the guards let me through..." Gallagher was panicking. "You're one of them, aren't you? You're an enemy!"
The older woman didn't laugh; she just smiled sadly at him. "You've got it... all wrong, Mr. Gallagher. Now, were this any other organization, I would have to... silence you. The Commander, however, holds other beliefs, and I'm frankly quite glad she does. It lets me sleep easier at night." She paused. "You do, of course, understand that if the people above the Commander find out that you were here, your life is... forfeit."
"Yes... yes." He was still a little stunned, not quite coherent. Kuroyama's subordinates stepped up to her; one had a pleading look in her eyes, whilst another whispered something. The Head of the "Personal Security Division" nodded, extending one hand with a flourish to the circle which circumscribed the strange design underfoot, and the eight of them proceeded to position themselves around it. "Wait there," Kuroyama said to Gallagher, in a voice which meant /This is a command/. In a brief moment of clarity, half-slumped against the wall, the engineer noticed that the door was sliding shut.
The eight women assumed the lotus position, beginning to chant something which Gallagher couldn't quite make out. The mist in the tubes swirled and lashed against its confinements, glowing brighter and brighter. The pattern on the floor began to emanate the same sickly green glow.
For several minutes the room continued to grow brighter, until the brilliance was almost unbearable. Gallagher had to shield his eyes, and still the miko continued their incantation. Then, abruptly, they stopped, and the light and mist drained out of the room until the same dull glow once again covered the design beneath the floor.
Kuroyama rose gracefully, followed by the other women. She walked towards Gallagher. "It is done. Please forgive me for the interruption; I had a... pressing matter to attend to." The engineer shrank away from her, suddenly terrified. "I showed you this for a reason. There are forces at work here that you cannot easily comprehend. I want you to know this in order to dispel any incorrect assumptions such as... cloning, or alien hybrids, or whatever else you might be thinking." She paused. "'The truth shall set ye free' - doesn't your Bible say something like that? Well - now you have seen the truth."
And then one of the young women gasped. Kuroyama turned, eyes wide - Gallagher had never expected to see her discomfited, but now she was clearly shocked. 'So soon?' she whispered. Beyond her, Gallagher could see the mist seeping through the tubes into one of the vessels, could see it opening like a blooming flower, illuminated by the glow, to reveal the bare torso of a young Asian man. As they watched, the man began to stir...
- Oogami -
It was over.
He'd been discharged from service - honourably, of course - and given a small stipend; it was the government's way of apologising. /Some apology,/ Oogami thought, lugging a small trunk out of the foyer of the Grand Imperial Theatre in the crepuscular light of dawn.
From now on, the various members of the Hanagumi were going to lead their own lives; walk their own paths. The former lieutenant remembered the good times he'd had with them fondly, of course, but now was the time to move on to new things. A new life; new people; new ideals - and, of course, new relationships.
It wasn't that he disliked any of them. He knew, however, that if he chose to stay, he would have to choose one or another, and in so doing break seven hearts. This was nothing more, nor less, than a consequence of his past mistakes, and Oogami was not about to commit another one.
So he boarded a steam bus and headed for the docks. The South Seas, he'd heard, were full of opportunities now - maybe Australia, maybe Batavia, perhaps even the Spice Islands. He had a ticket as far as Singapore - and from there, he'd just have to see. The song he'd heard on the radio in Paris echoed in his ears:
'A journey's miracles should be turned to a song;
I want to find a new me.
I remember many words we said:
These tears of goodbye are unfitting.
'In my heart, I cease the love that you taught me;
I yearn for your face, and now I remember it beautifully.
'Now, let's dream; start a new story.
Now, let's sing, let's dance; fire up your heart.'
At the wharf, he managed a grin as the porter accepted his trunk, then paused. It was still early, and the ship wouldn't be leaving for an hour yet. Turning away from the waterfront, Oogami made his way to a small Western-style cafe which he'd been to a couple of times before. Ducking through the low doorway, he recognised one of the waitresses there - Yukiko, he thought her name was. She always remembered him for some reason, and today was no different. "Ah, sir, you're here again!"
Oogami smiled back at her, taking a seat near the window. "I'll have the usual." He'd developed a taste for croissants since his return, and this was one of the few places in Teito that did them well. Yukiko returned shortly with a steaming cup of coffee and a croissant, cheerfully setting the tray down. "Not many people order this," she observed.
"Well, I pride myself on having good taste." Oogami winked at the girl, whose face immediately went very pink.
At that point, the door of the small cafe slammed open, revealing an enraged Sakura. "Oogami-san!" She marched into the cafe; Yukiko took one look and fled. "Not only do you walk out on us leaving nothing but a note, but you're here carousing with... with..." To his horror, the rest of the Hanagumi was piling in behind her. A waiter attempted to remonstrate with them, but was rapidly rebuffed; it didn't help that at least two of them were openly carrying weapons.
Then a chorus of squeals sounded from the corner of the room. "You're Maria Tachibana-sama, aren't you?" A gaggle of schoolgirls leapt from a corner table and rushed past the bewildered Oogami and Sakura to mob a surprised Maria. "I never thought I'd see Maria-sama in person! You're my idol!" "Please autograph this!" "Yes, please do!" A wide variety of objects, ranging from flowers to napkins to what Oogami could have sworn was a pair of bloomers, were thrust at the Russian woman.
It was at this point that Oogami gave thanks for his training in Evasion and Escape. The correct response when one's pursuers were thrown into confusion was to run, and that was just what he did. Shouldering the back door of the cafe open, he bolted out into the alley behind, followed by a furious yell from Sakura. Whilst running, he dug in his pocket, extracting the liner ticket, and headed back towards the docks.
As he rounded the corner towards the wharf where the liner lay at anchor, Sakura and company burst out from a nearby alleyway, closing in on him. Oogami sprinted for the gangplank, waving his ticket in the air for the guard to see, and at that point a dreadful sight appeared at the opposite end of the plank: the five people he least wanted to see there and then.
"IT-CHIROU! WE CAME HERE TO LOOK FOR YOU!"
"No. No." He sank to his knees. "NOOOOOOO!"
- Glossary -
[1] doujinshi: fan-created magazines or comics. Often, but not always, derived from popular anime/manga/games; often, but not always, contain "adult content".
[2] dakimakura: a huggable pillow or bolster. In this context it refers to one which has the image of some anime/game character, usually female, printed on it.
[3] "Uh... excuse me..."
[4] Bannou Bukkake Nekomusume Nuku-Nuku: All-Purpose Absolutely-Not-Cultural Catgirl Nuku-Nuku.
[5] Yoroshiku onegaishimasu: No direct equivalent; the closest equivalent in this situation is "I look forward to working with you."
[6] Onii-chan: big brother; Onee-chan: big sister (casual).
[7] Ba-chan: lit. "aunt"/"granny" - a very casual term of address for older people.
[8] Miko: a Shinto shrine-maiden. Typically a Shinto wedding is presided over by a senior priest or priestess and two miko.
[9] Chuu-i: lieutenant; Sumire usually addresses Oogami by his rank.
[10] Hakama: a traditional Japanese pleated garment, covering the lower half of the body. Hakama can be either split (like loose trousers) or not (like a long skirt).