Operation Ex2: Hatred
"Moshi moshi." "Good evening Megumi." Megumi Hisakawa wrinkled her lip as she sat on a pillow in her apartment. She had previously been staring at her last paycheck from Elementary School 9, when the phone rang. It was Chisa Okada, principal of the aforementioned. "You've got some nerve calling me after giving me the pink slip, Chisa." "I've told you Megumi. It wasn't my decision to remove you from the staff." "Oh, so whose decision was it?" "The school board, along with a representative from the Committee. I told them they were overreacting and that the burden on an Alien Party Advisor doesn't come close to that of an ordinary teacher, but they wouldn't have any part of it. Have you heard about the job opening at Hinode?" "Yes." "Good. I've already talked with Mr. Noda and I've put in my recommendation for you." "Thanks, Okada." Megumi paused for a moment in thought. "Say, have you heard anything from the Committee as far as getting a new borg?" "Well, they seem to think that a person who manages to be responsible for the deaths of two fully integrated symbiotes and who steals another host's borg doesn't need one for a while." "I didn't kill them! The first time, it was that female full-spec, and the second time, it was Miss Tomine." "I know. Notice I didn't say killed. They were more concerned about when you took my borg. Anyway, you're on indefinite suspension until they decide otherwise." "Great." "My suggestion, Megumi: get some sleep and call Hinode about an interview."
• • •
"Hey, Shinosaki, do you live around here?" Jun looked at Saki Rin, another student from class B who had left the school moments before she did, who had apparently noticed their common direction. "Yeah, my aunt and uncle's house is a few blocks away." "That's cool. How was your second day of school?" "It was fine." Saki pushed back her black bangs and adjusted her socks as they passed a bench on the outside of Navel Park. "Shinosaki, do you mind if we stopped and talked a moment?" Jun shrugged. "That's fine. And if you're going to talk to me informally, use my first name." "Fair enough. You're welcome to use my first name if you want. So why'd you transfer to Hinode?" "It was close." "No, I meant why transfer at all? Didn't you say that had been home-schooled? Why switch in the middle of the year?" "I didn't realize that 'at semester' meant to middle of the year to most people." Jun shrugged. "My grandfather had been taking care of me, and after he passed away, my aunt and uncle really didn't have the time for that sort of thing." Jun spied a nearby vending machine nearby and began walking toward it.
"So, what's up with your uniform?" "What about it?" "Well, why the jacket and the slacks?" "I like it." Jun pressed two 100-yen coins into the slot and punched the appropriate button. "What do you want, Saki?" "You're…buying me something?" "Yes." "Juice is fine." Jun pressed the corresponding rectangle, and returned with the beverages, handing Rin her juice. "You just got water?" "Yep." "You know, I bet most people in the class a are bit leery of you. It's just that you're so…so…" "Scarred?" Jun unscrewed the lid on her water. "That's a good way of putting it. But, frankly, I think you're pretty cool." "Thanks." "So, you mentioned what you like…what do you hate?" Jun answered plainly. "Aliens." "No kidding. They say that in terms of gross, aliens have pretty much supplanted things like spiders and reptiles." "No, it isn't like that. I hate them." Saki blinked, taken aback with the emphasis. Jun thought for a moment before changing the subject. "About wearing slacks…there's another reason." Jun grasped the cuffs of the right pant leg and pulled them back. Her legs were fairly sleek and clean-shaven, but where her right kneecap should have been was a curved piece of metal with six rivet-like pins flanking the edges. Another, thin strip of metal behind it seemed to hold it flush with the nearby flesh. "I'm missing my kneecap. This one is a titanium-blend that doesn't react with my immune system. My knee joint is still intact, but the whole front of my knee got shattered in such a way that it couldn't be set. I'm also blind in one eye, because I'm missing my left eye. This one…" Jun pointed at her left iris. "…is fake, watch." Jun held up a gloved index finger in front of her and slowly focused her eyes on the it as she moved her hand laterally. Her left eye stood fixed." Saki blinked before chuckling. "That's kinda cool. It's like you're a big chameleon or that creepy old man from the Harry Potter books." She calmed down before continuing. "Why couldn't you have gotten your knee and eye fixed with cell gel or those other new regenerative things they use?" "Well, when I lost my knee and my eye, they didn't have cell gel. I don't exactly trust the stuff, and besides, cell gel can't regenerative really complicated things like the retina or the brain—the tissue there is pretty much unique."
Saki Rin looked at her watch. "Well, I've got to get going. You're welcome to walk with me." Shortly after she finished speaking, a group of birds scattered skyward as if startled. Jun felt a familiar tingling sensation on the back of her neck. Her face and manner hardened. "Rin, go home. I'll see you later." Jun's eyebrows cinched down as she took her schoolbag off her back and used the top handle like a briefcase. She began walking on the dirt footpath that led further into the forest. Saki managed a broken "okay" before she left, walking unusually quicker than normal.
• • •
SUNFLOWER CLAN INTERNAL
REPORT
EARTH HIVE SECTOR D-10Filed as per orders by
symbiont "Kiku Usui"Confirmed Casualties: 7
Today, the squad led by Sub-Directrix for Earth section D-10-S landed in a standard-configuration bio-spaceship. Shortly after landing, the squad was attacked by unknown assailant. Based on the information sent back via internal ship communications by the Sub-Directrix, assailant was confirmed as a human female. Assailant seemed to know vulnerable points in sunflower anatomy. Assailant eliminated entire squad with no known injuries, including the three that were in regenerative cocoons at the time. The Sub-Directrix, before his death, noted that assailant appeared to use "conventional human weapons" and "did not appear to be using a borg or other known symbiont type". This is unfounded and statistically impossible. Since we do not control sub-section 10, assailant was most likely allied with local drill clan activities. Assailant seemed unusually violent and aggressive, but appears to be too logical and focused to be under control of a full-spec borg. I have indicated that perhaps assailant may be the first recorded example of a "full-spec human". Regardless, the hive has classified assailant as a D-class threat and if assailant continues further anti-clan activities, threat-level will be raised to that equivalent of a borg "Aggressor"-class alien. Use caution and do not engage assailant in groups of smaller than one full squad.
Clan will be assaulting sector D-10-S's school in an effort to rid the area of drill clan and possible yellow knife clan operations. I recommend that the Hive search for this D-class assailant as a secondary objection during operations.
