~IISO Initiator training facility nr. 4, Tokyo~
She spat the food out from her mouth. It was just as fucking disgusting as she had remembered it to be before.
Those scrambled eggs felt so fresh she wasn't yet convinced that they hadn't been taken directly from the chicken's ass just before they broke them to bring them that meal. She had it. She couldn't eat another one of those accursed eggs. If she did, she felt like she was going to vomit the entire contents of her stomach out right then and there.
She needed to get out of that eating room as soon as possible. Even the mere sight of seeing those other girls there eating that crap was making her nauseous.
Random girl: "What's the matter, Mizuki-chan? You don't like omelet?" came a rather annoying voice just from behind her, the voice of another girl about her age who, for whatever reason, decided to make her life even more unbearable than before simply by starting a conversation with her.
Mizuki: "No, I don't! This is the worst thing I've ever eaten all my life! And given the crap they served me here, that's saying a lot!" the girl felt particularly spiteful that day and wanted to let out more anger than normal. Her partner in conversation was also somewhat at fault, though, as she felt particularly venomous to her for whatever reason when talking and so this allowed Mizuki to emotionally free herself from a lot of inhibitions at that moment.
Girl: "Well, they won't be giving you any desserts! So if you won't be eating this now, you'll be going to bed with an empty stomach!" Mizuki couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was something about how this girl talked with her, something in there that made her particularly angry. She felt like she was being talked down to, even though that didn't seem to be the case. Whatever it was, though, Mizuki didn't feel like hanging around there for too long to talk with someone she wasn't that particularly eager to discuss with.
Mizuki: "That doesn't sound like such a bad idea after all!" she commented haughtily before raising from her seat and beginning to walk away, leaving that other girl she was talking to behind. "I need to get the hell out of here! If I have to eat one more meal from these people I might just get sick!" she could vividly still remember the many many times in the past she had contracted indigestion from some of the food in that facility. Which was a rather odd thing to remark considering that she was among the very few girls who would get it so often. Maybe it was because she had once insulted one of the chefs there and that resulted in them putting some strange crap in her food from then on, who knows? The problem was that she couldn't digest this stuff anymore.
Guard: "Hey there, Mizuki-chan!" came another all too familiar and resented voice out of nowhere. The girl frowned when she had heard it. She recognized that voice all too well. It was from the guard that liked to stalk her a lot. "Not feeling very hungry tonight?" of course he had to be there and watch over her while she ate. At that point she didn't care anymore. That guy would probably watch over her even while she showered. It wouldn't surprise her anymore.
Mizuki: "No, I'm not!" was all she responded with, mostly between her teeth, despising the fact that there were so many people there that popped out of nowhere simply to annoy her. The guard began to nonchalantly follow her to her cell, leaving his post and beginning to tail her like a servant. She hated that, of course, although she was already used to it so she refrained from commenting about it. Instead, she just allowed him to follow her as she knew trying to shake him off was probably more trouble than it was worth.
He never had hurt her, nor was he particularly annoying as some of the girls there. In fact, he was mostly friendly to her, always trying to cheer her up whenever her mood would swing a little too much on the depressed side, much like right then when she was too disgusted with her food.
Mizuki: "I swear, the people cooking here have a thing against me! I'm sure they're holding a grudge or something! Every time I eat, I feel the food here becoming even shittier than before!" she complained audibly while walking across the hallways and making theatrical over-the-top motions with her arms while gesticulating her every single emotion to her now victim as he would only listen over and sigh every so often.
Guard: "You know, if you would only apologize to them like I told you a million times you should, things would be a lot easier for you! I tried putting a good word for you to the chefs here. But there's only so much I can do for you! You also need to show how much you regret it!" that was a laughable thing to say as the girl snorted, while making a strange face.
Mizuki: "Yeah, right! I would rather die before apologizing to those disgusting pigs! If they want to serve me worm infested food, so be it! They won't be hearing apologies from me even when the creatures burrowing in my stomach dig through my flesh and come out at night!" for whatever reason, the guard would always get nightmares in the nights after talking with that girl. He wondered why.
Guard: "Don't take this the wrong way! I like you just the way you are but, sometimes, in life, it's usually a good idea to lower your pride every so often. If you don't know when to do that, you might end up getting caught in crap you won't be able to get out of by yourself. And you'll be buried alive in it!", when seeing the easy opportunity at a comeback with that, the girl didn't hesitate to take it.
Mizuki: "Let me guess, talking from experience? Did you learn that after talking back to your own bosses? Is that how you ended up in this shit hole?" there were many words you could use to describe Mizuki. 'Charming' was not necessarily one of them, as that guard was very well aware. Despite being only ten, as all the other girls who were the oldest in that facility, she had a sailor's mouth. Sometimes he would even wonder what her parents could have been like for their daughter to be so…..descriptive with respect to many of the things going on in that building. Then again, she hadn't met her parents in her entire life, like most of the children there. Still, he couldn't help but wonder.
Guard: "Well, you may call this place however you like to call it. In the end, though, this is your home. So I suggest you get as comfy here as you can because it's among the only places you'll see in the near future!" and of course he had to say something like that to bring her spirits even deeper into depression than they already were. As if her life wasn't miserable enough already without him.
Mizuki: "Oh wow, what? Did the higher ups here just decide to give up on me now? I'm guessing I wasted my goddamn time when applying for the Initiator program, didn't I?" she spat filled with renewed hatred in her voice when realizing what the guard was hinting at.
Guard: "Sadly, from what I heard, at least, you were evaluated to be unfit to participate in this program. So they decided to scrap your application" he decided to be upfront with her, not because he had any particular ill will towards her, but mostly because he knew that this was how she preferred to be dealt with whenever bad news was in store for her. She preferred to be honestly given the information as bluntly as possible rather than have people just beat around the bush and waste her time pointlessly (especially since she hated human interactions to begin with). "I'm sorry, I know how much you want to get out of here. It's just that, they couldn't pair you up with any Promoter yet. They don't think you're ready just yet to-…."
Mizuki: "Oh just cut the crap already!" came a rather sharp and sudden reply from her, interrupting her partner. "I've been here for ten straight years all my life in this god forsaken shit hole. And I've even seen girls younger than me be accepted into that stupid fucking program while I was discarded like a bunch of trash! I can take a fucking hint, you know!" she was being particularly snappy that evening, something which the guard disliked a lot.
Guard: "Well, like I said, if you were a bit less crass about things and tried to be on better behavior, maybe they would reconsider at some point!" he tried to pointlessly reason with her. The girl was already too angry to be argued with logically by that point, though.
Mizuki: "Fuck you! I don't need you, nor anyone else's help to get out of here! And hell, even if I do, I'll rather rot away in my cell before any of you pieces of shit will hear me say 'please' and 'I'm sorry' to your asses!" she made herself crystal clear to the man in front of her. She had no intention of becoming any less abrasive, not even to him, that day. The young man sighed, clearly displeased with her attitude although he didn't comment on it too much.
Guard: "One day you'll regret those words, Mizuki-chan! Just so you know, I'm one of your very few allies here! One day I might not come to your cell to help you out anymore, and then you'll regret having talked to me like that!" he said before unlocking the girl's door and opening it for her to enter. She did just that before grabbing the door herself and preparing to slam it in his face.
Mizuki: "One day, I won't be here for you to visit at all! I'll be out of this hell, running away in freedom beyond these walls! And then you'll have to find another friend to talk to, you lonely fucking pervert!" and she just slammed the door in his face, without any remorse at all on her face. The man sighed once again, before turning around to leave her alone. There was no point in locking the door despite her already clearly planning on going to sleep. The automatic lock on her door would ensure that when the sleeping hour would hit, as per that facility's schedule.
The girl dropped her seemingly heavy body on her bed, hugging the cold pillow under her. The same odorless pillow that awaited her every day when she would return to her bedroom.
The people who changed her sheets there were thorough, indeed. Every day they would come to change all the bed sheets, even her pillow, with brand new ones to replace them. Now, that was only standard conduct to follow when dealing with an infectious environment filled with patients that had virus particles inside of them that were very dangerous. Still, the constant enforcement of impeccable hygienic standards meant that everything was very dull, very hospital-like. She couldn't even remember the smell of her own body because of how often they would wash and change her sleeping appendages as well as her pajamas and all the other clothing accessories that she wore.
That sterile environment was only sharply contrasted with the foods that they were fed on a daily basis: foods that were so foul and so despicably mushed together that she wondered if the chefs in that place were deliberately trying to see each day what crap they could get away with when fixing their 'meals'.
Mizuki: "I'm sick of this fucking place!" that entire facility was so lifeless, so colorless and so sterile while also having so very few things for all the girls living there to do that she began, at some point, to count the bricks that were visible in the walls. For a child to be that bored was a very depressing thing.
And what was even worse about that entire ordeal was the fact that, apparently, even the minuscule chance she once had when she had applied for the Initiator program to get out of there, had been mercilessly squashed by the higher up pigs that were overlooking the entire activities in that place. Because of course they would, why wouldn't they?
Yeah, they weren't happy with her attitude. They didn't want an unrefined girl like herself to represent their organization to the outside world.
Mizuki: "Well, they can just go ahead and suck on my vagina if they don't like it!" she had it with all the filth going on in that place. Literally, she felt sick even thinking about it. Yeah, chances are she wasn't going to ever be allowed to step foot outside. Not if any one of them had any say in the matter, anyway. And you know what? She didn't give a fucking shit anymore! She lost all hope in them helping here, anyway.
If there was any way she was going to get out of that place, it was if she made it happen herself! After all, what person can you put your absolute faith into and trust that they'll never betray you, other than yourself?
She didn't expect assistance from the other girls living there with her. After all, the majority of them were enrolled and accepted into the Initiator Program, which meant that, sooner or later, they will be paired with a Promoter somewhere and be allowed to walk out. And all of this will happen while she would remain there, put down and abandoned in the depths of the hallways there, forgotten by everyone. She had no family, no friends….nobody to await her on the other side or worry about her. And that was what was the most frustrating of all.
Mizuki: "If only….I had a way of getting out of here" she spoke softly into her pillow, fantasizing of the outside world. She attempted to run away before, although all of her attempts had been unsuccessful. Every time she did that, she learned a little bit more about that facility and how to bypass the securities there and with each attempt she could feel how much closer she was than the previous ones to reach the sunlight beyond the reinforced doors there.
Still, it wasn't like there were no drawbacks to her escapades. Last time when she had attempted to run away and got caught in the process, the guards decided to give her a prolonged stay in The Room, a punishment that is seldom used there and one that is usually given only to particularly insistent delinquents. She was forced to spend three days in there, which made her almost go insane.
Now, she was way more reluctant in her escape ventures. Her suffering was so great that it served as a warning to all the other girls there to behave themselves or else they will get the same treatment. Fear was, after all, one of the greatest manipulation tools for humans. Being used as an example in front of her peers in such a degrading way was particularly painful for her. Needless to say that, while she was more willing than ever before to run away from that place, she was also now more scared than ever, simply because they might increase her punishment even further this time to make her repent.
That would probably be sufficient to break her, which is something she didn't want for them to ever enjoy the satisfaction of. If she was going to break out, she had to do it perfectly this time. If she made another mistake or would end up unsuccessful, she didn't even want to think of the consequences she would have to endure.
Mizuki: "If only it wasn't so difficult….The security these guys have here is ridiculous. Still, it'll only take one lucky day for me. And when that'll happen, I'll be the one laughing….." she hated feeling this weak. Unable to escape from such a place felt very demeaning to herself and while she hated to admit it, it likely was impossible to achieve such a feat all by herself. The only problem was, she didn't trust anyone there since all the girls now would surely be unwilling to assist her and risk being pulled out of the Initiator Program too if they joined her in her rebellious actions(or worse and be sent into The Room as well).
But, luckily for her, her wish did come true at that moment when the alarm in that facility began to resound across the hallways, the same alarm that would be activated whenever the building was meant to enter lock-down. This could only mean one thing: someone was probably trying to escape that place too right then.
Mizuki immediately got out of bed and ran towards the door to force it open before the lock on it would trigger in response to the alarm. Thankfully, she did open it in time and exited her room quickly in order to further investigate what was going on.
~Control room~
All the computer operators in the room were panicking, seemingly distressed because of the events that were transpiring before them. All of the people there were agitated, typing with inhuman speeds on their keyboards and trying to follow the protocols to the best of their knowledge while also trying to maintain their own calm.
Suddenly, the door to that room was shut wide open and an old man, seemingly in his late 50s, fully clothed in military body armor, made his appearance.
Daikichi: "All units, report!" came his deep and insistent voice, disrupting the men in that room who had been operating the computers there and forced their attention onto himself. "This is General Okazaki Daikichi, from the Japanese Self Defense Forces. I'm in charge with this facility tonight as the military adviser as well as local supervisor!" he introduced himself to the civilians there professionally while also trying to maintain his composure. "I want a status report, now!" now that he identified himself as well as his military role, he immediately went to business and began giving orders to everyone in order to perform his duties. While still very distressed, the men quickly responded to his request.
Operator 1: "Hai!" one of the men, the least busy one from the bunch, rose from his seat in an uptight position and began speaking loudly. "We're in a state of lock-down! The alarm was automatically triggered by someone entering an unauthorized area of the facility. We couldn't identify her yet but we have reason to believe that she's a Cursed Child!" the man dryly yet professionally reported to his superior. Hearing this, the older individual sighed.
Daikichi: "It figures….another one of the girls here is trying to break out. At this point I can't even say I'm surprised!" the fact that he had been in charge of multiple facilities of that nature in the past and had witnessed many of such attempted break outs just proved the man's advanced experience with respect to those circumstances.
However, the operator decided to correct his misconception.
Operator 1: "I'm afraid that's not the case, Daikichi-sama! This isn't the result of someone trying to break out. Rather, it's the result of a girl trying to break in!" came the rather unexpected revelation.
Daikichi: "WHAT?!"
~Random hallway in that facility~
Enju was making her way through the maze-like corridors there, trying her best to recall exactly in which direction she should head to arrive at the nearest computer terminal. Sadly for her, things weren't going her way since, even though she knew that facility quite well having had the displeasure of spending the majority of her life in there, she couldn't orient herself easily as the design of that building was done in such a way to be difficult to navigate through when anyone was trying to rush through it. That was an intentional design so that people trying to escape would easily get confused and lost in its many hallways.
Hell, if she had no prior knowledge of that place, she was certain she would have been lost by that point. She was already deep within the compound, having passed multiple checkpoints already and dealing with all the guards that had tried to intercept her. She made sure not to kill anyone on her way in, doing her best to leave everyone that was unfortunate enough to be in her path unconscious but without permanent injuries. She already had a guilty conscience from the time she had attacked innocent people in her Gastrea form. She didn't need any more memories to suppress.
Finally, after much running, she came upon the end of the hallway she was running through and encountered a locked metal door blocking her path.
Enju: "Great….now I have to remember that stupid code…." she cried anxiously while approaching the keypad on the wall next to the door. "Let's see….what was it? 5540?" she typed in that code to see if it worked. One of the LEDs on the keypad blinked a bright red three times afterwards, indicating the device's refusal to accept this key. Apparently she was wrong. "No? Uh…..maybe 5530?" she continued to input more codes, hoping to eventually reach a successful combination. Sadly that code she was trying to remember had been revealed to her during the days she was still an inhabitant in that building. She first heard that code more than two years before. Needless to say, her memory didn't seem particularly cooperative then.
Eventually, after a small number of attempts, the device's green LED blinked this time and a loud click was heard from the door, an indication that she finally succeeded. Enju proceeded to open the door wide and then she used her enhanced strength in her legs to kick the keypad on the wall, effectively breaking it and interrupting the door's electrical circuit to ensure that it wouldn't get locked by any system or human again in the future so that she could reuse this same route to escape that place once she would finish her business there.
With that out of the way, she continued her journey deep into the building.
After another couple of minutes of running, she arrived in a room with her target in it: an active computer that was laying on a table there. Sadly the computer was being used by two soldiers who failed to notice her arrival and who were focusing on the data displayed on the screen.
She seized this opportunity and jumped towards one of them, effectively kicking them with her legs and making him fly across to the room and hit the wall hard. Luckily for him, he was wearing his helmet which protected his skull from the impact, something which allowed Enju to be a bit more forceful in her kick than normal. She then turned her attention towards the other one too, who backed away a little, suddenly afraid of her because of her display of power. He pushed his hand into his jacket and pulled out a Taser, pointing it towards her.
All the soldiers there had no actual guns on them. This was an IISO rule to prevent the personnel in that facility from actually killing any of the Cursed Children inside whenever they felt like it. While this was a logical thing to do from their perspective, it left all the security in there highly vulnerable to attacks from super human creatures like Enju, with very little to use in self defense outside some pepper sprays and the aforementioned Tasers, as well as other exotic non-lethal weapons.
The soldier was clearly trembling before her, a pathetic sight given how Enju was clearly only a ten year old girl and he looked like he was in his thirties.
Enju: "If you promise to run away and never return, I won't hurt you!" the girl tried to calm him down while also closely paying attention to his movements, trying to read his future actions at every step.
Daikichi: "How noble of you" came a voice from an entirely different direction. Before Enju could turn her head to ascertain her new enemy, a huge strong net was shot from a nearby soldier's gun in her vicinity. The net expanded while in midair, not allowing Enju enough time to properly react. It landed onto herself, trapping her in its hold. The girl naively thought that this was all they had to offer and so she tried to push the net off of her. But before she could do that, the same soldier who had fired it pressed a button on a remote he had in his belt. Immediately after that the net activated and strong electrical currents began to travel through it, stunning Enju and making her fall over, getting even more entrapped inside it.
Seeing how easily they disposed of their target, General Daikichi smirked while finally making his way cautiously towards his prey.
Daikichi: "I have to say I am a bit surprised. Never in my life had I heard of a Cursed Child trying to break in one of IISO's training facilities instead of trying to escape from them. To be honest, I can't really blame how easy it was for you to sabotage our devices and make your way in here up until this point, given how this place is meant to keep people inside from getting outside, rather than the opposite" the girl again tried to struggle her way out but the soldier promptly responded by zapping her again, to ensure that she wouldn't succeed. "How come you decided to do something so reckless, deary? I assume, since you managed to penetrate our facility this quickly, that you already had prior knowledge of how this building is structured and what passwords the personnel here uses. Which leads me to believe that you're just a poor girl who had the misfortune of getting outside, only to later become nostalgic for her home and come back" he remarked sarcastically while staring at her, in an attempt to identify features that would allow him to recognize her. Sadly for him, though, given her lack of hair on her head, that wasn't really possible.
Enju again, tried her best to roll out of the net but was zapped yet again. The current being sent into her body was very strong, which disrupted electrical signals from her nervous system and made her muscles contract on their own, which made it very difficult for her to coordinate her movements in such a way as to get out from under that net.
Daikichi: "Well, don't you worry your pretty little head. From now on, we'll be taking you under our care once again! And this time, we'll do a better job at convincing you to stay with us!" her heart skipped a beat when hearing that. She was scared. She didn't want to return to that facility as an inmate, of all things. She needed her freedom. She wasn't going to allow them to squash her plans, especially not then when her future was so uncertain.
She tried freeing herself one final time, a futile attempt that ended much in the same way as all of the previous ones. Panicking, she lost control of most of her rational thinking and began to act like an animal trying to get away from her captors.
But before they could actually grab her and pull her away, the lights in the room went off all of a sudden, surprising everyone there.
Daikichi: "What the fucking hell?! Why is there a power outage during a fucking lock-down? Don't you people have backup generators?!" he asked indignant, feeling very pissed at the lack of security features that should have been present there. However, the response he got from the communicator piece he had in his ear was not one that made him feel very comfortable.
Operator: "About that…..it isn't really a power outage. The facility is still being powered normally. The problem is that the room you're standing in got cut off from the grid!" his heart beats increased in frequency when hearing that. Such a cut off was far too unlikely to be a coincidence, given that it happened in their room specifically and during this precarious time.
Daikichi: "All units! Prepare for combat! I think someon-…." but he was cut off by the screaming of one of his men as the soldier yelled in despair, alarming everyone there. It was dark because there were no lights so they couldn't see exactly what happened to their friend. However, his scream immediately stopped after only a couple of seconds when the snapping of his neck was heard. That sent chills down the men's spines. "Who the hell is there?! Did the girl escape?!" he asked what was a natural question at that point. To check, the soldier that previously had tortured Enju by activating the net's electric flow, moved his hand to the remote and pressed the button again, to activate the trap again. Instantly almost, Enju's screams were heard again, indicating that she was still under the net and hadn't escaped. Which meant that their attacker was somebody else.
Daikichi: "Shit…..Does any of you have night vision equipment they can put on?!" that was a laughably late request to make. It was made even more pointless because of the fact that the answer was no. Nobody had the necessary means to see through that thick darkness.
The main disadvantage of that facility was the fact that it was architecturally designed to have almost no windows, to prevent easy escape. This meant, however, that the only means of illumination possible in the interior were artificial ones as neither sunlight, moonlight nor starlight could creep through any crevices or transparent materials inside. This left everyone there vulnerable while they waited for their pupils to adjust to the darkness to allow at least some minor adaptation to their surroundings.
However, their enemy wasn't about to allow them that luxury.
Another one of the soldiers, who was anxiously waving his Taser around, trying to predict where their attacker would strike next, felt the presence of the enemy besides him. He couldn't really see her but he heard her footsteps when she ran to the spot she was standing then. Knowing that the steps were way too light to be of one of their own, he concluded it was most likely their enemy and so he directed his weapon towards the general direction of where he believed she was and prepared to shoot at her with it.
Soldier: "Got you, you little bitch!" but just before he pressed the trigger, the figure quickly vanished and behind it, in the direction of his aim, another one appeared. This one was a more masculine and bigger one but before the soldier could stop his attack and make out who it was, he shot the wires, his Taser making contact with one of his colleagues. Despite being a relatively small device, it still managed to severely disable the other soldier, who was caught off guard. "Shit! Are you kidding me?!" he complained once he realized that he immobilized one of his own friends before dropping the gun and trying to run to his friend on the ground. It was then when he was struck as well and his own scream agonizingly spread through the whole room before being silenced by another snap of the neck.
Daikichi: "What in the fuck is going on here?!" the man, realizing he was the last one that remained backed up into a corner, his own Taser gun pointing forward as drops of sweat began to fall from his chin. "Who the fuck is this? Why are you doing this to us?!" his voice was shaking, something which he was trained never to allow under such circumstances. It felt like all of his previous training had been for nothing now when he lost most of his calm because of hearing his own friends die before him.
Mizuki: "Oh, how pathetic you are now, little man" came the voice of a seemingly very young girl from the darkness. That voice….he felt like he had heard it before. Yeah, it felt very familiar…..maybe a girl living in that facility? He couldn't recall who she was though. But before he could actually remember for himself, she struck his abdomen at an incredible speed, so high that he had no chance of sensing it in time to dodge. He spewed a great deal of acid that came up his throat as blood vessels up his nose ruptured and rivers of blood began to flow down his face. The girl wasn't about to allow him to recover, though, as she quickly grabbed his own Taser from his holder while he was whimpering.
Mizuki: "You don't look like you have that much to live anymore….I'll do you a favor and let you live! Enjoy your retirement!" and with that she activated his Taser and shot the darts into his body. He collapsed because of the intense currents invading him, falling on the floor, convulsing violently. The girl, proud of her own actions, let out a sigh of relief, happy to have gotten rid of some of the security personnel there. Without them to get in her way, she could now see if she could escape.
She then remembered about Enju, who was still on the floor, crying and trembling in fear, not knowing what was even going on and being scared because of the screams. Mizuki rolled her eyes.
Mizuki: "It's OK! I won't hurt you!" she tried to calm the girl on the floor down. She slowly approached Enju and picked up the net she was covered with and began to try to unravel it to get her out of there.
Enju: "T-thank you!" the girl calmly and lowly responded, trying to wipe the tears from her eyes.
Mizuki: "You don't have to thank me. It's me who should be thanking you, actually, for finally giving me this chance!" was her surprising confession, which baffled Enju for a moment.
Enju: "A chance? A chance to do what?"
Mizuki: "For what do you think? For escaping this shit hole, of course!" came the nonchalant reply of her new friend. "I've been trying to run away from this place for years! Now it's finally my chance!" she declared happily, almost with uncharacteristic amounts of energy.
Enju: "…..you seem awfully carefree for someone who killed these people here. Aren't you sad for doing this?" even though she hadn't been able to see it with her own eyes because of the lack of light, she was sure that the sounds she heard were those of necks snapping.
Mizuki: "Eh? Why should I be sad? If I hadn't done it, they would have sent me back to my cell! I had no choice in the matter!" Enju would have argued that she could have just left all of them unconscious, as she had already done so with two of them before she had even arrived in that room, but she didn't feel like arguing with her. Either way, Mizuki felt like the best chance Enju had in getting out of there alive, much in the same way that she herself was to Mizuki. Both of them realized how vital it probably was for both of them to work together to get out of there so they agreed to help each other get out.
Enju: "I can't see anything! How could you maneuver so well in the darkness? Hell, how can you see anything in this place?!" she questioned a little impressed.
Mizuki: "I'm a Model Owl. My eyesight in darkness is not only just as good but even better than that in broad daylight! That's why I cut off the power to this room! To take advantage of the soldiers' handicaps!" that sounded logical enough although a bit cruel and unfair to the men that were left defeated behind by them. "Anyways, never mind that! We need to get out of here before the lock-in finishes! I can guide you by hand until we reach an illuminated area!" she began pulling on Enju's hand, trying to guide her to the door. However, Enju suddenly resisted her pull when feeling that.
Enju: "Wait! I'm not going anywhere until I get to a computer terminal here!" she suddenly interrupted her companion's overzealous exit.
Mizuki: "What?! Why?! Don't you think we already spent too much time here? If we wait any longer I don't think we'll ever be able to get out of this place!" she tried to complain, clearly not wanting to squander her only chance at freedom just because of Enju's nonsensical wishes.
Enju: "Don't worry! I broke all of the door locking mechanisms in my route to this room! We can retrace my path to get back out since those doors won't be functional anymore and so they won't be locked!" she tried to reassure her.
Mizuki: "Even then….what possibly can you do with a computer? Why is it so important to you?" she still questioned, not yet convinced. Enju didn't know how to answer that in a way that could make her friend agree with her. So she just used the straight forward approach.
Enju: "There's just something I need to do! I can't really tell you the details now. Can you get me to a room where power is still on? I assume you know this building more than I do since you've been here for longer!" again, Mizuki sighed, annoyed but not giving up on Enju just yet, conceding to her requests and then suddenly pulling her into a different direction than before, trying to lead her to another room with a computer in it.
Mizuki: "I swear, if we get caught along the way, I'll beat the shit out of you once they'll throw us in our cells!"
~Other room~
The door flung open and both girls entered as quickly as they could inside. Thankfully for them, this was in an area where power was still running and a functional terminal was on a desk in the room. Enju's face lit up at the sight of the computer. She quickly seized this opportunity and jumped on the seat next to the keyboard and mouse. The computer had the user account locked, which meant that the system was accessible to anyone who had the password for that particular account.
Mizuki: "Great! Now what?" she asked angrily, although Enju ignored her and began typing away to fill in the password field. At the first couple of attempts, the system kept refusing the passwords, labeling them invalid and denying access, which prompted Mizuki to comment on the seemingly pointless attempts.
Mizuki: "You're wasting your time! And not only that but you're wasting both of our precious opportunities! You won't be able to guess the passw-…." but before she could finish, Enju finally typed in the correct password and the computer unlocked the account in front of them. "….huh?"
They were greeted with a primitive, very purpose-oriented interface that had a lot of search fields and records displayed in a table next to them. The records had a column of full names, pictures right next to them in a different column, and other such information.
Mizuki: "How did you do that? Where did you get the password from?!"
Enju: "Back when I was living here, one of the girls caught a glimpse of a note from a guy who was new at the job, the note containing the password he had to use. I'm surprised they didn't change their passwords even after three years!" she responded while trying to figure out how to use that database program. "Now, let's see if I'm still in their system…." she typed in her name into one of the search boxes and then pressed a button. Immediately the program returned a single entry in the table, an entry marked with her name. "Bingo!" she exclaimed happily.
She then went on to click on that entry and a new window appeared in the foreground, with a lot of information about none other than herself. The information was extremely detailed, covering her date of birth, place of birth, current home address (or, more specifically, Rentarō's home address as well as phone number), the fact that Rentarō was her Promoter, and, the most important information from her perspective at that moment, data about her parents.
She focused her eyes on the status field next to her parents' entries, only to confirm, to her disappointment, that her mother was indeed officially dead, much like how Rentarō had told her in the past. What was a bit more interesting, though, was the status for her father was 'UNKNOWN'. The girl, confused by this, tried to check for a phone number although it was marked as 'EXPIRED' so she dropped that idea. Finally, she took a look at the home address that was recorded there with respect to her father. She pulled out a pen and a paper that she had received from Matsuzaki the day before and copied that address on it in haste, as well as her father's name.
Enju: "I'm done!" she finally declared to Mizuki, who was stressed out of her mind and pacing back and forth in front of the desk, waiting for Enju to finish.
Mizuki: "About time! Let's go!" she ordered, to which Enju nodded while hopping down from the seat she was standing on and rushing after her towards the exit. "After this is all over, I'm going to enjoy a nice and long life outside! Nobody will ever catch me!" the adrenaline rush as well as the excitement were very obvious in her voice, almost to an eerie degree.
Enju: "Have you ever been outside before? Do you even know where you want to live?" came what any person would inquire. The girl didn't really understand the point in those questions.
Mizuki: "Why does it fucking matter? As long as I'll be away from this hell, I'm fine with it! I'll manage one way or another!" that was either a statement filled with a lot of courage, or with a lot of reckless stupidity. Enju suspected it was a little bit of both.
Enju: "Huh…..I think I know just the right place for you!" she said out loud, surprising her companion.
~Underground complex~
The two girls arrived at the complex where Enju had been before she departed for the IISO facility. It was Matsuzaki's, as well as all the Cursed Children under his care, home. While dilapidated and mostly isolated from the rest of the city, especially since it was in the very outskirts of Tokyo, it was still a place where one could at the very least live in the bare minimum of conditions. This made it the haven for all the poor girls who were living a life without any support there.
Enju: "This will be your home from now on! I'm not sure how much you'll enjoy it but it's the best I can think of!" Mizuki and Enju entered the complex, walking slowly inside and descending into dark chambers. The air felt stale and had a cold and unpleasant odor to it which made Mizuki feel sick.
Mizuki: "How do I know if it's safe here? I killed those guards and I'm sure the IISO will do everything in its power to track me down, now that I escaped. Wouldn't it be a better idea if I left Tokyo altogether?" she was obviously having second thoughts with respect to Enju's offering. While the place felt eerie and not very welcoming, she was sure she could adapt to it in due time. What was actually more concerning for her was to be sure that nobody would betray her while staying there and forcefully send her back to the facility. She doubted they will ever allow her to walk away unpunished for killing their own men if they were to capture her. As such, she was very wary of almost any stranger that would be living with her. "Especially since you even told me that there's a regular man living here with all of these girls. How do you know he's not secretly working for IISO to monitor all of the girls living under his care?" came a valid concern.
Enju couldn't really think of a proper way of answering, as she had no proof that Matsuzaki was in fact innocent of that accusation. However, as someone who had relied on him multiple times in the past, she felt like she knew him well enough to at least recommend him as well as his shelter as possible options.
Enju: "I've been helped by him many times in the past. He's a good man. He never wanted anything out of these girls and offered them free stay, clothes and food. He did that to me as well when I needed them!" she tried to reassure her as best as she could. "I can't say for sure if he is or isn't. But during all the time I've spent down here, I can honestly say that he was the friendliest figure that I have met. Even friendlier than all the other girls living here" Mizuki raised one of her eyebrows at that, not really sure how to interpret that considering how most of her life had contained people who never helped others out of good will or anything. In her past experience, everything came with a cost so this felt awfully suspicious to her.
Mizuki: "And you say he'll never sell me back to that worthless hellhole? Even if I act shitty to him?" she tried to clarify, still considering the possibility of maintaining her less than friendly persona.
Enju: "I've never seen him angry, at least. Although, I suggest you be nice to him too. He's very busy with almost everything he does. You shouldn't be-…."
Matsuzaki: "As long as you're nice to everyone here, and follow proper manners, at least, I will guarantee that everyone else here will also be nice to you!" came the loud deep voice of the old man who suddenly made his appearance. "After all, respect is a mutual thing, much like friendship and love. And while I don't want us to even be friends, I do believe that it would be best if you could at least get along with the other girls here. In this place, the only thing you can provide to others as well as receive is companionship, after all" he approached the two. Enju's face immediately lit up when seeing him, as she quickly became happy once again.
Enju: "I'm back home, Matsuzaki-san" she said happily as the man smiled warmly at her in response.
Matsuzaki: "Welcome back, Enju-chan! You're late for dinner!" he replied before focusing his attention onto her friend. "And I see you brought a friend with you too. Will she be attending dinner with us as well?" he asked, slipping an invitation already to the girl.
Mizuki: "Nice to meet you" she said, barely managing to speak those words. She felt very unaccustomed to proper etiquette. "My name is Mizuki Natsumushi. I'm a….a…." she didn't know how to phrase this. She still didn't trust this man enough yet to feel comfortable to reveal the fact that she was an escapee from the IISO.
Matsuzaki: "You're from the same facility where Enju-chan grew up, aren't you?" he replied, making the girls stare back at him amazed for having guessed that. "It wasn't that hard to figure out. After all, Enju announced where she was going when she left. When seeing her return with you, I just had to put two and two together" that made Mizuki feel even more uncomfortable although she swallowed her own saliva silently, trying to maintain cordiality.
Mizuki: "I….escaped with her. I couldn't stand that place. They were treating us like animals there! I wanted to see how the sun at least looked like! And the moon and stars! I want to see the outside! I don't care where I'll live or in what fucking conditions! I just want to be free!" she was jumbling her own words a bit, clearly nervous and not really sure how to approach the subject. "Are you someone who will be nice to me?" she asked, timidly, which was actually unlike her character although she had gotten so emotional during her speech that she began to feel weirdly motivated and invested a little.
Matsuzaki: "You are welcome to stay here for as long as you want! After all, you're not the first girl who escaped from the IISO facility who would live here. Just try to be nice to everyone and we shall accept you!" even though she would never admit it, that was exactly what Mizuki wanted to hear.
Mizuki: "Are….you OK with this? Even though the police will be looking for me? Won't bad things happen to you if you keep me here?" she still had a very pessimistic attitude although that was entirely understandable. "Hell, I even…..uh…..killed a couple of guys"
Matsuzaki: "Like I said, as long as you'll be nice to all of us here and don't cause trouble for others, you'll be allowed to stay. All of your past sins will eventually be forgotten in due time, even by you! And as far as others looking for you here, I wouldn't worry too much about that. This shelter here is hidden from the public eyes. And even though there are some people that know of my existence, they don't bother with me regardless of what happens. To many abandoned Cursed Children, this is the only option they have as nobody else will take them in or provide them anything! The only other thing they could do is travel out of Tokyo to explore for a better place, although I don't really recommend that since then it's you alone against nature and against the hordes of Gastrea roaming endlessly across deserted plains for many many kilometers" he let out the sad and depressing reality that she had been hidden from all of her life.
Mizuki: "Wait….you mean to say that Tokyo is humanity's last bastion? There's nowhere left to go?" she questioned, almost baffled by that news.
Matsuzaki: "No. There are still a couple of other places around the world that survive to this day where humans try to live more or less natural lives. The closest one you can get to from here is Shanghai, and to arrive there, you'll have to travel over one thousand and five hundred kilometers by yourself, as well as somehow sail across the East China Sea. Not to mention, you'll have to learn Mandarin to survive there. And, please don't let me convince you if your intentions are different, but I sincerely doubt you want to start such a journey by yourself" she was left speechless when hearing that, mostly because of how complicated it sounded. She hadn't gone to school all her life, so big numbers like 'one thousand and five hundred' didn't mean much to her, nor did she even know what kilometers were. Even so, the way he portrayed it felt very discouraging to say the least.
The girl stood there, thinking to herself a little, trying to contemplate what her future actions should be. She was unsure as of what to do. She wanted to get as far away from that accursed building as possible and, since she had never actually met a Gastrea before she didn't feel that scared of them and was confident in surviving if she were to confront them. But….she was scared. She didn't want to go through all of this crap.
Mizuki: "If I choose to remain here, will I be able to leave whenever I want to?" the man nodded to that, which made her feel a little bit more comfortable. That alone made that place better than that accursed facility. "And will I be able to choose what I eat?" to her, that felt like a fundamental right that she was entitled to. Sadly, the man shook his head in response to that, signaling that this one wasn't really possible.
Matsuzaki: "No. There are many mouths to feed here and not a lot of money I have. I try to feed everyone living here equally and even then I barely manage. I'm afraid you'll have to eat what everyone else here does. I try to buy the best ingredients and the girls put their best in their cooking here, so I don't think that will be a problem though" that wasn't really the answer she wanted to receive but, honestly, she didn't actually expect it to be any different.
Mizuki: "So I'm just moving from one shitty place to another, huh?" as much as she wanted to refuse and seek a better alternative for herself, the prospect of living at least a free life without the worry of hunting for her own food, scavenging or, even worse, begging, was quite an attractive one. Since she knew very little about the outside world and would probably have a very though time on her own, she decided to take him up on his offer, even if just for a little while she gets accustomed on how to survive by herself. She didn't plan on staying there forever but, at the same time, he had promised her that she would be able to leave whenever she wanted to so that wouldn't be a problem.
Mizuki: "Well then, I'll be under your care, mister…." she didn't know how to address him.
Matsuzaki: "Please, call me Matsuzaki! And I hope you'll enjoy our humble home, Mizuki-chan!" he already attributed the '-chan' honorific to her name, marking a rather sudden and uncomfortable shift in friendliness from his part but she decided to not give it too much attention for now. "You're just in time for supper! I'll try to introduce you to all the girls here. Do try to make friends with them, please!" and with that, the girl reluctantly nodded before Enju interrupted their conversation.
Enju: "Matsuzaki-san, I'm sorry for interrupting. I have something to do for now and I would rather skip dinner!" that attracted the man's attention.
Matsuzaki: "You don't want to eat tonight with us, Enju? Did you not like our supper yesterday?" he asked a bit worried, although the girl shook her head to deny that.
Enju: "No….it's not about that. I managed to find some information there at the facility about my father's whereabouts. I don't have a phone number, so I'll have to go there myself!" she said, with pleading eyes, trying to convince him to let her go.
Matsuzaki: "I don't keep you here by force, Enju! You can do as you wish, although given how little time passed since you broke out of that building, I would suggest at least waiting the night out! The police might actively start a search for you again, so it's best if you won't be caught wandering on the streets by yourself, especially during the night!" that was a fairly normal concern to have given Enju's circumstances. "Not to sound insensitive but, are you sure he's still…..well….alive, though?" given the nature of how Cursed Children come into existence, that was a valid concern.
Enju: "I don't know….The computer said his status is unknown. I don't really know what that means. But I want to find out anyway!" she responded filled with renewed vigor, which warmed Matsuzaki's heart but also concerned him to some extent.
Mizuki: "What?!" came a surprised reaction from the girl next to them. "You broke into that facility, risking to get caught, just so you could find your father?! Why do you care about him at all? Did he even visit you while you were at the facility?"
Enju: "No….he didn't" the girl admitted, while lowering her head. "To be honest, I don't even know how he looks like. I don't remember ever seeing him. Still, I want to at least meet him before I….well….before I disappear" she explained, sorrow in her voice.
Mizuki: "What if he doesn't want to see you though? What will you do then?" again, came almost the same question that she herself had once asked. Frankly speaking, she had no plan for what to do when that happens outside of just coping with it in the moment.
Enju: "I don't know….but still, I want to take that risk! If only for just a second, I at least want to see his face!" that was a sad thing to say. In response to that, Mizuki quieted down and dropped the argument, deciding to not continue partaking in that awkward conversation.
Matsuzaki: "If I may suggest, would it be fine if I were to visit your father first?" came a rather unexpected request. Enju froze a little, not really sure how to react to that.
Enju: "Why?" came the obvious retort. The man sighed in response.
Truthfully he wanted to ensure that the man would pose no threat to the girl's life. There had been a number of recorded cases in the past when the fathers of a couple of Cursed Children did attempt to take their own off-springs' lives away from them. Such cases were rare, indeed, but they still existed. As a paternal figure to those girls there, including to Enju now, he felt like it was his responsibility to at least judge the man's behavior before he would encourage Enju to meet him.
Matsuzaki: "I want to make sure this isn't a trap set up by the IISO to get you into their hands again. If the police figured out who you were and what your intentions were, they might just plant an ambush there to get to you!" he lied, trying to not reveal the possibility that her father might want to kill her to her. After all, given how enthusiastic she was to meet him, it would only damage her if she were to learn of such a prospect.
Enju stood there, thinking to herself if this was really what she wanted. She really wanted to be alone when meeting her father, mostly because she wanted this to be like a family reunion. She also wanted to meet him first but the possibility of this being a trap was still there, although very small. She was afraid of the IISO or anyone else, for that matter, capturing her and she couldn't rule out the possibility that their computers were purposefully made to display bogus information to lead intruders like her into their arms once again. Again, it was a very unlikely for them to do that, but it was still possible.
Enju: "I don't know…." she felt unsure about this. She didn't want to attract any mistrust from her father so having strangers introduce themselves to him before she could didn't feel like such a good idea.
Matsuzaki: "Please, Enju! Trust me on this!" he continued to press on, trying to be as persuasive as he could. Eventually, the girl conceded.
Enju: "Fine! But if he really is my father then I want to meet him afterwards alone!"