~Random courthouse, Tokyo~
Judge: "(clears throat) Allow me to describe to you the current situation, Satomi Rentarō-san!" the judge began speaking with a very deep and powerful voice, resonating through the room as all the people stood there, staring at him. "Right now, you are being charged with negligence at work place by twelve different people! All of these people are parents of some of the children whose school was visited by Enju in her Gastrea form and suffered psychological damage at the sight of her. That as well as one family member of Hoshi Yoshizumi, one of the two victims who tragically lost their lives while performing their duty working at Hanakawa Hospital as part of the emergency response team and drivers of the vehicle who sadly got attacked by Enju. In this latter accusation, you are charged with manslaughter due to negligence!" the man continued to look Satomi in the eye, who was standing up while being spoken to. "Do you still wish to continue this trial without a lawyer?" he asked, a little bit astonished. He knew the offender of these charges was only sixteen years old, which made him particularly young and very inexperienced when it came to courts and trials, so he wanted to ensure that Rentarō was ready to continue down this path, even though it seemed foolish.
Rentarō: "Yes, this is what I want!" he clarified, letting the judge know that this was indeed the course that they were going to take.
The judge stood there, thinking to himself, not yet sure how to approach this clearly foolish man.
Truthfully, it wasn't like Rentarō saw no purpose in a lawyer by his side. He, in fact, deemed such a thing a very useful strategy to employ, if he could that was. His only issue was money, which he lacked greatly. Hiring a lawyer was beyond his budget and not even Kisara, who was technically the head of their company, could afford one. This left them awfully vulnerable.
Judge: "(sighes) Very well. Let us continue then!" he then continued to examine the papers in front of him, rapidly scanning through the texts and memorizing as well as processing the information written on them. "According to testimonies from two other people who were eyewitnesses at the sight, namely Yuzuki and Tamaki Katagiri, you acted recklessly during Enju Aihara's transformation into a Gastrea, despite being made aware of the clear signs that such metamorphoses have, correct? You were fully aware that Enju was undergoing transformation before she even fully became that spider, right?", the boy nodded.
Rentarō: "Yes, I was aware of what she was going through" he admitted while suddenly staring into the ground, feeling the eyes of all the people there at the court looking with scorn at him.
Judge: "And despite having knowledge of such a fact, according to the testimonies, you failed to act according to your duty and withheld from neutralizing Enju before she became a threat to the lives of everyone there, even though your obligations as a Promoter clearly state you shouldn't have done so. Can you confirm this?" again, the man nodded, mostly in embarrassment rather than resentment or regret.
Rentarō: "Yes, that is also true!" the members of the affected families, who were standing at a different table, were glaring at the boy from a distance, something which he was fully aware of.
Judge: "…..very well. And, lastly, again, according to the aforementioned reports, you remained inactive in the middle of your post, ignoring the fact that your colleagues' lives were in danger because of the newly formed Gastrea, a Gastrea that came into existence due to your inactivity even, and forced them to fight and fend for themselves for a couple of minutes while you stared from a distance. You only decided to take action after you noticed the spider beginning to chase after another potential victim. Do you not deny these statements?" everything that the older man was saying felt like it was burning through Rentarō's soul as the boy stood there, with his head low, feeling like his dignity was being torn to shreds.
Rentarō: "No, I don't deny any of that!" he glanced sideways for a second, noticing Kisara's concerned look at him, the worry in her eyes making him feel even worse. He hated whenever people looked at him like that. It felt very depressing and demeaning at the same time.
Judge: "Duly noted. This is going to be the quickest trial that I've ever had" the judge thought to himself, almost bemused at the amounts of masochism and lack of self defense that this young man was displaying, even when he was clearly under attack. To some extent, he could even say that he pitied this poor soul.
Judge: "Tell me, Rentarō-san, what exactly was going through your mind when all of these events transpired? What compelled you to act in such a negligent way that allowed for the Gastrea to not only fully form, but also attack and kill innocent victims and also escape afterwards? Were you not properly instructed at your workplace on the proper ways Promoters are expected to deal with these types of situations?" at this point, the judge pretty much gave up on him and didn't expect for the boy to try to take advantage of this last life-saving opportunity even. He was even going out of his way to help the boy by at least give him the chance to shift some of the blame to the company employing him as that would at least cushion his fall and lessen his punishment.
Rentarō: "I was given proper training in my years when applying for the Promoter license, as well as being told exactly how to act and what to do by the book. The issue wasn't in my training, nor was my employer of any faults" much as he had expected, the boy refused to be saved. Rentarō had no incentive to shift the blame on either the IISO for qualifying and licensing him as a Promoter, nor on Kisara for employing him in her company. He was deeply thankful to both of them and, consequently, he wanted to take all the blame for his actions, mostly because, he was indeed the only one to blame even from his own eyes. He took another glance at Kisara, who was yet again, very worriedly staring at him, also throwing daggers from her eyes almost, mentally scolding him for not imparting some of the guilt with her as she felt that she was just as much at fault in this as he was.
Rentarō: "No. The reality is that, during the moments when Enju was transforming in front of me, I was asking myself when the best moment for me the push the gun against her forehead and pull the trigger was. I knew full well that my window was pretty narrow and that time shouldn't be wasted" he began to explain, trying to regain whatever little grains of confidence were still inside of him. "I knew all of that full well, and yet, to my eyes at least, that moment never truly came. I never saw an opportunity for me good enough to take advantage of. After all, how do you prepare a little girl to accept death in just a minute?" even though he knew full well that those weren't real arguments and they wouldn't even work in a logical debate with a friend, much less in the court of law, he persisted.
Rentarō: "I know this isn't an excuse, nor does this justify anything that happened afterwards, but, even so, I couldn't bring myself to end her life. She looked at me once, pleadingly, almost like asking to be saved while I was not able to do anything to help her. How can any man rob a girl of her life in these circumstances?" his argument, although touching, didn't do him much good. Worse, one of the women in the prosecution side of the court, rose from her seat and began to speak as well.
Woman: "Nonsense!" she suddenly yelled out loud. "You claim to have done it as an act of mercy, and yet this lead to many other children being scarred for life!" despite this unpleasant interruption, the judge allowed her to continue for a little. "My daughter….she couldn't sleep at all since that incident happened. I've taken her to a psychologist, trying to see if there's anything he could do. She would cry every night, after that….that…..THING burned its image into her eyes. She would whimper as, whenever she would close her eyes, that image would appear before her and she would wake back up frantically screaming! How do you justify the psychological damage that she had to go through?! Was your act of mercy all that innocent?!" finally, the judge intervened and began slamming his hammer down repeatedly to attract the attention of everyone in the room.
Judge: "This is Satomi-san's turn to speak! For now, I will ask you to withhold from any more interruptions!" he tried to talk that woman into calming down. Once that happened, he turned his attention onto the boy once again. "Satomi-san, your defense doesn't really hold here! Showing mercy to one person when such a thing results in the death or distress of others is against the law, regardless of the morality stance behind it. After all, the law and morality exist and abide different sets of rules that serve different purposes. While your intentions may have been good and you only desired to do what was the most merciful thing to do given your circumstances, that doesn't change the fact that you discarded all of your obligations that society entrusted you with, refusing to perform a vital duty and endangering in the process the lives of many innocent people. And while 'emotional distress' might be seen as an excuse in many different situations, given your job, it is not a proper defense right now! In such a problematic situation, while I do sympathize with your behavior, I have no other choice but to condemn it nonetheless. Seeing the gravity of your actions, I cannot allow for such an excuse!" he clarified, letting the boy know that his only defense was useless.
Rentarō stood there, not even worried or concerned anymore. He knew he was guilty and that gave him an odd sense of calm and acceptance. He knew the court wouldn't listen to any excuse like that. He wasn't surprised in the least by that. Hell, if he was in that judge's place, he would have said the exact same things.
Justice had to be served, after all, and he was on the wrong side of the law. There was no use in denying that.
He thought about inventing some clever ruse to employ but he quickly decided against it. Even if he had the imagination to come up with such a thing, it would only go against his very own principles.
He had used the only excuse that was truthful, and he didn't intend on doing anything other than that. After all, even he couldn't explain his own behavior back then either. All of his career as a Promoter he had thought that he was ready, at any time, to fulfill his obligations and take Enju's life when the situation asked for it. And yet he failed in doing so when it really did happen. When he himself had questioned the reasons for his lack of response, the only answer that came to his mind was that he couldn't bring himself to do it. That was the only thing which he could answer to himself. Given that, that was also the only thing he was going to answer to the court as well. If his true thoughts were not enough to persuade the judge, then he really was a criminal and was meant to be punished. After all, that's what breaking the law meant, wasn't it?
Rentarō: "There is no other excuse I can think of. Those were my honest thoughts and thinking back then. I have nothing else to say in my defense!" the judge frowned, feeling especially anxious about this whole ordeal. It was undeniable the fact that this case was very straightforward. It was the case of a rather naive youthful individual who failed at performing at his job, a particularly dangerous job that is, and resulting in the deaths of others.
Honestly, there was nothing more to this than that. A lawyer on his side would have probably prolonged this process by trying to find some ways to justify his client's actions but, thankfully, that never happened and this case was really easy to end and put under the wraps.
Rentarō was guilty, that much was clear.
Judge: "Tendō Kisara-san" the judge suddenly addressed the person sitting next to Rentarō. "Do you have anything to add in your employee's defense? Right now, Tendō Civil Security is also being charged with improper etiquette during work and manslaughter. Is there anything you have to say in this case?" in response to that, Kisara rose from her seat as well and began speaking, with a firmer, calmer and more professional manner.
Kisara: "As a matter of fact, I do!" even though Rentarō had literally done everything in his power to confirm all the accusations against himself and her company, she was going to continue fighting. While she didn't plan on doing anything underhanded like lying to the judge, she at least wanted to explain things from her perspective as well and add at least some credibility to Rentarō's actions, even if he himself had no intention in doing so.
Kisara: "While Rentarō did act improperly during his work and made many mistakes during it, that much is irrefutable, I do want to say that, eventually, despite his ineptitude, he came back to his senses and began acting as a Promoter eventually!" she began explaining. "Even you admitted that, according to the witness reports from Yuzuki and Tamaki, he did begin to act and defended the life of a young woman who was also part of the medical team who had been sent there!".
Judge: "Yes, that is indeed true! Nakagami Tomoe, age 27, is among the people who suffered because of Rentarō's negligence! She barely escaped the initial attack of the Gastrea on the vehicle and, according to her own testimony, when the creature followed her and attempted to infect her as well, Satomi-san stopped it and saved her life in the nick of time. And despite her currently undertaking psychological conciliation, she wishes to express her gratitude towards Satomi-san's heroic actions. That is what we have received from her as testimony, anyway" despite everything that had been said before, apparently the judge was still willing to side with Rentarō when the evidence was indeed in his favor.
Judge: "While all of that is indeed true, and documented, the evidence against Satomi-san is still heavier than that in his favor. Tomoe-san even claimed that Satomi-san shot the creature a couple of times in order to kill it, clearly showing remorse for his past actions and trying to make up for them. Still, at the moment, I believe that if he had performed his duty properly and had not waited for an unreasonable amount of time, none of that would have had to happen in the first place!" he still didn't seem all that fazed by her arguments though. "But it is still something I will take into consideration when passing my final judgment!" and with that, the man leaned backwards in his seat, contemplating on what to do. He hated everything severely about that case. He truly felt sorry for the people being accused, particularly since they were so young and their actions were clearly due to their innocence. Still, he had a duty to perform and, ultimately, he could not allow himself to become emotionally invested and biased in any case. Such was his own duty for society, after all. He had to pass proper judgment on everyone involved.
Judge: "Well, due to the fact that, normally, a case like this that involves two entities being charged, specifically Rentarō Satomi, the physical individual, and Tendō Civil Security, the company, by the same people and with identical charges would be dealt with in two separate processes and trials, I will be breaking up this hearing in two separate sessions: the next one will occur at this same time in three days!" suddenly, everyone in the room began speaking to each other at this decision, especially the prosecutors who were furious with it.
Random prosecutor: "There is still plenty of time left for this hearing! There's no need to prolong this more than necessary! After all, there's more than an hour until the next trial will be held in this room! Please, let us finish this!" one of them pleaded to the older man to change his mind although he refused to listen.
Judge: "I have made my decision! Final judgment will be passed then! In the meantime, I'm implementing a ban on both Rentarō Satomi and Kisara Tendō from leaving Tokyo under any circumstances. Moreover, I will be temporarily suspending their license as a Security Service so that they will not be involved in any more Gastrea suppression activities until then!" he tried to appease the crowd, to make it seem at least professional, although with little effect. Ultimately, the prosecutors wanted the man punished, that much was obvious. They were not satisfied with leaving this unfinished, even for a mere couple of days.
Even so, he had made his decision. He personally felt like that trial was too one-sided and neither Rentarō nor Kisara really stood any chance against the prosecution. By allowing them these couple of days, he was effectively allowing them the time to rethink their strategy and actually buy a lawyer for the next hearing. Even if he probably couldn't do much anymore, by that point, it would have been at least some defense.
Judge: "Satomi-san" he began, wanting to express his own recommendation vocally this time. "If I may be so blunt, I highly recommend you do invest in a lawyer. Because, if things continue to go as they are now, you will be needing one!"
~Sumire's laboratory~
Rentarō: "And that's how it went. I can't really say I was that surprised by the outcome but….I was in no way prepared for the amount of dread that I endured there" the boy revealed, while making a really angry face in the process, which amused his partner in conversation.
Sumire: "Huh, well, to be honest I think you managed everything quite well, personally" she stated awfully calm. Sumire was very collected by her very nature, very rarely showing any emotion outside of just her natural bland and happy self, so this wasn't a surprise for Rentarō when she failed to share the same amount of stress that he was under then.
Rentarō: "You think so? I felt like the prosecution was staring at me like a bunch of eagles staring at their prey. Neither one of them felt like they had any remorse or sympathy for me!" the boy complained out loud, still feeling the pressure of the trial lingering on his shoulders.
Sumire: "That's natural. After all, the reason they're there to begin with is to accuse you of wrongdoings. They aren't there because they want to praise your saint-like actions" she went on a different tangent than he had planned for their conversation to take. "Sincerely, I think you did well. Trials are really stressful for a novice and it's very easy for someone to slip under the pressure and say something they don't mean and end up regretting it later. You'd be surprised how good a memory the judges have! They bring up things you said even a couple of trials before and use it against you!" the doctor noted, recalling distant memories which she had very little fondness for.
Rentarō: "You seem awfully experienced with these types of things. Care to share some stories?" despite his better judgment and instincts warning him against it, he asked that question out of curiosity.
Sumire: "Well, what can I say? I lived a very lively life!" the woman smiled devilishly at the young man who grimaced when noticing that. "I've been accused of many things, usually manslaughter, just like you!".
Rentarō: "For whatever reason, that doesn't surprise me…." he said more to himself than to her.
Sumire: "I've been in countless trials in my past. In some of them the odds felt very much against me, but I still pulled through!" she declared victoriously although her enthusiasm felt more cynical than innocent to Rentarō.
Rentarō: "Actually, you do look like the type of women who should be in jail by this age. I'm surprised you're allowed to be free..." despite the obviousness of that remark as being more negative in connotations than positive, Sumire actually interpreted it as a compliment in her own twisted ways.
Sumire: "There's no need for flattery, really! Believe it or not but I'm quite useful for society, and some people are aware of that! I don't know which politician I managed to impress with my genius but I never spent any day in prison! I'm sure some people pulled some strings behind the scenes to make such a thing possible. Either way, though, here I am!" again, the amount of happiness she was displaying was more frightening than charming to him.
Rentarō: "Knowing you, I'm surprised you weren't accused of actual murder, not just manslaughter!" he voiced his concerns internally while staring awkwardly at the scary woman in front of him.
Sumire: "But then again, I am also a bit surprised how they didn't throw you in jail right away. While I will praise you for maintaining your calm and composure during the trial, you barely did anything to defend yourself. Hell, from what you told me, I even think the judge himself was trying to throw you a couple of life lines! It's really sad that Kisara was the one who managed to save your ass. A man depending on a woman for defense is pretty pathetic, you know?" naturally she had to make that remark.
Rentarō: "I said all I believed had to be said. My intentions were innocent and that much came across at least. As for anything else, I'll let the judge decide that!" he tried to do his best in explaining himself.
Sumire: "Rentarō-kun, what do you think a trial is?" she suddenly made a serious face and surprised him with the sudden drop of a comedic edge from her voice.
Rentarō: "What….is that supposed to mean?" he asked taken aback by her.
Sumire: "You seem to be under the false impression that the judges can simply read your mind and acknowledge that you're not guilty just from that. That's not the case!" he didn't exactly know why, but she was branching off way more than regularly into her own branches of topics that day, probably due to the fact that this was a field she had some experience in so she felt confident in talking about things like that, probably. "A trial is just an official way of trying to extract the truth as reliably and accurately as possible, based on evidence and testimony. If you don't talk about what happened and try to expose all you know from your point of view, nobody is going to know what you know and they might make judgments that wouldn't make sense to you. I'm not saying you should lie to the judge or anything, but you should sell yourself and your innocence to the best of your ability. If they won't know the truth, they won't be able to justify any decision in your favor. And besides, that's how life generally works all the time: if you don't know how to sell something, whether it's your innocence or not, then nobody is going to buy it!" the boy sighed in response to how long this topic was dragging thanks to Sumire.
Rentarō: "Yes, I get it! Thank you for the lecture, sensei!" he tried to be as dismissive as possible to coerce her to finally drop this subject.
Sumire: "You're not really taking this as seriously as you should! After all, it was Kisara that convinced the judge to at least acknowledge in front of everyone that you did anything useful at all back there, not you! And even that was a partial lie, even though she doesn't know it!" the boy gulped when remembering that. "Just to be sure though, you haven't told her, have you?" the boy shook his head.
Rentarō: "I haven't. If I told her I'm almost convinced she would fire me on the spot" he contemplated sorrowfully.
Sumire: "(sighes) Well, I guess that's expected given your nature as a coward. Although I should be grateful for that since even I would probably end in jail if anyone besides us found out about it" this conversation was making both of them extremely anxious.
Rentarō: "If the judge knew about it, I'm sure things would have ended up much worse for me. After all, modifying the standard Promoter equipment handed over by the IISO is not only against IISO's own regulations, but is in itself illegal. I could even face the death sentence if it was discovered" he replied frightfully.
Sumire: "Well, there are good reasons for that. The judge actually believed that you tried to kill Enju when you shot at her, which is a good thing for you, obviously!"
Rentarō: "Yeah, despite being a medical professional, that woman who I was saving at the time didn't seem to notice. She was probably in shock and not paying particular attention to the details" he admitted while remembering that scene. "I deliberately shot Enju in non-vital organs to extend her life more than normal. Moreover, the bullets themselves were not normal Black Bullets, but they were modified by you to contain a lower than standard Varanium concentration in their composition" he remembered having made that specific request for such bullets from Sumire in the distant past, just for the occasion of Enju transforming.
Sumire: "I have to admit that when I heard your request to me to create such weakened bullets out of your own arsenal, I thought you finally grew a sense of humor and was just trying to make a shitty joke. I never thought you could ever actually ask for such a thing seriously" she amused herself a little, which displeased the boy even further.
Rentarō: "I've known for quite some time that Enju's erosion rate was already at almost 50%. I knew the day for her transformation was coming up and…..I considered the possibility of trying to fake killing her just so she could run away if I felt that she didn't deserve to die. Although, after all the events that happened, I'm beginning to regret my decision" he began to ponder. "It's because I knew her days were coming to an end that I also began to distance myself from her emotionally. I tried to become as impartial and cold to her as I could, just so I would make things easier for when the time of killing her came. I would be wary of her constantly and whenever I sensed that she might transform, I was with one hand on my gun. In the end….even she sensed it and in her last day, she reprimanded me for turning cold and emotionless towards her. She lost her trust in me just before she died" he regretfully recalled. His confession only made Sumire even more disappointed in him.
Sumire: "Pathetic…." came her own undiluted and raw thoughts out of her mouth. "You really are a pathetic man, you know that?" the boy didn't even know where that one came from so he just stared at her in bewilderment waiting for her to elaborate. "Instead of being honest with her and allowing her to consciously spend her last days the way she wanted to, you kept quiet about it, hiding her inevitable death from her, waiting for her to expire while you stood in the corner, scared that a little girl might turn into a monster and hurt you. You handled everything arguably in the worst ways possible! Frankly speaking, I can't really say I'm surprised Enju left you while crying, her fiance was a pathetic wimp scared of toddlers!" needless to say her comments weren't particularly helpful nor really welcome from the boy's point of view, who was almost on the verge of breaking because of the stress he had been subjected to during the trial.
Rentarō: "You know….you're not really helping" little did he realize that his dread was only fueling the woman's desire to continue to burn him.
Sumire: "It's not my fault! You're the one who came to me, of all people, for love advice!" for whatever reason, she was enjoying herself way more than she had any right to.
Rentarō: "I DIDN'T COME HERE FOR LOVE ADVICE!" to him, it felt like he was talking to a wall almost. Hell, a wall would have been better since it wouldn't talk back at least. "I came here for advice about trials!" he tried to clarify, bringing back the old subject.
Sumire: "Ah….right. If that's what you want advice for then here's my opinion: given the lack of self defense you exhibited during your trial, I can think of only one way to get out of this mess without going to jail, or worse!" the boy finally began to feel better when hearing that.
Rentarō: "And what's that?" again, despite his instincts warning him against asking the question, he still did it, much to Sumire's internal enjoyment.
Sumire: "Just go home and find the fullest bottle of bleach you have there. If you don't have enough, you can always go to the local store and buy a new bottle. Once that's done, drink as much as you can without vomiting it back out!" she began to take a morbid direction, unsurprisingly. "Do that, and if you won't die from the poisoning and liver and kidney failures afterwards, you can file for mental disability due to cerebral damage that you'll undeniably sustain and ask the court for a lesser punishment. Granted, you'll be spending the majority of your life in an asylum after that, forgotten by all your friends, but when you'll be in that state, that won't be much of a concern for you!" he knew it. He knew he shouldn't have bothered with talking with that woman. If anything, it was counterproductive to talk with her when he was stressed out, since her presence was only an additional source of anxiety.
Rentarō: "How lovely" was all he had to say back to her. He was fed up with everything. He needed to get out of that lab before the doctor's creepiness would rub on him. "I think I'm done, here. Either way, thank you! It was your bullets that saved her life while she was in Gastrea form. If I used actual unaltered Black Bullets, she would have been dead by now. Me and her owe you big time!" he became serious for a second, bowing to the strange woman in respect. She sighed in response.
Sumire: "Tsk, always ruining my fun moments with dull seriousness. It's because of that that you're so unpopular with women, you know" she then turned towards him, gaining as much of a serious face as him once again. "Sadly I can't help you as much as you probably want me to. This is a very special situation and the missing details is what's causing me to worry…." suddenly this conversation began to turn into a different direction.
Rentarō: "What do you mean?"
Sumire: "Rentarō-kun, didn't you realize until now that something strange happened to Enju when she turned into a Gastrea? Did such a thought never cross your mind?" she began to explain, finally imparting some real actually useful information with the boy.
Rentarō: "Not particularly. Why?" obviously he didn't get it, which prompted Sumire to sigh again.
Sumire: "Both pathetic and dense. I weep at your future, young man" she derided.
Rentarō: "Just spit it out already!" he was losing his patience with her.
Sumire: "Tell me, what determines the creature a Cursed Child turns into when their erosion rate reaches 50%?" the boy thought about it for a while before remembering the answer.
Rentarō: "The strain of the Gastrea virus they're infected with" he responded confidently. "While all forms of the virus have the same shape and protein coatings, their internal genetic material varies from strain to strain. All the different strains recorded until now borrow from the evolutionary advantages gained from other actual animal species on Earth and they give these advantages to the Gastrea they produce when infecting a human victim. The Cursed Children, who are both infected with the virus but are also still in some control of their original human form, can use these advantages in combat, despite not having turned into a Gastrea yet. It's because of that that they are used in fighting against the actual monsters" he reproduced what he had learned many years in the past during his Promoter training.
Sumire: "Yes, that is correct! There are different strains of the virus that determine the properties and superhuman abilities of those infected with them. And tell me, how do you know an Initiator's virus strain?" the boy still didn't figure out where the woman was knocking at so he still continued to follow her questions.
Rentarō: "By her model, of course! And Enju was a Model Rabbit, which meant that…...she…..should have turned into….." and when trailing off, he finally noticed it: the clue that Sumire was hinting at.
Sumire: "Finally figured it out, haven't you, smart guy?" she teased while the boy finally made a huge realization.
Rentarō: "Enju has always been a Model Rabbit, which meant that she should have turned into a giant rabbit monster when she transformed. Hell, her abilities were always concentrated in her legs which confirmed that" he stared off into nothingness when remembering everything.
Sumire: "Yes, and yet she didn't! She turned into a giant spider, instead!" that point, while seemingly small, became incredibly relevant all of a sudden as the boy began to process all of this information on his own.
Rentarō: "When she fought the original infection that happened during Valentine's Day, a Stage II Gastrea appeared at the end and attacked Enju. She made a mistake when fighting it and the creature assaulted her and injected her with its own virus. It was that event that pushed her erosion rate beyond 50%!" finally, things were starting to become clearer and clearer to him.
Sumire: "Yes! The point is that she turned into a monster that was not what her original strain was genetically designated for. To my knowledge, at least, such a thing has never happened before, so what we saw just then is probably the greatest discovery in Gastrea science since the emergence of the disease itself!" that was a pretty big thing to say, although, knowing her, she wasn't far off base.
The boy gulped, not even sure how to take all of this new stuff in. He was both frightened but also curious as to what Sumire had realized to actually call this 'the greatest discovery in Gastrea science'.
Rentarō: "What do you mean? What does all of this mean?" he became overly curious all of a sudden, his voice picking up and all of his earlier anxiety completely gone all of a sudden, which pleased the woman. She loved it when people would become like that whenever she had to say something intelligent. It made her life still feel like it was worth something, even though Rentarō was the only one who that still applied to.
Sumire: "To be entirely honest, I'm not exactly sure myself. Like I said, there are way too many variables at play here, which makes this a very difficult thing to accurately predict for. But, considering how Enju was later spotted on her school grounds in a reverted, semi-human state, which means that her transformation somehow became partially undone since the point she ran away from you, I hypothesize that her infection with the new virus subsided!" this came as a shock for the boy, who was still having trouble even believing everything that had happened so far.
Rentarō: "Subsided? That never happened before in a Gastrea infection, though! When the erosion rate of any human reaches 50%, the virus takes over their body entirely in a metamorphosis!"
Sumire: "Yes, that's when a single strain is being the only actor. However, Enju is a special case since, at the moment of her transformation, her body was infected with two different strains of the virus at the same time, both probably competing to take over the same organism. Nobody knows or even proposed how such a scenario would play out so there's literally no data out there to predict what happens in such situations!" despite the fact that Enju did eventually turn into a monster, this was still fascinating information for the both of them. "Did you not notice anything out of the ordinary when the virus took over her body?" she inquired from the boy who now was trying to think about all the odd things that had happened back then during his final moments with Enju.
Rentarō: "I...remember the Gastrea acting strange just before she ran away from me" he recalled, attracting great interest from the doctor.
Sumire: "Oh? How so?" she obviously tried to ask for more details while the boy was trying to remember almost repressed memories.
Rentarō: "I….remember her Gastrea form trembling a little, almost like she was cold after I managed to get a shot in! It also seemed like it became slower and clumsier in its movements afterwards. I couldn't really explain it, especially since it had moved so fast and precisely up until that point!" he explained, which made the woman realize another vital point that he had missed.
Sumire: "Huh, from what you're telling me, I'm inclined to believe that her acting abnormally was a consequence of you actually shooting her with those modified bullets!" that actually made sense to her. "Think about it! She acted normally throughout the entire fight while you were ignoring her and then finally, when you shot her, her body began to break down! It feels too much of a coincidence to me! The bullets were altered to be less effective at killing Gastrea but they still had enough Varanium in their concentration to repress the viral load in her body, enough to revert her back to her human form by the time she reached her school!" she was trailing off on her own, thinking about more and more explanations to Rentarō's story. "You mentioned her trembling. Did she have a fever before she transformed, by any chance?" to that the boy nodded. "I see. Now it makes sense…." the fact that she was only thinking everything and keeping to herself wasn't making the boy very happy though.
Rentarō: "What? What did you realize?" the silence was killing him.
Sumire: "There was this seminar held at a prestigious university in Berlin by a rather genius man under the name Albrecht Grünewald! The topic was basically around research about the immune response during an infected human's transformation into a Gastrea when their erosion rate exceeds the norm. The general idea was that, during the take over of one's body, his immune system reacts violently trying to stop the infection from modifying his anatomy. Basically, in order to actually transform a body, the virus has to reprogram the cells to synthesize new proteins, convert all excess energy from cellular respiration to biological fuel to change the size and shape of organs, and basically shape-shift the entire body. Having to do this much work, it's very easy for the immune system to go into overdrive and try to interrupt all of these complex processes. Because evolutionarily speaking, it doesn't make sense for the virus to only partially shape-shift an organism and have them barely even able to walk, it is genetically designed to first learn how to suppress this immune response before any actual changes to the body are performed. And, even then, the research done showed that the virus is still particularly vulnerable during this stage and all of the changes it makes are initially only temporary while the body tries to fight the sudden shifts in its basic programming. The study basically hypothesized that the moments when the virus tries to take over a victim's body is when it's most vulnerable to the immune response trying to destroy it, as it's then when it has to do the most work and invest the most energy. Technically speaking, that is the optimal moment to try to contain and cure the infection. It's because of that that just when the majority of humans suffer a Gastrea metamorphosis, their bodies fire up in a severe fever: it's the sign that the immune system is desperately trying to destroy the virus while it is in its most vulnerable state!" all of that medical mumbo-jumbo was all impressive and nice but it still didn't help Rentarō understand where she was going. "Although, this usually never happened before from what I heard. Was there also something you did out of the ordinary before or after she transformed to her?" the boy hesitated a bit when hearing this question. As a matter of fact, there was, although he was scared of admitting this since it could technically be used in court against him as well. But, given how both him and Sumire were now accomplices in crimes, he felt that he might as well be honest with her at that point and let her know of the full truth.
Rentarō: "I injected her with the corrosion anti-catalyst just when her body was being taken over by the virus!" he revealed. It was then when the final piece of the puzzle was brought to Sumire as she made a very sinister smile.
Sumire: "Oh, Rentarō, you know how all the scientists in this world always recommended against people doing such reckless things when a Cursed Child is being taken over, don't you? Scientists always advised against doing stuff like that since it's believed that it's already too late to save a Cursed Child when the transformation begins. Using the anti-corrosion injection during those final moments is considered not only pointless, but damaging since it could invite the development of a strain that's resistant to that medicine. And yet you did it anyways!" she responded amused.
Rentarō: "It was the best thing I could come up with at the moment! I was panicking by that point and did everything that seemed even remotely useful in saving Enju's life, regardless of legality!", despite the boy's own, self-admitted fault and ignorance, this was the last thing that the doctor needed to piece together what had truly happened.
Sumire: "And you mentioned how she was both injured by Tamaki and you soon afterwards, right?" the boy then recalled those memories to confirm.
Rentarō: "Yes, Tamaki cut off one of her hind legs with his Varanium razor blades. While the injury wasn't really fatal, the bits of metal left in her wounds significantly slowed down her leg's regeneration after that! And then I attacked her with my modified bullets! I picked those special bullets since, even then, I didn't feel ready to kill her, although shooting her in any vital organ would have still been enough to kill her. When I shot into her side, her body visibly began to weaken and act strangely. You're right that it was after that that things took a weird turn!" Sumire smiled when hearing that back at him.
Sumire: "That fits pretty well with my hypothesis! When injecting that amount of Varanium into her body, it's very likely that the virus began to stop replicating as fast, which allowed her white cells to gain a momentary advantage. It's in the same way that antibiotics, when used against bacterial infections, are taken in order to allow the immune system to regain some control over the overgrowing infection by killing some of the pathogens to aid it in getting a foothold back. Enju's body was easily taken over by the new strain because her immune cells have already been weakened over all her life by her existing virus residing inside of her. When this new one popped right out of nowhere, the white cells were completely unprepared for it and didn't know how to defend the organism against this new infection. That's why it took her years of suppressing her current disease but it also took only a couple of minutes for this new pathogen to completely take over her body!" the boy was eagerly listening to everything she was saying, registering every little word. "Still, when you repressed it with your bullets, after already being weakened by the antiviral medicine that you injected her with right during her transformation, this finally allowed the virus to be suppressed, just long enough for her body to adapt to it and fight back! Since the virus' changes were still temporary by this point, this suppression basically meant that her own body rewrote itself to its original human form in the process, at least partially. I believe that is why she lost her spider form so much by the time she met her colleagues at school!" Rentarō's eyes were finally lighting up with optimism, almost childish optimism by that point.
Rentarō: "Which basically means that there's a chance that she turned back into her human form!" he finalized Sumire's thoughts. "If her immune system was strong enough to force back this infection, that means she might still be alive somewhere, in her regular body!" this was probably the greatest news he could have ever heard.
Sumire: "Don't get your hopes too high up! Remember: it's just a hypothesis! I have no way of knowing if I'm right with this or not! Even more importantly, you won't be able to use this in court as evidence of doing something good, after all, since Enju was still in a mutated form when she was recorded when she was in the schoolyard. So people will be skeptical of this" she clarified trying to not see him get too worked up, since she didn't want to see the inevitable disappointment he would have to suffer from if she did end up being wrong. "You need better evidence if you want to escape jail, preferably recorded footage of her in her full human form!"
Rentarō: "I don't care much about the court" he suddenly replied while refusing to pay heed to her warning.
Sumire: "What?!" she asked, baffled.
Rentarō: "As I said, I don't care if I have to go to jail anymore. But if I can prove that she turned back to normal, I can at least call off the current efforts of trying to hunt her down and kill her from all the other Promoters and Initiators in this city!" his words didn't make much sense to her, especially since they were in stark contrast to his formerly depressed self, when he had been moping because of how unfair life seemed to him before discussing with her.
Sumire: "You're….a strange man, Rentarō!" was her only remark to that, which the boy discarded instantly. "Then again, there is one thing which might end up helping you and Enju a lot in your current situations!" she continued, regaining his attention.
Rentarō: "What?"
Sumire: "Assuming that my theory is accurate and Enju did manage to eventually fully turn back into her human self, that would be a strong indication that her immune response somehow managed to fight back the virus, most likely by using special antibodies to contain the viral particles in her blood. The human immune system is an adaptive one by nature, which means that it's very weak when encountering new threats, like how little it helped Enju when she was infected with the new virus, but, if it somehow survives the initial attack and gets to regenerate, it quickly builds defenses specific to that type of pathogen. This is what's known as building immunity against a specific disease!" something was oddly happy about her tone of voice, letting the boy know that whatever it was that she wanted to proceed with, she was going to convey some good news to him. Either that or make fun of him again, whichever was more likely.
Sumire: "If Enju managed to fight off the disease, it's very likely that her immune system built antibodies that can actually kill the virus from her system! Which pretty much makes her the very first living being to heal herself from the virus! And hell, even if her healing might be only temporary and she will eventually turn back into a Gastrea, studying her body and her blood now, while she's still human, if she's back to being a human that is, is imperative, as her new antibodies might be the key to developing a vaccine, or maybe even a cure to help all the Cursed Children of the world!" this was indeed something which could be considered ground-breaking. "If this is indeed the case, humanity might gain a very strong weapon in fighting back the Gastrea invasion! If we at least manage to prevent future infections, the creatures currently roaming the Earth will eventually die out due to old age, while we will persevere in our fortresses, patiently waiting them out to expire, if we can at least prevent future infections from happening!" truthfully, this felt like the very first time when Sumire had ever actually sounded optimistic about anything. Since the unfortunate death of her loved one, she had become quite nihilistic and took on a very dark perspective of life. To be able to be this happy, once again, for her at least, felt rejuvenating, even to Rentarō who was merely a witness.
Sumire: "Rentarō-kun, we need to locate Enju to confirm this! Even if I'm completely off-base, it's still worth investigating! We need to find her before she might transform again, probably permanently this time!" the boy nodded in full agreement.
Rentarō: "I was already going to do that, even if you haven't told me all of this! As long as there's even the smallest chance that she reverted back to her human self, I want to find her! I want to help her get through her problems and be there for her! I want….to make up for how I treated her before she….changed" he replied, with more determination in his voice than ever before.
Rentarō: "But, if she really did turn back to her human self, how come she never came back to me? I haven't seen her come back home since that incident happened!" he began wondering out loud, considering many different ideas.
Sumire: "I think it has something to do with the fact that she doesn't want to come back to you!" the boy then looked back at the woman, glaring.
Rentarō: "Even if Enju is a child, she isn't that juvenile! Even if we had a quarrel back at home, she would return to me if things turned out so horribly! I'm one of the people who she trusts the most!" despite his belief, the woman shook her head in disappointment again.
Sumire: "You really don't get it, do you?" came Sumire's exasperated reply. "It's because she cares so much for you that she doesn't want to be near you, after this mess. Honestly, from her point of view, I'm sure you're currently the person she least wants to meet now!" this only made the boy even more confused.
Rentarō: "I don't get it…." he densely lost her train of thought.
Sumire: "Picture this: you're a small child, living a normal life, with your parents, enjoying your youth and doing all the fun stuff that children do! Now, imagine how, one day, you suddenly turn into a monster and eat the head off of one of your best friends before turning back human! Do you want your parents to find you, with blood all over your body? Would you go near them ever again, despite the fact that you might turn back into that monster at any point? How will they react? Will they hurt you? Will they accept you, or push you away, like all your other friends did after seeing you like that? Even if they wouldn't, would you trust yourself to not lose control again and hurt them too? Would you be able to deal with your life if you inadvertently killed them too?" now the boy finally got where she was going. "She cares too much for you to risk your life, one of the only people she ever got to love, just so she could selfishly hug you and cry in your arms! Given her age, I think she's capable already of assessing risk/rewards to realize how such a thing would be detrimental to the safety of the person she loves the most!" Rentarō could only simulate such thoughts, actually realizing that they felt very genuine and in-line with how he imagined Enju usually thinks like. "If I was her age and in the same position, I probably would have done the same!" the boy didn't want to hear that. Everything she was saying felt eerily accurate, almost like she already knew the truth somehow and was simply telling him what was going on with 100% confidence.
It was because of her genius that Rentarō relied on her so much, after all.
Rentarō: "But I…..I want her to rely on me! Doesn't she know that I'm OK with risking my life for her? Haven't I proven that so many times in the past already?!" he said between gritted teeth, acknowledging that Sumire's assessments were probably correct, even though he wanted them so much to not be.
Sumire: "Love is a very nasty thing, especially to naive children! It makes them do many foolish things that are illogical! Hell, I myself realized how foolish I was when I partook in the same feelings back when I was younger. Now, I'm grateful to be as lonely as I am, because, if nothing else, I can at least calmly enjoy watching other stupid people do stupid things from a spectator's perspective!" she sadistically conveyed. "You'd be surprised to see how entertaining it is to watch other people's ignorance at play! It's a magnificent thing, indeed! That's why I enjoy hanging out with you this much, after all!" she smiled lovingly to the teenager, making him want to punch her in the face.
Rentarō: "I hate you…." he really felt like he meant those words this time, feeling the frustration boiling inside him finally reach its maximum pressure.
Sumire: "I love you too, Rentarō-kun!" despite this very awkward and disjointed conversation, the boy now knew what he had to do. He realized the current situation and he was now at the point where planning was to be done. He had to think a strategy and plan his next course of action.
Thankfully, his phone began ringing, cutting him from his thoughts rather quickly. He pulled it out and answered.
Rentarō: "Yes? This is Rentarō Satomi speaking!" he tried to sound as normal and calm as ever, despite having been rubbed the wrong way by Sumire.
Random adult: "Yes, Rentarō-san? Good evening! My name is Naoto Takamitsu and I'm the current owner in charge with IISO Initiator training facility number 4 in Tokyo! I'm calling you because we believe your Initiator, namely, Enju Aihara, had broken into our facility last night!" the man on the other side calmly and professionally informed him, although the content of the information still nearly gave the boy a heart attack.
Rentarō: "NANI?!"
Author's note: in Japan, serious trials are usually accompanied by juries nowadays, although, due to how much this would have complicated the story of the current chapter, I omitted this minor detail. For lore's sake, it's best to consider that after The Great Gastrea War, Japan reverted to a jury-less justice system where the judge is the sole decision-maker when it comes to trials. I am by no means an expert in either Japanese law nor in medicine, so please excuse any inconsistencies in this story!