~Initiator training facility~
At the training facility, both of the two teenagers were walking through the corridors, looking around and trying to absorb as much information as they could visually from the surrounding environment, while they were being led down a hallway by an older, military-clothed man, who was trying to maintain a conversation with them.
That place gave Rentarō a particularly nauseating feeling, specifically because he remembered having walked down those halls in the past, just before he received Enju as his partner. The memories of having been there were not particularly pleasant.
He still felt that same dreadful sensation that he had felt two years ago. The memories were now returning to his head as he could recall how unpleasant an atmosphere that place had. He couldn't even imagine how it must have felt for all those children to live there in that toxic environment.
Rentarō: "This brings back memories" he casually stated, bringing the attention of the people around him onto himself.
Kisara: "Pleasant memories?" the girl next to him inquired, realizing how he must have referred to the time when he had come there to pick up his new Initiator.
Rentarō: "Not really" he nonchalantly revealed, despite their company. The older man glanced back at him with a small smile on his face once he heard that, almost amused.
Naoto: "Didn't enjoy meeting your companion here, Satomi-san?" for whatever reason, his entertained voice felt very off-putting for the boy, who simply remained confused and bit bewildered at his unexpected reaction.
Rentarō: "No, I can't say I enjoyed it" the boy, not feeling very comfortable talking about that subject, tried to end this topic as quickly as he could. The man did not cease, though, and insisted.
Naoto: "Was it our little establishment that made you feel uncomfortable? Or was your meeting with your Initiator the reason you didn't enjoy your little visit to us?" again, the boy felt unnaturally wary when discussing this with the man, seeing how he was a very high ranking official working there.
Rentarō: "Both" and once again the teenage boy tried to kill this conversation as early as possible since he didn't feel comfortable elaborating. Taking the hint, the man let go, but not without making one final remark.
Naoto: "Huh, if I ever had a nickle for every time I heard that from a Promoter who comes here…." even Kisara felt a very unpleasant feeling in her stomach when hearing that. As she never had to go through the official route to become a Promoter, she never had the opportunity to understand what Rentarō had gone through when he first visited that place. Even so, she didn't feel like questioning him, since clearly the boy didn't seem like he enjoyed the subject a lot.
Kisara: "So, what you're saying is that you believe Enju Aihara somehow infiltrated your facility yesterday?" instead, she chose a different, more relevant topic to discuss at that point.
The man then proceeded to provide details pertaining to the subject at hand.
Naoto: "Yes, we have reason to believe that she broke into our facility yesterday in order to enter our computers and database to gain access to specific pieces of information" this confused the two teenagers there.
Rentarō: "How did you know it was Enju? Did she….uh….look normal enough for you guys to recognize her?" he asked, remembering full well how Enju's appearance had changed a lot in the past couple of days. He didn't really want to fully say that she looked like a monster though.
Naoto: "We have video footage of her breaking into this place. While she seemed to have lost her hair and her skin was unnaturally pale, we did identify her quite quickly. Though that was mostly because we were also listening to a news broadcast in the background while we were searching for information and we saw a report there about an Initiator having transformed into a Gastrea and escaping. It was then when we put the pieces together!" this immediately caused both the boy and girl to stop fully in their tracks, astonished and in pure shock at this revelation. None of them said anything for a good ten seconds, only staring at the man like he had spouted something truly outrageous.
Rentarō: "She…..was human?!" was the boy's natural overreaction to this. He couldn't believe his ears and despite the man's attire and profession, he still mentally questioned the legitimacy of his claim. "Are you certain of this?!" even though Sumire had theorized that such a thing was indeed possible only mere hours before, he still found it an incredible finding.
Naoto: "If you don't believe me, you can just check the footage for yourselves. Truthfully though, your shock is just as understandable. We were all just as skeptical as you guys are now before we called you" and with that the discussion then proceeded naturally for the most part until they reached a room that had a computer in it.
In there, another couple of men were working on it, reviewing the same aforementioned footage. After the regular military greetings, the older man then invited the two Promoters to look at the screen and see for themselves the evidence.
And, needless to say, even they were left very surprised by what they were seeing.
Kisara: "What….the hell?" she didn't have any specific words to say in those circumstances. That was the best vocal compression of the feelings she was having then.
Rentarō: "So….Sumire-sensei was right after all" he casually noted, not realizing that he suddenly dropped a bomb on everyone there when they heard that.
Kisara: "What? What do you mean by that?! You knew about this?!" it was when she reacted in that way that the boy realized what he had done, although there was really no point in hiding that information from her anyway. He hadn't told her about his and Sumire's discussion and their theory since he didn't want to get her hopes up, especially since they both considered such a hypothesis outrageously improbable. But now, now that proof was right in front of his eyes, the boy now had to reconsider the plausibility of that consideration. Maybe….just maybe…..it was now feasible to regard this as a possible and maybe even likely outcome.
Rentarō: "I talked with Sumire-sensei just before arriving here today. She came up with this theory that Enju somehow reverted back to her human self due to….some circumstances. She used the footage of Enju's semi-reverted state that we had received from the principal at her school as evidence for that. I didn't bother telling you about this since neither me nor her felt like any of that was really credible and we didn't really have solid proof. I guess that now we do have proof, though" this brought up the girl's spirits a lot. Her eyes lit up almost immediately when receiving this information as all the depression she had felt this recent period was suddenly replaced with hopeful optimism.
Kisara: "AND YOU DIDN'T CONSIDER AT LEAST INFORMING ME OF THE POSSIBILITY?! DON'T YOU THINK THAT'S A BIT UNFAIR?! AND WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, ANYWAY?! Is there something you didn't reveal to the court, Rentarō?" naturally she was amazed and a bit angry at the man. There was no way she couldn't be since she felt that she had been left out until that point from a very important talk that, she believed, she was entitled to.
Rentarō: "It's…..complicated. We'll talk more when we get back to your office!" he knew he was going to receive some scolding on the way there once they would be finished with their talk with the general, but he didn't mind that much. After all, now he had actual evidence in support of his and Sumire's theory. This meant that there was a small chance that maybe, just maybe, the girl was still alive somewhere. That little glimmer of hope was all he needed.
Naoto: "Actually, Satomi-san, I would prefer it if you talked about this right here, right now. Since, from my many years in service, I have never heard of such a thing as a Gastrea reverting back to its original human form up until now. I'm pretty sure this theory would be especially interesting to many people. If not to us working for the IISO and military, then at least to many scientists working on a cure for the virus. You owe humanity at least some explanations!" the boy gulped when hearing that. Then again, it wasn't like it was anything bad or incriminating against him so he didn't feel like he had any real reason not to comply.
Rentarō: "It's a bit sketchy, to say the least. But we have reason to believe that Enju somehow acquired immunity against the Gastrea virus during her transformation. This immunity is what allowed her to turn back, at least for some time" obviously this came like a huge revelation for everyone there. There was no way they were going to overlook such a thing. "To be entirely honest, I didn't know if this was going to be true, especially after sensei herself stated how she didn't believe that there was enough credible evidence to be used in court, not to mention enough to call back the hunt going on in the city to track down and dispose of Enju. But I guess this recorded footage should be enough now. This should be enough to convince everyone that she's normal again. If nothing else, that means that they won't try to kill her on sight anymore!" he cheerfully realized.
Kisara: "Not only that but if you contributed to this, you could maybe even use this at your next hearing in the courtroom to get out of this legal mess! If people will hear that you actually helped with the creation of a Gastrea vaccine, or at least a possible starting point for a vaccine, I'm sure the judge and many more will be able to forgive you for your crimes" that felt very much like wishful thinking but, then again, the boy didn't feel that invested about that anymore.
Rentarō: "I don't care about that. I just need to find Enju first. Whatever comes after that is secondary right now!" for whatever reason Kisara wasn't surprised that he had said that. He now felt like he had the energy and reason to pursue his search for Enju. Even if things were to turn out to be not so bright after all, he felt like it was his duty now to follow this lead to the best of his abilities. "More importantly, though, I'll try to answer as many questions as I can when all of this is over. For now, though, I need to focus on locating her!" obviously that was not going to be as easy as that. He still had almost no clues as to her whereabouts. "Do you have any idea where she could have ran off to?" he questioned the man in front of them, who simply shook his head in response.
Naoto: "To be clear, I was hoping you could provide us with that information. We obviously want to find her and make her pay for the infraction of breaking in here and possibly contributing to the killing a couple of soldiers. If we had any clue about where she was, we wouldn't have called you here in the first place!" immediately when hearing that, both of their hairs rose up. That didn't sound like good news to them.
Kisara: "You mean to tell us that Enju actually killed soldiers working here? Are you certain of this?" that didn't sound like something Enju would do, at least not willingly, to her.
Naoto: "We still aren't sure of that yet. It's more likely that another Cursed Child which lived here until yesterday, namely Mizuki Natsumushi, was the one responsible for that, although we cannot say for certain since the cameras were off when the killings took place, due to a power outage that was caused by her. We also believe that she escaped with Enju's aid. More footage seems to confirm this" Rentarō gulped when hearing that.
Rentarō: "This Mizuki was also an Initiator?" the boy asked, obviously concerned about Enju's safety.
Naoto: "She was disqualified from participating in the Initiator Program due to bad behavior multiple times in the past. She wasn't really cooperative by nature and was very unstable, reason why we never felt comfortable to release her into the public, despite her formidable abilities. It's very likely that she saw Enju's intrusion as an opportunity for her to escape and took it without any second thoughts"
Rentarō: "She was too unstable and yet an Initiator who attacks her own Promoter at their first meeting was acceptable, to you people?" he mentally asked sarcastically, feeling very disheartened.
The operators then switched to a different application on the computer, revealing Mizuki's profile, including a picture of her to everyone there.
Kisara: "Do you think she threatened Enju and forced her to help?" came another concerned voice.
Naoto: "Not really. From the available footage at our disposition, we concluded that the two cooperated well with each other. Neither of them felt hostile to the other. It's very probable that Enju's safe" that was a calming revelation. Despite their concerns, the two teenagers breathed out a sigh of relief when hearing that.
Rentarō: "That's good to hear. But we don't have much time! We should try to see if we can figure out where they went!" he tried to bring the discussion onto the correct focus again. "What exactly did Enju do here? You mentioned that she tried to access your database? What for?" he continued to question.
Naoto: "Well, from what we saw, we believe Enju accessed her own profile from our database. From what we can tell, that's the only thing she bothered looking at. We're not exactly sure what information about herself she wanted to know. We don't know what intentions she has" this proved very problematic.
Kisara: "Her own profile? What information could she have wanted to access? And why?" the girl only vocalized exactly what Rentarō was already wondering to himself. "Do you have any idea what she's probably doing right now, Rentarō?" sadly, the boy couldn't really help much since he was just as clueless as she was.
Rentarō: "I have no idea what Enju is doing" came his honest answer.
~Random apartment complex in Tokyo~
Mirai finally arrived at her destination. She felt very tired, especially after having traveled that far into the city. She never felt comfortable walking around deep into that metropolis, particularly because of the hostility she had always felt from the people living there towards Cursed Children. She was always very wary of anyone giving her strange looks and she avoided dark alleys as much as possible.
Now, she was there in front of the door to the apartment that she had meant to visit. Summoning the courage inside herself to do what she intended to do, she knocked on the door lightly and timidly.
She then waited for a couple of seconds to see if anyone would respond. After waiting there for an entire minute, she threw a worried glance to her companion, who simply rose his shoulders, signaling her that he didn't know what to do either.
Acknowledging this, the girl then knocked on the door once again, this time with a little more force. Again, almost no response came from the other side, although, for just a few seconds, some almost imperceptible sounds could be heard from within the apartment, the creaking sounds of old wooden floors when someone applied too much pressure in the wrong spots.
This meant that someone was home and they simply didn't want to answer the door. Obviously this annoyed the girl a lot.
Angered, she began knocking again, this time with a lot of determination, hitting the wooden door so hardly, you would believe she tried to annoy the owners this time with how loud it was.
Finally, one of the people on the other side, realizing he had given himself away because of the creaking floor, gave up and decided to answer the pesky visitor. He approached the entrance to his house slowly, placing his right eye against the peephole to see who it was that decided to disturb his normally peaceful life.
He saw no one on the other end, mainly because the girl outside was so short that she was not visible through it. Annoyed, the man then finally pulled the door open to see if he had been the victim of a less than pleasant prank or not.
Upon opening it, he was immediately greeted with the image of a child standing in front of him with an impatient expression on her face, indicating how furious she was because of how long it took him to have answered her.
The girl was clearly small, about ten years old to him, and also wearing very cheap clothing. When noticing this, he quickly glanced at her eyes, to confirm their bright red color. She was indeed a Cursed Child and, judging from her attire, most likely one of those that wandered around the city begging for money. Needless to say he wasn't particularly happy to see that.
Mirai: "Good evening, sir. I'm here to-…." but she was rudely interrupted before she could say another word.
Man: "Don't bother! I have no money for you! Now please leave! I don't wanna see your face here again!" he then tried closing the door quite nonchalantly in her face to cut that discussion short. The girl quickly slammed her hands against the door before he could fully close it, in an attempt to stop him from exiting their conversation.
Mirai: "I'm not here to beg! I just want to talk to you about someone!" she exclaimed quickly. The man was very displeased at her action, feeling even more annoyed than before with her. Clearly this young woman wasn't going to leave him alone very easily. She was very persistent.
Man: "Talk to me? I don't even know you! Why should I help you with anything?" he still maintained an aggressive stance towards her, hoping that if he were to shun her, maybe she would eventually relent and let him leave. He could also force the door closed but he didn't want to end up in a muscle match against her. Even if she was a child and seemed to have a very fragile constitution, she still was undoubtedly a Cursed Child. He didn't want to force her to start using her inhuman powers against him.
Seeing his lack of cooperation, the older man hiding from view and close to Mirai decided to finally intervene, since he didn't see this going in the direction he had wished it would go.
Matsuzaki: "Pardon for the intrusion, dear sir! We are not here to take too much time away from you! We are just some people who are trying to help out someone in need by asking others for information! I know this might be very unpleasant for you but, please, can you spare us a moment?" this came as a complete surprise.
In Tokyo, Cursed Children are usually avoided like the plague because they almost always invite misfortune and violence, mainly because of the discrimination against them by society.
Seeing this old man assisting one felt very unnatural to the one whose apartment had been disturbed. Why would he try to help her? Doesn't he know any better than to affiliate himself with such a burden?
After Matsuzaki butting into the conversation, the other man seemed to calm down a bit and let go of his dismissive demeanor towards the girl. He stopped pushing the door in an attempt to close it and pulled it a bit more to open it further to take in a better view of this other guest as well.
Man: "(frowning) What is it that you guys want?" still being awfully suspicious of the duo, he didn't budge from the door, nor did he invite them in. He simply stood there, sternly looking at them and scanning them for anything unusual. He was going to allow Matsuzaki to talk but only that. He wasn't going to trust them just yet.
Matsuzaki: "We want information about a man named Gotō Aihara. We believe he lives at this address. His….daughter wants to see him" he got to the point very quickly, not wanting to waste the man's patience any further.
However, the person who they were questioning simply raised his eyebrow when hearing that name, indicating how clueless he was.
Man: "Gotō Aihara? I don't know anyone by that name! Are you sure this is the correct address?" this was something neither of them wanted to hear. Could it be that Enju's information was actually wrong? Maybe the IISO database had been tampered with, or maybe it had never been correct to begin with.
The two looked at each other, clear worry in their eyes. This was the only lead that they and Enju had. If this was a dead end, they wouldn't know where to go from there.
Matsuzaki: "We are pretty sure this is the correct address, yes. I don't really have a picture of him or anything. All we know is that he has a daughter. That's the most we know" sadly that didn't help the man much. He began scanning through his memory, trying to think of anyone he could remember having that name but nothing came up to him.
Man: "That's not really helpful. I know many people who are parents! But I don't know anyone with the name Aihara. You probably got the wrong apartment!" that wasn't the case. Matsuzaki had double checked the address with Enju before they left, as well as when they arrived. He was 100% sure he was not mistaken. That was the correct apartment. Which meant that either this man was lying or the address Enju had given them was bogus.
Matsuzaki: "I'm sorry but I can't help you!" he stated. He truly believed he had helped them to the best of his abilities.
When seeing that Matsuzaki had given up on hope and seemed to resign himself to this, he wished them a good evening and began closing the door again. He had already given them more of his time than he should have.
But, just when he was about to fully shut it, a foot came between the door and its frame, preventing him from closing it again. It was the same person who stopped him as before.
Mirai: "Please, his daughter is really worried! She might die any moment now! Please….help us!" for whatever reason, the girl began acting very emotional. She really did consider Enju to be her friend and, as such, she wanted to help her friend out in her time of need.
The man glared at her for doing this. He felt more than annoyed now. He was on the verge of literally slamming the door against her foot and have her pull it back by herself if she continued like that.
Still, when looking directly in her eyes again, those desperate pitiful and cursed eyes of hers, he finally could find some sympathy in his soul for her. She had bags under her eyes, indicating a lack of sleep, probably because of the lack of proper conditions that she was living under. Her face was pale and her cheekbones were almost visible, probably from malnutrition. She looked very anxious, almost desperate.
Seeing a little girl like that, even if he considered her a monster in disguise, made him feel a primordial sense of pity for her. He didn't want to help someone like her since he personally hated Cursed Children, but he could still find in himself the humanity to acknowledge her misfortune and feel bad for her.
His heart aching, he conceded and opened the door again to them.
Man: "Forgive me, please! I don't want to be rude! But I simply cannot help you! I really don't know anyone by that name! And I've been living at this address since I moved in here with my wife seven years ago and I have never once heard of that name! Not even a neighbor uttering it" he tried to appear as convincing to them as possible. He really knew no one called Aihara.
Matsuzaki: "Seven years ago, you say?" suddenly an idea popped up in Matsuzaki's head. "And who was the owner of this apartment back then?" he inquired out of the blue.
The man froze for a moment then, realizing what Matsuzaki must have hypothesized.
Man: "I can't remember his name….but I'm pretty sure it wasn't Aihara. That name doesn't ring any bell for me" he revealed. "Either way, he was a lonely man. I don't think he was married since he lived by himself here. He was, I think, in his very early thirties. Late twenties, early thirties or somewhere along those lines. He….didn't seem like the social type, nor was he particularly friendly to us when we first met him. He had the bare minimum of professionalism to sell us this apartment" since this was the only lead they had at that point, Matsuzaki decided to follow it and see where it would take him. Given the age range of the person this man was talking about, it at the very least felt plausible for him to be Enju's father.
Man: "Me and my wife wanted to move deeper into Tokyo after we married, particularly because of the Gastrea roaming outside the city. We wanted to buy our own house instead of renting a place but we didn't have enough money to get exactly what we wanted. We wanted something bigger than a one-room apartment since we considered starting a family. But that was just too expensive for us! And then…..he came along and made us an offer!" both Mirai and Matsuzaki were closely following the story, trying to pay attention to the details as well. "This apartment that he was offering at the time was a mess, much like him. It didn't seem like he liked cleaning. But it had three bedrooms and it was close to the center of Tokyo, away from any monsters, and he was also offering it at an incredibly low price, cheap enough even for us to afford it. He offered us this deal in exchange for us giving him the ownership of my grandfather's property" that sounded like a particularly useful piece of information.
Man: "Before that, I tried selling that place myself after my grandfather died but nobody would buy it because it was outside the city, barely under the influence of the Monoliths. The house was small and about sixty kilometers away to the west of here, in the Kanagawa Prefecture, at the foot of Mount Jinba. That entire area had also been mostly abandoned because of how far away from the city it was since the end of the Great Gastrea War so I don't know what he could have used it for. He told me he was going to move there once we buy his apartment, but I kinda doubt that. You could even hear strange noises from the forest in the background from my grandfather's house, probably because of the Gastrea living in that wilderness. Nobody in all their right mind would ever move there, or so I thought anyway. I wasn't going to question his motives if he was willing to sell us his place so cheaply in exchange for it so I just accepted the deal without questioning him. Once we signed the buy/sell contracts and I handed him the keys to the place, he disappeared and we never heard from him again. I just assumed he really was crazy and actually moved there" that didn't bode well for them. That was a little too much detail but it did give Matsuzaki and Mirai sufficient information to continue pursuing this lead.
In fact, this was more than enough to continue on searching for that strange man. Even if it was a false lead, it was an interesting one.
Matsuzaki: "Can you give us the exact location on a map, please? That would be quite helpful for us!" despite the man's previous comments about the place, it seemed like these people were also suicidal enough to go there. The young man simply stood there, dumbfounded, not really sure what to say to that since he had never thought anyone would pursue that insane bastard. Clearly he had been wrong though.
~Tendō Civil Security office~
Rentarō: "Huh…..I wasn't really expecting this" the boy remarked in contempt. To some extent, he wasn't displeased with this evolution that much but it was a very awkward encounter to say the least. Even Kisara, standing right beside him could agree.
Tamaki: "Yo" came the very casual greeting from the blond man sitting in a chair in the office. In a seat next to him was Yuzuki as well, patiently sitting there and not even bothering to welcome their new guests. Rentarō and Kisara had barely just returned to their office from the Initiator training facility, only to find those two there waiting for them.
Kisara: "I…..never thought you two even knew about this place" the girl commented with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
Tamaki: "Well, it's not like the offices of Security services aren't public information. We just had to look it up on the internet and it was very easy to find your office. Although I do admit I was a bit surprised when I found the door unlocked when both of you were gone. That's pretty careless, you know!" Kisara rolled her eyes at that remark. To some extent, Rentarō agreed with Tamaki on that one, even if he wouldn't admit it. Kisara was usually reckless when it came to those sorts of things.
Kisara: "Why are you here? Just to make our lives even harder on us?" she tried to divert the conversation into a more focused and relevant topic.
Tamaki: "Hey, don't be so cold! It wasn't like we had any choice in the matter: when police compel you to testify, you have to testify and report everything you know! I really have nothing against you or Rentarō but neither me, nor Yuzuki are willing to risk going to jail by making stuff up during a trial to make Rentarō look innocent. At the end of the day, we revealed only the truth and while we did try to pretty things up as much as we could, there was only so much we could distort the facts without ending up lying!" they were right, even Rentarō knew that. There was no way he could have asked them to lie about what had happened back then. After all, even he had to admit that he had acted unprofessionally and recklessly. If anything, he would have felt insulted if he had been helped in those underhanded ways.
Rentarō: "It's alright! I can't blame you! My faults are my own and I need to pay for them! When all's said and done, I am the one who was responsible for all that happened back then" he admitted while lowing his head in embarrassment.
Yuzuki: "Damn straight you are!" suddenly the small child in the room began speaking as well, hijacking this conversation. "Honestly, if I were the judge I would have sentenced you to life imprisonment for what you did!" naturally, that statement came as a rather jarring surprise to both Rentarō and Kisara.
Kisara: "Hey now, don't you think you're being a little bit too cruel to Rentarō? He only did what he thought was the right thing to do at that time!" as her employer, Kisara felt like she had the obligation of defending the man, especially since he seemed so awful at defending himself.
Yuzuki: "Yeah…..and in the process two innocent victims died and a new Gastrea is hiding somewhere in this city, waiting to infect unsuspecting victims! I'm sure Enju would have loved to hear what happened to her corpse if she was still alive, right now" the sarcasm she was using was so sharp, it could have cut through glass if it had physical form.
Kisara: "That might not be necessarily the case anymore! We think that Enju might still be alive, somewhere! It's possible that her body reverted back to its human shape!" she tried to use whatever excuse she could come up with on the spot, although that didn't work.
Yuzuki: "Even if that's true, that's not the problem here!" she denied all of those counterarguments instantly. "The point is that he acted irresponsibly back then! It wasn't just because he was tired or just shocked! It was because he never had the intention of killing her to begin with!" she hit the nail pointblank on its head. Kisara wanted to refute that claim but when she took a look at her partner, she saw his determined and serious look on his face, something which prompted her to stop and allow him to take the spotlight.
Rentarō: "Don't just go assuming what others wanted to do! Believe it or not I wanted to end her life too! I really wanted to do it and I was just millimeters away from pulling the trigger and stopping her!" this was a stupid conversation to have, at least from his perspective, since neither him nor Yuzuki had anything to earn from partaking in it. It was just an argument about things that had once happened, and not even a constructive one.
Yuzuki: "Bullshit!" she instantly provoked, with not even a little bit of remorse in her voice. "Don't give me that crap! You couldn't even fight her for a good couple of minutes after she transformed! We had to do all the tough work ourselves! How fucking stupid do you think we are?!" both Tamaki and Kisara looked at each other, worriedly, neither knowing if to step in and prematurely end those other two's argument before it got any worse or just wait it out and have them sort things out for themselves.
Rentarō: "But I did end up fighting her, didn't I? And at the end I was almost prepared to deal the finishing blow!" again, he tried to find whatever means he could at defending himself.
Yuzuki: "Oh really…." she replied unimpressed. "Well, neither me nor my brother were there to see that since all we did catch a glimpse of was you running after it into the distance by yourself. What happened after that we don't really know!" she went a little bit too far with that one, since she was now literally calling the boy a liar. Rentarō felt offended by that, especially since there was testimony from the nurse that he had saved back then that clearly backed up his claims, yet that child was dismissing that without any real reason. That pissed him off.
Rentarō: "Regardless of what you say…..I did what I did" he tried to finish their pointless back and forth since he realized that she wasn't really reasonable, just emotion driven. He felt like there was literally nothing worth gaining in trying to win in an argument with her. "Even if you'll never be able to comprehend it, I did it because I actually cared for Enju! I didn-…." but that was it. That sentence was enough to trigger the girl even more so than before.
Yuzuki: "There you go again with that shitty argument! Who the hell do you think you are for deciding what's better for her when she's literally losing control of her own body?!" he hit a particularly sensitive nerve at that point. The girl was now very furious when she heard him trying to use that same excuse again. Hearing him make that argument felt very unforgivable to her. "Just because you say you love her doesn't mean you do! If you really loved her you would have granted her her wish! Not allow her to turn into a monster and endanger us like that!". Now that things were becoming more heated, Rentarō also began to escalate everything since he was feeling rage build up from within him because of her comments.
Rentarō: "DON'T JUST ASSUME YOU KNOW WHAT'S BETWEEN ME AND ENJU!" he finally snapped, his face reddening because of the blood rushing through his body. "YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT US! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I WENT THROUGH WHEN I WAS THERE BY HER SIDE, SEEING HER TREMBLING IN FEAR AND CRYING! JUST BECAUSE WHAT I DID WASN'T THE MOST MERCIFUL THING TO DO TO HER, DOESN'T MEAN IT WAS SOMETHING I WANTED TO DO!" he replied with venom in his voice. He glared at the girl, with a lot of hate and bitterness in his glare, so much, in fact, that it was sufficient to prompt Tamaki to finally try to ease things up.
Yuzuki: "WELL, GOOD JOB! I'M SURE SHE REALLY FUCKING APPRECIATES HOW MUCH YOU 'CARE' FOR HER! IN FACT, I'M SURE SHE WOULD HUG YOU AND FILL YOU WITH KISSES RIGHT NOW FOR LETTING HER DIE IN THE MOST PAINFUL WAY POSSIBLE, YOU INSENSITIVE ASSHO-…."
Tamaki: "That's enough, Yuzuki! Stop it!" the boy interrupted the duo, feeling that this was getting out of hand. He had no intention of taking any sides, really, despite being the girl's brother. He just wanted to stop this meaningless bickering between his friends.
The girl, seeing him stop her, immediately assumed he was going to go against her, though, and began arguing with him as well.
Yuzuki: "Why should I?! It's his fault that all of this is happening! Don't you think I'm the one who's in the right here?! If anything, it's him that you should be yelling at!" again, the girl tried to defend herself and make her brother join forces with her in this argument. He would not do so, though.
Tamaki: "Just because he didn't necessarily do the best thing he could have done to Enju doesn't mean he hated her! Us, Promoters, get emotional too, sometimes! And because of that, we may make…..less than optimal decisions" he tried to reason, feeling that his sister had went a bit too far. Even though he agreed, to some extent, with her, he still believed that she had become too emotional at that point. As her older brother, he felt like it was his duty to set her straight. Still, his statement and siding with Rentarō only infuriated her all the more.
Yuzuki: "I don't care! I don't care how weak and sentimental you guys can become over us! What if I turned into a Gastrea, right now in front of you?! Would you also fuck everything up and let me turn into a miserable monster?!" that wasn't even a rhetorical question. She genuinely asked him how he would have reacted if such a situation were indeed to happen right there.
Tamaki opened his mouth to reassure her that he would have done what he had to do, but then stopped before uttering even a syllable, the sentence he wanted to say stopping right in his neck. He couldn't say it. His sister was staring him right in the eyes, with so much rage in her look. She demanded him to be honest with her. That much was obvious.
And it was because of that honesty that she wanted so much out of him that he couldn't immediately reply with a 'No, of course not!' like he usually did. The boy felt unsure of the answer to that and, because of that, he couldn't really give her the answer she wanted to hear.
Seeing him pause for such a long time, before lowering his head and staring at the floor, Yuzuki realized what that meant.
Yuzuki: "I…...hope to die, then, next to someone else. At the very least, I know they will be able to finish the job right!" and with that, she turned around and left the office via the entrance. "I'll be waiting for you outside, onii-chan. Come back to me once you're finished" she then slammed the door shut, without even saying her goodbyes to everyone there, leaving all of the people behind with a sour taste in their mouths.
Rentarō: "What an annoying brat. She can't even control her own temper…." he rudely added to the tense atmosphere in there with even more hatred. This wasn't something Tamaki would let slip, even if he had taken his side, somewhat, in the previous argument.
Tamaki: "She's got all the rights to be angry with you, Rentarō! Even though she has very poor ways of expressing anger, she still has a point!" apparently even without Yuzuki there, the conversation still didn't get that much more peaceful.
Rentarō, still feeling very anxious because of that bickering, simply looked back at him while making a displeased expression before sighing and finally allowing himself to calm down.
Rentarō: "Look, I know! I've said this a million times already! I'm not proud of what happened! Hell, I couldn't sleep properly at all the past two nights because I was constantly thinking about how I messed up. But is it really that hard to at least acknowledge that I only wanted for Enju to be happy? I only did what I did because I didn't want to see her die! Why is that such a bad thing?!" he asked with so much vinegar in his voice that it made everyone in the room look the other way in displeasure. Clearly, this topic of conversation was a controversial one.
Tamaki: "(sigh) I guess your relationship with Enju wasn't as straightforward as mine was with Yuzuki. Then again, I guess this is natural considering how we two are siblings" the blond boy remarked with a bitter smile on his face. Seeing how this conversation didn't seem like it was going to end in the near future, Tamaki then motioned with his left hand towards Kisara's desk, suggesting the both of them to sit down for now. The two, understanding the gesture and concluding the same thing, went for their chairs and sat down as well before allowing the boy to continue.
Tamaki: "Things aren't as simple as you make them out to be, Rentarō. Sometimes showing someone kindness can be even crueler than ignoring them altogether. And that was probably the most important thing that Yuzuki taught me" he revealed to them, making Rentarō raise his eyebrow in disbelief a little.
He wanted to make a comment about how little sense that made to him but he didn't get the chance for that as Tamaki took the liberty of resuming.
Tamaki: "When she was little, Yuzuki had a fascination with spiders. I guess it was probably due to the fact that she knew she was a Model Spider and, consequently, wanted to discover more about them, as well as about herself and her body. She liked to play with them all day long, much to their clear dislike, since they were scared of her. One day, a couple of years ago, Yuzuki found a new spider to entertain herself with. This one was more aggressive than the others, though, and it bit her when she tried to touch it" he remembered sorrowfully yet easily. Those memories were very clear in his mind, mostly because he knew they were of great importance to his sister.
Tamaki: "I don't really know what species that spider was since it ran away quickly after that. But from what I heard, Yuzuki suffered a severe inflammation in the finger she was bitten at, as it swelled up and became burning red. Apparently the finger hurt as hell for her for an entire week after that until it got back to normal. She didn't really need medical attention from what I heard, nor was her life ever in any real danger. As far as the adults around her were concerned, it was just a case of a stupid girl messing around with insects and getting bitten because of her recklessness. Nothing more, nothing less" despite hinting at the fact that he had never been personally involved in any of that, he still narrated those events with clear sadness and pity towards Yuzuki.
Tamaki: "But to her, that was life-changing, believe it or not. Her love of spiders suddenly turned into hatred and disgust since that day. She began fearing them and trying to kill them as soon as she spotted one. She would look out for them under her bed before going to sleep every night, scared that others like the one that had bitten her would pop out while she slept and bite her to death" seeing as how he didn't understand where this plot was leading them, Rentarō got a bit impatient and decided to expedite the process.
Rentarō: "And? What's that got to do with what we were discussing?" that annoyed Tamaki but he did try to get to the point now.
Tamaki: "The important part is that Yuzuki began hating spiders since then. It didn't really evolve into arachnophobia but it was still a deeply ingrained hatred. And, what was the most unfortunate, was that she began hating her own body after that as well. Knowing that she had a virus inside of her that could turn her into a spider at any moment, she began to fear her own body. She would always be wary about her health, almost panicking whenever she felt bad and putting the worst case scenario in front of her whenever she would become sick. She was so scared, at some points, that she asked me to keep watch over her while she slept, in case she would morph into a Gastrea in her sleep while she didn't have the consciousness to warn me about it" it was now when Rentarō and Kisara realized where he was trying to go.
Rentarō: "I….see…." his stomach began to churn instinctively when hearing such things. This type of stuff made him queasy, despite his job.
Tamaki: "She would occasionally end up crying in my arms, begging me to kill her because she didn't want to experience….the event of turning into what she hated the most in the world. At some point, she even stole one of my razor blades, in an attempt to cut herself up just because she was so scared. I was lucky to have caught her just in time" this conversation went in an entirely unpleasant direction. Kisara gulped when hearing this.
Tamaki: "It's very easy for us to tell our Initiators to calm down and think about things rationally. But try to put yourself in their shoes: many girls of their age are scared of monsters in their closets, or are even afraid of the dark when the lights are turned off. And yet they are not only forced to fight these monsters, but they have to face the reality that, at any point in time, they might even become one of them against their will. They can't even trust their own bodies and have to contend with the fact that they will either have to become monsters that attack others, or will be killed as monsters on the spot before doing any harm. And this important decision is handed onto us, the only people they can trust, their Promoters. Of course, given how fragile their situation is, they at least expect us to do the most merciful thing and at least grant them a quick and painless death when that sad time comes. Obviously when she saw how you abandoned Enju and allowed her to turn into a monster, she got angry. From her perspective, you left Enju to suffer while the world and even her own body, turned against her. You, the person who she entrusted her only shred of happiness to, betrayed her" considering how heated the previous discussion between him and Yuzuki was, Tamaki decided to at least share his sister's point of view with Rentarō, to at least make him understand her concern, if nothing else.
The boy then looked onto the floor, now understanding Yuzuki's anger a bit more and admitting that she had been right to be angry with him after all. Despite having called her a 'brat', he now understood that her hatred for him was indeed genuine and even warranted.
Tamaki: "I'm sure she even worried about the prospective of me betraying her too when she saw your lack of resolve to give Enju peace. And that's probably her biggest fear in life at this point: me breaking my promise to her and allowing her to fully turn into a giant spider. Hell, she was so insistent on me killing her when the time would come that she promised me, at one point, that she would do everything in her power to kill me first when she will turn into a Gastrea, to force me to end her life. I don't believe she really meant it but I do know she was terrified about the possibility of her having to endure such a sad fate. And all I could do for her, even as her brother, was only hold her in my arms….whispering empty promises in an attempt to comfort her" now the boy felt even more miserable than before. It felt like Tamaki intentionally tried to twist the knife in his wound when narrating that. He can't really blame him for that. He only wanted to give him a taste of the bitter reality that he so sorely needed. Still, that didn't change the fact that the taste was bitter and unpleasant.
Rentarō: "….tell me, Tamaki" he finally managed to gain back his voice and started to have a discussion with his fellow Promoter again. "Yuzuki is not only your Initiator, but also your little sister. Tell me: when the time will come, will YOU be able to do the right thing for her?" the boy put emphasis on the 'you' part, trying to make a point.
Tamaki smiled at that. But it wasn't a happy smile, nor even a confident smile. It was the smile one would give his dying parent when he realized that, despite the only thing he could do was be there for them, it was the most important thing in the world for the two. It wasn't a happy smile, it was the most depressing smile of them all.
Tamaki: "I always thought I could do it. At no point have I ever doubted myself. And yet now, after your failure, I'm beginning to question myself too. To be honest, I really do love Yuzuki and I want only the best for her. But….love is also a very selfish feeling sometimes. The more attached to her that I become, the less likely it is that I'll be able to accomplish what she wishes from me. And….that thought alone scares me" this was beginning to turn into something truly depressing. Tamaki was usually very cheerful and optimistic when around other people, so seeing him this quiet and broody was only contributing to a particularly heavy and dreary atmosphere.
Both Rentarō and Kisara were just sitting there, with the boy feeling very discontented and annoyed. Not annoyed at Tamaki for pointing out this stuff. If anything, he needed to hear it, even he admitted that. He was annoyed by the desperate reality that they were in, in which they relied on the misery of such young girls in order to even survive. Forcing those unfortunate children into such cruel circumstances, it was really aggravating. And what was even more annoying for him was his failure that compounded on top of all of that.
Tamaki: "(sigh) Speaking of Yuzuki….I better get moving. She'll probably scold me if I'll make her wait any longer. She's probably furious even now, as we speak" he suddenly pulled himself out of his semi-depressed state and rose from his chair. Seeing how disheartened everyone there had become because of him, he thought it was best if he left now. "Either way, Rentarō, I suggest you take the time when you get home tonight to ask yourself if your love for Enju is a good enough reason to warrant depriving her of happiness. I know I don't have the right to ask that question in your specific case, but you do. Hell, it's not even a right, it's an obligation every Promoter has to, eventually, confront. Ideally, they should confront this before the unfortunate day of their Initiator turning arrives, although you obviously are passed that moment. Either way though, it's never too late to repent" and with those final words the boy departed, leaving the two teenagers filled with more grief even than before.
Rentarō: "My obligations as a Promoter, huh?" he sarcastically said to no one in particular while smiling in contempt.
~Cottage at the edge of a forest, Kanagawa Prefecture~
News reporter: "….and the hearing ended with the judge deciding to extend the current trial against Satomi Rentarō and Tendō Civil Security for another hearing. At this point in time, it is very likely that Rentarō-san will be facing at the very least life imprisonment for his role in allowing his Initiator to transform and go wild, although some prosecutors claim that the death sentence would be a more fitting punishment. Ultimately, the judge's decision will determine the fate of the guilty Promoter. As for the organization that employs him, many expect that the fine they will be charged with will….." and the reporter continued to trail off while relaying this information to the viewers. The grown man standing in his chair from a distance from the TV set, leered a bit, amused at the hearing of that.
In all honesty, it has been a long time since Masahiko Tanimura had ever been so invested in the news. Normally, much like everything in the world around him for the past couple of years, he would simply shrug it off with nihilistic indifference and just accept it as the way the world moves and not worry too much about it. After all, despite being only in his late thirties, he was unusually sadistic in his outlook of reality and humanity in general. He had lost all hope a long time ago and now he felt very disconnected from the current events happening on the same planet as him. After all, when one person loses the will to live for himself, he readily relinquishes all optimism and interest in others as well. The fact that he lives by himself at the edge of a huge overgrown forest that greets him every morning when he walks out of his small cottage, in an area where no other human soul had stepped foot for more than a good couple of years, probably also contributed to his overly huge pessimistic outlook on life.
Masahiko: "He'll get what he deserves. That failure of a Promoter shouldn't even be allowed to live after what he did…." and yet, despite his indifference, he was now very happy to see that man receive his well-deserved punishment. As much as he wanted to believe that he didn't care about humanity anymore, he still wanted those that harmed its chances of survival get their comeupins. For whatever reason, he felt great dislike when even hearing the mentioning of that name.
He couldn't help but want to see this Rentarō Satomi suffer for his complete incompetence. That would at least provide him with proof that the human race was at the very least trying to better itself by getting rid of those who were undeserving of its support, especially those who were supposedly fighting for its survival yet were grossly inadequate in their jobs and were only doing more harm than good.
In his eyes, this Satomi Rentarō was such an individual, and seeing him be sentenced is giving Masahiko an odd sense of satisfaction.
Masahiko: "I guess, not even after all these years, did I manage to forget about that incident. I'm still holding a grudge…." he remembered how much fury he used to harbor against all Gastrea. That fury was more personal than anything else though, since it was one such creatures that was responsible for the ruining of his life, after all.
But just as his mind was sinking in those old memories, he heard something which he had never expected to hear during his entire existence in that place: knocks on his front door.
The sounds were so foreign to him, as someone who lived in isolation from the rest of society for more than five consecutive years, that he almost had a heart attack when he had heard them. In his environment, the only creatures that produced noise besides him were the very rare Gastrea that would get too close for comfort on his property.
Masahiko: "Maybe it's another one of those accursed creatures….although I don't think they are capable of understanding what knocks on the door are" such intelligent behavior most likely wouldn't be exhibited by the feral creatures of the forest. But if it wasn't a Gastrea, nor a wild animal, what could it be?
As he was pondering to himself about that quandary, more knocks followed, interrupting him again. The knocks felt purposeful, not the product of an animal coincidentally hitting his door in an accident in a similar pattern. The knocks were too….human-like.
Scared a bit, the man reluctantly and slowly approached the entrance to his house. When he got to the door he began asking.
Masahiko: "Who's there?" given how it was very likely for those knocks to have been produced by another human being, he first resorted to human speech before doing any further investigations and opening the door.
On the other side: "It's me! I'm…...someone you know" that was a very odd thing to hear. This made no sense to him. And not only that but the voice sounded childish, girlish even.
Was someone trying to play a prank on him? Surely not since given how civilization had abandoned that zone entirely, there wouldn't be any people, and children no less, roaming around there by themselves playing pranks. For one thing, he was the only resident in that area at all, or so he thought anyway.
Seeing how there was no other way of solving this curious mystery, he unlocked the door and flung it open. The sight was not what he was expecting: a small hairless child was shyly standing in front of him, playing with her fingers nervously while looking pitifully scared at him.
Child: "Uh….hi. Is this Gotō Aihara's house?" came the first sentence from that strange creature. The man rose his eyebrow in bewilderment, taken aback by this sight.
Masahiko: "Gotō….Aihara? I haven't heard that name for almost a decade. Who are you?" of course he didn't recognize her. Why would she expect anything else?
The girl, clearly very timid and not knowing how to handle this situation, mumbled what seemed to be gibberish to herself before trying to gather her strength and confidence when speaking to him.
Child: "My name is Enju Aihara. I'm….uh…..your daughter!"