~ Prömödas AB, Tokyo Varanium processing plant vicinity~
Tina: "It looks safe!" the young girl reported as she removed her binoculars from her face and turned to the group behind her. "There doesn't seem to be any snipers or anyone guarding the area! We can move in!" having a skilled assassin evaluate the risks of storming a particular building made sense for them, particularly due to Masahiko's military background.
The group was hiding on top of a residential building near the plant, having surveyed the general area and making sure that they could proceed inside the target.
Rentarō: "Good! I think we're ready!" he informed the rest of the members of the party while placing his gun back in its holster after confirming that it was loaded and ready.
Yuzuki: "Are we sure this is the right place though? It would look really bad if we ended up breaking into a legitimate processing plant while it's in operation! The workers inside would freak out if they saw us break the door open and rush in with weapons in our hands!" surprisingly, it was Yuzuki that made the reasonable argument.
Rentarō: "No, I double checked with Sumire-sensei! If there's any place they will be planning on using for the Varanium processing, it'd have to be this specific location! It's the only one in Tokyo that has the equipment that they'll need! And also, this plant has pretty standard shift hours and it shouldn't be active during the middle of the night. The fact that it is, and on this particular night too, makes me think that this is too much of a coincidence!" he then pointed his index finger at the lights coming out of the windows from the plant.
Feeling a bit more convinced now, Yuzuki then nodded in acknowledgment and then readied herself for what was to come.
Yuzuki: "OK then! Let's do this!" not needing much more input to feel secure about their plan, she pulled the palms of her hands apart, only to reveal very sharp strings wrapped along her fingers as they stretched.
Rentarō: "No….you and Tina will stay here!" Rentarō suddenly revealed, very calm and yet firm about this matter. Naturally, the two girls in question were very surprised by that decision.
Yuzuki: "Wait, what?! What the hell?!" she cried, not even forming a proper sentence when hearing that but she was interrupted by Kisara afterwards.
Kisara: "It's too dangerous for you two to go inside! That processing plant has huge quantities of Varanium stored in there! I'm sure you can feel the influence of that even from up here! If you follow us in, you'll only end up hurting yourselves! Or perhaps even worse…." she tried to calm down the protesting girl who was still very annoyed at that decision.
Yuzuki: "I can handle it! I'm a big girl! I can survive something like that!" she then turned to her brother, waiting for him to give her his approval. She knew that, in these situations, the only way that she could override that unfair ruling against her was if she asked him for help.
Sadly, that turned out to not work out the way that she wanted it to.
Tamaki: "No, Kisara-san is right! Even if you could survive through the night in there, we're planning on fighting tonight and, that could always mean that we could even get injured! If you get hurt at all and if the influence of the Varanium will impair your healing abilities then we'll be in huge trouble! I don't think you need me to tell you how dangerous that can be for you! And, of course, if they did atomize even slight quantities of it and there will be Varanium dust in the air, you will very likely die from it getting into your lungs! The risk is just too high!" as her older brother, it was his duty to make such hard decisions, even if he knew that she would be very angry at him for having betrayed her expectations when doing this.
And angry she was, as she stared at him with a very hurt face, knowing that her only ally in that party had turned against her.
Yuzuki: "So what?! If Enju's really in there with them then she'll be in just as much trouble as us! If anything, that means we have to hurry up and save her! You guys don't have the strength to survive on your own!" she tried to argue, although to no avail as all the Promoters there were already fully satisfied with their plan and none of them seemed like they were willing to budge on it.
Rentarō: "No, just because this is really urgent doesn't mean we should dive head first into the ice! We need to minimize any potential losses as much as possible! Even in the event that….." he paused for a second while contemplating the really depressing thought as it passed through his brain. "….that Enju might be dead down there, that doesn't mean you two have to die as well! And we've faced far greater dangers before this too, on our own! As Promoters, we already have the training to handle this!" he continued trailing off on his own as he placed his right foot on the edge of the building they were standing on the top of.
Rentarō: "At the end of the day, we all fought Gastrea. We faced far greater dangers so I'm pretty sure that we'll all do just fine!" he tried to reassure them.
Yuzuki didn't look particularly convinced at anything that they said in response to her complaints so she turned to Tina to see what her stance on that matter was.
Yuzuki: "What about you? Do you think this is a good idea? I wanna fight!" she tried to convince the blonde, only for her to receive the same opinion as they had in return.
Tina: "I'm fine with their decision! In fact, I was already planning on not going in with you guys anyway!" she commented without any emotion in her voice as she then laid down her very large briefcase and opened it in front of everyone to begin her preparations.
Yuzuki: "Wait….are you serious? Aren't you worried that Enju might be in grave danger as we speak?" feeling more confused than angry now, Yuzuki didn't even know where to begin with that.
Tina: "I am aware of that possibility! And make no mistake! If that were to be proven true, I'll be very sad; probably sadder than anyone else here! Enju was a good friend of mine" she trailed off as she began to assemble her sniper rifle from the components that were in the aforementioned case. "But….still, that doesn't mean we should be rash about this! If there's one thing I learned in all of my years in the field, it's that you should never allow your emotions to cloud your judgment, especially in life and death situations!" as she was speaking, she had a very composed demeanor, focusing intently on what she was doing when handling the components. Even when she was just assembling her gun, she had a very eerily professional vibe when speaking, almost as if they were in the presence of a cold blooded assassin, which only sent shivers down everyone's spines.
Tina: "If we were to ingest Varanium dust, I'm fairly confident that we wouldn't survive it! And besides, the greatest advantage that I can have on a battlefield is when I'm far away from the action in a secure vantage point aiming my gun while hiding! I've been trained to be an assassin and I know that that's when I'm the most useful! As such, I don't want to throw away my advantage just for the sake of seeing what's going on inside of that factory!" that was way more detailed than Yuzuki had expected but she was still a bit impressed at the self control that Tina was displaying.
Yuzuki: "You're very level headed, aren't you?" she pointed out in a very ambiguous voice, not making it obvious if that was an insult or a compliment. Tina took it as a compliment.
Tina: "You would be too if you had to do what I did throughout the years!" spoken like a true veteran in assassination. Yuzuki could not have asked for a more chilling response from her fellow Initiator.
Rentarō: "(ahem)" he cleared his throat loudly, to regain the spotlight in that conversation. "As I was saying, you and Tina remain on this rooftop and keep surveying the area while me, Kisara-san and Tamaki-san go inside and see what's going on! Since the only viable exits out of the plant are in full view from here, you should easily notice anyone trying to sneak his way out of it! If you find anyone trying to do that, stop him from running away at all costs!" he tried to explain to them their role, only making Yuzuki even more skeptical about this plan.
Yuzuki: "Wait! 'At all costs'?! Do you really mean what I think you mean?" she further inquired, nervous at what Rentarō was implying.
Rentarō: "There's no way for us to know if they will try to escape with processed Varanium inside their suits, maybe in vials hidden in their pockets! Given that they already had plenty of time to prepare for that, we cannot risk the chance of any of them getting out of there unchecked! If you have no other choice but to use lethal force, then please go ahead!" yep, he did indeed mean what they were all afraid he would mean.
Yuzuki looked worriedly at her brother, only to see him look with a very sad but honest expression on his face back at her, as if he was approving of what Rentarō was saying.
Yuzuki: "Are….you sure about this? We're not fighting Gastrea anymore, are we? This is murder what you're asking us to do!" naturally Yuzuki was very afraid. The boy couldn't really accuse her though.
Rentarō: "Yes….I know this is bad! And I encourage you to avoid it if you can! But, like I said, the risk is too great at this point! For the sake of all Cursed Children living in this city, we have to do whatever it takes! I'll discuss it later with Seitenshi-sama to help us get through the legal process if it will ever come to that! But, until then, we have to do what we have to do!" that was not particularly reassuring but he seemed very serious about it.
Yuzuki was surprised about how well he was handling all of this.
Tina: "OK! I will do it if it'll be necessary! I'll make sure to protect everyone, onii-san!" she replied confidently, as she began positioning her gun to be in the proper view of the entrance.
Yuzuki: "(sigh) I don't like this...but OK!" she finally gave up before shrugging and moving towards Tina to stand next to her. "It's interesting how you finally grew some balls, though, wimpy Rentarō!" but she still left that unhelpful comment behind as she passed him by. It just felt so Yuzuki-ish that Rentarō couldn't say that he was surprised.
Tamaki: " (grinning) She's….always like that!" her brother shrugged nonchalantly, still a bit embarrassed at his sister's immature behavior as Rentarō just moved past it.
Rentarō: "I got used to it already!" he replied before moving on. "Anyways, me and Kisara will attempt to go through the front door and distract their attention! You, in the meantime, slip through the emergency exit door and see if you can make your way inside through the storage deposit in the back! Due to the well ventilated nature of that wing, Sumire-sensei expects that that's where they're most likely fueling all the drones! If you get there, try to stop them or sabotage as many drones as you can!" he tried to order, as Tamaki was just taking notes while also nodding his head.
Tamaki: "Got it! I'll see what I can do!" he agreed without any issues, before Rentarō turned to Kisara.
Rentarō: "As for us, we'll basically be going in blindly! I don't know what we'll end up seeing inside but be prepared for anything! I heard from Sumire-sensei that Enju's father was really good at setting up traps back in his years in the army!" the girl just acknowledged his information in response.
Kisara: "OK! I have a feeling that they won't be expecting us yet but I'll be very careful! Just try to find Enju and get her the hell out of there as fast as possible! We don't know how long she'll last in there!" that commend made sense, as he was just about to exclaim the exact same thing to her.
Rentarō: "Yeah. We need to be careful! Enju and the lives of so many other children are in our hands!"
~Inside Prömödas AB, Tokyo Varanium processing plant~
Loud noises reverberated across the building, sonic polluting the entire plant due to the machines that were in operation in there.
Large equipment was everywhere the eye could see, blocking the view every thirty feet, each device having a very specific role in the process that would take place in that plant. Overhead bridge cranes were also randomly dispersed above the instruments, connecting various points in the room and serving to aid in visually inspecting the whole area from a high point.
From time to time, one would also see metal platforms that were raised around 3 meters (~10 feet) above the concrete floor on metal legs, with guard rails around the edges and with cabinet-sized devices on top of them, as well as control panels with an intimidating amount of switches and measurement meters that served to inform the operator of various meaningful information about the state of the processing cycle.
Lastly, large behemoth rectangular blocks that were placed vertically along the floor with interconnecting pipes were also very common, being only slightly taller than an average adult human and which only continued to litter the building and give it an overly detailed industrial feel.
Among this cacophony of metal structures that would easily give anyone unfamiliar with such an environment nausea, there were three men and one child standing next to a control panel, Masahiko and Fujitake only staring at the third man, who was wearing a white lab coat and protective green glasses on as he was pressing buttons on the keyboard very dully while the red headed girl was clumsily barely managing to keep an upright posture.
Man in coat: "There! And the third batch of Varanium has been loaded! We can move onto the next one!" he casually explained as the two other men gave each other anxious looks, still annoyed at how long this was taking. Masahiko checked his wristwatch again, only to confirm the hour, before impatiently beginning a conversation with the operator.
Masahiko: "This is taking too long! It's already past midnight! At this rate, we won't even be done here by the time the morning shift checks in and discovers us!" having run out of good will, the oldest man of the bunch began to speak up, like a child that has had it with waiting in line for the doctor's appointment.
The younger engineer just sighed at that.
Man in coat: "This is a very delicate process, Masahiko-san! You can't just rush through the steps! These things take time, especially since I'm the only one whose manipulating all of this complicated equipment!" he tried to reason and calm the very fidgety man who seemed very recalcitrant.
Masahiko: "Yes, that's what's annoying me! Couldn't anyone else have been appointed alongside you to help us? I knew having just one single worker here give us a hand was not going to be enough!" now he shifted his ire towards his partner, Fujitake, who simply shrugged his shoulders at that remark.
Fujitake: "According to the owner, this is the only engineer he could afford to send to help us! Nobody else was trustworthy enough to keep his mouth shut and not call the cops. This is the best outcome we're ever going to get!" he explained casually, trying to quench Masahiko's counterproductive tantrum.
Masahiko: "But if that's the case, we won't finish in time! If the authorities are onto us, it's only a matter of time until they'll track us down!" he tried to reason, still not letting go of his stress.
Man in coat: " (sigh) Please, calm down! We don't have time to fight! If you want to speed this up as much as possible, try to remain calm and just be patient! You're only doing your own cause a disservice!" he commented, having had enough of his antics. "We're already around forty percent done! I'm pretty sure, if no other complications arise, we should be done before the first shift comes in the morning! The only thing that could be an impediment after that is you guiding the drones to their proper location!" trying to continue doing his appointed task, the man then continued to press keys on the keyboard, while also speaking to them, doing his best to split his attention just so he could go on with his work and calm the belligerent man.
Masahiko: "That's something for us to worry about! And I know what I'm doing! I've been flying these drones a good chunk of my life! Even at full capacity, we should have enough battery power on them to guide them to the outskirts of the city in less than an hour from here! After that, we should have enough material to dump the liquids around the area where most of the girls are living!" he mentioned casually, trying to dismiss any worries about such a thing. "Just focus on your part and we'll do ours properly afterwards!".
Fujitake: "You say that but don't you think the Cursed Children over there won't show any resistance to us? I would be surprised if that were the case!" looking a bit worried about this plan, Fujitake interrupted, although he failed to stir up any worry from this aspect in Masahiko.
Masahiko: "Unlikely! By the time those girls realize what's going on, they will already be weakened to the point of…." but he stopped in his tracks before mentioning the word 'death' as to not give away their actual intentions to the girl in the group.
He turned his head to look at his daughter, worried that she might have overheard them and realized what they were doing. However, when looking at her, he realized that she most likely had not been listening in on their conversation as she was leaning at a distance against a huge tall device, akin to a drunkard who has had too many drinks and couldn't keep himself on his own feet.
Fujitake: "Is she…..OK? She doesn't look so good!" he pointed out the obvious, as Masahiko just stared at her, almost in pity.
Masahiko: "The surrounding Varanium must be killing her! Even if it's not in the air, the magnetic field that it's generating is permeating the entire building! I think her body is starting to break down!" he noted very unimpressed although with a hint of sadness in his voice.
Fujitake: "….shouldn't we put her out of her misery already? She did her part! We don't need her anymore!" he brought out the elephant in the room. Masahiko was already expecting for this moment to arrive. This was something he had planned for since the very beginning.
And since they were at that location, it was unlikely for Enju to be able to heal from any wound that they would inflict on her, due to the repressive effects of the surrounding metal on her regeneration powers. Which meant that that was the opportune time for them to finally get rid of her.
Masahiko: " (sigh) I was planning on keeping her alive throughout most of this just in case we would have had unwanted visitors! But I guess you're right! Even if that were to happen, just from the way she looks, I doubt she'll be of much help to us!" he concluded before beginning to walk towards the ailing child, leaving the other men alone.
After walking up to her, Masahiko noticed the pale white tint on her skin, making her look like an albinism sufferer, as well as the unusually bright red eyes that were now constantly showing for some reason, her also breathing very heavily, gasping for air as if she had run an entire marathon.
Masahiko: "Are you turning back into a Gastrea?" given the extremely vibrant crimson color in her eyes, that was a valid concern for him to have.
Enju: "I….don't think so. This time this feels very different. I think….it's just the Varanium killing my cells!" she tried to explain, although even she herself wasn't fully sure about that hypothesis. Masahiko just stared at her, a bit disappointed at this boring turn of events.
Masahiko: "For what it's worth, I was hoping to do this a bit later. But I don't think you'll last much longer, anyway, so I think this is the proper moment to end this" he felt a bit sorry for her, although his hatred did not allow him to show her any sympathy whatsoever. Even if she was his own life and blood and even if a part of him pained him when seeing her visibly suffer like that, he still knew that, at the end of the day, she was what he hated the most in that world: a disgusting chimera between human and the most wretched disease ever encountered by mankind. It was such creatures that he wished the most ill will towards, after all.
He reached for his sniper rifle that he was carrying strapped on his back and then he positioned it properly so that he could use it to shoot her.
Masahiko: "This gun is loaded with normal bullets, not Black Bullets. Sadly, it was not designed to use the large caliber Black ones so I'll shoot regular ones into you. However, I'll aim for your forehead and it should be quick! Given this location, I'll doubt you'll be able to survive it!" he explained very nonchalantly, in such a calm demeanor, it felt like he was explaining golf to his daughter, disturbingly enough. "Move ahead a couple of meters! This is a long ranged weapon! It's not designed to hit a target so close to it!" that much was true, although he suddenly noticed Enju's squeamishness as she was fumbling around, partly due to her deteriorating body but partly also due to the fact that she seemed a bit scared. Masahiko picked up on this.
Masahiko: " (sigh) Don't tell me you're going to chicken out now!" he began glaring at her, weirdly expecting for a child to just come to terms with her own death as if it was natural. Enju, obviously, was very perturbed by what was about to happen.
Enju: "I…..don't know if I can handle this!" despite knowing that this would probably make him mad, she still expressed her feelings, admitting her second thoughts about all of that.
Masahiko knew that this was the last thing they needed, at that point. Feeling fed up, he began an argument.
Masahiko: "You said it yourself, didn't you? You don't want to turn into a Gastrea! This is the quickest way to ensure that that will never happen! We went over this already!" he tried to logically reason, even though the child was still very much frightened and was clearly about to decide against this.
Enju: "But I….I…." she wanted to say that she wished to see her friends one last time, to say goodbye. That was an honest truth and her heart genuinely desired to at least see Rentarō one last time. However, that would only mean that she would be contradicting herself with what she had previously told her father, that she didn't wish for her to meet with her Promoter ever again.
She had said that because she was scared of injuring him but still, her heart earned for a last encounter between them. That was something she wanted.
Sensing her hesitation only growing, the man felt the need to just ignore her wishes and just aim his gun already at her and pull the trigger. Still, he knew that that might just mean her suddenly chickening out and beginning to run away, which would only make things worse.
He couldn't risk having her escape and tipping the cops about that. He needed to stay in control of her and reason with his daughter until she was mentally ready to allow him to kill her.
Masahiko: "Enju, we won't be getting anywhere like this! Are you willing to risk the lives of all the innocent people in Tokyo again? Is that what you want? Need I remind you how you killed those poor civilians when you turned into a monster?!" he began yelling at her, only serving to further aggravate the situation as the uneasiness between them only kept on growing.
Enju: "I….." she didn't know what to say to that. All she knew was that she wanted someone to comfort her in her last moments, and yet this man seemed very unwilling to go through that route. Apparently, she wouldn't have that happen to her so she just had to accept it as it was.
Fujitake: "Crap, we have intruders!" came the sudden voice interrupting the two from Fujitake at a distance, who was staring at a bunch of monitors on a panel which displayed security footage from the cameras installed all across the building.
The man and his daughter then rushed to Fujitake, clearly alarmed.
Masahiko: "What?! Intruders? At this hour?! Are you kidding me?! Did the cops already figure it out?!" he came up to the same screens, analyzing them very worried, only to immediately recognize the faces of their new nocturnal visitors. Enju, having just tailed her father, arrived there as well, only to have a very unexpected surprise.
Enju: "Rentarō?! Kisara-san?!" she couldn't believe her eyes. The two people she least expected to ever see again were in the same building now as them. And they were approaching, fast.
Her father just glared scornfully at the display, almost as if that would have solved their problem somehow.
Masahiko: "How?! How is that Promoter still free to wander around?! And how did he find us?!" he questioned, obviously only receiving back silence as nobody there knew how to answer his query. Infuriated by this, the man just began yelling incessantly.
Masahiko: "GET THE DRONES READY! We can't stay here much longer! We don't know if the cops are on their way or not and we can't afford to have our entire operation squandered now when we're so close!" the man removed the safety from his gun and then turned to Fujitake, who was just as anxious as he was.
Fujitake: "We cannot operate the drones out of this facility while they're here! The only exit out of here is where they're coming in from!" the younger man revealed, only infuriating his partner even further.
Masahiko: "Then we'll have to kill them before we leave! I've always wanted to give that shitty Promoter a piece of my mind ever since he fucked up so badly with Enju! Now, he's about to get it!" he began to head in the general direction of where the two arriving teenagers were supposed to be approaching from. "Fujitake, grab your hunting net thrower! And you….." he then turned to the engineer wearing the white lab coat who has evidently the most scared out of all of them, him being the weakest of the group. "Just….go hide in the drone room and prepare them for flight! Remove the liquid loading tubes so that we can quickly deploy them once we're done with the Promoters!" he ordered as he just nodded measly and started to run away, trying to avoid any violent confrontation as much as possible.
But as soon as Masahiko was about to sprint away too, Enju intercepted him, her being the most perturbed by this twist.
Enju: "No, wait! Please don't kill them!" she interrupted her father, worry clearly visible on her face. "I can talk to them! I can make them go away!" she tried to reason desperately, knowing very well that she didn't want to see her father attack Rentarō or Kisara. Even though she had secretly wished for her to meet again with them one last time, this was definitely not the time nor place for that to happen and now she knew this could turn very ugly very easily.
Masahiko frowned at her insistence, wanting to dismiss her immediately but, for some reason, he continued to listen to her, hoping that she could actually pull off what she was claiming.
After all, if they could turn them around without any hassle, that would make for a much easier and safer job.
Masahiko: "You'll only just give us away if you approach them! And how are you planning on convincing them to leave?" he asked a very valid question, although Enju was more insistent than he had expected from her.
Enju: "You'll give us away anyway if you start a fight! And I know them better than anyone else! They're very strong and you don't want to fight them! I know how to talk to them, though!" that was a long-shot and she knew it. She knew, deep down, that she had very little chance to actually convince them to leave but she wanted to avoid her father from murdering Rentarō or Kisara at all costs. After all, the entire reason why she refused to get back in touch with them was to protect them in the first place.
Masahiko: " (sigh) Very well! You have five minutes to convince them to leave! But if they won't cooperate and leave in that time, I'll handle them myself!" he warned in a straightforward manner, already sick of all the interruptions that they had that night. Obviously things were starting to deviate from their original plan, to the point in which they already had to improvise. This was extremely dangerous and if things didn't get back on track very quickly, he feared for what was about to come.
~Rentarō and Kisara's location~
The two teenagers were scanning the area very carefully, hiding behind the large machinery while giving quick glances to the pathway that they were planning to take, to make sure that there was nobody waiting for them with a gun or that there were no traps ahead.
They were already fairly confident, though, that Masahiko and everyone else there were made aware of their presence, since they had consciously already passed many security cameras and, as such, they were expecting trouble; they just didn't know what form that trouble would be in.
Still, knowing that Masahiko had an extensive history in the military, they decided not to take any chances and proceeded very carefully.
Rentarō motioned with his hand to Kisara to scout the area ahead, to which she heeded and rushed very quickly out of her hiding spot to the next viable location, as he watched very carefully to cover her and see if anyone would attempt to intercept or shoot at her from a distance.
She managed to move forward because of this and, as she arrived behind her new cover spot, she motioned to him to advance forward himself.
He began to prepare to sprint forwards too until he heard a distant voice from afar:
Enju: "Stop, Rentarō! Kisara!" came the sudden voice of a young child from afar, clearly in the near vicinity but, due to the size of that building, the large machinery everywhere and the metallic surroundings, the voice reverberated so much that it was nearly impossible for them to pinpoint where it came from.
Still, it was such a distinct voice that they both easily identified whom it came from.
Rentarō: "Enju?! Is that you?!" finally, after so many days without her in his life, it felt so refreshing to hear her again, even from a distance.
She was clearly hiding from them, trying not to give away her location and only attempting to communicate.
Enju: "Yes! It's me, Rentarō! I didn't expect you to be here!" so it was her.
The boy's spirits lifted very quickly when hearing that, only for him to realize what that must have meant: Masahiko probably knew where they were too now.
This was very bad.
Enju: "Please, Rentarō, Kisara-san, listen to me! You don't know what you're doing! We're only trying to help the Cursed Children! We're only-…." but she was rebutted almost immediately by an impatient Kisara, who seemed very tense.
Kisara: "Enju! I don't know where you are, but you need to run away, out of this place, immediately! This facility is very dangerous for you!" she tried to warn very directly, in an attempt to change the conversation to what should have been the most important topic of all of them.
Enju, on the other hand, wasn't that keen on doing what she had asked.
Enju: "I'm not running away, anymore, Kisara-san!" the voice that she used when saying that felt very subdued, but also very depressed. It had confidence in it but also the tone was aggravating since it had a hint of self-defeat in it. "I know why I'm here! And I'm planning on helping my father with this! It's something I need to do before I die!" she replied, showing resistance to Kisara's request, surprising the two.
Kisara: "Enju…..do you even know what you're helping your father with? He's planning an all-out attack against the Cursed Children! He wants to murder all of them!" she revealed very bluntly, not giving up on trying to persuade the child to listen to her.
Silence followed, as Enju stopped speaking with them. The pause meant that something was obviously wrong, although they could not tell what that was.
They waited patiently in their spots for another reply from her hoping that she would come around and realize what was actually going down.
Enju: "N-no!" the girl eventually responded, very worried and concerned now. Her voice changed from calm and pleading to sounding very anxious, as Kisara's revelation definitely had an impact on her. If there was one thing Enju knew Kisara was not, it was a liar.
Enju: "He said he wouldn't hurt them! My father said that he'll only use just enough Varanium to cure all of them! They will be turned back into normal girls! Every single one of them! And then they'll be able to live happy lives once again!" both Kisara and Rentarō looked at each other, worriedly.
They knew, full well, that everything Enju was spouting at that moment were lies that had been fabricated by none other than Masahiko. They knew better than to believe such bunk.
Kisara: "That's a lie, Enju! Your father doesn't want to save anyone! He's a psychopath! He hates all Cursed Children and he wishes to wipe them all from Tokyo! Please, listen to us!" while she was talking, Rentarō was quietly using a mirror from behind his cover to inspect their surroundings and see if he could find the source of Enju's voice. He knew that if he could pinpoint her location, he could then protect her.
Enju: "NO! He's not! My father is a good man! He'd never do such a-…." fed up with this deceit, Rentarō just decided to finally break the idealistic narrative that had been planted into her brain using one simple but obvious logical fallacy.
Rentarō: "If your father has the key to treating all Cursed Children then why hasn't he used that to cure you in the first place?" he had absolutely no evidence that Enju hadn't been reverted into a normal girl and stopped being a Cursed Child, so he was gambling when saying that. Still, he was pretty confident that her father was lying to her and, as such, he was sure that this would provide her with the necessary proof that something was amiss.
Enju stopped yet again. There was no way she could justify that. For all intents and purposes, she had no answer for that.
She just looked back at her father, who was sitting next to her with his sniper rifle in his hand, calmly aiming at the cover that Rentarō was hiding behind waiting for an opportunity to shoot at him, although he was also refraining from any provocation and allowing his daughter to speak.
Still, now that this logical inconsistency was brought up, she realized that, indeed, something did not work well. Clearly, her father was hiding something from her and, even though she always wanted to trust him and give him the benefit of the doubt, deep down in her heart, she always suspected that he had been lying to her all of that time. And now that Rentarō had said that to her, it finally began to make sense to her.
Rentarō: "Enju, you know that's not how Varanium works, don't you? Varanium is fatal to all Cursed Children! If he'll launch the drones with dust in them in the city, he'll cause hundreds, if not thousands, of casualties! He'll only be murdering all the girls who are already struggling to survive! Don't listen to his lies!" Masahiko was genuinely considering to just interrupt their conversation but, knowing that it went as far as it went, it was unlikely for him to stop it now without looking very suspicious. Now, the cat was out of the bag and he was already confident that he had lost his daughter's trust.
Enju: "….I" she had no other theory to cling to. That was a very good contradiction that he had provided and her father's lies were falling apart.
The girl turned towards her father, looking with a very pleading figure at him, almost like begging him to explain to her what was going on, since she desperately tried to believe in him.
Enju: "Is….is this true?" not having anything else to say to them, she turned to him, hopeful that he could provide her with answers. It was a fruitless endeavor though.
Masahiko: "Yes….it is true! This entire plan was to get rid of the Cursed Children living in this city!" he admitted, finally giving up on trying to manipulate her. Given how weak she was at that point, too, even if she were to turn against him at that moment, she would still not pose any real threat to their plans.
Enju: "You….lied to me?! You told me you weren't going to hurt anyone!" she began distancing herself from him, feeling her heart broken at this sudden and depressing realization. She should have trusted her intuition. She now knew that.
Masahiko: "I told you that nobody innocent was going to be hurt! And I did mean that! All humans will be unaffected by this mission! The only ones who will suffer will be all the Cursed Children!" now she understood everything. She wanted to scold herself for having trusted a complete stranger and, worse, for having assisted him to such a high degree in such a heartless project. The fact that she was so close to having helped in the creation of a bio-hazard was genuinely sickening.
But before the girl could do anything, Rentarō had one last thing to say to break the trust between her and that man.
Rentarō: "Don't trust anything that man says, Enju! He's the one that killed your mother after you were born! He mercilessly crushed her throat before the police could save her!" and just like that, her Promoter landed the final blow, a blow so powerful that it shook the foundation of everything Enju believed.
Again, only silence followed. The poor girl was completely overwhelmed, feeling her heart ache when realizing that the man that she had been with the past couple of days was the same person who had killed her very mother; the woman she had so desperately tried to find all her life.
That was even more burning than a back-stab, as now her brain felt so betrayed that she had lost even the fundamental sense of knowing what to do. The very idea of this man having been the villain all along simply turned her world upside down.
Enju: "You…..you told me….you helped her ease her suffering, right?" the girl began speaking, very lowly. "Please….tell me she asked you to do that!" the girl felt the pain radiating from her heart to every inch in her body. She didn't want to believe it, she just couldn't believe it.
The man just stood there coldly, not responding to her request. This infuriated her.
Enju: "PLEASE!" she suddenly began yelling once again, even more demanding than before, so loud, in fact, that Rentarō and Kisara actually heard this.
The man sitting next to her let out a very deep sigh before giving her the coldest look she had received from him up until that point.
Masahiko: "She just didn't want to understand why you had to die! She wasn't willing to cooperate with me at all! I had no choice!" the girl's knees failed as the disturbing realization had hit her and she just collapsed on top of her legs, on the ground, while still maintaining an upright stance.
She wanted to cry but that felt awfully inappropriate at that point. No, rather, she wanted to scream in anger for having been deceived.
Masahiko: "In the end….it doesn't really matter. She was a menace to society, just as you were when you turned into a Gastrea. All Cursed Children are menaces! This is specifically why I'm doing what I'm doing! And this is why I'm planning on seeing this plan through to its destined conclusion!" he finally declared before grabbing a small metal disk from inside his suite. Enju immediately recognized what that was: it was a battery-powered portable holographic projector.
Masahiko: "Whether you want to help me or not is irrelevant at this point! Pick which side you'll be on and fight! Your role in my plan is already over anyway!" feeling very little remorse for crushing his own daughter's heart, the man then threw the device towards the two teenagers, it heavily impacting the floor below and causing a resounding bump that, due to its differing wavelength from their own voices, didn't reverberate as much and, consequently, it clued the duo of their actual location.
Masahiko: "Also, time's up! Your five minutes with them are over! Now we do things my way!" he exclaimed as he gripped the gun he was holding and placed his eye into the scope, preparing to shoot.
Enju was perplexed at this move, before she looked onto the floor where the device had been thrown, only to then see that the impact had turned it on.
The device activated, suddenly projecting a 3D hologram of herself from a distance.
Both Kisara and Rentarō immediately noticed the projection and, being compulsive, Rentarō immediately exited his cover thinking that he was looking at the image of his Initiator.
Enju immediately realized what was going on when she saw her father place his finger on the trigger.
Enju: "NO! DON'T!" just before he could actually shoot his bullet, the girl jumped onto him, pushing with her arm the barrel of the rifle at an angle.
The man finished pressing the trigger but not before his aim had been offset by her intervention, forcing the bullet into a bad trajectory and having it hit the cover that the teenage boy had been previously hiding behind.
Having the bullet miss him by just a little, the boy lifted his gaze to where it could have come from, only to finally see Enju and her father on a distant platform that was lifted from the floor, noticing how the rifle was pointed away from him by Enju having pushed it away.
Noticing this, he immediately pointed his own gun at the man although he hesitated to shoot since Enju was already on top of him and he didn't want to risk embedding Black Bullets into her.
Seeing his position finally given away, Masahiko triggered a smoke bomb from his suit and pushed his daughter off of him, immediately jumping off the platform and running away to a new cover, to protect himself from Rentarō's own shooting.
Enju weakly coughed at the smoke screen that she was suddenly shrouded in, cursing herself for being so weak at that moment as her entire body was very wimpy due to the influence of the Varanium constantly eroding her body, chipping off bits and pieces of her strength with every passing second.
Rentarō: "ENJU!" the boy began to run towards her only for Enju to immediately scold him for that.
Enju: "DON'T COME NEAR ME! TAKE COVER AND SAVE YOURSELF, YOU IDIOT!" she yelled at the pure show of incompetence that her Promoter was seemingly now displaying to everyone.
Rentarō stopped in his tracks, assessing what she had ordered him before seeing the point of her insistence and immediately taking cover, again, to avoid her father's bullets who was now undoubtedly taking a better position to snipe from.
As the screen dissipated, the girl was now the only one left in the open, fully exposed and in the middle between her father and her two coworkers.
Rentarō and Kisara already had their positions given away and Masahiko was the only one who was able to relocate so now he was the one having the advantage.
After crawling up in his own location, he pointed the gun back to where Kisara and Rentarō were although, due to them not being in the open like Enju, they were well protected.
Masahiko: "Curse you, you incompetent daughter! You wasted my chance at a surprise shot! How am I supposed to eliminate them now?!" feeling the anger seething through his veins, he then redirected his gun to point at her skull, preparing to shoot.
This was something he should have done the moment they had stepped foot in that building. After all, she should have been dead for a long while already.
But while thinking about his next action and how prepared he was for it, he suddenly realized something: if he were to kill her right then and there, it would be very unlikely that he would be able to kill both Kisara and Rentarō as well afterwards.
Even if he viewed them as very incompetent at their jobs, they were still highly trained Promoters and dealing with them would be a hassle, no doubt about it.
Enju didn't even seem to be willing to hide for safety, her clearly not caring that she was in the open. In fact, he was half convinced that she actually wanted him to shoot her and end her miserable life.
Murdering her at that moment would be easy but it wouldn't accomplish much.
He wanted to kill everyone over there, each and every single one of them. And if he wanted to achieve that with two trained Promoters, he had to be more creative.
Rentarō: "ENJU! Just go and find some cover if you don't want to leave! You're in the open! You're going to-…."
Enju: "I DON'T CARE ANYMORE, RENTARŌ!" the girl yelled back at him, already having had enough realizing that the one person she had trusted the most had forsaken her. "I just don't care!" she continued, feeling the gravity of everything she had done the past couple of days finally weigh on her shoulders and realizing how much she had been manipulated.
Kisara: "Enju, you're going to die! We can't protect you when you're just standing there like a practice target!" her employer tried to scold her, still feeling very frustrated for the child's lack of common sense.
Enju: "Kisara-san, I should have died a couple of days ago, when I turned into a Gastrea! The fact that I'm still here today is just because of good luck! I don't have to live anymore! I don't even want to live anymore!" she gave up, hopping down from the platform that her and her father had been standing on previously, and began to walk towards their location.
Enju: "None of this would have had to happen if I just stayed dead! I would have been happy, now that I think about it, if I simply stopped existing altogether! After all, what's my purpose if I can't even be trusted to maintain my own body in a human form?" she walked slowly towards their hiding spots, approaching them.
It was then when Masahiko finally devised a proper plan of how to use her again to his advantage.
Rentarō: "Enju….I…." he wanted to reply to her but he then realized what she was referring to.
Enju: "I'm past my time now, anyway! Hell, I can't even fight in this place so I won't even be of use to anyone either! I'm just useless all-around!" this was the worst moment for her to have a depressive breakdown, given the circumstances.
If Masahiko decided to shoot her down at that moment, neither one of them could have stopped him. And yet she felt so genuinely at peace with that that it was disturbing.
Rentarō: "Enju….this isn't the time nor the place for you to-….."
Masahiko: "Oh but I beg to differ, Rentarō-san" suddenly, the father finally began to enter a conversation with them from his own hiding spot, still aiming very precisely at Enju that entire time.
Masahiko: "This, right here, is the perfect time to have this discussion! After all, she is right about everything, you know! Down to the fact that she shouldn't even be alive at the moment considering what happened. But she is and she's suffering because of it and that is entirely because of your gross incompetence as a Promoter!" seeing as how they were a bit in a stalemate, the older man decided to change his strategy into something a bit more refined.
Rentarō wasn't going to catch the bait though.
Rentarō: "I don't have to justify myself to you! What I did was my decision and I know why I chose to-..." but he was interrupted by a bullet hitting the metallic cabinet-like structure that he was hiding behind. The bullet harmlessly ricocheted from the impact and smashed into the ground afterwards, leaving the boy unscathed but interrupting his dialogue.
Masahiko: "You don't have to justify yourself, Promoter? Is that true? Tell me, who gave you your gun and your license? And who was the one that funded your salary up until this point?" infuriated, the man then continued, surprising everyone at the sudden shift into hostility by him.
Kisara tried to scan the area from where the voice was coming from but she could not pinpoint his location.
Rentarō: "Well, it wasn't you, I'll tell you that much!" he then noticed, from his mirror, that Enju stopped walking and was very close to their position, standing still now and taking no initiative to pick a side, nor fight. She just stood there, barely even managing to muster the strength to maintain her posture.
Masahiko: "No, it was society! Society was the one that entrusted you with the resources you take for granted and gave you the power to make the decisions that you made. And now, when you're called out for having messed up, you claim you don't have to justify yourself to me? I find that particularly selfish, Promoter!" he was already beginning to strike a nerve.
Rentarō would have wanted to just turn around and shoot him if he knew where to even aim. He was gripping his gun, trying to maintain his calm, knowing full well that time was on their side.
Masahiko was running out on time since he was the one that needed to begin the operation. The more he stalled, the worse it was for him so Rentarō saw no point in rushing through this. He allowed the man to continue to speak, trying to see if he could use any clue he might receive to his advantage.
Kisara: "Sorry, but last I heard, you weren't the poster child of law abiding citizens either, Masahiko-san. Or should I call you, Gotō Aihara-san?" she also entered the conversation, still not exiting her cover and focusing intently on her own mirror in her hand, trying to find any spot that would have been a viable sniping point.
Masahiko: "You can call me anything you like! In the end, your company just revealed to the world the entire reason why Promoter-Initiator pairings are a bad idea and why they wouldn't work!" seeing how they were now both involved in the conversation, he began to emphasize on his point. "It just takes one single bad Promoter to screw everything up! Just one single mess up and everything goes bad. Admittedly it is impressive how you guys managed to survive all of these years without any issues with this setup. But I knew better than anyone else that this was inevitable and that sooner or later, someone had to spoil it! And I was right! You just did! And now, everyone has lost their faith in civil security offices across not just Japan, but the entire world!" his words rang through their hearts.
They wanted to dismiss them as the nonsensical ramblings of a madman and just ignore him. But they were logical. Everything he had said was correct and they knew it. It was particularly because of that that it felt hurtful.
Masahiko: "You have proven to me that you cannot continue as it is and, undoubtedly, someone will raise their voices and ask the system to be changed into something better, now that the cracks in it are in full view! Because, in the end, nobody should have to place their trust into unstable chimeras who could turn in the blink of an eye into man-eating monsters! It is precisely due to this that the Cursed Children should die before they just spread the disease even further; especially now that they are clearly more resistant to Varanium than regular Gastrea and can even infiltrate our society! They are a danger and you have proven yourselves incapable in controlling them. Naturally, the solution, then, is very obvious: all these Cursed Children must be wiped off the face of this planet!" even though he wasn't talking specifically to her, Enju genuinely felt her heart shrivel when hearing her own father talk about her in that way. It was painful and heartless.
Rentarō: "Sumire-sensei wasn't kidding about people like him existing….he's simply just hopeless. So your solution is to just kill all of them, mercilessly?! Don't you see that they're nothing more than just children?! As long as they'll be conscious and have human bodies, regardless of whether they have the virus in them or not, you'll just be mass murdering kids!" unknowingly, he just took the bait, hook, line and sinker.
Masahiko: "Children? Is this a joke?! These aren't children any more than foreign spies are diplomats! Would you call Enju a child after what she did a couple of days ago…..when attacking those innocent medical officers that were just trying to do their job?" that hurt.
Enju remembered the faces of the people that she had infected. Despite her having been in Gastrea form, she had been fully conscious back then, although completely without any control over her own body, as something way more visceral and feral had been in charge of her muscles.
Rentarō: "That….." he stopped, knowing that he was in an unwinnable argument. There was nothing he could say against that logic.
Masahiko: "However, I'll give you another chance!" suddenly, the man spoke up yet again with a sudden drift in mood. "I used to trust this system before and, I will admit: as a hopeless optimist, even I had my heart swayed by the sweet temptations of actually believing that it would work. I think the potential it has in protecting humanity is alluring. As such, I want you, at this very moment, to finish what you started, Satomi Rentarō! To prove to me, that I can still believe in the claims that the I.I.S.O has been spouting all of these years, that this system is humanity's shield! Do that and I'll stop in my attempts at poisoning the Cursed Children!" when hearing this, Enju immediately picked up on what her father wanted to encourage Rentarō to do.
Rentarō felt it almost ridiculous for him to propose such a thing, given the circumstances.
Rentarō: "As if I'd trust someone as deranged as you! You may have been cunning enough to fool Enju but you won't be-…".
Enju: "DO IT, RENTARŌ!" and, much to Rentarō's and Kisara's pure shock, the child began to speak up with a very frustrated tone of voice. "I don't care if my dad is insane! He has a point! The world needs to know that we, Promoters and Initiators, are willing to make sacrifices for them! Even the hardest sacrifices that there are!" she began to speak up, very confidently, effectively falling into the trap that Masahiko had set up, only serving as a pawn in his new scheme.
Kisara: "Don't listen to him, Enju! We don't negotiate with terrorists!" she tried to order the former Initiator in her company, although Enju was already past the point of debating. She already made up her mind on the matter.
Enju: "There's nothing to negotiate! I'm a danger to society! We know that already! I can turn into a Gastrea at any point, right? Who knows what can happen?" unbeknownst to her, she was just following the narrative that Masahiko was setting up in a straight line. Everything she was saying was something he was expecting her to say, almost exactly.
Rentarō: "Enju, you're not a danger! You're human! Right? You reverted back to your normal self, didn't you? You could even be the source for a cure for Cursed Children!" he tried to talk her out of it so that he could regain control over the situation.
Masahiko: "You don't know that, do you? You say that, but she could just as easily be infectious right now, even in her human form! Since her anatomy is very special now, we can't say for certain that she is or isn't a threat, can we? Seeing how unstable her body is, she could be the harbinger of doom, with her virus strain in her body mutating into something even more potent! Given the situation, are you willing to take the risk?" he pressed on, feeling no remorse in depicting his own single child as a menace.
Even Enju didn't mind that treatment anymore, as she got used to it from the past couple of days when she'd been with Masahiko.
Rentarō: "We don't know that until we test it! You can't just assume what is a danger and act solely based on your beliefs! That's just irrespon-…"
Masahiko: "Satomi-san, you failed in terminating her when the situation asked for it! You refused to fulfill your duty! Now, I'm asking you again, for the very last time, to prove to me that you are up to the job! Rectify your mistake now or I will get rid of Enju myself if I have to!" he then removed the safety on his gun yet again. "I am already aiming at her head as we speak! It would only take me less than a second to do what should have been your job all along! And make no mistake, once I'm finished with her, I will move onto the rest of the Cursed Children. If I cannot trust civil offices to accomplish their roles then I see no reason for the other children to live either, especially since they're even less controlled!" he made his point clear as day, not budging even in the slightest.
He said what he had to say and now he wanted to see how the two Promoters would respond. The ball was on their side of the field now.
Rentarō: "…." he wanted to reply but he didn't know how to. He was in a very difficult spot. He shot a glance to Kisara sitting a couple of feet away from him, who only returned a very worried look at him. She didn't know how they should proceed either.
Rentarō: "Enju! For crying out loud, listen to me an-…"
Enju: "I'm sorry, Rentarō, but he's right! I won't budge from here! We need to do this properly, as we always should have! It's time we make amends!" she finally came to terms with her death. Just an hour earlier she was very reluctant for her to do so but now that Rentarō was there in her final moments, she was at peace with the idea.
Enju: "I know what I've seen back when I was in my Gastrea form! I know what I did as well! And given the choice, I would rather die here at the hands of the one I love the most in this world than have to go through that nightmare again! I don't want a repeat of the time I turned into that creature…..I don't think I'll ever be able to recover again if that were to happen!" interestingly, this was the first time in a long while since Enju had last disobeyed Rentarō's orders. This was not the best moment for her to grow autonomy and start making decisions by herself but that was the way things had evolved, sadly for them.
Enju: "I don't want to…Rentarō! I know you want to protect me, I know you really love me! Believe me, I know!" suddenly tears started to form in her eyes as she suddenly fell on her knees, starting to beg. "But I don't wanna suffer like that again! I know it's selfish for me to ask you this but please, just do it! I'm prepared this time, I promise! I accepted it!" seeing his Initiator cry like that was torturous. His chest was tightening when he realized how horrible it must have been for her to go through that transformation.
Rentarō: "Enju…." he spoke aimlessly, almost as if calling her name was going to provide her with any comfort.
Enju: "We've been playing games for long enough now! Our make-believe engagement and our little adventures were all nice and fun! But now….now it's about time we realize that we need to move on….to a better future! I want to believe that once I die, the world will become a better safer place!" she exclaimed simply as she stood there, stoically awaiting her execution in the bravest way any ten year old could. "Please, Rentarō, make my dream come true!" she begged.
The teen sighed, acknowledging finally that changing her mind was not going to happen easily. She was stubbornly fixated over that.
Seeing no easy end to this, the man then finally exited from behind his cover and began walking towards her in plain sight.
Kisara: "Rentarō, no! Don't just lis-…" but she was interrupted as another bullet shot right past her cover onto the floor, immediately stopping her from continuing to also exit her safe spot.
Masahiko: "Don't interrupt them! They have unfinished business that they need to attend!" the man was eyeing the area very closely, making sure that no interference would happen.
Suddenly, Enju began speaking loudly again towards her father, this time.
Enju: "If I die here, at Rentarō's hands, you promise you'll leave the rest of the Cursed Children alive, right? You'll stop with your plans and surrender!" she tried to clarify bindingly.
Masahiko: "If he's the one that ends up shooting you then yes. I'll place my faith into civil security offices once again and stop my attempt! You have my word!" none of them believed in that.
They were very certain he was lying but Rentarō had no other choice but to trust him.
He closed the distance between himself and Enju until they were about 5 meters apart (16 and a half feet).
They looked each other in the eye, both with full confidence. Enju still had flows of tears dripping off her face but she tried to wipe them off with the sleeves on her shirt.
Rentarō: "Enju...I-…"
Enju: "It's OK, Rentarō, you don't have to say anything! That will just make this more painful! Just, pull out your gun and aim! I'm ready!" this was insane.
He did as he had been instructed and raised his handgun, aiming it at her.
Rentarō: "You….never even got to reach high school! Nor did you get to marry like you always wanted. I'm sorry! I should have bought you that ring…" ignoring her advice, he continued talking to her, only making her even more remorseful.
Enju: "No…..you did well! Honestly, you did way more for me than any other Promoter, I think! I could not have asked for better!" he pulled his safety off his gun.
Enju: "I managed to go to school and make friends! I got a job and even was reliable for a time in protecting others! Hell, I even got a confession from the man I love. And even a kiss from him! What more can a girl ask for?" even though she tried to put up a brave look, her pained forced smile was breaking his sanity when looking at her.
He began to apply pressure on the trigger, only stopping very lightly as his brain just put the breaks on it.
Enju: "Thank you, for always being there for me, Rentarō! Please, never forget me!" that line finally made him remember.
~Flashback~
Enju's note: "To the best Promoter in the world: I love you, my dear Rentarō! Please always be by my side!" was all that was written on it.
~End of flashback~
He stopped dead in his tracks. He could not do it. No, he wouldn't be able to continue, not with that thought stuck in his brain.
The gun began shaking in his hand, him realizing what he was about to do.
Rentarō: "No….this ain't going to end like this!" he decided, before pulling his gun back in his holster and then finally approaching her even further.
The girl backed away, realizing that he changed his mind, although she didn't run.
Enju: "Rentarō? Wait, what are yo-…" he pulled her off the ground, raising her face to his level as he closed in on her.
Enju: "Wait?! What the hell?!" she began struggling when she noticed the proximity his mouth was to hers. "No! Don'-...HMM!" muffles began to exit her now sealed mouth as he pulled her face into his, surprising everyone there as he finally began applying pressure on her lips with his.
Author's Note: this chapter was ungodly long and difficult to write. But we're finally on the last stretch. Two more chapters and this story is done.
Fun fact: the original draft of this story had most of these scenes happen in Masahiko's backyard, behind the cottage in the middle of the wilderness. The idea was that Rentarō's party would have arrived there in the nick of time to find Enju before Masahiko could have killed her. This was later scratched as there was no way I could have written this scene back there when Masahiko would have had almost no advantages on his side and would have easily been overpowered by everyone. Moreover, it would not have made sense for him to keep Enju on his property for so many days until he tried to kill her while Rentarō was busy with the legal process and, as such, the story was changed into what you see today.