Chapter 13

Atsushi approached the old man and shook his hand, saying, "It will be my pleasure to work with

you. Thanks to you, this project will be completed." Atsushi's eyes shined with the excitement; he barely could stop his hands from shaking.

"Oh, I'm so thrilled; I completely forgot to ask you, your names."

The old man grinned at Atsushi and introduced himself and others. "My name is Iwai Kaimu; those two are brothers, Maki Daichi and Daiki; here is Nakama Riko." Kaimu pointed at the older girl. "And the youngest of our group is Sanda Moriko."

Only the brothers shook Elena's and Atsushi's hands, while the girls had been kept sitting on the bed. Riko eyed Atsushi, which made him feel uncomfortable.

"Riko-chan, Moriko-chan, say hello to Atsushi-san and Elena-san," Kaimu urged the two girls.

Riko and Moriko said hello, however, Atsushi wasn't sure what Moriko said exactly as she spoke too quietly.

It would be easy to manipulate those people and force them to do what Atsushi would want them to do. However, it would be difficult, if one of them, at least, would turn out to be smart one who would frustrated the project that Atsushi and his wife had been worked so hard on it.

"This room would be for you, young ladies, and the one I showed you before will be for you, gentlemen. I hope it's all right for you to share the room." Pisco putted his fake smile on, but it seemed that none of the guests caught it.

"Of course, that room is huuge," Iwai responded.

"Plus, it has own bathroom," Daiki added, while his brother nodded his head in agreement.

"I'm happy that you enjoy the rooms. You will start the work tomorrow, now get a rest, and feel free to ask for a meal, if you hungry," Pisco informed them. Next, he left the room along with Atsushi and Elena.

They walked to another room, furthest from the new guests' rooms, and it was a wise decision. Elena boiled with anger. She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes.

"You brought a child to experiment on? A child?"

"I apologize Elena-san, but using these people along with the child is necessary in order to complete the project." Pisco wore the serious expression on his face; he didn't move a muscle. He intensively looked at Elena, so did she. It seemed like a staring contest.

Atsushi cleared his throat which made Elena and Pisco turn towards him.

"It's late, we should go back home, Elena, I'm sure Akemi-chan misses us."

Elena looked for a moment at Atsushi, and she turned back to Pisco. "I will not let the girls be part of the experiment. I am not even happy for the fact that we have to use people."

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice Elena-san. Everyone of that group is here to help you to complete the drug that the organization has been wanting it for so long."

"But not for the cost of innocent people, especially a child," Elena said, and walked towards the door.

"Where're you thinking you going," Pisco asked.

"I will talk with the boss. I may not convince him not to use those people for the experiment, but I may convince him to spare the younger girl," Elena responded.

"Wait," Pisco called after her. It seemed that Pisco was thinking on something very hard. After a minute or so he spoke, with a resignation in his voice, "All right Moriko-chan doesn't need to take part in this experiment-"

A smile appeared on Elena's face.

"For now. I will inform the boss about it." Pisco's lips twisted in grimace. "And remember Elena, the boss must approve the decision of Moriko-chan not taking a part."

Elena nodded her head, slowly. She hoped the boss will agree. She felt horrible about using people, already. She didn't want to feel worse by using an innocent child. How old was she anyway.

"I will see you, tomorrow, and I'll inform you of the boss' decision regarding Moriko-chan."

After, Pisco had left, Atsushi sighed, heavily.

"God, I'm tired, let's go back home. Do you think, Akemi-chan, is sleeping, already?"

"She may." Elena smiled and together with her husband went back home.

Elena returned work, next day, tired. She thought of Moriko-chan and others, all night. She hoped that Atsushi and she would complete the drug, quickly, and none of those people would have to suffer. However, who would she like to fool? Of course, they would suffer. Maybe, they would even die.

Every time, Elena's conscience spoke; Elena reminded herself that the drug would help many people, and how her husband was always saying, sometimes you need to make sacrifices to achieve something.

Elena didn't sleep, last night; her mind was occupied with those homeless people, and what would happen to them. She had to be tough about this situation, and not let her soft side to take control, even though it was hard for her sometimes.

Atsushi and she arrived about eight o'clock, at that time, the house had been always loud, though not as loud as under the building where all workers had been doing their work.

Elena noticed Kaimu sitting on the couch in the living room, reading a newspaper. Atsushi and Elena approached him, and said hello to him.

"Hello, Elena-san and Atsushi-san, I'm so excited about the work that I could barely sleep," Kaimu chortled.

"We're excited, as well." Atsushi grinned at him. He didn't seem have any problem to use these people for the experiment. Elena wondered how her husband could control his emotions like that.

"Did you have a good sleep Iwai-san?" Elena asked.

"Oh, my night couldn't be better, thank you very much."

Elena looked around, the others probably were still asleep. Pisco came in to the living room and called Elena.

She excused Iwai and Atsushi, and walked towards Pisco. They went into one of the rooms.

"I talked to the boss, and he agreed to not involve Moriko-chan." A smile appeared on Elena's face on this information. "However," Pisco continued. "The boss said, if well, the number of mice will decrease then you will be ordered to involve Moriko-chan into the experiment, as well. Do you understand?" Pisco stared at Elena, wearing a serious expression.

She felt as Pisco could read her mind, because of the intensity of his look. She wanted to argue with him, and let him know that she would never agree for Moriko to be part of the experiment. However, she wouldn't go against Pisco, if she would disagree; she would go against the boss, and going against the boss, wouldn't be a clever idea. Elena having no other choice, said, "Yes, I understand."

Elena felt powerless against the boss, and she hated it. Elena didn't have much of a freedom in this organisation. The boss would always get his way. Elena only wished to free herself and her family from him, maybe someday.

"If that wouldn't be a problem, I would like Iwai-san and others start their work, tomorrow."

Pisco was about to object, but Elena kept going, "They need to fill in the papers regarding their health. You know all those basic questions: do they suffer from any disease, do they smoke, their diet, etc. So, they can use today for this, and you know to adapt to the new situation."

"You cannot protract forever, Elena-san." Pisco wasn't impressed. However, he sighed, and responded, "All right, but tomorrow, I expect four of them seeing in your lab."

"Yes."

Pisco and Elena left the room. Pisco went off somewhere, and Elena walked towards Atsushi who was tickling Ichirou on the couch. The brothers also decided to join.

"Hey, stop it, stop it." Ichirou begged while laughing. Elena envied that kid. He has so much freedom. However, the boss would recruit him when he would be old enough.

"Hey, Atsushi leave him, look he's all sweaty, already," Elena pointed out.

"Okay." Atsushi let Ichirou go.

"This boy is so cheerful," one of the brothers noticed.

"Yeah, full of life, just like us, right, Daichi," the other one added.

"Absolutely."

The girls came out of their bedroom.

"Good morning," Elena said, smiling at them.

"Morning," the girls responded.

"Ichirou-kun, please, leave us alone," Elena demanded.

While, her eyes rested on Moriko, Elena got an idea.

"Ichirou-kun, wait. I would like you to meet someone, Moriko-chan, come here."

Moriko twitched but not moved.

"Come here, don't be afraid." Elena encouraged her.

Moriko slowly approached her and Ichirou who looked at Moriko with an interest.

"Ichirou-kun, here is Sanda Moriko, she will live here." Elena introduced Moriko to Ichirou.

"Hi, my name is Endoso Ichirou, nice to meet you." Ichirou offered his hand to her, smiled.

Moriko hesitated, at first, but finally, she accepted it.

"Moriko-chan, you will not need to work, so you can spend your time to play with Ichirou-kun." Elena smiled at her.

"Is that true, Moriko-chan will not need to work for you?" Riko asked, surprised. Elena noticed relief in her voice.

"Yes." Elena responded.

"We're gonna have so much fun together." Ichirou said with an excitement. "I'm ten. How old are you?"

"Err, fourteen," Moriko responded.

"Oh, you look younger than fourteen." Ichirou noticed. Moriko blushed on his words.

It was true. Elena guessed it must do something with Moriko's homeless lifestyle. Elena hoped that Moriko would get better in here. Unfortunately, Elena couldn't tell it about others who would soon suffer because of the experiment.

"Ichirou-kun, please take Moriko-chan to the kitchen and ask for a breakfast." Elena asked.

"All right, come on." Ichirou grabbed Moriko's hand, and they ran to the kitchen.

Elena turned to Iwai and others and informed them about their free day and about filling the papers. Iwai and the brothers were disappointment. They were really looking forward to their first day of work. They were going to change their mind when they would find out what they would need to do. Tomorrow, their nightmare would begin. Actually, it already did, they just didn't know it, yet.

A/N: I apologize for such long break.

Thank you everyone for reading this story :)