The truck parked in front of a fancy white building that appeared to be similar to the White House. Fumiko, as far as she knew, hadn't seen it before. It wasn't in the few pictures she looked up on the Internet when it came to what Japan looked like. Regardless, it had to be an important building.
"Where are we?" she asked before climbing out of the truck, her school bag slung over her shoulder as she continued to stare.
Ogami and Heike also immerged from the truck. The driver stayed inside. Neither of them answered her question. They simply walked across the street and entered the property grounds. Fumiko followed, but was annoyed. A person was not supposed to ignore another's existence on purpose. It was rude, disrespectful, and was likely to create a reaction from the one being ignored, whether it be good or bad – though the outcome was likely terrible.
"I asked a question," she said, her tone on borderline shouting as they entered the building.
"You're an impatient one," Heike remarked as he looked over his shoulder at her. "Don't you enjoy mystery and surprise?"
"No," she answered as she glared venomously at the white haired male.
"What a pity," he replied as he returned to looking ahead of himself.
A pity? Why was it a pity? Was he implying that she was missing something important? Her anger dashed out of sight, and worry settled in. Were those qualities something she needed? Why didn't she have them if that was so? Her pace began to slow, but she continued to follow the two young men up until the elevator where she stopped directly in front of the open door, the two of them staring at her.
"Get in already," Ogami said, his tone harsh and cold.
Fumiko could feel her body begin to shake again. She dug her nails into the palms of her hands and hid them behind her back.
"Get in!" he shouted as he tried to shove her into the bathroom. She was resisting and clinging to the doorframe, her heels digging into the floor. She knew what would happen if she went in willingly. He'd fill the tub with bath water and dunk her in. He'd begin to drown her before letting her up for air, laughing as she would spit up water and gasp for breath. He'd say something like, "Just kidding," in a sickening, teasing tone before leaving her alone to silently cry and wish he had just killed her.
"Mommy!" Fumiko screamed as she cried. "Help, mommy! He's going to kill me! He's going to drown me!"
There was no answer.
"Why won't you do anything to stop him?!" Fumiko demanded in agony.
Her arms gave way to her father's shoving. She fell to her knees. She tried to stand up and run before he grabbed her, but it was too late. He had already snaked his arm around her waist and chuckled as he closed and locked the door.
"You're not getting out," he whispered in her ear. "You're never getting out."
"Ca-can't we take the stairs?" Fumiko asked nervously. She didn't want to feel trapped. She didn't want to feel closed in. She didn't want to feel like there was no escape for her until the doors allowed her to leave.
"The elevator is faster," Ogami replied, implying that he'd rather not take the stairs.
"How about I just take the stairs then? You two can hurry on up, and I'll just take my time."
"We have to keep our eye on you because you're new," Heike explained, "so, unfortunately, we can't leave you unattended."
Neither of them were being the least bit sympathetic. Heike even seemed to enjoy this moment.
Please don't be a sadist, Fumiko begged. I don't know if I could handle that, Heike.
Fumiko sighed. She saw no way around it. It was two against one. She'd have to take the elevator and hope she didn't suffer from a panic attack along the way.
She carefully stepped inside and stood between the two of them. Ogami pressed one of the buttons, and then another. The door began to slowly close. Fumiko gulped and took in a deep, silent breath in before it closed completely.
The elevator jerked into motion.
As the trio ascended, Fumiko's head began to spin. She felt dizzy, and suddenly the profound breath she took didn't feel like enough air.
Fumiko struggled against her father's strong hand as he held her under by her head. She clawed at his grip, she tried to move away from it, she tried pushing up with her legs to try and reach the surface of the water, but it was no use. She was weak compared to him. A grown man against a six-year-old girl…
She shot out of the water and tumbled over the side of the bathtub, completely exposed to her father's sight. She was naked, wet, and gasping for oxygen. Her body was trembling. Adrenaline rushed through her like rapid fire as she backed herself into a corner.
He stared at her for a good, long minute before he began to laugh. He stood up, walked over to her, and lifted his hand. She flinched and closed her eyes, preparing for some sort of deadly blow. There was a pause, and then he simply laid his hand on her head gently, messing up her hair before kneeling down in front of her. Out of surprise, Fumiko opened her eyes. He gazed at her with such kindness that she was confused, and didn't know what to do. She couldn't even bring herself to cry.
"You know I love you, sweetheart, don't you?" he asked.
Fear crept in. What would he do if she didn't say yes? She didn't know if he did. She didn't know anything. One minute he'd be beating her, cutting her to pieces, suffocating her, trying to drown her, etc. and the next he'd be so loving…
Fumiko nodded.
"Good," he said before removing his hand, standing up, unlocking the bathroom door, and leaving.
Fumiko collapsed on the floor, her body a mixture of adrenaline, nerves, and the beginnings of relief and calm settling in. She didn't know what she wanted more: her father to stop hurting her, or for him to go too far and kill her in the process.
"Get me out…" Fumiko whimpered very lightly.
"Pardon?" asked Heike as he stared down at Fumiko. She had sat herself on the floor and curled up into the fetal position. Her breathing had become more auditable, and it sounded panicky.
"Get me out!" Fumiko shouted before standing up and rushing to the elevator doors, beating on them with her fists before trying to pry them open with her fingernails.
Ogami stared in shock before grabbing a hold of her, pulling her away from the doors.
"Calm down!" he said, trying to restrain her.
Heike slowly keeled over, his chuckles faint, but they soon turned into hideous laughter.
Fumiko froze in Ogami's arms and gaped at the white haired male. His laugh… it sounded like his laugh; her father's laugh. It sounded so similar, and yet it couldn't possibly be his. Maybe she was imagining it? Maybe she was self-inserting the sound because of her memories?
Her lungs were on fire. She couldn't stop taking heavy, shallow breaths. The room was spinning even worse than before, and there were several Heike's laughing manically at Fumiko's expense. Her stomach churned. She couldn't take this. She couldn't take this anymore!
"Matsushita!" Ogami shouted just as Fumiko had become limp in his arms.
(…)
Fumiko stirred and slowly opened her eyes. It was bright in the room, so she lifted her hand and blocked the light.
Where am I? What happened?
Her mind was muddy, but as she sat up it started to clear. She was with Heike and Ogami. They entered an elevator and she didn't want to go in, but they didn't want to take a different way to their destination, so she went inside to avoid exposing the details as to why she wanted to take the stairs. Giving a brief description to classmates as to why she had scars was one thing, but revealing details of the abuse? Showing her anxiety to others? That was entirely different.
"Well what do you know, she woke up."
Fumiko turned her head and saw Ogami leaning against a wall with his arms crossed. Heike was sitting at a table reading a book, and there were four strangers among her in a room she didn't know how she got to.
"Who are you?" she asked. "How did I get here?"
"Who are we?" asked a blonde male with two-toned eyes; one blue and one brown. "We should be asking who you are."
There was also a blue haired woman wearing a white shirt and a black leather jacket, and a boy with red hair with a strange hoop necklace around his neck that had a vial attached to it. Finally, sitting behind a desk, there was a middle-aged man with light brown hair wearing a business suit.
"You're the Code Breakers I was supposed to meet," Fumiko realized as she swung her legs over the side of the couch she had previously been laying on and stood up. "My name is Fumiko Matsushita. I will be your new recruit, Code 07."
The middle-aged man smiled and explained, "Matsushita is a Code Breaker who came from overseas. She was known as Code 01 there, but since she has transferred here, we have put her at the lowest rank so we may test her skills, and also to be fair to everyone else."
"Oh?" the blonde said as he smiled and looked Fumiko over. "Strongest Code Breaker from overseas huh?"
"And you are?" she asked.
"Toki Fujiwara, also known as Code 04."
"I'm Rui Hachiouji," said the blue haired woman. "I'm known as Code 05."
"Yuuki Tenpouin. Code 03," introduced the red head.
Heike closed his book and looked over to Fumiko. "We met in the truck, but I'm Code 02."
Fumiko nodded and then looked over to Ogami. "You must be Code 06 then."
He simply nodded.
"I guess I can't tease him for being the lowest ranked anymore," Toki said. "but I can certainly tease the newbie."
His expression was devilish. He appeared to be the most excited one out of the group to get a new member. The others were interested enough to introduce themselves and arrive for this meeting, but that was where their interest ended.
Fumiko didn't reply to him as she walked up to the desk, which the middle-aged man sat.
"Are you the President?" she asked. "The leader of Eden?"
"Yes, I'm Fujiwara Souri," he answered.
Fumiko glanced at Toki. "You're the President's son." She looked him over and noticed his uniform. She recognized the name of the school from her research on Japan. It was known for being a very expensive school that had top-notch curriculum, along with many other things.
"That explains the uniform," she added.
Toki grunted, beginning to look annoyed, and crossed his arms as he looked away from her gaze. Clearly she had hit a sore spot. Maybe they didn't get along?
"So is that it? Introductions are over, so can everyone go home now?" she asked as she took another look around the room.
It was quite boring. There were a couple plants here and there, windows behind the President's desk, his desk was neat and tidy, there was the couch beside the door, and a couple picture frames of various things, but nothing to take note of.
"Yes, that'll be it for today," the President said as he chuckled. "Though, I am curious as to why you were brought into my office unconscious."
Fumiko froze.
"It's nothing important," she said flatly, making it very clear that the topic was not up for discussion.
There was a pause of silence, but soon enough, the President sighed and said, "Alright. You can go."
Hey! If you've read this far, please give my fanfiction a review so I know what you think of it! It would mean a lot!
Anyways, I just wanted to let everyone know that I originally started writing this while watching the anime, but now I am also reading the manga. Updates might be slow because of this, but I hope you enjoy nonetheless :)!