Chapter 6: Old Documents
The next morning, Tsugumi woke up with a smile. She got up and stretched her arms out above her. Fyuneru, Fyunerin and their three children all whirled around her in greeting.
"Good morning, everyone!" She gave each one a pat on the head and opened the door and to see Ayase beating eggs on the low kitchen counter.
"Good morning, Tsugumi."
"Good morning, Aya-nee," Tsugumi picked up a slab of cheese and started grating it above the beaten eggs. "I have something to tell you."
"What is it?" The crippled girl wheeled over to the stove to start the fire and heat up some cooking oil.
"Well," Tsugumi smiled as she stirred the cheese into the eggs. "I saw him again."
"Who?" Ayase swung the pan around to spread the oil.
"That boy from the school festival," she poured the mixture onto the frying pan and it started to fizzle. "Daryl Yan."
"Are you serious?" The red head's eyes stared at her widely, "Kill-em-All Daryl is still alive?"
"Geez, Aya-nee it's been years. You should really stop calling him that." Tsugumi glumly flipped the cheese omelette over.
"Sorry, I can't help it." She turned away and opened the refrigerator to grab a carton of milk. "He did almost kill me," she took a pair of cups and forks from the dish rack as well. "About ten times!"
Tsugumi silently transferred the omelette to a plate.
"Do you still like him?" Ayase positioned herself into the small dining table and put the milk and cups on top of it.
"I really do, Aya-nee," Tsugumi put the plate down and took a seat in front of her closest confidante. "I actually like him a lot more now than before."
Ayase smiled, rolled her eyes, and handed her best friend a fork. "Fine, tell me about how you found him."
Tsugumi's face lit up and she took a big bite of omelette. "Actually, we kind of found each other!"
Yahiro collapsed into his office couch and loosened his tie. He had a Monday morning loaded with meetings and reports. To make things worse, he had sore muscles from last night's romp with Kanon.
Ah, that was a really good one.
He jumped to his feet and walked over to the bookshelf in the corner of the room. He picked up a seemingly random hardcover book and opened it. The innocent-looking tome was apparently hollow, and as a shamelessly smutty smile escaped from Yahiro's lips, he took out a small video recorder.
Let's see just how good it was.
He connected the device to his desk computer and played yesterday's recording. Yahiro installed the camcorder last week. It was probably driven by a lingering sense of paranoia he gained from his drug dealing days, but now he was glad that he had done it.
The video started early during that day so he put the player on fast forward. He watched himself monotonously writing a report on his desk, someone from the accounting department entering a handing him a memory stick, him leaving the room for lunch, and coming back shortly with that purple-eyed university student.
Then he saw something unusual. When he left the room to answer Kanon's phone call, the boy rushed to his desktop workstation with blinding speed.
What the hell?
Yahiro clicked replay and set the video speed to normal. Although the kid's speed was not that blinding this time, he still moved pretty fast. He watched as the dark-haired student's fingers darted quickly across the keyboard, plugged in a memory stick, and inspected something on the holographic monitor. Yahiro couldn't make out what he was looking at exactly, but before he knew it, the boy shut off the computer and stealthily returned to his seat a few seconds before he stepped back into the room.
Yahiro panicked.
Should I call security?
He grabbed the office phone on his desk, but halfway through dialing the security division hotline, he felt an inexplicable anxiety. He put down the desk phone and grabbed his mobile phone instead. He searched his contacts to find the one person he could trust to figure out what the intruder had done.
"Hello, Tsugumi?" He sat down and worriedly ran his fingers through his light brown hair. "I need your help."
When Tsugumi opened Yahiro's office door half an hour later, she found him slouched in front of his desktop computer. He lifted up his head wearily to greet her.
"Hey, thanks for coming at such short notice."
"No problem," she looked over his shoulder at the monitor. "Did you find out if there's anything missing?"
"No, nothing seems to be missing or moved," he stood up and offered her his seat. "But I was hoping that you could find out more."
Tsugumi grinned and took out Fyuchan, one of Fyuneru's "children", from her back pack. She connected the little robot to the desktop unit and excitedly flexed her hands before rapidly typing in a plethora of codes.
Yahiro whistled, "I just realized that I've never really seen you in action before. That's pretty awesome. Why didn't you become an engineer instead of a teacher?"
"Meh," the girl with the metal cat ears shrugged. "Why would I waste time learning things I already know?"
"I see," he surveyed the icons of bears and bunnies that Tsugumi flipped and dragged across the holographic monitor. "Who taught you how to do all of this anyway?"
"Kido Kenji," she sent a rainbow flying across the screen. "He trained me back when I first joined the Undertakers."
"Sorry, I don't recall ever meeting him."
"Don't worry," she pulled up what looked like a vertical timeline. "You're better off not knowing him."
Tsugumi sat back and scrolled through the timeline. "This is a list of all actions completed on your computer in the past twenty-four hours. I've filtered out the effects of any programs that might have concealed the infiltrator's actions. Whoever it was, he did a good job, but it wasn't good enough."
Yahiro asked, "How so?"
She smiled smugly, "An expert like me can easily find the weakness in his codes and take advantage of them." She manipulated a few buttons on Fyuchan's interface.
"What time did he use your computer?" She asked.
"At about one o'clock in the afternoon," Yahiro closely read what was on the timeline, but he couldn't understand much. "What did you find?"
"He used your computer to hack into the company's main system. He copied some files from the system and from your personal documents as well," Tsugumi pointed to a file name on the screen. "Do you recognize this document?"
Yahiro's eyes narrowed then widened in revelation.
"That's the Void Ranking Database!"
"The one we used in Tennozu High School?" Tsugumi knitted her eyebrows and cocked her head to one side. "What would he want with that?"
"He said he was writing an article about the quarantine of Loop 7 back in 2039. When he asked for this file, I told him that I didn't know where it was. I can't believe he would be desperate enough to steal it from me!"
"Well, he took two other files, both from the main system," she tapped another part of the glowing display. "Do you recognize these?"
"This one is a Memorandum of Agreement establishing Sephirah Genomics as a separate entity from GHQ," Yahiro explained. "The company then changed its name to Genome Biotechnology."
He pointed at another file then shook his head saying, "But I don't recognize this one."
Tsugumi clicked on the unknown file but was met by an angry kitten icon. "This one is heavily protected by a series of passwords and encryptions. Do you want me to crack it open?"
Yahiro walked towards the door to lock it then returned to the desk to push a button. As the window blinds slowly closed, he said to Tsugumi in a low voice, "Just make sure you don't leave a trace."
Tsugumi winked at him and proceeded to breakdown the mysterious file's defenses.
"Tsugumi!" Haruka excitedly wrapped her arms around the small girl. "It's so nice of you to join us for lunch!"
"I'm not really here for that, Haruka-chan." Tsugumi blushed as she looked down at the older woman's sheer nightgown. She stopped by the Ouma household to consult with the professor on something she found out from Yahiro's hacking situation.
"Nonsense! You MUST try my chicken tomato soup!" Haruka guided her to the dining area where Shu sat sniffing a spoonful of brown goop.
"Go ahead, Tsugumi-chan," the scantily clad woman poured her a bowl of the strange broth. "Have some! Baby Shu, please be a dear and entertain our guest while I dress into something more decent." She padded into her bedroom.
"Shu," Tsugumi whispered as she closely scrutinized the mixture for any signs of life. "I'm pretty sure tomatoes are supposed to be red."
He smiled awkwardly. "I have no idea what it looks like, but it sure doesn't smell like either tomatoes or chicken."
She tucked a strand of deep purple hair behind her ear and bravely took a tiny sip.
"This tastes like steak sauce!" She discreetly grimaced at the soup.
Shu laughed and explained, "I used to cook for the two of us before." He put a spoonful of steak soup in his mouth, struggled to swallow it, then drank a gulp of water. "But I'm glad that she's trying to learn how to cook. Believe it or not, she's a lot better now! She even burned water once."
"She burned what?"
"She forgot that she had water boiling and just left it on the stove until the water evaporated away."
Tsugumi took a drink of fresh water. "I'm so glad I live with Aya-nee!"
Haruka skipped back into the room wearing a large old t-shirt. "So, Tsugumi-chan, how's the soup?" She sat down next to their guest.
"It's very… Uhm… Very interesting!" She sipped some more, secretly wanting to spit it right back out.
"I'm so happy!" The beige-haired woman sprung up in joy, making her breasts bounce happily.
"Anyway, Haruka-chan, I wanted to ask you about something." She took out Fyu-chan and had the little robot project an image on the dining room wall. "Do you recognize this?"
Haruka moved closer to the wall and suddenly became serious.
"Where did you get this, Tsugumi?" She stared at the image of an illuminated metallic ring.
"This morning, Yahiro called me to investigate a hacking incident at his office." She changed the image to a more text-heavy document. "One of the files the intruder got away with was this. I know you used to work with Sephirah Genomics before it separated from GHQ. What can you tell me about the Void Genome Emulator?"
"What's that?" Shu asked his friend.
Tsugumi turned to the young man. "It's a device that uses genomic resonance to replicate the effect of someone's void."
"Is that possible?" Shu then asked his mother.
"Yes," Haruka lowered her head. "Because the heart never forgets its true form."
"Haruka-chan, I know this is implanted into a person's chest. I've seen it on Daryl."
"That's right. Only six units were made." Haruka broke the solemnity in the air by teasing Tsugumi. "So he already took off his shirt for you? Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Kids these days just move too fast."
"HARUKA-CHAN! It wasn't like that! I ran into him again and this time he was shirtless because he just came from a shower after batting practice and I was curious because it looked cool!" Tsugumi stammered.
"Hmmm…? Which one looked cool? The Void Genome Emulator or the hot topless guy?" Haruka smirked.
"NO!" Tsugumi stood up and pointed at something on the bottom of the projection. "Besides, what I wanted to ask was this."
Haruka bent down, revealing her lacy pink panties, and read the fine print.
"That's true. The Void Genome Emulator does have a limit. You can only use it for one hour at a time, and on standby, the user can have it on for ten years before it breaks down and causes adverse effects."
"It's been eight years since it was implanted into Daryl right?" Tsugumi frowned. "Does that mean Daryl only has two years until something bad happens?"
"I'm afraid so," she straightened back up and returned to her seat. "And I'm not sure if there's a way to remove it safely."
"That's the same thing Daryl's aunt told him."
"Ah, Charlotte Gespenst?" Haruka nodded. "Yes, she was the one who designed it. Her sister invented the Endlave and was a good friend of Kurosu."
"Really?" Shu perked up at the mention of his late father.
"Yes, those twins worked closely with Kurosu to develop the technology."
"Haruka-chan?" Tsugumi softly inquired. "What could happen once the Emulator breaks down?"
"I'm sorry, Tsugumi-chan." Shu's mother gave the young girl a disheartened look, "He could go into a coma or even…"
The girl's navy blue eyes welled up with tears. She started breathing in dry heaves when Shu put his mechanical arm on her shoulder. He smiled through his blank brown eyes and tried to comfort her.
"Tsugumi, I'm sure there's another way."
The cat-eared girl turned to him and smiled back.
"Actually," Haruka placed a caring hand on Tsugumi's other shoulder. "There is one other person who might know how to remove it."
"See?" Shu gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.
Haruka spoke to Tsugumi carefully. "We can visit him this weekend. He's been staying in Kurosu's old house in Oshima Island, where the Apocalypse Virus was discovered. Tell Daryl to come with us, but don't tell him who we're going to see. He might refuse to go."
"Why? Who is it?" She wiped away the tears that almost fell from her dark blue eyes.
"The former Antibodies Chief of Intelligence: Rowan Hughes."
Daryl raised himself up to sit on the edge of his mansion's indoor swimming pool. He panted for air after his rigorous workout as water dripped from his white-gold hair, across his angular jaw, and down to his elegant chin. The droplets glided slowly from the smooth skin on his neck to his prominent collarbone. The drips of clear water then enviously slipped along the side of the barely glowing metal ring framed by the superbly defined muscles of his chest.
His mobile phone rang. He stood up and wrapped a small white towel around his tight black swimming trunks. The clicked the phone open and found that it was Tsugumi's number. He smiled and answered the call.
"What do you want, runt?" He said as nonchalantly as he could, secretly melting inside.
"Nice to hear from you, too, sprout!" Her voice resonated like music in his ears. "Hey, do you want to hang out this Saturday? Let's go to Oshima Island!"
His heart started beating quickly. He nervously patted another towel along his lean physique. "Why would I want to go anywhere with you?"
"Come on, Daryl, please?" She begged playfully, "My friend has a beach house there. Plus, there's a festival at the local shrine on that night. It'll be fun!"
"Y-y-you mean we'll be staying overnight?" His face turned red as his thoughts drifted into naughty visions of them in bed together.
"What's wrong with that?" Tsugumi wondered. "Meet us at the ferry port at five in the morning on Saturday! Don't forget to bring a yukata! Bye!"
"Wait!" He shouted as she cut the line. "What's a yukata?"
The chamber was dark and cavernous. A woman with long flowing blonde curls stood in front of a pond filled with glowing blue water. Two boys stood by her side. One had locks dark as midnight and the other had milky brown hair.
The young men waded into the water and retrieved the body of a naked woman submerged in the luminous fluid. Her wet skin was ivory white and her hair was platinum blonde. She was in every way the spitting image of the woman who stood before her.
The boys offered the body up to the woman who held out a slender hand towards the face of the motionless figure. She deftly opened its eyes to find that one was a brilliant shade of purple, while the other was an equally breath-taking sapphire.
"NO!"
This imperfection enraged her. She took a knife hidden in the folds of her black gown and slit the other woman's throat causing deep red blood to spurt and ooze from the body's elegant neck into the glowing pool. Even with this violence, the body didn't flinch.
The murderous woman's dark lavender eyes tapered into a devious feline look. She spoke with a deep rumble.
"I want The Doll Maker."
End of Chapter 6: Old Defenses
Yes Rowan survived! If I didn't love DarGumi so much, I would totally ship him with Daryl. I gave him the last name "Hughes" because he reminded me of Maes Hughes from Fullmetal Alchemist.
And congratulations, Sweet Reward readers! You have reached the halfway point. I've pegged this story to end at chapter 12 for two reasons: (1) This story is already more intricate than I first imagined and I don't want to draw it out into something that would be too complicated to enjoy, and (2) I'll be busy with a part-time job next month! XD
Please rate and review as we go along! I'll be releasing a new chapter every four days.
Next chapter, we're going to have the Summer Festival Episode! I was kinda disappointed that Guilty Crown didn't cover this cliché, but I will! Hohohohoho~!
Love Always,
Kinky Robot