Toaru Kazoku no Hanashi
A Certain Talk of Families
After leaving school and saying goodbye to her beloved Onee-sama, Kuroko steeled herself for the daunting task ahead of her. She knew that an apology now would be much better than trying to evade her for however long it took for her to calm down naturally, which, knowing her, would probably be only shortly before the heat death of the universe. Though she had confidence in her plan she could not completely still her quivering knees as she walked towards Cypress Park where the dorm mistress worked today.
The logic behind her destination was simple. As Kuro so helpfully pointed out, the dorm mistress acted far less harsh and angry towards those kids and seemed generally more at ease at that place. She would be much more likely to hear out Kuroko than back at the dorm. And even if worst came to worst and she was still as angry as she had been last night, it would be the one place where she would not dare be violent against her, for fear of hurting her reputation with the children there.
"Though I wouldn't have had to put up with these worries if perhaps you weren't quite as hostile last night," Kuroko said pointedly to Kuro.
There was no real alternative I'm afraid. If I simply stood there and let her inflict an injury even more grievous than the one already received, an act which would have had the additional effect of alerting her to your bullet wound after being rendered unconscious, then you would have been in even more trouble than for simple insubordination. My actions followed the best and most logical course to ensure your continued well being.
Kuroko sighed. "You're right," she said, sounding slightly disappointed "as usual. It's all my fault for forgetting the chambered round and getting shot in the first place."
The fault actually does lie with me. I was the one who dawdled in returning, making us late. I was simply telling you why my reaction to that situation was justified, not trying to lift the blame off myself.
"Thanks for trying to spare my feelings but I know that it's all my fault. This whole thing has been my choice and it is my duty to face the consequences."
Your forced pseudo-maturity does not suit you.
"Shut up," Kuroko hissed. Kuro obliged, knowing how sensitive Shiro was on this topic. The two did not exchange any more words until they reached their destination, where Kuroko saw a suprising sight. It was a familiar face, but not one she expected to find here. She grinned as she walked up to the young man who was sweeping outside the fence of the school.
"Surprising to see you here. It's been a while," she said casually. The man jumped in the air and turned around quickly.
"Th-th-the Oni..." he spluttered, backing up to the wall, "Hey I haven't done anything bad recently. I promise I've gone straight. Please don't hurt me."
"If that's true then I have no reason to hurt you do I? It's good to hear you have turned around. Isn't it a much better feeling than committing crimes?"
"... yeah," the man said hesitantly. Though he had been reluctant at first, only being goaded into this by his newfound terror in the law enforcement system, he had found that he actually enjoyed the work. He had joined skillout looking for a place to belong, but found that he belonged here as much as he belonged there. The work was a little harder but it was much more fulfilling.
"So just keep on the straight and narrow and we won't have problems. I am a demon of justice, not massacre," she said with a grin, finally accepting the nickname as a compliment rather than an insult. The man nodded in response and Kuroko went into Cypress Park to look for the dorm mistress, leaving him to his work.
Fear is a powerful tool and its effects are not all negative.
Kuroko rolled her eyes at Kuro's gloating but didn't say a word.
She saw the dorm mistress overseeing as the children played on the playground. She took a deep breath and walked up to her. "Um... dorm mistress," she began. The dorm mistress turned to her and when her eyes fell upon Kuroko they lit up with an angry flame, but her bearing did not change to show this newfound rage. She did not speak, waiting for Kuroko to continue, which she did, "I wanted to apologize for yesterday. My actions and words were quite rude and I'm very sorry."
The apology seemed to surprise the dorm mistress and suspicion replaced the anger in her eyes. "Is that all you have to say about it," she asked.
"As you yourself have said before, one's circumstances do not justify one's actions. I apologize for what I did and will not waste your time with excuses," Kuroko said humbly, counting on the dorm mistress's natural disdain for justification to try and avoid having to come up with a lie for what she was doing last night, or worse, telling the truth.
However luck was not on her side with this and the suspicion did not abate from her eyes, "I have plenty of time right now. Why don't you go ahead and tell me your side of the story," she said, trying to keep her voice level, even happy, for the sake of the children who were running around and saw her as a beacon of kindness.
Seeing no alternative Kuroko took a deep breath and decided that it would be best if she was honest. "A puppy. I was saving a puppy that had fallen onto the monorail tracks. It was quite out of my way, and by the time I got there, rescued him, and made sure she was alright, curfew was already in place."
The anger that had vanished flared up once again within the dorm mistress's eyes, though her voice remained level as she said, "you really expect me to believe that?"
"It's true," Kuroko defended, getting out her phone and showing her the pictures that Kuro, in her infinite foresight, had remembered to take of the puppy in question both before and after it had been rescued, "I was going to file a missing pet report at Judgment but it was far too late so I decided to take a picture and wait until tomorrow when I next have work."
"Puppy?" asked one of the children who had suddenly appeared in front of the two at the mention of a cute furry thing, "where's the puppy? Can I pet it?"
Kuroko was slightly taken aback by this. "umm... no it's not actually with me?" she awkwardly tried to explain. She was not very good with kids, hardly having the best role models for child care. "It's just a picture."
The child's sparkling eyes dulled in her disappointment. "Oh... no puppy."
"Well," Kuroko said trying to say something to comfort the child, "Since there are no pets at the dorm the puppy needs a place to stay until the owner is found. I could bring her here if you promise to look after him."
The child's eyes lit up again and she looked to the dorm mistress, "Oba-chan can we? Can we get a puppy?"
"You'll have to ask Kazuko-sensei,"she responded with that kind motherly tone so different from her usual voice of harsh, unrelenting rage that it made Kuroko wonder which was her true face. The child ran off smiling and giggling at the prospect and the dorm mistress looked back at Kuroko. She looked thoughtful for a moment then spoke, her voice dropping to a more neutral level, "very well. I shall excuse the lateness but you will still receive a detention for the insubordination. After school on Friday you will be responsible for cleaning Tokiwadai's pool, alone."
Kuroko bowed, "thank you," she said with relief in her voice. She had been spared most of the dorm mistress's wrath.
The child came rushing back out, out of breath but smiling. "Kazuko-sensei said yes! We get a puppy?"
"Ok..." Kuroko said, "I guess I'll go and get him and bring her here. I'll be back shortly." she said before teleporting off and back to the dorms. She went to the back and went up to the bush she had hidden the puppy under last night. It was still there and when she saw Kuroko he barked happily."hey there little guy. I found you a nice home." she said to it as she stooped down to pick it up. "We're going there now so hold on."
She teleported back to the facility and deposited the puppy, leaving shortly afterwards, sighing as she began walking off with no particular destination in mind.
You're upset. You were upset last time you went to that place as well.
"I wonder why?" Kuroko quipped sarcastically, "You know why I feel that way and you know how much I don't like to talk about it."
Very well. I understand. You have every right to be upset. I apologize for bringing them up.
There was silence for a few minutes then Kuroko began to respond. Before she could get a single word out, however, she heard a noise to her side. She turned immediately to look and saw a baseball bouncing along the pavement, and sliding along behind it was a sleek silver handgun. Turning around fully she saw four men, between 16 and 20 years old and dressed in casual business attire. All of them but one held a similar silver handgun, all of them pointed at her.
Her hand, which had been hanging by her hip, immediately touched the needles on her thighs. She teleported the needles into the barrels of the gun into the bullet and firing pin, disabling them. As she did that another baseball flew out of nowhere at high speed, clipping one of the men in the head, sending him to the ground unconscious. With the guns disabled she could now engage in relative safety, teleporting above the shoulders of one of the men and driving her heel into the back of his neck and shoulders, sending him to the ground. The she teleported to the other and kicked him in the back, pushing him down as she landed behind them, ready to take out the last, knocking him out with a well-placed needle into the nerve bundles in his neck.
For the first time since turning around and seeing the guns pointed at her she allowed herself to breath as she scanned the area carefully for anyone or anything else. Several feet away stood another man. He looked to be in his early to mid-twenties. He was very well dressed in a nice, fancy business suit and black silk tie. His hair looked recently done into a professional looking style. His face was neutral, with a bit of curiosity as he looked at Kuroko but holding no surprise at the spectacle that had just occurred. One hand was in his pocket while the other tossed a baseball into the air repeatedly.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
Kuroko took a deep breath and tried to quiet her still quickly beating heart. "I'm fine. Thank you for your assistance," she said.
"It was no problem at all miss…" he said, pausing as he waited for her to tell him her name.
"Kuroko, Shirai Kuroko." She told him.
For a moment his face contorted as if trying to remember something. Then a look of realization came upon his features, "Ah. You're Birdy's friend. I'm Itora Hitoyashu. I take it she's told you of me. I must say this is quite a stroke of luck."
"Yes she's told me about you. You're her employer correct?"
"I prefer the term "patron" personally."
"Patron," Kuroko corrected. Then she asked, "why is it a stroke of luck exactly?"
"Well if you were someone else, especially another Judgment agent, it would be far more difficult and take far longer to figure out why this happened. But since you already know about—well us—I don't have to worry about giving out any information. I can just ask you straight out: why did these men attack you?"
"I don't know," Kuroko said, "I don't know who they are or why they tried to kill me."
"I can tell you who they are. They are members of the Honogun crime family, low level grunts called bruisers who handle the majority of the dirty work. We heard something via one of our informants; I believe Birdy's told you about him, his name is Riko. He told us that they were moving in on something quite suddenly and told us their approximate location. It's a good thing they took so long to find you, I barely got here on time as it is."
"Honogun…" Kuroko said slowly, remembering the events of last night as well as Kuro's warning, "So that's why…"
"You have a theory?"
"First, if you could tell me why you came in the first place. What's your place in all of this? Birdy has told me some things about the families and all of that but I still don't know too much."
"Fair enough," Itora said with a shrug, "though how about we walk and talk. I do not know if there are any more people gunning for you so I think it would be safer elsewhere."
Kuroko agreed and the two began walking off, Itora in the lead and Kuroko walking beside him. "So you know of the family and what we do correct?" After a nod from Kuroko he continued, "Well, in order to operate, the families have to have organization. There is a chief board which oversees the various operations and keeps the families from getting at each other's throats too much and putting us all at risk. It is quite similar to Academy City's own board of directors. In fact two of the members of the Board of Directors are on the Board of Merchants, as we call ourselves. Making up the Board are the heads of each group. A single group may contain multiple families with either widely varied or very similar companies. The group that I lead contains seven different companies, including my own."
"However," he continued, "not all of the members play along very well. The Honogun family is far more brutal and cutthroat in their tactics than the rest of us and they violate several of the rules. The problem is that they are too powerful to take down easily and the board is very slow to make any kind of decision, as any governing body is. So, rather than taking it down all at once, we try to ensure that they don't break any rules and straighten out the rules they do break as quickly as possible. But, though we can take measures to counteract their actions, it does not help if we can only get there afterwards. So it would be a great help if we knew why they would try something as risky as an abduction in broad daylight."
"Abduction? Since when do you use handguns to abduct?" Kuroko asked skeptically.
"A bullet through the leg is as good as any tranquilizer dart. That is just how the Honoguns operate," Itora said, disgust in his voice.
"I don't know the exact reason why but it has something to do with Yashinko. She attempted a similar abduction last night."
"No. That wouldn't be enough of a reason. Yashinko doesn't have too much sway over her father. He only makes decisions that would benefit him. It has to…" he paused for a second, "Birdy was asking not too long ago about a certain device. I believe they're called the Horns of Jericho. She said that it was for a friend. Interestingly enough she began to mention it around the time she began to tell us about a friend she met named Kuroko. I told her about one of them that had been obtained by a rather distasteful private contractor group. That very night that I told her, the group's headquarters was annihilated by an unknown assailant and all of its members were arrested. But though the place was raided by the police, turning up several pieces of contraband, the Horn of Jericho wasn't found."
"Yes I retrieved it from them. Is that significant?"
"In addition to being a member of the Board of Merchants I am also the leader of the ESPer labor union, a group that seeks to find ways to adapt ESPer powers for use in industry. I rely on ESPer powers and have no interest in something which can disable them. However the Honogun's look at such a thing and see a valuable weapon. If they knew you possessed one they would attempt to get it from you at any cost."
"I see…" was all Kuroko said in response.
"I must say you are taking this quite well. Most people don't respond to this kind of peril with such poise.
"I'm in Judgment I am used to this kind of danger." was her simple reply, "I have been shot at before." You shouldn't treat this with such disdain. The last time was a carefully placed shot meant to incapacitate, not kill. The next time you might not be so lucky.
"Really… going into such danger without any protection? Don't you get hurt?"
"Yes but not that badly. The alternative is some bulky bulletproof vest that I'd have to wear all the time." Kuroko responded to both Kuro and Itora.
Itora grinned and his voice slipped into a smoother, suaver tone, sounding now like the businessman he appeared to be, "and what if there was another option, a more subtle option? You are from Tokiwadai so you must have some money to spare, and you have already purchased some pieces of technology from the black market. Well it just so happens that one of the companies in the group I control happens manufacture various pieces of technology and recently got a contract to build a suit of stealth armor for the special forces. However there was some confusion during the manufacturing stage of the first set of prototypes. They were far too small for an adult male. The degree was too large to be fixed by simple adjustments and the material was too difficult to recycle, so they were scraped. However the research, development, and manufacturing of those prototypes was far too costly and with no results to show their grant was suspended."
"However, while it can't fit an adult male, it could easily fit someone of your size. Since they would otherwise go unused you could purchase them for a fraction of the price and all you would have to do is tell them how well the suit performs."
"What's the catch?" Kuroko asked, reasonably suspicious.
"I'm technically selling you defective merchandise. Most people would see that as enough of a catch."
"But other than its size it's not defective right?"
"Correct. Other than the size it should work perfectly."
"Tell me more," Kuroko said with Kuro's encouragement.
"Well for starters it is almost completely bulletproof. It protects perfectly against any cutting weapon as well. Though the blunt force of the bullets and the blade can still hurt you. It can be worn two ways. One is the armor plus the padding, which protects you from blunt trauma as well as cutting or piercing. However that adds considerable bulk. The other way is without the padding, making you more vulnerable but allowing you to wear it under clothing. You don't have to wear the whole suit either. The chest, arms and legs, and helmet are all separate pieces and can be worn in any combination." He continued on extolling the amazing properties of the armor, excited to be talking about such an interesting piece of equipment.
"Very well," Kuroko said. She had had a hard time keeping up but what she had understood had greatly impressed her. "It sounds quite useful. So how much is it."
Itora opened his mouth to say something then his eyes lit up with an idea. "How about nothing? You do me a little favor and I'll give it to you for free."
"What's the favor…"
"It's a little problem we've been having. One of the families of another group has recently gotten into a rather distasteful business. It's a disgrace to the other families and a dangerous venture on top of that. The longer it is allowed to continue the higher the risk of detection. You are in Judgment, so you have the authority to disband it correct."
"I can't do that," Kuroko said, appalled at the notion of using her powers to such a corrupt end.
"Are you sure? It is such a distasteful venture I thought you would be eager to stop it. Gambling based on some stupid sport or another. Street racing I think. I can give you all the information you need, are you sure you won't help me."
Kuroko gave it a lot of thought. "fine…" she finally, begrudgingly accepted while inwardly grinning at her particularly good stroke of luck today, "What do I need to do."
Itora filled her in on the information. Tomorrow there would be a big meeting between the leader of the brokers and the facilitator of the races at a warehouse downtown. There would be one of the signal detection devices so she was advised not to bring along anything that might warn them of her presence.
"Can they detect internet connections?" She asked when told that.
"They can but they're disregarded. The program written that sorts out the signals puts them at the bottom in terms of priority. They're far too common these days to bother.
"I see," she responded, a plan forming in her head.
After being told of the time and place she was fitted for the armor at the company and told to come back tomorrow after she had finished with the gambling ring and they had finished making adjustments. After that she left, leaving Itora to speak with Garu, the head of the company that had made the armor and a childhood friend.
"It seems your plan was a success." Garu said to Itora.
"Yes. Birdy has often brought home wounded birds and stray cats. She enjoys helping others and taken care of them, it seems that this time that works out in our favor."
"Are you planning on using her against the Honoguns?"
"She will eventually face them no matter what we do. But if we help her here she might actually survive, even succeed in fighting them."
"This is impressive even for you. You managed to fix the problem with the prototype, the gambling problem, and the Honogun problem all in one move. Assuming she succeeds that is."
"I have faith in her. Her ability is powerful and she knows how to use it. From what Riko tells me she can be trusted to succeed and you know how easy it is to manipulate cops."
"True enough," Garu said taking out a cigar and lighting it. He then offered one to Itora.
"No thank you," Itora responded politely, "you know how bad those things are for your health."
Garu shrugged and put it away, "I wouldn't expect you to put a child in so much danger though. Normally you love them, like that little child error you have, Birdy."
"Birdy was different. She was just a lonely kid without a family, trying hard to survive in this bitter world. When I first found her she had just had her legs broken by a rival runner, a true broken bird. But she still had potential, she still has kindness and warmth and compassion. Even after that she still trusted people and she welcomed the opportunity to have a family. That girl, Kuroko, is different. Every time I mentioned the word family her fist curled up a little tighter. The very notion of family or trust seems to repulse her. She's no child."
"So what is she."
Itora favored Garu with a smile, "why a business partner of course."
Garu returned the smile, "of course. Everything's a business, isn't that right?"
Kuroko arrived home after her eventful day to an empty dorm room. There was still a little under an hour before her Onee-sama had said she'd be home by, which meant that she had a little time alone to work out the stress of the day.
She walked over to her bed and began feeling under it until she found what she was looking for. She pulled out a large brown book. She took it over to her Onee-sama's bed and laid down. She touched the padlock that held the book shut and teleported it off, then she opened it up to the first page to reveal several pictures of her Onee-sama, a far more pleasant way to work out her frustration than hitting a punching bag.
After an extensive view of the first page she began to leaf through the rest of her secret photo album, glancing briefly at each picture as she saw their progression. At first it was a simple slew of fairly explicit photos, taken at great personal risk just after she had fallen in love with her Onee-sama. Though, in those days, lust was a more accurate term. She had been so foolish back then, so confused about her feelings that she had seen the whole thing as a purely physical attraction.
Then other types of pictures began to show up, far more PG ones: Pictures of her Onee-sama's cute sleeping face, pictures of her smiling, pictures of her laughing, pictures of her just sitting there looking thoughtful. This was when she had discovered that her attraction was more than just physical, when she learned that Onee-sama was her soulmate, the one she would love forever and ever.
Then she came to a very particular point. It was the day this book had been discovered by Saten, before she had hidden it and gotten a lock. Though it wasn't marked it was easy to tell that it was a significant point, because after that point the album became far more… normal. There were still a few photographs that she did not want her Onee-sama to know she had, but far fewer than earlier. Perhaps the biggest difference was the fact that other people began showing up in the photos. There was always her Onee-sama, but Saten and Uiharu showed up as well. But there was one thing that didn't change at all throughout the book…
She smiled but there was melancholy in her smile. She turned to the very back of the book and began scrawling things in it with a, trying to make herself feel better by plunging into her fantasies, but it hardly helped. She had just finished when the door opened. Surprised Kuroko quickly teleported the book, still open, down a few inches to its place under her bed, or it would have been in its place had she been on her bed rather than her Onee-sama's.
"Ah Onee-sama, you're back. How was your day," Kuroko asked, head down and voice steady.
"oh… fine… how was your… thingy…?" Her Onee-sama asked her, though something seemed to be wrong with her. She wouldn't look at Kuroko at all, and her voice had a slight tremor in it. Without even waiting for an answer she went off to the bathroom, so seemingly appalled by Kuroko's presence that she wanted to be out of it immediately.
Needless to say this behavior made her feel about as far from better as possible. She stood up and turned the lights off then she curled up on the far end of the bed and quietly sang her lullaby to herself until she fell asleep.
Author's Note: Lying. Everyone does it, whether in fiction or not. However it poses a big problem in fiction. If someone lies about something and you fail to tell the reader about it, then do something later on that contradicts what was said, they see it as a plot hole, or something similar. It is the writers job to tell a story and the writers narration is the only thing the readers know about the world of the story. When an unbelievable coincidence happens that was actually planned out in world it cannot be known that it was anything other than a coincidence unless the characters or the author tells the readers about it. The readers trust in the narration completely and never assume you are lying. Even when two things contradict, they are more willing to believe that the writer made a mistake than that the characters made one.
To highlight my point I put forward a riddle told by Ricky Gervais: "A bloke, just in his swimming trucks, walks into a swimming pool full of man-eating sharks. He walks around for a bit, and slowly gets out the other side, and he's not bitten or anything. Why not?" The answer is that he was lying about the sharks. If you don't assume he is lying then you cannot get it right. But if you do assume that though, then you wouldn't have any fun with the riddle. The mystery is gone if you don't take the problem at face value.
But creating that mystery is the problem. How do you avoid lying in a mystery novel? Sometimes the reader needs to be misinformed or not informed at all. Sometimes there can only be tension if the reader is left questioning whether or not someone was truthful or not. Sometimes characters are mistaken or hiding things. Just because two things contradict each other in fiction does not mean that the writer is forgetful or mistaken or lazy. It is the writer's responsibility to tell a story that people can believe, however, so you cannot abuse this right or you will be stuck with an audience who takes nothing at face value and thus cannot enjoy the story.