Chapter 8
"We need to get her the hell out of there." Kyoko said, biting hard into an apple, "And I mean pronto."
"Can I see?" Sayaka asked, ignoring Kyoko's statement, and reaching for the bandage.
"Na, I'd have to take the bandage off, and I really don't feel like redoing it." Kyoko said, "Don't worry, it's really not that bad." She knew that it was in fact bad enough that it would cause Sayaka to freak out, so she just wanted to give her a dismissive reassurance that it was fine and not have to actually show it to her. It gave her a bit of discomfort if she moved her head to the side, but it wasn't anything she couldn't deal with. She could also heal it if she really wanted to, but Mami pointed out that Dr. Sakura would be expected to have a scar after that. "Look, the whole thing was planned out." Kyoko explained, spitting out watery chunks of apple as she spoke. "She didn't just randomly attack me, she just got a little caught up in the moment and got carried away, I guess." She shrugged, "It's no big deal."
Madoka was still pretty upset, she sat on the couch with Mami, holding a cup of tea in her hands and staring into it. Kyoko had given her the picture Homura drew for her already, which managed to put a smile on her face for a little while, but the memory of that crazed look in Homura's eyes as she held a knife to Kyoko's throat was still eating at her.
"It is a big deal." Leiko said, correcting Kyoko, "I told you to tell her to start being more complacent, and instead of that the two of you hatch some hare-brained plan that made it seem like she was about to murder someone?"
"That's not how it was supposed to go. Besides, under my Dr. Sakura persona I showed them that I'm able to chill her out, so you know, maybe they won't use the drug since they know they have me now."
"You shouldn't use words like 'maybe' when dealing with these people. You want to know what just happened? Dr. Endou sent a video of Homura slashing your throat to basically everyone involved in this thing. They were on the fence about using the drug before, but that is only because I've been rewriting their emails and messing with their communications. If it weren't for all that, it already would have happened. Now, after this..." Leiko shook her head, "I don't know if there's anything I can do."
"Did he also show the part where she didn't actually do anything? Then apologized, and hung out with me all complacent-like?"
"No, he didn't. I think Dr. Endou has become very frustrated with Homura's lack of cooperation with him, even more so from the resistance I've been creating within his own networks of researchers. What you and Homura did today may have been the biggest favor you could have done for him. In the past week Homura assaulted two armed guards, demolished a test room, tore up her own room, made a series of threats, and almost made good on one of those threats tonight. Endou wants to prove she is dangerous and needs to be subdued, and now he has all the evidence he needs."
"Can we get her out?" Madoka asked, not wanting to hear any more. "We should be talking about that."
"Madoka's right." Mami said, "Our goal here isn't just trying to keep her comfortable while she is in there, and providing her with GriefSeeds. Our goal is to actually get her out. Now, Kyoko came up with an interesting idea earlier today. While she is behind those metal doors there isn't much we can do, but what if we could get her out of the building altogether?"
"Yeah, then busting her out would be a cinch." Sayaka said, "Hell, at that point Homura could probably just break herself out."
"Yeah, that won't be necessary. I actually had a bit of a weird idea." Kyoko said, causing everyone to look back in her direction. She was leaning against the wall with her arms folded and a sharp look in her eyes. She was still dressed in the white lab coat which belonged to the Dr. Sakura persona, but her face and her size returned to that of a normal fourteen-year-old girl. The outfit actually looked rather comedic on her when she was like this. It looked as if she were a child wearing an oversized Halloween costume. "It actually hit me when Mami and I were on our way back. I was thinking about how me and Sayaka were chasing a witch earlier today…" She looked over to Sayaka. "How did that go, by the way?" she asked.
"What do you think?" Sayaka answered, taking a GriefSeed out of her pocket and holding it up proudly. "Kind of a pain in the ass though, because just about every door in that warehouse we chased it into was locked. I swear, I must have knocked down at least twenty doors before finally..." Sayaka slowed down, noting the glimmer in Kyoko's eyes. She knew something was up, but she did not quite get it right away. Leiko looked around at all the others, not getting it herself. Madoka and Sayaka also looked at each other, neither of them fully understanding what Kyoko was getting at either.
Mami understood though. It was clear by the way she set her tea down, and looked at Kyoko with wide anticipating eyes. "Kyoko, please continue."
"Sayaka just said it all, didn't she?" Kyoko laughed. She noted the confusion on Leiko's face and wanted to bask in the glory of knowing something that she didn't know for a change. Sure, Leiko was pretty smart when it came to stuff that needed to be learned from books and whatnot. However, when it came to good old-fashioned street smarts, as well as knowing things about the Magical Girl world, Kyoko was the veteran.
Leiko seemed to understand the smug look on Kyoko's face, at least. "Would you quit the theatrics and just tell us already?"
Kyoko grinned, "Alright, alright, I'll feed you little bird." the remark making Leiko's scowl intensify. "The witch wasn't in the building when we first started tracking it down. We chased it into the building - through locked doors!"
"Okay, I get it, but what's the significance?" Leiko asked. "Are you saying we find some way to chase a witch into the lab? If it's for the sake of causing confusion, or convincing them that Homura is in danger, surely there is a better way."
"No, no, listen. The thing about witches is they exist inside their barriers, and when they move around, they take their barriers with them!"
Now everyone in the room got it, including Leiko as she pondered this for a moment before adding: "So, if Homura is inside a witch's barrier..."
"That's right." Kyoko said, snatching the GriefSeed out of Sayaka's hand and holding it up for everyone to see. "And I think we've got the perfect candidate right here."
"Kay? K-Kyoko?"
"Kyoko? Now what could that mean?"
Rewind
"Kay? K-Kyoko?"
"Kyoko? Now what could that mean?"
Kyoko? What did that mean?
The computer room was completely dark aside from the light of one single terminal amongst the rows of black screens. Its soft blue light reflected off of Kaiji's glasses as he watched the tapes with Dr. 'Kay' Sakura and Homura Akemi over and over again. He had an idea, but it was so far-fetched he could not make himself believe it. He looked closely at the two of them on that day when they had first met each other. Freezing the image of Homura's face as Dr. Sakura introduced herself.
"You can just call me by my personal name, Kay."
"Kay? K-Kyoko?"
It was clear that Homura was surprised for some reason, but Kaiji could not imagine why that would be. She definitely had a strong reaction to the name Kay, or was that really it? Kay is a name that could also be a letter; the same first letter of the name Kyoko. Did that have any significance? Kaiji shook his head. Maybe Homura's surprise was not from the name Kay at all, Kaiji thought maybe he was being like Dr. Endou and scrutinizing on a minor detail, trying to see something that was not there.
He watched the video again.
Maybe the surprised look on Homura's face is because Dr. Sakura had offered for her to call her by her personal name. Kaiji knew that Homura's limited interactions with the staff of the lab had mostly been cold and formal. Even worse than that, actually, Homura had been treated like a prisoner ever since she was brought here. Dr. Sakura being the first person to talk to her in a friendly way could be all it was about. That still did not explain why she then said the name Kyoko.
Kaiji exited out of the playback, and logged onto the live security feed. He opened Homura's room and went to the ceiling fan camera in her bedroom that she had not managed to find and destroy. He had to switch the night vision on, and once that was done he could see the entire room clearly under a layer of green tint. Homura was in her bed, completely under the covers except for her head. There was movement behind her eyelids, which meant she was in a cycle of R.E.M. sleep. Kaiji just watched her for a while, thinking how ordinary she seemed when she was like this.
According to her, she actually had been completely ordinary until she had woken up in the hospital nearly half a year back, and started discovering her powers. Since then, she managed to save an entire city from a disaster thanks to a vision of the future... as a result of doing that, she was then kidnapped right out of her home and locked up underground.
Kaiji read the mission report of when their team abducted her. Apparently they picked the lock to her apartment while she was sleeping, came right into her room and pulled a bag over her head, then wrestled her into submission, which according to the soldiers was abnormally difficult considering she was just a fifteen-year-old girl. They eventually had to resort to tasing her, then sticking her with a shot of anesthetic while she was stunned. The next thing Homura would have known, was waking up in the very same bed she now slept in, not knowing how she got there.
Kaiji remembered that first day. Watching her as she woke up and started to look around. She kept her eyes on the cameras mounted on the walls, watching them suspiciously, as she made her first run of the apartment which would soon be recognized as her prison. When she found the metal door at the front she started kicking and banging on it. She ran her fingers along the edges, and tried using her palms to slide it open, with no success. This went on for a few minutes until Dr. Endou buzzed in on the intercom and explained things to her. She did not take the news very well. After Endou finished his explanation, she started banging on the door and screaming. Then, she went right to smashing the cameras off the walls, which were replaced at a later date when they had finally calmed her down and convinced her to come to a test room cooperatively.
Endou's treatment of her has always been questionable, but Kaiji's recent conversation with the man brought up some even more serious doubts in Kaiji's mind about how fit Endou was for the job. As far as Kaiji could tell, his suspicions of Dr. Sakura were not only unfounded, they were highly outrageous. She had a well-documented resume and work history. Kaiji even looked up some articles written by her on the Internet, and even a few news reports where her name was mentioned. There was no doubt that she was who she said she was, and even if she was not, then how could she have possibly faked all of that?
Then his 'proof' that their communications were being tampered with was equally circumstantial. It was mostly supposed inconsistencies regarding responses he was getting in his emails from other members of their teams. No hard evidence, just over-speculation and grasping at straws. Even though the way he presented the argument was somewhat convincing, the realistic possibility of a hacker having the ability to do what he was claiming was just ludicrous. And who would be doing it? Americans? Russians? Chinese? Endou agreed to keep his 'findings' to himself for now, and asked Kaiji to also stay quiet about it as well, which Kaiji agreed to. He did not trust Endou, but he could not do anything about it for now; he had to remain professional. Once he managed to build a decent case against Endou, however, he would start pushing to have the man taken off of the assignment.
He watched as Homura stirred in her sleep. He did feel bad for her. From what he could tell, she was a kind-hearted person and really did not deserve anything that was happening to her. It was a necessary evil, however. Although their team tried to make her as comfortable as possible, it seemed that as long as she was locked down here she would refuse to be happy.
He was preparing to shut the computer down for the night when Homura's lips parted and a sound came out. "Ma... Ma..." her head shifted back and forth, "Mado…ka..."
Madoka Kaname, that was the name of one of Homura's classmates. According to the report, Homura had been to her house almost every day in the weeks leading up to her abduction. Kaiji wondered if she was the girlfriend that Homura had mentioned to Dr. Sakura.
Suddenly, Homura gasped and sat up. She looked around the pitch black room, until her eyes fell on the digital clock which was one of the only light sources currently in there: 01:23.
She put her legs over the side of the bed, then slowly raised herself to her feet and started walking towards the door with her hands in front of her. They did not give her control of the lights in her apartment, except for the bathroom, in order to keep her on schedule. Usually at around 10:00 in the evening they would shut off all the power except for a few appliances, and Homura would have no choice but to just go to sleep.
Kaiji watched her as she negotiated her way through the dark apartment, noting that she was doing a pretty good job, considering the room was underground and therefore pitch-black when the lights were out it . He supposed she had been there for a while, and knew the layout of the apartment pretty well, but he still could not help but think there was something peculiar about how she was able to find the door and grab the doorknob, without needing to feel around for it at all. "Enhanced eyesight?" he wondered casually. Aside from stopping time, she had been shown to have other abilities, and they did not yet know everything about her, so it was possible..
They were not able to fully prove it yet, but they suspected she had more strength than a girl of her size should have. The X-rays and physical examinations were not able to reveal a physical explanation for this, but it was made clear the first time she tore up a test room. When she was using the assault rifle she was barely affected by the recoil, and she had handled it like an expert. There was nothing in her file to show that she had any prior experience with firearms, so it was certainly something worth noting.
Aside from that, they also noted she had an increased tolerance for pain; the tasers they sometimes had to use on her were by far more powerful than a standard issue. She also had been shown to have somewhat of a healing factor, as the wound she received on her forehead from a ricocheted bullet when she destroyed the test room healed much faster than it should have.
She walked over to the kitchen and felt around inside the cabinets. She stared hard into them, as if trying to peer through a blanket of darkness, then gave up and went to the refrigerator. She opened the door and left it open so the light would stay on and make it a little easier for her to see, before going back to the cabinet. She still seemed to be having trouble finding whatever it was she was looking for, so Kaiji clicked around his computer for a moment, and turned the kitchen light on for her.
She flinched back, a bit startled by the sudden change in her environment, and also shielded her light sensitive eyes for a moment while they adjusted. Then she put a middle finger in the air and waved it around in the general direction where she knew a camera to be. Kaiji found that to be slightly humorous. He was getting tired himself, and figured he would wait for Homura to finish in the kitchen and then retire for the night himself.
Madoka had called home earlier that night and asked if it would be okay to sleep over at Mami's house. She told her mom that she had lost track of time, and did not want to risk going out on the city streets at night. Her mom sounded a little bit upset with her, but ultimately agreed and told her to just make sure she did not come back too late tomorrow. She knew Madoka was usually good about following the rules, and wouldn't give her too much grief about it this time. Besides, she would not want her daughter to go walking around the city alone at night either.
Madoka felt bad about lying to her mom. She could have easily started heading back home before sunset, but at that point she had already seen the video with Homura, and was so upset she wanted to just stay with her friends. Besides that, she also wanted to be involved in their planning as they worked on how exactly they were going to get Homura out.
Kyoko's idea about using a witch's barrier to "transport" Homura out of the building was an interesting one, and they had all gotten rather excited about it. The thing is, once a new idea is discovered it is easy to only see the good, as the initial impressions of its outcome tend to lead to the best-case scenario. As they discussed the details they started to realize that the plan was going to need a lot more work.
Getting the witch inside would be simple: all Kyoko would have to do is try and slip Homura the GriefSeed, and wait a few days for it to hatch.
"There is no guarantee the witch is going to try and actually leave the lab." Leiko interjected. "Especially with all those scientists down there. If it's a smart witch, it will destroy the elevator and start picking off all the humans down there one by one. With all that extra energy, Homura will just end up being stuck down there with an extra powerful witch and still unable to get out. I don't think that's necessarily doing her any favors."
"Besides that," said Mami, "if this is the plan we are going with, then we have to find a way to make sure no one gets hurt."
"You mean those scientists?" Kyoko asked. She was now out of the Dr. Sakura costume and back to wearing her casual street clothes; a green hoodie, black tank top, and jean shorts. "Does keeping them safe really have to factor into the plan?"
"We are Magical Girls, not killers." Mami said sternly, giving Kyoko a scolding look.
"Mami's right." Sayaka added. "Besides, if the witch has plenty of food with it right down there in the lab, then it won't have any reason to leave."
"Are we even sure this barrier transport method will work?" Leiko asked.
"Sure, I don't see why not." Kyoko started to explain. "You know how sometimes when you're fighting a witch, and after you win and the barrier disappears you are somewhere totally different than where you started? That's because the witch was moving around while you were inside its barrier." Kyoko could have added a quip and taken a stab at Leiko for having so little experience with witches herself, but decided to let it go this time.
"Anyway, we need a way to get them to evacuate the lab." Sayaka said. "Any ideas on that?"
"Leiko, is there anything you can do?" Mami asked her.
"Nothing comes to mind." Leiko admitted. They all sat back and pondered the issue.
"At school we have fire drills sometimes." Madoka offered. "Couldn't you hack in and schedule something like that?"
Leiko gave her one of her classic condescending stares. "This is a state-of-the-art government research facility, I don't think they have fire drills…"
"Hey, wait, Madoka's on the right track, though." said Sayaka. "What other reasons do buildings get evacuated?"
"Besides fires?" Leiko pondered the question: "Gas leaks, bomb threats… what?" She noticed everyone jumped at the suggestion of a bomb threat.
Kyoko grinned, "You don't know Homura too well, so you aren't familiar with her particular set of abilities." She looked around to the rest of the group. "Knowing her, I'm willing to bet she still has a few explosives stored up in that 'shield space' of hers."
The plan was starting to come together, but a few things still needed to be ironed out. First of all, they needed to communicate the plan with Homura, and make sure she understood the purpose of the witch so she would allow it to hatch, and would not end up just killing it. Kyoko had a solution in mind.
"There's a little trick I've been working on… hang on a sec." She found a piece of paper and a pen, and gathered everyone around the coffee table. "Alright, watch closely." She started drawing on the paper. As Madoka watched, she got a strange sensation watching Kyoko's pencil move around. The lines she were making did not seem to make any sense. It was as if after being printed, they would change, except they were not, and Madoka was never certain of where the lines were supposed to be. The feeling she got was similar to when she watched the foreign symbols that would zip by on Leiko's computer screen.
When Kyoko was finished, the lines came together and finally started to make sense. The lines shifted and became the picture of a crudely drawn cat's face… It was also clear that art and penmanship certainly were not Kyoko's strong points. "It's a cat." Madoka said, answering as if she were a contestant on a gameshow.
Kyoko grinned. "Look closer." She waved her hand over the page, and the lines started shifting until they formed two words: 'Secret message'.
"Woah!" Sayaka exclaimed. "When did you learn to do that?"
"It's a technique I've been working on over the last couple days. I needed a way to communicate with Homura more freely, and this is the best idea I could come up with. All I'm doing is using my magic to enchant the page. The drawing of a cat's face was the enchantment, the words 'secret message' is what I actually wrote. This way Homura can write to me freely as well, and all I have to do is enchant her writing into a picture." She waved her hand over the words again. From Madoka's point of view, it changed into a poorly done picture of a flower. "Madoka, what do you see?"
"A flower." she answered.
"What?" Sayaka said. "I see a dog now! Well… I think that's what it is… you really are a lousy artist, Kyoko."
"Hey! Shut the hell up!" Kyoko sneered. "I'm still working on it, okay?"
"Seems like a handy trick." Leiko said. "That way you can reveal the message to Homura while keeping it as a picture for the cameras. Still, try to keep your messages to a minimum. The more you do it, the more likely they are to realize something's up."
"Yeah, I gotcha. Well, I mean, it's not like they are going to be suspicious of Dr. Sakura having magic powers or anything." Kyoko laughed. "So I doubt they are going to be paying attention that closely."
When Homura was done with her late-night snack, she discarded the container into the trash disposal. She listened closely as it banged and clanked against the metal tube on its way down the chute, trying to get an idea of how far the drop was.
Kaiji figured she would go to bed now, and he could retire for the night himself, but instead of that Homura went to the living room and grabbed a chair. She set it up in front of the picture that had a camera hidden behind it, apparently deciding she did not want to talk to a plant this time.
She sat down and looked at the picture for a while before asking "Is someone there?"
Kaiji thought for a minute. It was pretty rare for Homura to address them directly, unless she was angry about something and shouting out threats. He pushed down a button for the speakerphone and said "Yes, what is it?"
Homura smiled half-heartedly. "Good, it's you. I really don't like talking to Dr. Mono."
Kaiji could not help laughing to himself. He knew right away she was referring to Endou, and it really was a perfect nickname for him, especially coming from someone who has only ever heard his voice. "Is there something I can help you with, Homura?"
"Um…" her eyes shifted away for a moment, "what's your name? Y-you know my name, so… I'd like to be able to address you properly as well."
Kaiji thought about it for a moment, and decided there was no reason not to tell her, so he did "Dr. Kaiji."
"Kaiji…" she played with the word for a moment, "that's a personal name isn't it?"
"Well, yes, my family name is Tashikowara." Then he added: "It doesn't suit me very well, so that's why I go by my personal name, even professionally."
Homura laughed. "That's funny. I actually used to feel the same way, except it was with my personal name, Homura. I always used to just go by Akemi." She shrugged. "I don't know, guess I ended up growing into it, because I do prefer Homura now... Listen, I just wanted to apologize."
"Apologize?"
"About the way I have been acting lately. I don't know, I guess I've been getting a little stir crazy in here." She laughed and gestured around the room. "Well… and I really want to go home but… I know that's probably never going to happen. Anyway, I don't want to hurt anyone… Earlier today I just thought if I could make it look real enough, then maybe…" She shrugged. "I really wasn't going to hurt Kay, though, I swear!" Homura had the guilt spelled all over her face. "She's still going to be allowed to come back here, right?"
"That's up to Dr. Sakura, but as of right now, there is no talk of stopping her appointments. If something like what happened today happens again, however, I'm afraid we will have no choice but to discontinue the meetings."
"I see…"
Kaiji thought for a while. This was the first personal conversation he ever had with Homura. From the way she was speaking right now, she really did seem like an ordinary fifteen-year-old girl. It was easy to forget when she was tearing rooms apart and threatening people's lives, but she really was just a child. She was a child, and Endou wanted to start drugging her in order to get her under control. Kaiji had been fighting against it, and it seemed he had a decent level of support from outside of the lab, which surprised him, but he was thankful for it all the same. Still, if Homura did not start working with them, it would only be a matter of time. He knew he could not tell her about the drug, but he wanted to give her some kind of warning at least.
"Homura, I know you don't want to be here, but things would be much better for you if you started cooperating with us."
Homura was quiet for a while. She brushed her hair and said: "I'll try" dismissively. Then she got up and said: "Well, it's late. I should get back to sleep now."
Kaiji sat with his finger on the intercom for a while. It was still bothering him; Kyoko, what could that mean? He wanted to just ask her. Maybe there was a good explanation. Without consciously coming to the decision, his finger pressed down and he said: "Homura, what does the word Kyoko mean?"
Homura looked up with a raised eyebrow. "It sounds like a name."
"Why did you say it to Dr. Sakura?" Kaiji asked, and watched her face closely. She showed no expression: it was a poker face if he had ever seen one.
"Did I?" She shrugged. "I don't remember… anyway, I'm tired." She continued into her room. Once she was situated in bed, Kaiji turned the lights off.
Kay Sakura… Dr. "K" Sakura… Kyoko Sakura?
He closed out of the security system and logged back onto the standard drive. As an extra security measure, none of their security systems were to be directly connected to a device which had access to the Internet, so he could not do both at the same time.
Once he was on the standard drive, he opened a search engine and typed: "Kyoko Sakura"
