XLIII
Glimmer of Hope
"Bei nacht im Dorf. Der Wächter rief Elfe! Ein ganz kleines Elfchen. Im Walde schlief wohl um die Elfe!"
All throughout the house the distinct sound of a song that they all knew could be heard, to Kouta and Yuka listening to it, it sure brought back a lot of memories.
"It's definitely been awhile since we've last heard that one, haven't we?" Yuka mentioned as she took a sip from the teacup before she continued to listen to the song. Somehow it was soothing for her to hear all of the girls singing along with Nozomi, she couldn't help but smile thinking about it.
Kouta nodded though he couldn't remember exactly how long it had been since he had last heard this particular song but there was one thing that he felt certain about, it had been when Nyu was still with them. Thinking of her made a small tear appear in the corner of his eye.
"Reißt sich den Elf die augen auf. Begibt sich von seinem Schneckenhaus."
It ran down his cheek without him even noticing it as he kept on listening to the rest of the song, it was a beautiful song but also a very sad one and he couldn't shake the uneasy feeling it gave him in his heart. His hand resting against his chest he knew why he was feeling this way.
"Und ist als wie einen trunken mann. Sein Schäflein war nicht voll getan. Und humpelt also tippe tapp."
Yuka noticed it as well, but she kept quiet about it, right now she didn't want to make him feel any guiltier about what he had done. Kouta didn't deserve to be tormented by his guilt, nobody in their family had wanted for it to happen but it had to.
"Schlüpft an der Mauer hin so dicht. Da sitzt der Glühwurm Licht an Licht. Was sind das helle Fensterlein?"
"It does sound good to hear it again, I can imagine that they must be really enjoying themselves up there" He mentioned. It must be something to see all them smiling and singing there together," he smiled as he said it, his mood visibly improving as he began to talk about the happy times when they were all still together. He even mentioned her name several times though he didn't break a tear.
"Da drin wird eine Hochzeit sein. Die Kleinen sitzen beim Mahle. Und treibens in dem Saale."
"I can imagine that they must be having a lot of fun if they're able to keep this up. You think I should go upstairs and see if they want something to drink, their throats must be getting pretty dry by now from all of that practicing," Yuka made the remark sound lightly as if it was a joke, they both knew that even with the extra water that Nozomi had no doubt brought along with her, some other drinks might not be such a bad idea after all. Not to mention that it would also give the two of them a convenient excuse to go upstairs and see for themselves how the girls were doing, then again they both had a pretty good idea on what the mood was upstairs in Nozomi's practice room.
"Pfui. Stößt den Kopf an harten Stein! Elfe. Gelt. Du hast genug? Kukuk!"
As Kouta got up first he said, "That sounds like a good idea, Yuka, I'm sure the girls must be pretty thirsty by now, I'd expect them to be pretty tired by now given that they've been at it for more than an hour." And likely even longer, as no doubt, Nozomi would have gone through the lyrics with them several times before they would have started singing together.
"Und meint. Es rief ihm aus dem Tal. Bei seinem Namen die Nachtigall. Oder Silpelit hätt' ihm gerufen."
Nodding in agreement Yuka got up herself and followed Kouta into the kitchen to get the drinks ready, listening to the singing coming from upstairs she felt really moved by the song.
"Durch's Hasenholz in's Tal hinab."
It was a sad song true but it was also one that helped them to relax, somehow it all felt so good to her right now to have nearly the entire family together just like those days. Likely this was exactly how Nyu would have wanted for them to go on with their lives.
"Da drin wird eine Hochzeit sein. Die Kleinen sitzen beim Mahle. Und treibens in dem Saale. Da guck' ich wohl ein wenig nein!"
If Nyu were to be here to see them like this then Yuka felt certain that Nyu was going to be proud and would cheer them on to keep going with enjoying themselves and having a good time as a family.
Sitting at the edge of the bath, Saeko could hear the song as well, to her it brought back a lot of memories as well as she thought back to those times when she practiced the song with the only big sister she had ever known in her life; Nyu.
"Bei nacht im Dorf. Der Wächter rief Elfe! Ein ganz kleines Elfchen. Im Walde schlief wohl um die Elfe! Reißt sich den Elf die augen auf. Begibt sich von seinem Schneckenhaus."
Craning her neck up to gaze at the ceiling she felt somewhat conflicted though about hearing the song, a part of her really liked the song and the good memories it brought her but on the other hand it also reminded her of the painful truth that her big sister was never going to come back and sing with her again like they had done so back in those days. "Nyu-onee-chan, I miss you…"
"Und ist als wie einen trunken mann, sein Schäflein war nicht voll getan, und humpelt also tippe tapp. Schlüpft an der Mauer hin so dicht, da sitzt der Glühwurm Licht an Licht. Was sind das helle Fensterlein?"
"I wonder if the rest are also having these feelings, the house feels different without Nyu-onee-chan being around. I really miss her, I wish she could be here," the young Diclonius whispered, her head bowing down she found herself gazing at the sleeping form of her little sister whose head was still resting on her lap.
Saori had woken up about maybe half an hour ago although she still seemed to have a lot of trouble in understanding what was happening, it was only through a lot of effort that Saeko had been able to help her get down the stairs as in Saeko's mind a good bath was going to do a lot to make Saori feel better.
"Da drin wird eine Hochzeit sein. Die Kleinen sitzen beim Mahle. Und treibens in dem Saale. Pfu. Stößt den Kopf an harten Stein! Elfe. Gelt. Du hast genug? Kukuk! Und meint. Es rief ihm aus dem Tal. Bei seinem Namen die Nachtigall. Oder Silpelit hätt' ihm gerufen."
Maybe one day she would have a chance to sing this song along with Saori when the little girl was better again, she prayed for her aunt to find the help they needed and to come back with a cure so that Saori could be better again, so that she could lead a more normal life.
"I really want to take you outside and show you what there is in this world for us, I know that you might be scared, Saori-chan, but there' plenty of nice people out there who'd welcome us," she whispered towards the sleeping girl as she gently caressed said girl's face though taking care not to come near the device. Moving a little to shift some of Saori's weight Saeko really wished that she herself was a little older, or to be more precise a bit more mature, at least that way she could a better job at making sure that Saori was kept dry mostly. Their little sister couldn't really take a bath like the rest of them because of her burns which meant that she needed to be gently sponged, it was a chore to do so, but it was the only way that they had to clean her without injuring her delicate skin.
"Durch's Haselholz in's Tal hinab. Da drin wird eine Hochzeit sein. Die Kleinen sitzen beim Mahle. Und treibens in dem Saale. Da guck' ich wohl ein wenig nein!"
By now Saeko had begun to hum along with the song though she wasn't aware of it yet as she gently kept caressing Saori's face, it was her responsibility as the older sister to take care of her and make sure that she was going to be alright. "I wish I could introduce you to my friends in school. Yuzu-chan, Azusa-chan, and Hinami-chan would all love the opportunity to get to meet you, I'm sure of that, and you'd get to like them to."
Leaning back she wondered if she was ever going to be able to introduce her friends to her family and her kin-sisters but she wasn't all that sure on if that would be a good idea. Well, it could wait for the time being, the first thing she needed to focus on was to make sure that Saori was going to be better, after that she could worry again about introducing her friends to her family.
"…Onee-sama…?" Half asleep Saori opened one of her eyes and looked at her, yawning as she did. "… Where am I… onee-sama… feels so warm… I…want… onee-sama…" And she fell asleep again, not even finishing her sentence or leaving a hint to what it was that she had wanted to say.
Guess it was too much to ask for her little sister to be awake, Saeko decided to let it slide as although it was somewhat disappointing she understood that after what Nana had done to Saori it shouldn't have come as a surprise that her physique was still weak. "You get yourself some more rest Saori-chan, and please, get well soon as I want to see you smiling again."
The following morning there was already a frenzy of activity taking place in the kitchen as Yuka found herself hard at work in making the various lunchboxes ready for not only herself, but also for Kouta, Mayu, and Saeko as they all had a long day at school ahead of them. "Thank you both, for helping me here," she mentioned, looking over her shoulder at the two little helpers who had come to her aid.
Just behind her, both Kyou and Ryou were helping her as good as they could in order to get it all ready in time. The younger of the twins turned to face her and thanked her for the praise. "It's okay, Yuka-san, we're just glad to be able to help as you do make breakfast for us as well, it's the least that onee-chan and I do. "
"Aha," Kyou remarked briefly though she didn't say much else as she seemed more preoccupied with getting the food they were preparing sorted and nicely packed in the bento boxes that had already been arrayed on the table to her right. Given that Yuka had told her that they were going to have a rather long day in school the long-haired Diclonius had worked extra hard to make sure they all had plenty of spares to take with them.
"Onee-chan, are those ready? Can I already get those packed?" Ryou asked her sister as she pointed towards the fried eggs that Kyou was preparing but she got the answer that they needed just a little longer.
"Ryou-chan, you can put these in the boxes if you want. They're already done and my guess is that then the fried eggs should be ready as well by then. I do feel a little ashamed in having to ask the two of you for making dinner tonight but by the time that we get back from school it's going to be early in the evening," Yuka mentioned and a trace of guilt could be seen on her face before she offered her thanks again to Kyou and Ryou for helping her to get everything ready.
"Now you can make whatever you like but if possible I'd prefer if you could make do with what we have left in the house but just in case you need to go shopping I'll leave some money with Nana-chan if you need to go out to buy something." She did stress that she would prefer for the girls to stay inside the house for the day, she wasn't exactly keen on letting a repeat of what had happened yesterday occur again. If the girls could make due what they had in the house then Yuka feel a lot more at ease.
No need to risk in letting the girls run into this Anna person again, no Yuka wanted to be sure that there was not going to be a repeat of that. "Just remember, you only go outside if you really have to, otherwise it's better if you stay indoors."
"Eh? You can't be serious about that, we came here just so that we could go outside more often. I don't want to be cooped up here as well, that's exactly why we came to stay here," Kyou objected loudly, not shy about making her opinion heard, stating that it wasn't fair if they were just going to be trapped inside the house again, she could have just as well stayed back home.
"No buts from you, young lady. We've made up our minds about this yesterday and that's final, but we do want to make it up to you so this Friday we'd like to take you all out on a nice walk through Enoshima," Yuka mentioned though she could not tell Kyou about the exact reason though, of course, she felt bad for her and Ryou, after all, she had argued with Mako that it was about time that they would allow the girls to be outside more often and now she found herself prohibiting them from it.
"We're going to make it up to you, I promise, but for today you have to stay inside the house though you can, of course, play in the garden if you want to." It was only a meager comfort.
Kyou puffed her cheeks and turned away from Yuka, focusing her attention back on getting the lunch ready though it was apparent that she did not like it, not one bit.
"I understand Yuka-san, I promise that onee-chan and I won't leave this house unless we really, really, have to," Ryou promised to her, saying that she understood their reasons.
"That's really kind of you, dear, I feel bad for having to do this but I promise the two of you that after this is over we'll all go out for a nice day in the city together. You have my word, dear."
Accepting Yuka's promise Ryou went back to packing the boxes as Yuka herself returned to finishing the last of the meal after which she would need to get herself readied as well, looking at her watch she noticed that she still had some time left.
"If it's alright with you two then I would like to get myself ready for school, can you finish up the bentos for me? Thank you, dears." Yuka waved them off as she vanished around the corner.
"This is so lame, I don't want to be stuck in this house as well! Isn't that exactly the reason as to why we came over here for the week? To be able to get out of the damn house?! This just sucks! It isn't fair at all!" Kyou complained as she took the pan off the stove. "They all just keep lying to us, besides why can't we just go outside, it is not like anything special happened. It's not even our fault! It was that stupid bug! She's the bad one!"
"… I don't know onee-chan but you shouldn't think like that, I'm sure they all have a good reason for wanting for us to stay inside. Maybe it's because there are more bad people are out in the city, what do you think, onee-chan…" Ryou did her best to try and explain it to her sister as to what some of those reasons could be but it seemed that her sister wasn't interested in hearing any of those.
"This sucks!" the older of the two growled in frustration as she dumped the eggs on a dish and placed it on the table. "I'm so frustrated that I can't even focus on making the lunch, that does it, I quit!" And with that, she stormed out of the kitchen, not even taking a moment to take off her apron.
It took a moment before Ryou realized it but then without even wasting a second, she went after her. "W-Wait, onee-chan! Y-You can't just leave like that! O-Onee-chan?! O-Onee-chan?!"
Rubbing her eyes as she rolled over to turn off the alarm clock next to her, Mako slowly began to wake up a. "Morning already, wish it could have waited a little longer for me," she muttered underneath her breath before she let out a yawn, after that she forced herself to sit up straight and had a look to see how late it was exactly. "That time already huh? Guess I should get up and grab some breakfast before I head over to Kogorou's place. Ah, this is gonna be such a long trip, it had had better be worth all the trouble that I'm going through."
Pushing herself off the bed she briefly wondered how all of the others were doing, right after work she had left for Matsumoto City on her own. Taking a plane she had used the opportunity to go over the paperwork one more time during the flight, as well as trying in vain to catch some rest, by the time she had arrived at the motel she felt like she had been worn out.
"The girls are fine, they're with Kouta-kun and Yuka-san. No doubt they must be having plenty of fun at breakfast. I do hope that Dai is able to manage the house by himself though I do expect him to have his hands full with Sei. Hopefully, I can go back home tonight."
Rubbing her eyes once more and running a hand through her hair she walked over towards one of the windows and pushed aside the curtains as she had a glimpse of the street life of this city. "It sure is different, waking up and not seeing the ocean in the distance," she said, laughing about her own dumb sounding remark, sure they had a large lake but that just wasn't the same as it was back home in Kamakura.
Living in the mountains certainly had its charms but even so, she much preferred the city that she called home over living here, that didn't mean that Matsumoto City wasn't a nice place to visit. "I had better get myself changed, breakfast should be served soon," she reminded herself.
Walking away from the window she turned on the TV and selected one of the news stations as she wanted to hear if there was anything new. It was mostly an old habit that had stuck from the time when the girls had moved into her house and even though there was less reason to be on the lookout, she nevertheless preferred to keep watching it just in case. It wasn't helped by the fact that she was feeling rather vulnerable by being on her own, Bando was out for the time being and Dai couldn't leave simply due to work and having to look at their youngest child. She was going to have to make do on her own for today.
"Maybe I should get a shower first, I should look at my best before I go and speak to him. I didn't have any time for it yesterday and I doubt that I'm going to have the time for it today after I leave." It was likely going to be a long day anyway, and one she wasn't all that keen on to begin with. She was only here because she felt that this might be one of their last opportunities to get help.
"I hope he isn't going to be in a poor mood today, I sure wasn't fond of it last time." The professor certainly had left her with the impression that he wasn't so keen on people taking his time for granted, something that was in his mind rather precious, she certainly had gotten that idea the last time she had visited him, but fortunately it seemed that the ajina device and its workings had caught his immediate interest.
"I really hope that you have the answer for me, I'd hate having to go back home empty-handed again." Mako sighed as she began to take off her clothes, walking towards the bathroom she first wanted to take that shower.
"So Mei-san isn't here today?" Mayu asked in surprised as she was told the news by one of her friends Aki, Mei had not given her any word of her being absent for today which only made Mayu worry more than usual. It certainly was unexpected and not normal for Mei but then with what was going on Mayu was starting to get an uneasy feeling about the matter.
"I know but that's what the teacher told us, listen I don't like this any more than you do but if you want we can go to her house after school and see how she is doing," he suggested which Mayu was all too quick to accept, though personally, she would rather want to go right now. She just needed to know if Mei was doing well or not, this uncertainty was what was bugging her the most.
As much as she hated it she was going to have to wait, her teachers were not going to accept her leaving the school prematurely and certainly not if she couldn't prove that it was urgent.
"I'll ask senpai if there is anything that he wants me to give to Suzaki, with any luck he might also excuse us from attending the club which should mean we can leave sooner," Aki mentioned.
Mayu wasn't exactly planning on waiting for the approval of their club president, she would leave the moment her classes were over, even if that were also going to mean that Aki would be on his own. She didn't want to wait any longer than she had to.
"I understand that Aki-san but I can't wait for that, I'll go to see Mei-san once my classes are done. If you're going to see senpai could you please tell him that I'm sorry for not coming but I just need to be sure that Mei-san's alright."
He looked somewhat confused about her. "I'm sorry Isuzu but I don't understand why you're so concerned about Suzaki, sure she has been a bit more absent than usual but I doubt it's anything serious. I think you're worrying over nothing here, you're sounding a little too dramatic if you ask me." Saying that he coughed, scraping his throat. "It's likely the flu or something else, there are others in our class that are sick as well you know, that should tell you something."
Shaking her head in disagreement Mayu found it hard to hold back her tongue and not tell him what was going on but she couldn't bring herself to let other people know. At least not those people who would likely make matters even worse for Mei. As much as she hated herself for keeping quiet about it she couldn't do much else at this point.
"Please do not try and ridicule me for acting this way, Aki-san. I've got my reasons for doing so and I do not mind that you might not share them with me but I would have to ask kindly of you not to think any less of me. Yes, I'm concerned for Mei-san, so please," Mayu said to him, keeping it at that. Taking his silence as a yes she said her farewells and simply left.
Right now she had something else to do and that was to go and see if she could find Saeko and tell her that she wasn't going to manage walking home with her. She felt sorry about it as she had promised it to her sister this morning when they had left the house but it seemed that Mei was going to need her even more, she just hoped that Saeko's friends were going to be able to cover for her.
"That reminds me, I still need to see if I can find those girls, I do have some time on my hands right now but I first need to find Saeko-san and tell her. After that, I can go and see if I can find those girls." But there was yet another matter that she would like to find out a bit more and that was exactly how things were with Miyamoto, she still found it a bit hard to believe but she did feel happy to know that Saeko was likely going to become friends with a boy of her own age. If she couldn't find those then girls then perhaps a quick talk to Miyamoto would be in order, at the very least she could inform him of those girls and what they did.
Certainly, if he knew of the situation he could help a student with this kind of influence might even be able to get those girls to leave Saeko alone by just talking to them. "It certainly would be a great help if he could put a stop to the actions of those girls, if he really is sincere about what he asked of Saeko-san then I'm sure that he won't mind me coming to ask him for help." She reasoned though she did wonder how she was going to bring this to him, it was no surprise that Miyamoto had been hard at work at stopping bullying in their school, he had been rather outspoken in his opinion on the matter last year.
Well, she could think about that after she had seen Saeko, that said she couldn't let her find out as she wasn't supposed to know about her and Miyamoto though plenty of students most likely knew by now. It certainly had gone through the school that Saeko and Miyamoto had been seen walking through the hallways with him holding her arm, she wished that she could have seen it for herself.
Talking to the man at the reception Mako was feeling a little disappointed as she heard the unfortunate news that Kogorou wasn't present at the moment, but they did expect him to be back in roughly an hour or so which to her was a bitter pill to swallow.
For Mako, this wasn't exactly the kind of news she wanted to hear, especially not since Kogorou knew exactly well at what time she was going to come. She had made an appointment with him, but apparently, it wasn't that important enough for him to be here.
"I am sorry to inform you, madam. If you wish you can wait for him to return over there in the lounge. I will let you know when he arrives." She was kindly told where she could sit and wait but waiting for the man to show up wasn't really in Mako's interest but for now, she seemed to have little choice but to wait for him to show up unless she wanted to go back home empty-handed.
Packing her belongings she followed the instructions the man had given her and headed to what was referred to as the lounge though it was more likely a canteen or something similar. Putting it down and throwing her coat across one of the seats situated here she turned around and made her way over towards the dispensers, taking a cup of coffee from one of them she returned back to the spot she had picked for herself, grabbed a chair and sat down, reminding herself why she even was here in the first place.
"If I had known this then I wouldn't have rushed myself as much during breakfast, such a shame," she remarked as she had a sip of the coffee, but just as quickly as she had tasted it she placed the cup back on the table and remarked. "Bah, this really is bitter. I can't believe people would actually drink this."
"The dispensers here make a poor coffee which is why Kogorou prefers his own coffee, they do have some good tea here and there's a box with various blends in the closet over there." A young man's voice said to her from behind her back, turning around Mako was surprised to see that the young man was actually just a boy, likely somewhere around the age of ten or possibly twelve judging by the look of it.
"I see, well, in that case, I'll have some tea as well if that is alright?" Mako mentioned as she took what remained of the coffee and spilled it in the sink just up ahead. Cleaning the cup she placed it back in the dishwasher and reached out to grab herself a new one.
"It's on the upper one, just to your left," the boy mentioned when he noticed that Mako was searching for where exactly the tea was kept. "The box is in the top drawer."
"Thank you kindly. Would you want a cup of tea yourself as well?" Mako asked, feeling that it was only normal to return the gesture, as she held up a second cup for him which the boy seemed to accept.
Taking a seat again she waited until the boy had a seat as well. "Now where are my manners, allow me to introduce myself. I am Takebe Mako, I have an appointment with professor Hashiratani though it seems he isn't here at the moment."
"I'm Murakami Ryouta, pleased to meet you Takebe-sensei. If I may ask is there any reason why you are here to see my uncle?" Making a bow it seemed that the boy who had introduced himself as Ryouta didn't dare to end it until he was told by Mako that he didn't need to keep making that bow.
"So you are professor Hashiratani's nephew? I am surprised but wait, didn't we meet before? Weren't you here as well when I visited last time?"
He shot up straight. "Ah yes, now that you mention it, Takebe-sensei.," he said with a nervous tone in his voice, as he looked past Mako he asked her a question. "Ehm, are you alone, Takebe-sensei? I remember from last time that you also had somebody with you." He then went on to describe a man who was basically Bando and what caught Mako's interest was to what degree of detail he was able to describe the man's features.
"Yes, I am on my own. He isn't feeling so well and besides, he was quite a pain having to travel with. But why do you ask?" Mako answered his question, asking him to his reasons for asking her that.
Ryouta scratched the back of his head. "Well you see Takebe-sensei, he gave me some advice back then and I wanted to thank him for that. Could you relay him my thanks?"
To say that Mako was taken by surprise would have been an understatement, Bando had given this boy some good advice was just something that she found hard to believe but then she had to remind herself that the man was far more than the rude outside he allowed others to see.
"I will, I should see him again in the next couple of days when I go visit him in the hospital so I will pass on your thanks to him."
"Thank you," Ryou said in return, grabbing the cup as he had a sip from it. "So if I may ask Takebe-san, where do you come from? You're not from any of the neighboring cities."
She and the young Ryouta kept on talking for quite a while, spending plenty of time talking about their own respective lives and their families. It was a pleasant way to spend some time and before Mako was even aware of it the hour or so that she had to wait was over, the guard that she had spoken earlier came towards the lounge and formed her that the professor had just gone to his office and that he would be ready to see her in about ten minutes.
As she and Ryouta said their goodbyes and went their own separate ways she had to admit that the boy was a good kid, and she wouldn't mind seeing a boy like him dating one of her daughters. That was if her daughters were to ever get to that point, but that would be a problem for some other time, right now she a meeting to attend with the good professor.
Mayu watched with some interest as Miyamoto leaned back in his chair as he had listened to what she had told him, she counted herself fortunate enough that she had managed to get a moment of his time as he was just about to leave for another council meeting.
"I must say that I'm rather shocked to hear this, Isuzu-san, we've all worked so hard last year to try and bring down the degree of bullying that took place in our school. This is definitely a terrible thing that must be resolved quickly. As a man of my standing, I simply cannot allow for such shameless acts to go unanswered, you were right to come to me see about this."
His arms folded in front of him Miyamoto fell silent as if he was contemplating on how he was going to take appropriate actions here. "You said that you had already learned of the identities of these girls doing the alleged bullying, am I right? If so I would like to have that information so I can take action myself. I'll go and bring this to the relevant teachers and inform them that we need to resolve this problem, it's not good for the students and it's not good for the school either. Least of all, it's not good for your sister, she doesn't deserve to be a victim of this."
Mayu was relieved to hear his expression that he was going to take immediate action, honestly, she had felt some reservations at first but after seeing him like this she felt more confident that this was soon going to be resolved. "I see, thank you kindly for having taken the time to hear me out, Miyamoto-sempai. If you have any pen and paper for me I'll be all to glad to write down what I have learned about these girls."
"But of course, here use mine," he said as he pushed a notepad forward and handed her a pencil. "The more information the better, it's in both of our interests to have this resolved as quickly as possible. Bullying is not something that I tolerate at this school."
Writing down all that Mayu knew of these girls she couldn't help but notice that from the corner of her eye Miyamoto was already busy in texting a message on his phone instead of actually looking at what she writing down for him, he definitely seemed to be a rather busy person. "Here it is, I've written down their names and in which class they are."
Not yet finished with the phone he made a gesture for her to wait but once he had finished his message he simply leaned forward and retrieved the notepad and studied it for a moment.
"Splendid, splendid. This should be more than enough for me to make a point about this. I take it that you've already talked to them about this, have you not Isuzu-san?"
Mayu shook her head. "I'm afraid not, I've tried looking for them but so far I've been unable to find them. I'm planning to look for them again once this conversation is over and I-."
He held up his hand, interrupting her in mid-speech. "That won't be necessary, in fact, I think it would be a lot better for you to no longer concern yourself with this matter and let me handle it. I have a lot more influence with both the student council and various teachers than you do. You should look after your sister and make sure that she's well again."
Mayu wanted to rebuke but hearing his explanation she dropped the matter and accepted it, it was likely better if she could let this rest and then focus on trying to help Mei. Miyamoto also had a point in that looking after Saeko's well-being was more important than searching for those girls.
"Then if it is alright with you, Miyamoto-senpai, I'd like to take my leave and entrust this matter to you then. I hope that you can make things better for Saeko-san as it's doing a lot to her self-confidence. I am very thankful for your time." Mayu made a deep bow to emphasize her gratitude, she hoped that with this those girls would soon leave Saeko alone.
"Of course, I promise you that I'll do whatever it takes to get this resolved, your sister deserves better than this," he said, expressing his desire and willingness to help them. "Oh, there is one thing that perhaps you could help me with. Somehow I'm getting the impression that your sister is trying to avoid me, could you perhaps tell me why?"
Mayu stopped at the door, she didn't really know the exact reason but she did have her ideas as to why Saeko would be trying to avoid seeing Miyamoto again. Likely it had started when she had received the letters which had made the young Diclonius feel confused which had only gotten worse after Miyamoto had confronted her and asked for an answer.
"I think it's because Saeko-san is rather timid when it comes to this, I can imagine that she must find it very hard to understand what your letters mean. She has always found it hard to express her feelings when it comes to intimate matters but if the feeling is mutual then I have no doubt that she'll come forth and tell you." Mayu said to him, hoping that her explanation would enable him to understand Saeko's awkward situation. "If you are patient Miyamoto-senpai then she will come to you by herself, that is all I ask of you, please give her a little time. Saeko-san is a kind person."
"Yes, she certainly appears to be though I've sadly not yet had the opportunity to learn more about her, though I do admit that she has a certain charm to her. I hope I get to talk to her soon again. Given what you've told me I'm a little concerned about her."
"Patience, Miyamoto-sempai, patience goes a long way to get to know her better. I really hope that your feelings for Saeko-san are honest and sincere, it would really be good if she were to have a boyfriend who understood her. She needs such people around her."
Getting up from his seat he walked over to the door and looked at Mayu as he chuckled to himself. "I see, well that certainly explains a few things. Thank you for telling me this, I find that to be most enlightening, then I'll take it that it might be better for me to keep some distance from your sister and first resolve the matter with these girls. Goodbye, and take care, Isuzu-san," he said followed by him closing the door the behind Mayu.
"I can't believe you're here again, got nothing better to do?!" Bando grumbled as he caught sight of Dai entering his room just as he was finally managing to have enough silence in the room to catch a quick nap. "Fuck, like I need to see your sorry face here. What do you want Hirano and I'd swear that if you dare to answer that with just came over to check up on you then I'll grab your head and shove through the fucking wall!"
Dai let out a sigh, closed his eyes and stood there for a moment as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "It's good to see you to Bando. How am I doing, why that is kind of you to ask? Thank you for your concern for my well-being," he said in the most sarcastic tone he could possibly make. "Honestly not even five seconds in this room and already I have a headache, thank you so very much for that. God, you must be the biggest pain in the ass on this entire planet, and not much to my own surprise, I'm already questioning myself why I even bothered to come here only to get chewed out by you instead of, I don't know, stay at home and enjoy myself."
Bando just eyed him before rolling over and turning his back towards Dai, clicking his tongue in the process. "If you don't fancy it, Hirano, then you can just get out. There's the fucking door."
Shaking his head Dai grabbed a chair and sat down. "I'm really surprised that the staff here hasn't already kicked you out just yet, to which I should add, I won't blame them should they do. That said I brought you something to chew on, figured you might not like the food here."
He held up a plastic bag for him to see, inside was a well-packed lunchbox with a number of various foods that he knew Bando was certainly going to prefer over the gruel he got here.
"If you dare to bring me any more vegetables then I'll make you choke on them, Hirano!" Bando rebuked without even so much as turning his head in order to face Dai.
"I'm not that suicidal, I know how much you prefer some real meat so I got it from your usual place. I hope it'll be to your liking." The sound of something being pulled out of the plastic wrapping could be heard and it wasn't until the scent of roasted meat filled the room that Bando's interest was caught. Rolling back he was presented with a large plate upon which sat a large juicy looking grilled steak.
"I also brought some fresh coffee with me, knowing this place the coffee from the dispensers is likely terrible. You prefer yours just black, right?" Dai poured in one of the mugs he had brought along and passed one of them to Bando.
"Somehow I get the idea that you didn't bring this with you for no apparent reason. What the fuck do you want from me, Hirano?" He growled as he eyed the steak closely right before his they went back up to had a good look at the man offering these treats.
"As strange as it may sound nothing. I just came to bring you these because I need to fill you in about a few things as there are some developments going on at Saseba. Thought you wanted to know about it."
Setting the plate next to him Bando replied. "I'm already starting to lose my appetite, what the hell did you government fuckers manage to screw up this time?! Allowed somebody to kidnap the premiere?! Lost the keys to a damn warship?! What?!" he spat.
Dai gestured for him to calm down and certainly not yell. "Calm yourself Bando, no point in getting worked up over this. Hell, I barely know most of the details myself, this was only disclosed yesterday. Seems like something has happened with project Atavist."
Shaking his head in disgust Bando wasted no effort in letting Dai know just what a fucking mess that was likely going to be if it had another stupid sounding codename. "Oh, they're just fucking retarded! How much can you keep messing up?! What sort of project is this Atavist?!"
Getting up from his seat Dai went back to the door and locked it from the insight. "You've scared the nurses to stay away from this room, right? In that case, I shouldn't have to worry about anybody coming inside but just to be on the safe side," he said as he returned to his seat and grabbed a mug of coffee. "Project Atavist appears to be another black project placed under the direct supervision of Saseba, it has to do with the remains of Lucy that were recovered."
"Mentioning that wench's name leaves a foul aftertaste in my mouth so can it Hirano, I don't need to hear her name. Not that one or the one that the rest of you call her."
Dai ignored the complaint. "As I said project Atavist has to do with her remains of which I should note that very few were recovered thanks to the efforts of the others. That said they were very busy in trying to replicate the DNA using technology that was recovered from what remains of the DRI and in particular the cloning technology that was used to produce over a thousand clones of nr. 35."
"That's some seriously messed up shit, don't tell me they are actually seriously thinking about cloning that fucking bitch?! That's going to bite them in the ass for sure, mark my words!"
"You're preaching to the choir here. Fortunately for us both the DNA proved to be too badly damaged, making cloning it virtually impossible, realizing that the whole project was terminated, the equipment was decommissioned and the data stored in a secure location."
Bando eyed him closely. "Somehow I feel a but coming." Quickly gulping down the last of the coffee he asked for a refill, he sure was going to need it as he felt it in his bones there was a big but coming up.
Dai leaned in closer. "You're right about that, somehow all of the data they had accumulated got lost. Part of the equipment that was decommissioned and supposedly was destroyed have also gone missing. Command is up in arms over this and they're looking for a scapegoat, somehow my department is being held accountable despite that we've never been this assigned to any it. I have no idea what they're thinking, but everything points to an inside job."
"Typical government bullshit, always blame it on somebody a step down in the food chain, so when exactly did command notice this little fuckup of theirs and when was the data lost?"
Dai chuckled. "Oh that is the beauty of it, they don't have a single damn clue about when the data was lost but they are certain that it's at least six months ago for sure, my guess is that it's even longer than that. Command only learned of this about two days ago, you can imagine the storm they kicked." Dai shook his head, expressing his disgust.
Bando threw his head back and laughed hysterically as he heard that, he just knew it.
"What a fucking surprise," Bando remarked sarcastically as he reached out and grabbed the plate holding the steak, he wasn't going to lose his appetite over the incompetence of others. "How quick do you want to move out? You must be getting pretty angsty, am I right?"
"As soon as possible but that isn't an option, not with you still needing weeks of recovery and I don't want to risk having you not in the fit state as we need to infiltrate a high-risk location." They continued discussing what was going to be their course of action once Bando, who was busy in working down the steak, would be fully recovered from his injuries.
In the garden of the inn, a certain trio of girls was enjoying themselves with the cake they had left from yesterday. "Onee-chan, I'm really glad that we still had a few pieces left of it," Ryou remarked as she took a bite from her piece. "Hmm, it tastes so good you know."
Nana nodded in agreement as she worked down her piece in no less than two bites, with her mouth stuffed she tried to talk. "Wellfff itff tastfff goofff."
"Ew gross Nana, that's just disgusting you know!" Kyou snapped at her. "Don't talk when you have your mouth stuffed like that, honest you look like one of those rodents who stuff their mouths until their cheeks look like they're gonna pop!"
"… Ah o-onee-chan, you're one to talk. You do the same thing as Nana-onee-chan does."
Ryou was pointing towards her as only moments before Kyou's had her mouth stuffed as well, besides back at home she didn't always display the best table manners.
"Well, at least I don't talk when I have stuffed my mouth, I keep it shut," Kyou rebuked as she looked away in disgust. "Do you know how disgusting it is to see all that chewed up food in Nana's mouth. Ew, I don't need to see that. It's ruining my appetite. Anyway, I'm going to work on dinner." She got up from the terrace and went back inside the house leaving Nana and Ryou to themselves, she had lost her taste for the cake and right now she wanted to be by herself for the moment or at the very least be away from Nana.
Being able to spend some time by herself thinking about what to make for dinner was going to do her some good, and even though it was still rather early to start working on it, she nevertheless needed the distraction right now. Coming to a halt at the stairs Kyou took a hold of the railing and looked up, up these stairs was their little sister resting, she wondered how she was doing. Out of all the Diclonius that had survived their little sister was the one who seemed to suffer the most, there was just so much wrong with her that the older Diclonius didn't even where to begin listing the problems. Even worse was that some of those problems might have been because of her because in order to protect her sisters she had sliced of Saori's horns back then. Even after all this time she still felt guilty over that act against one of her own kin.
"I wonder if she wants some cake as well? We still have one piece left?" she asked herself but as they hadn't really heard from Saori she wasn't even sure if the girl was awake or not. If she wasn't then there wasn't going to be much of a point asking her and even if she was awake it might be somewhat problematic if she was into one of her other personalities, would she even understand the question?
Well staying down here wasn't going to do her any good if she wanted to find out how their little sister was doing, taking her first careful step up the stairs she did her best not to make too much of a noise. Even despite her best efforts the wooden stair creaked and squeaked with her second step that she actually got worried that it might just collapse on its own.
But then she figured that she might as well ignore the stairs all together and just use her vectors instead, in one giant leap she cleared the distance and landed back on her feet without so much as breaking a sweat. "Oh yeah, I'm so good at this," she smiled, taking a sense of satisfaction at her achievement, as she threaded carefully towards the room where she knew that Saori was sleeping.
"Saori-chan…" she whispered gently as she slid the door open and had a little peek inside, she could see a form lying underneath a pile of blankets though she couldn't tell if their sister was still asleep or not. "... Are you awake… we've got something downstairs for you… something really good… we've got cake..."
Taking a cautious step forward she got herself ever closer but there came no movement from the figure underneath the blankets. "… Saori-chan… how are you feeling… are you awake…?"
Suddenly there came movement from underneath the blankets and Kyou froze on the spot as she waited with baited breath to see what was going to happen. "… S-Saori-chan…?"
As the blankets fell to the side Kyou found herself staring right into the eyes of Saori.
"… O-Onee-sama… where's onee-sama…?" Were the words coming out of the girl's mouth as she turned her head from left to right as if she was searching the room.
"… F-Feeling bad… not good… want to see onee-sama… feeling really wrong…" Barely able to finish that sentence Saori keeled over as her body began convulsing, her hands shooting to cover her mouth she tried in vain as she vomited violently, throwing up the contents of her stomach all over herself, the blankets and the floor before she collapsed on the floor.
"SAORI?! SAORI?! ANSWER ME, SAORI! SAORI?! SAORI?!" Kyou found herself screaming in a high-pitched voice, dashing forward she quickly pulled Saori up but she had. From down below she could already hear the loud footsteps of Nana and Ryou who came racing up the stairs as well, they must have heard her scream.
Out of breath, the other two Diclonius stormed into the room, an expression of fear apparent on their faces. "W-What wrong? Did anything happen?"
"HELP HER?! SHE'S ISN'T BREATHING?! CALL OKA-SAN! HURRY!"
Saori's face was deadly pale, her eyes rolling back in their sockets, her breathing almost nonexistent.
"Please, have a seat Takebe and my apologies for having kept you waiting, but I was forced to take a slight detour, it was most troubling having to walk for that long," Kogorou mentioned as he gestured for her to have a seat, before taking a seat himself.
"I can understand that such matters are beyond our control Hashiratani-hakase but I was fortunate in that your nephew was kind to keep me company until you arrived. I must say that he certainly seems to be a fine boy."
"He is, I am pretty sure that he will grow to be a fine young man in time. Likely his features will be quite handsome by then, no doubt he'll be very popular with others I would expect," he remarked as he took off his glasses and polished them before turning his attention back to Mako. "But I am certain that you did not come all the way here to talk about my nephew, now as I understood you said that you had a few pieces of new information for me."
Pulling out the case file from her bag she handed it to him. "I do. It isn't much I know but I was hoping that it might be of any help anyway. We have found part of the schematics for the device and some additional notes with regards to the surgery that was carried on the subject."
Opening it he read through it at his own pace, taking in any new information that he came across. "The schematics are largely incomplete but it certainly gives a clearer picture as to how the device works and more importantly some insight in how it was connected to the brain tissue. This truly is a remarkable piece of engineering for them to have achieved this."
Mako didn't really share the man's enthusiasm as she was painfully aware of what the effects were and what would it turn people into nor did she have any desire to go along with it. It was a cruel device, created by men even more twisted than it was, for a goal that was simply horrifying.
"Judging from this, it would appear that there are several key components that keep the device secured in place, still a lot of care needs to be taken in removing them. This is not going to be easy." He went over the schematics with her pointing out what he could extrapolate from it which, much to what Mako had hoped, her hunch was proving to be true, Kogorou was indeed able to extract more information from the new information that she had brought with her.
It did make her feel stupid for not having been able to do on her own when it was just staring her in the face but then she guessed that this did require the insight of people who were either on or above the level of intelligence that the late professor Nousou held.
"I see, then removing it without causing any permanent damage is possible?" She asked.
He leaned back all of a sudden, reaching out for the cup of tea on his left. "Impossible to say at this moment, I cannot tell exactly how it is connected to the brain tissue nor do I know if there are any fail-safe mechanisms in place to prevent any unauthorized removal of the device. I can imagine that the people who created this would have made sure that it could not be tampered with," he added, stressing that in all likelihood simply attempting to remove the device in itself already pose a risk in that it could set off some kind of alarm or worse.
Silently cursing herself for not having thought of that Mako bit her lips, yeah that was just the kind of lows she should have expected from the likes of Nousou, it seemed that he was just as worse as that bastard Ritsuko had been. "Dammit," she cursed underneath her breath.
"There is more, those measures do not appear on what remains of the schematics but they are likely there. I certainly would have done so if I were in the shoes of the men responsible. Truly the evil intents of what men can do." He left it at that.
Lost in her own thoughts for a moment Mako failed to notice that last remark from him. "Is there a way for us to find out what those safety measures are?"
He nodded. "Of course, the quickest and simplest way would be for you to bring the person in question in and we run the device through a series of hard X-ray scans, that would certainly tell us more about its structure. We have the equipment for that at this lab."
As fortunate as that was it was also meaningless without having the ability to bring Saori here, unless she was going to be heavily sedated, it would be nearly impossible to transport her here and there wasn't a shadow of a doubt in Mako's mind that Saeko would be adamant into coming along with her little sister. It was also going to mean that either Yuka nor Kouta would need to come along with them, Bando was likely going to be present as well for obvious reasons which meant they were going to need a large car in order to get here.
"I'm afraid that I won't be able to bring her in just like that, it's going to require a lot of planning on our end. For several reasons we cannot bring her over."
"I get it. Then let us discuss further what can be extrapolated from the information. It would be of some benefit to us if we can have some of the preparations already done before she arrives here would you not agree, Takebe?"
The park was nice and quiet at the moment, fortunately there did not seem to be that many people around for which Saeko felt grateful as it would allow her to have a bit more of a private moment to herself for the time being.
She had already split up with Yuzuka and Azusa a while ago and sadly Hinami hadn't been able to join them on their walk home as she had obligations to her club that she needed to uphold, they all understood and as they had said their farewells Saeko had been overcome by that familiar desire to join a club. "Would they mind if I were to join their club even though I can't do anything at all?"
Hard to tell, she didn't even know how well Hinami could sew. Thinking about it she didn't really know all that much when it came to how Hinami was at it.
"Maybe I should ask Hinami-chan about it when I see her again. I really want to know."
Overhead she could hear the cheerful chirping of a couple of birds sitting somewhere up high in the trees, craning her neck up to see if she could catch sight of them she stopped. A kind breeze gently caressed her face, it felt so good to being here and having this moment to herself, even enough to make her forget about her troubles and worries for the moment.
"It feels good being here, I wouldn't mind be able to come here with Saori-chan, I'm sure she'd like being here as well." From the corner of her eye she spotted a couple walking hand in hand, they seemed to be students much like she was, they did not seem to be much older than she herself was and yet they appeared to be living in a different world than her. Saeko felt how her gaze was attracted by their hands that were holding each other, such a simple gesture and at the same time such an intricate one that made her feel envious of the affection that these two had towards each other.
"… I-I… want to hold hands too…" She blushed as she spoke the words, her cheeks taking on a few additional hues of pink. "… H-holding hands… with m-master…" She wondered if she was ever going to find somebody whom she could call master once more, as the mere thought arose in her mind she could feel her heart began to beat wildly in her chest in response.
Maybe she had received the letters from Miyamoto for that reason, he had sounded rather sincere and wasn't this exactly what she was longing for? Shouldn't it then be obvious that she should accept his offer, wasn't that supposed to be the right thing to do? It made sense.
After all, all that she wanted was to find somebody who could make her feel like she had felt back then, she wanted to experience that once more. Lost in her own thoughts she didn't notice it that she had attracted the unwanted attention of a group of youngsters who were steadily getting closer to her until they were almost on top of her.
"Hey, you," one of them called out to her. "What are you doing? Pretty gal such as you being out here by herself. Wanna have some fun with us? That's a pretty uniform you got there? Yeah, you're totally our type. So tell me, what's your name?"
By the time that she noticed them it was already too late for her to get away from them as they had already grouped around Saeko, making sure that she was basically trapped in between them. "E-Excuse me… I-I-I… would prefer it if you…"
"Hey, no need to be scared of us. We're your friends, right? You don't need to be scared of us, little girl. We just want to have a little fun, nothing else, you wouldn't want to deny us that now, would you? That would be very rude of you. Damn girl, you look so pretty, are you one of those cosplaying freaks with that hair of yours. Shit, that really turns me on. C'mon, let me get a closer look. C'mon, c'mon girl, let me have a look. Oh, you're a pretty one."
Saeko tried to take a step back but her path was blocked by one of them, preventing her from getting any further. Getting a little scared and feeling desperate she pleaded with them, "…P-P-Please… I-I don't want to… be… cause... trouble… to you…s-s-so if possible… c-c-could you let me pass… p-p-p-please?"
They all laughed out loud as they heard her question. "Now why would we do that, c'mon now sweetie, stay a little longer with us, we just wanna have a little fun, that's all." The one at the front grinned but before she even had a chance to react a heavy blow from behind knocked her to the ground, she slumped into unconsciousness.
Author's note: there you have it folks, newest chapter for your enjoyment. Hope you'll all enjoy it.
Chapter's a little later than what I had planned but the last week wasn't exactly a good one as I got some disturbing news when I came home from work, an acquaintance of mine committed suicide, the poor guy threw himself in front of a train and it's been at the back of my mind ever since. Everybody is devastated by it
We had his cremation last weekend, I did not enjoy the mood there to say the least and I was really glad when I was back home again and could let it sink in with me, editing and writing have been really one of the last things on my mind in the past week or so. Everybody here is constantly asking themselves the same question over and over, 'why?' It really has a profound impact on you when it happens to somebody you know, there are just no words to describe that odd feeling you are experiencing, but I guess that it just how life goes.
I've also made some changes to the previous chapter, it was pointed out to me that some scenes weren't as good so I changed them. I hope they're better now.
Elfenliedfan
Well, I'm glad to hear that you liked the series, now as for your question I can be very short here, there's no second season, not a single word of it which is a shame as Flying Witch is such a great anime to watch.
Other recommendations? Well 'New Game!' is a great series to watch and they just finished airing the second season. Another series that has just begun airing and one I have high expectations of is 'The ancient magus' bride'.
Others would be 'Thunderbolt Fantasy', 'Gabriel Dropout', 'Interviews with monster girls' and 'Miss Kobayashi's Dragon maid' I guess that with that you'll have plenty to watch though it would, of course, depend on what you prefer.
Well, that's about it, see you all next time.
Until then.