LXIX

Mitleid

Mayu slowly opened her eyes as she was wakened by the sound of the alarm clock next to her, it was time for her to go to school but much like the previous day she was really considering on not going at all. With everything that had been going on school had become one of the last things she could worry about now.

"I could at the least help with making breakfast." She whispered as she rolled over, the school had accepted the reason that Yuka had given them and Mayu was allowed for the coming days to be exempted from attending school but even so she did not feel like lying in her bed for the remainder of the day. She needed to get up and do something constructive even if it was something as simple as making breakfast to help ease her mind. "No point in staying down like this, I wonder how Yuka-san is doing?"

Yesterday she had spent another long time arguing and trying to convince her mother that neither Nana nor Saeko were bad people, that it was all some big misunderstanding. Like before her mother wasn't willing to listen to her and simply remained by her point that no horned girl would be allowed inside her house, it was going to remain uncertain what her stance was going to be once the Inn was repaired.

She was still worried about the eventual fate of her two best friends, there had not been a single word on them though Yuka had assured her that Dai was going to look for them. It was good to know that somebody was looking for the two of them but she would have preferred it if she could have gone along for the search, she knew of some of the places that Nana liked to go too. "Please be safe, the both of you. I want this family to be back together soon."

Coming out from underneath the blanket she was reminded again how cold it was, the thought that her friends would have spent the night outside in such temperatures was a difficult one for her to bear. What made it even worse for her was this overwhelming feeling of being helpless, that was to her the worst of it, not being able to help her best friends when they needed her the most. "I should get going, there is not much point in making myself feel more depressed, besides I should pay Nozomi-san a visit and see how she is doing as well."

Making sure she was already dressed enough she tidied up her room and went to the kitchen, passing by the stairs she halted as she tried to hear if she could find out if Yuka was already awake. Quickly she decided not to bother Yuka if she was still asleep, like them all this whole ordeal had been pretty hard on her and although she had come off the lightest when it came to physical injuries mentally it seemed she was scarred as well.

"Good morning Mayu-chan, did you have a good night sleep?" It was a warm greeting as she entered the kitchen, somewhat surprised that Yuka was already up and busy.

"Ah Yuka-san, good morning to you too. I had not expected you to be awake already, may I ask how your night was?" She seemed rather elated and Mayu could swear that the smile on her face was genuine, it seemed that despite everything Yuka was in a good mood.

"It was pretty good." Yuka moved in closer and leaned towards Mayu as she whispered something in her ear. "I got a call from Hirano-san, he managed to find the both Nana-chan and Saeko-chan. They are now both at the Takebe residence, if you want we can go and pick them both up after we have gone to check up on Kouta?"

Mayu couldn't contain her joy at hearing that, she could well imagine the weight that must have been lifted of Yuka's shoulders at hearing such news, even for herself it was such relief to know that they were alright and with friends at the moment.

"I would like that, did Hirano-san mention anything about knowing where Nyu-san is being held? He needs to find out where they are holding her…" She trailed off as even with such knowledge there wasn't all that much that she could do, besides there was another question she really wanted for Dai to answer here but she was afraid to ask it in the presence of other people.

"Would it be alright for me to help you with making breakfast?" Mayu asked though she already knew that Yuka was not one to deny her when she was willing to help, she was even more likely to accept it just to finish with it sooner so they could go to see Kouta and Nozomi in the hospital.

"I would like that, mother won't be here today so when we leave I have to lock things up but we don't have to come back early unless you want to." There was no need for Yuka to ask her that, she was much more interest to see the others again and for Mayu there was no immediate need to come back home early, no she wanted to stay as long as possible with the others.

Grabbing an apron Mayu smiled as she took to her job. 'Then we should get started, do you think that Kouta-san and Nozomi-san would like a small bento?"

"Mayu-chan." Yuka hugged her. "That is a wonderful idea, I am sure they would both appreciate it, let's finish breakfast and then make a nice lunch for them both to bring along."

Mayu smiled as she nodded her head, this day was already off to a good start and it felt like it was going to become a great day for them.

"Yes sir I fully understand. The attack was considered a success, not only did we secure all the information the DRI had on the virus along with its main researcher but also the first samples of the finished vaccine. Should need arrive we can begin with immediate mass production of it. Sadly I am also to inform that we could not confirm the demise of Lucy."

Arakawa heard it all as she walked in, it seemed that commander Kanbe was already passing on his report onto their command. Guess it made sense that they wanted to be briefed as quickly as possible and she could not blame the man for being rather delighted. At least that is how he sounded to her but given that he had for the most part succeeded well above what had been asked of him she found herself agreeing to it.

"Oh? Is that so, this is a rather unexpected development. Has there been any units sent out to investigate? Do we have an indication on when it exactly happened?"

Now it was her time to get interested as it seemed something else had happened as well, she wondered what it could be and if it was related to them. Still she would need to wait for the commander to finish his debriefing before she could ask him.

"Yes sir, I will present a full rapport once we arrive back. My estimates is that it should take us no more than another two more hours, give my regards to the council." He sighed as he hung up on the microphone.

"Well that seemed rather exhausting." Arakawa joked as she saw the sweat on his forehead, so even this man had others to fear. Not the sort of intent he had given off earlier.

"Politics." Commander Kanbe growled as he wiped away the sweat and adjusted his uniform. "They are more concerned about their own position and standing rather than our actual success even if they try to come across as being concerned. It can't be helped in our line of work to maintain healthy relationships with such people."

Arakawa yawned as she heard that, damn that had gotten pretty boring pretty damn fast. Though her response would have been irritating or even vexing to the man he did not seem to mind, on the contrary he almost mimicked her. "If I may ask, what was that second discussion about? It sounded pretty important if they bothered you with it right?"

Kanbe just waved her off as he went to ask one of the men for a light, it seemed smoking was a common thing for men to deal with a stressful situation she noted to herself, personally she hated it and found it to be a rather disgusting habit.

"A massive explosion took place about thirty nautical miles north of us, the brass is scared that it might be related as a tanker also reported a mayday shortly before. A unit is being prepared to investigate but since this has happened several hours ago I doubt they are going to find anything."

"How did they learn about it? Surely if a massive explosion happened then somebody must have witnessed it, no other ships went to offer aid."

Kanbe coughed as he took in his first taste of the cigarette. "That is just it, the explosion itself could be seen from the mainland. Some citizens actually called in if one of the country's nuclear power plants had exploded, think about it for a second; an explosion that could be seen from more than twenty nautical miles away. Do you have any idea to the sheer magnitude of such an explosion."

She tried to go over the numbers but she had to admit that such a matter went far beyond her area of expertise and in so she would accept his opinion on the matter but even with her rather meager knowledge something told her that this had likely not been a normal explosion.

Lucy could be ruled out as well as this happened during the entire uprising back at the DRI, something else had gone on as well but for the life of her she could not imagine what. But a rather disturbing suspicion was starting to rear in the back of her mind, what if this was somehow part of the chief's plan for spreading the virus. He had never divulged to her his plans for the second spread after the first one had failed miserably.

"Could it be…?" She mumbled aloud not realizing that the others could hear it as well.

It nearly earned her a scolding as commander Kanbe stepped forward and grabbed her wrist before twisting it. "You just realized something didn't you!? Spit it out now! Is this another one of your chief's sick plans!?"

"Uwaaa…" She cried in response as she felt her arm being twisted. "I-I don't know to be honest! This is just a guess but it is nothing concrete!" That seemed to be enough for the moment as his grip on her wrist was released.

Kanbe leaned closer towards her. "Start talking now, what is this guess of yours!?" There was that ugly face of his again he got when he was getting angry, he really did look a lot better when he was being calm. It scared her to think that she was still stuck with the men for several hours and even she was likely not going to be allowed to get too far from him. After all she was for all intends and purposes a prisoner of Saseba, didn't matter that she went along willingly and possessed vital information.

"Alright then…" Arakawa coughed. "As you likely know by now is that chief released the virus on purpose, it was never an accident from the start." Judging by their reactions this was news to some of the men but the commander kept remarkably silent, had he been aware of it as well or was there a different reason for his silence.

"Nevertheless." She continued. "The first attempt failed and so the chief sought for an alternate way to deliver the virus but not only that, he also had the researchers start working on an enhanced version of the virus."

There where disgruntled noises coming from the crew, guess they had never known this. "What do you mean by enhanced? What sort of madness had the chief allowed?"

" A new strain, one that spreads easier and faster than the original strain and allowed for the silpelits to mature at an accelerated pace. They would have reached maturity in less than five years, they never got to test it as the researcher was assigned to other projects." Given their reaction she considered it best if she didn't mention that she was the one who had created this second strain, if they were to find out she would get lynched for sure. Best was to keep quiet about and blame it on somebody else.

"A second strain? Kakuzawa must have gone insane if he ordered for such an abomination to be created, I am almost afraid to ask but do you know if he was planning to release this as well?"

She nodded. "More than that, the chief was already working to have it released in the coming days though I do not when exactly or by what means. Though it is possible that with such a huge explosion something must have happened on that tanker. Personally if it were me I would have it investigated immediately."

"Your right, things have gone rather well for us so far. It would be a shame if we allow ourselves to get complacent about this mess. Luckily command thinks the same."

"Well with that out of the way how about we get something to eat, I haven't had anything since lunch yesterday." Arakawa scratched the back of her head as she laughed, if any it would be a good reason for her to get out of this ugly thing and get herself surrounded by other people just in case the commander was going to have any more crazy ideas.

The sound of the coffee mug hitting the table sounded absurdly loud to her, groaning Mako eyed with a certain irritation in her eyes to the person who had dared to wake her up like this. "Dai-kun, you did that on purpose right?" She did her best not to snarl but it was already too late for that. "Do you have any idea how exhausted I am, honestly I have found a new respect for kids and not being driven mad for having five kids in the house. I have no idea how they manage to pull that off for so long but I am feeling worn down." She sighed.

Pouring in a cup for himself Dai laughed. "Well they are a fair bit younger than you and they were smart enough not to do it all in one night, you should give yourself some rest. Besides that you do have to admit that the girls certainly make it pretty lively here."

She had to giggle at hearing him say that. "Lively… hmmm yes that is certainly the right word. I don't think it has even been this lively in my house since I moved in here, come to think of it I did actually have a really good time last night even if I feel beaten down."

They both burst out laughing as they heard it, yeah that had certainly been one really odd night but just like Mako had said it had been fun alright.

"Guess that shows that diclonius are nice to have around, must be pretty different for you to be surrounded by them again but under such totally different circumstances?"

"You don't even know the half of it." She remarked as she reached out and grabbed the cup, taking a good sip she really enjoyed the fresh coffee. "If I were to tell this to my former colleagues they would have likely kicked me off the island, never did any of us even thought that such a thing would be possible."

Taking a good tug of the coffee Dai smiled. "Neither would any of mine but I do like being proven wrong. Anyway I need to get going, with the way that things are going down I will likely need to report to the command HQ here in town."

She sighed at hearing him having to leave again, honestly she was hoping he could stay and offer her some help. Now with all of the girls here she could use every help that she could get.

"Don't be worried." He remarked as he noticed her discomfort. "From what I have seen Nana-san and Saeko-san are more than able to help in the house, just go ahead and ask them. They might just surprise you with how well they can get things done."

"That feels wrong to me, they are guests and I don't feel right about having to impose on them like that. Besides Saeko-chan is my little niece. I feel sorry for all of them."

There was a pad on her shoulder and as she turned both her and Dai were surprised to see the twins standing there, all dressed up and ready to go out it seemed.

"Well good morning to you, I have to say the two of you look lovely." Dai remarked with a smile as he saw them both standing there, surely they were ready for something."

"Thank you bug, now shut up." Kyou remarked in her own typical sarcastic manner, she might have dressed like a cute one with all of those frillies but it certainly did a poor job at hiding her personality the moment she opened her mouth.

"T-Thank you…" Ryou murmured. "… Please excuse onee-chan, she is a bit sick form yesterday I think, could it have something to do with the food?"

Dai and Mako had to turn away quickly to avoid having both of the twins seeing the smiles on their faces, they knew perfectly well why Kyou was feeling a bit sick or rather bloated would be a more appropriate word, she literally stuffed herself with all kind of snacks and sweet yesterday and now she was paying the price for that.

Getting up from her seat Mako grabbed her by the hand and led her to the kitchen. "I have just the thing to get you better but you will need to stay quiet for the rest of the day alright?"

Dai fully expected her to make another snappy remark or at least refer to Mako like she did to all people as bug but it seemed that for the moment and much to his own surprise that Kyou kept her mouth closed, maybe she was really sick from yesterday but Ryou on the other hand seemed to be perfectly fine but then he recalled that she had eaten not all that much.

"Ryou-san can I ask you how the others are doing?"

"… Well they ehm… " She fell silent as if looking for an answer that she could use. "… Uhm… they were… ehm… " Stumbling across the words she fell silent all of a sudden.

Kneeling down in front of her Dai understood either Nana and Saeko had made her make a promise or there was something else making this girl feel uncomfortable with telling.

"Did you have to make a promise to them not to tell? It's okay as we won't be mad at you, just tell us where they are alright?" Dai patted her on the head as he wanted to let her know that he meant it, there was no reason to be angry with her, likely she had made that promise in the best of intentions.

Taking a big swallow. "It's… not that, it's just that they both still asleep… ehm… Saeko-onee-chan stayed up all night with the little sister you brought back and I think that Nana-onee-chan is feeling the same way as onee-chan." She whispered trying not to let the others hear.

Well he had not expected that, no wait on second thought he wasn't surprised by it at all, much like Kyou had done Nana had stuffed herself with just about everything she could have laid her hands on. Sure she hadn't likely eaten but man she must have been starving the way she worked down all the food. As for Saeko having spent all night with that girl that was not much of a surprise either, what was it with that girl that she needed to go and try to save any horned girl she came across. "Well I guess that figures, why don't you go and see for some breakfast. If things remain quiet that perhaps you can go out with the others provided you all behave."

She started to smile as she heard him say that.

"Go on, go and see to your sister and take good care of yourself. I will likely not be back for most of the day as I have work to do, give my regards to the others."

Waving him off she would do that but first she was going to follow his earlier advice and have breakfast first.

It was cold outside even with the sun shining brightly this morning, Yuka was glad she had picked some warmer clothes for today. Even so the skirt wasn't doing all that much for her legs though and she was wishing right now that she had grabbed a pair of pants or at least something that would cover a bit more of her legs.

Long boots would have also been a better idea but with them almost approaching the hospital there was no more time to go back and get changed. "I wonder how they are doing?"

She asked herself out loud for no particular reason but it seemed to have caught the attention of Mayu nonetheless.

"They should be fine Yuka-san, we need to keep hoping for the best." She mentioned as she reached out and grabbed a hold of Yuka's hand, it was all that they could do for the time being but there was also no reason to worry themselves even more. This family would pull through this like it had done before, as long as they were all together things were going to work out in the end. It was one of those things that she had started to believe in ever since moving into the house.

"It will be nice when everybody is back together, do you think that Nana-san and Saeko-san will come visit us?"

Yuka had already given it a lot of thought about that question as she had kept asking herself if the two girls were going to meet them at the hospital, likely they would already be here but even so knowing that they were somewhere safe was at the moment already good enough for her. Yet Dai had promised that he would drop them off but she was also aware of his duties.

There was every risk that he would be called up and if that were to happen then the girls would need to come on foot unless the woman Dai had spoken on about was willing to bring them. "We should find out quickly, the hospital is right around the corner."

"Why don't we first go and check up on Nozomi-san, I am certain that she would like having some company and seeing us will likely make her feel better. I just hope that her family hasn't been too hard on her."

"Yeah, they were already fully opposed to her taking on singing. Now with who knows what kind of damage her throat has suffered I pray for her that her family won't push the issue for the moment, Nozomi-chan is already devastated enough."

Mayu looked down at the pavement, they had all seen it edged on her face when they had went to visit her yesterday, the poor girl had that kind of expression like her life was at an end. Singing meant the world to Nozomi and with that now seeming to be lost for good she couldn't even begin to understand the sheer desperation and loss that Nozomi was experiencing now, it was even worse to think that she was accepted for the school.

"Do you think she will be able to say anything, what if she can't speak at all anymore?" Mayu asked her suddenly. "She was awfully quiet yesterday remember."

"You might be right Mayu-chan but I still want to have hope, it might have just been that she isn't allowed to strain her voice. Perhaps she just needs to grant it plenty of rest from the doctors." Yuka quickly answered as already in front of them the entrance to the hospital appeared, still it was a rather good question that Mayu had asked and it had plagued her as well these last few days.

Inside it felt already a lot warmer much to the delight of Yuka, approaching the reception as she wanted to ask about Nozomi's condition she was informed that with the express concern of her direct family that she wasn't allowed any other visitors without their consent.

"But we are her best friends." Mayu objected. "Nozomi-san lives at our place, we see her every day. She even taught us on how to sing and we supported her choices!"

"I am sorry." The nurse mentioned as she was about to pick up the phone. "Those were the request of her family and father but if you wish I could contact sensei and ask him?"

"Please do, we really want to see her." Yuka informed the nurse as she left the desk and went to one of the benches, sitting down she wasn't planning on giving up this easily. She was going to see Nozomi and then she would take care of Kouta.

"Yuka-san would it be alright if I were to go and check outside, if they are coming I would like to welcome them." With a quick nod showing that it was okay for her to go Mayu got up and left for the entrance again, besides the fresh air would also do her some good.

Tapping her fingers on the container Arakawa let out another yawn to signal her complete irritation and boredom, not to mention that she was still waiting for something to eat.

Commander Kanbe had been pretty clear that under no circumstances she was allowed to exit the vector craft, firstly as she was now considered Saseba property and second because she had almost no clothes on. Like she could even be bothered about that last bit, hell she would run around naked if she really wanted to but maybe not such a smart idea in this weather.

Last thing she really wanted was to get sick. "Where is my breakfast, they left almost an hour ago!?" She screamed as she resumed with the tapping again much to the chagrin of the remaining crew.

"Please shut it!" One of the crew snapped at her, having heard enough of her ramblings for the past hour he had gotten fed up with her outburst. "Just be quiet will you!? God some people are trying to do their work you know! We haven't had anything to eat since this whole operation was started! Do you think we aren't hungry ourselves!? Just shut up!"

"OH WELL EXCUSE ME BUT I HAVE BEEN THROUGH SEVERAL NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCES IN LESS THAN SIX HOURS NOW! YOU SHUT UP YOURSELF!"

There was a loud banging coming from outside the front of the craft and as the door opened a man dressed in a navy uniform stepped in, the rifle still slung across his shoulder.

"Will you lot keep it down! Your making more damn noise than a goddamn airstrike!" He eyed Arakawa for a moment before he turned his attention to the other crew. "You lot killed one of our one when that wave was almost on it, you made us lose several vessels and countless comrades! Better not press you luck here!"

Taking a step back she felt it to be better not to get involved with whatever this was going about, likely it might have had something to do with an unfortunate case before they had reached the island.

"You're lucky that we are professional soldiers and that we don't shoot you lot on the spot for such reckless behavior!" With that the man took his left and exited the craft but not before he quickly addressed Arakawa. "Madam if you want I can see if some squad mates could bring you some from the mess?"

She thanked him for his offer and accepted it, in the best case it would mean she would be getting two meals which was something she certainly would not mind at all. Seeing the other crew staring at her she quickly stuck out her tongue and went to the other compartment if just for not having to see their stupid faces anymore. "Bunch of assholes." She whispered as she closed the bulkhead door, secretly she wished for them to just disappear.

Relieved that with the aid of Ryou they had managed to get Kyou to sit down on the couch, already she had taken some of the pills to help her deal with the nausea. The only thing that was really going to help now would be for her to go back to bed and lie still but alas that was no going to be the case as she flat out refused to let her sister out of her sight.

Given that it was all quiet for now she decided now would likely be the best opportunity for her to go and check up on the others, if nothing else just to have a quick peek at the condition of the young girl.

The details were still somewhat odd to her but from what she had been told this girl had actually threatened the others and nearly killed off Dai and Kyou if Nana hadn't come in between, still it was a terrible thing what she had done. She didn't know if the poor girl was ever going to get out of that coma she currently found herself in, then it would do her good and allow her body to heal. Her wounds were pretty severe and had she been human Mako would not have hesitated for a moment to bring her towards the nearest hospital but with her being a diclonius the situation was very different.

But second degree burns were very difficult to threat, the best one she could do for the time was keeping the burns cooled down and regularly cleaned. Even so that would likely already be off considerable help to her body, like all the other silpelits her ability to heal was far better than that of other humans. It was going to take time for her to find out if it was going to be enough but deep inside she really feared for the girl's life, scars were going to be inevitable.

For girls looks were pretty important these days and with those scars she would likely receive plenty of nasty remarks, not that that was an unusual thing for the diclonius.

Standing at the door she wondered if it would be prudent to first knock but then if Saeko was asleep then she wasn't going to hear her anyway, not if she had stayed up late.

Deciding to be polite about it she knocked anyway, would be rather terrible if she were to scare either of them. Waiting for a response that didn't come she eventually opened the door anyway though she made certain to not make too much noise.

Like she had anticipated Nana was lying there with the sheets drawn across herself, approaching her gently she lifted them up to see how she was doing. The face that greeted her said all that she needed to know, Nana was as sick as Kyou was.

"You just look terrible, come on. I need to get you something to help deal with the nausea otherwise you are not going to be able to meet the rest of your family remember?"

Apart from a few gurgling noises Nana wasn't given off much of a response, seemed she was too sick to even bother. Surely it couldn't be that hard to show some constraint even when one was starving. "I would have expected that for you having lived so long with people you would have learned some manners when it came to eating, really having so much is bound to make anybody sick." She huffed as she lifted Nana of the bed but the moment she pulled on one of her arms it came off. Mako screamed as she fell again the door, that was unexpected but her scream had seemed to woken up just about every other girl in the house.

"Which bug is stupid enough to hit my personal bug!" Kyou was standing there in the doorframe, even with the greenish tan to her face she was ready for a fight.

Her eyes stung as finally the damn thing opened itself, outside the sun was fairly bright. She squinted her eyes as he got up from inside what had felt to her more like a coffin, she promised that as long as she lived she was never ever going inside one of those things again.

She shivered as the cold air rushed in to meet her, maybe it would not have been such a bad idea to have grabbed at least some clothes but at that time the thought hadn't really come to her. As she placed her foot in the water she was again reminded how cold it really was, folding her arms she tried to keep herself warm but without any clothes it was going to be almost in vain.

Gazing at the patch of sand where she had arrived she was pleasantly surprised to see that she recognized it as the beach of Kamakura, surely fortune must have been with her to have her, out of all the places she could have winded up, arrive here. Who knew how many years she would have needed to waste had she landed somewhere else, all that she needed to do for to go and find Kouta. Facing the sea and her back towards the city she started to think.

"… I have to… meet with Kouta… I want to see you again Kouta… I want to see you so much…" She sneezed as she got out of the life pod, it no longer was on any use to her. Remembering his expression when they had last met she began to cry once more like she had done so often during the dark voyage. "… But I'm scared… scared to even face him… I don't have the courage or the guts to even see him… I can't even gather myself enough to go and look for him…" The fear was starting to take over, already she had been over this countess times and every time she came to this point her fear got the better of her, telling her that what she wanted to do was fruitless, that it was never going to work out.

It was a hopeless dream that would only shatter and in the process would lead to her own demise or so it had felt to her, she didn't know if it was true or that that voice was lying to her but the fear felt so real to her that she hadn't dared to go further.

"… Without the courage to face him… and to apologize to him once again… how stupid do I have to be… to think he would really like somebody like me… to think that I deserve somebody like him… in truth I don't deserve it… not after what I have done… I already broke the promise I made to you Kouta… what should I do… what… should… I…do…? " Her hands coming up to hide her face in shame she was startled by a noise coming from behind her.

"I've been waiting for you." Somebody coughed, the voice sounded sick to her. " I thought that by waiting here I could see you again… I am glad that I was right…"

Daring to turn around and look at the man her nerves just fell apart as Kaede looked Kouta in the eyes, if she had been scared about facing him before she was now utterly terrified. Her legs were starting to feel like they were going to give if he kept looking any longer at her.

"It's been a long time, I'm-." Kouta coughed again, he face was looking dead pale. "I'm relieved to see you to back, I was so worried…"

Her heart beating like crazy in her chest she didn't know what to do but even if fear was ruling her for the moment this felt like a once in a lifetime opportunity to her, if not now whenever would a more suitable moment present itself to her? Perhaps somebody was watching over her, helping her to gain a second chance at life.

Authors note: Well here is another chapter for you all, I hope that you will enjoy it.