Fuchū, Tokyo Prefecture
Fuchū Station, Miyamachi
Standing quietly on a street corner, shrugging off a drizzling rain, Dahlia Hachimiya waited impatiently for her ride to arrive. She still couldn't believe she had volunteered herself to join Kay's borderline suicidal revenge quest, but, here she was, on the outskirts of Tokyo, waiting.
Eventually, a black sedan skidded to a stop directly in front of her. Dahlia gave a subtle wave to the driver before climbing into the back seat.
"Morning everyone." She said as the car chirped away.
"Jesus, Dahl." Kay said with an annoyed tone. "Could you have worn something more eyecatching?"
"What?" Hachimiya looked down at her bright yellow raincoat, with its reflective stripes running over both shoulders and stopping at a horizontal belt over the waist.
"I told you to wear something that made you blend in. Not what Icarus flew towards."
"This is all I have, alright?" The Ooarai girl waved her friend off. "All my other jackets and hoodies are either dirty, or still frozen from being at Black Forest."
"Hello, Dahlia." Rosehip cut in from the driver's seat.
"[¿Que pasa?] Hey, Assam."
The Spymaster quietly nodded in reply, skimming over her notes.
"It's nice to see you too, Kay. If the wardrobe critique is over, how's this playing out?"
"Everything is already set up." Kay began. "Welcome to Orient Express." She gestured to Rosehip. "Our ticket in, and out. We also have Eileen and Rukuriri as backup, AKA Mongoose, if things go south. You'll see them in a minute."
As Rosehip rounded a corner, near the approach to the prison, Dahlia spotted a car with its hood propped open parked on the side of the street. She immediately recognized Rukuriri, pacing back and forth in front of the vehicle. As Orient Express passed, a second girl glanced up from tinkering around inside the engine bay. Dahlia spied 'Helmet-chan' Eileen under a jacket hood and a Japan JFA ball cap.
"Seriously?"
"Don't worry about the car. Nothing's wrong with it." Kay explained. "Eileen isn't actually doing anything. She'll be right behind us in a flash. We already passed Darjeeling, in a cafe around the block. After dropping us off, these two are going to join her."
"So, what am I doing?"
"Security." Assam piped up.
"Lay it on 'er, Smarty Pants."
"I've made contact with a guard who is sympathetic to our cause. He will bring Katyusha to a secure location for your little 'meeting'. When he approaches you, slip him this." The Spy passed Dahlia an envelope, inside which she found a thick stack of yen notes.
"There must be ten thousand bucks in here!" Hachimiya exclaimed.
"Try forty. Don't worry. My man is good for it. He tries anything, I have evidence of years of corruption on him." Assam patted the laptop balancing on her knees. "One email, and he's done. And he knows it."
"Where did this come from? Do I want to know?"
"It's an investment from another sympathetic party. Leave it at that." Kay eyed her friend. "What's with all the questions?"
"I just want to make sure you have all your bases covered." Dahlia pointed at Kay, poking her on the nose. "Somebody in this Op has to be the mother hen."
"That would be Darjeeling, desu-wa. She beat you to it."
"Fine. I'm the hands-on mother hen, then."
"Whatever helps you sleep at night." Kay rolled her eyes, beginning to regret accepting her hesitant, over-cautious friend's help.
"And speaking of things you'll need…" Assam handed back another, smaller envelope. Dahlia slipped it open with her thumb and found two small plastic cards with her picture on them. One was an American driver's license, giving her a street address in Seattle, and the other was a Press badge for a news service she'd never heard of. "I christen you… Rose M. Ishimura. Half Japanese… all American independent journalist." The Spymaster turned herself all the way around, humming in thought. "You look partially American enough, I suppose."
"Why half?"
"Because even in Little Tokyo, you'd stand out." Kay said.
"And the name you went with was far too western." Assam added.
"You have the stuff I told you to bring?"
"Yeah. Notebook, complete with actual notes… pencils, and a self-important attitude." Dahlia tapped the inside pocket of her jacket. "I'm still working on the last one. I'm not good at being a nuisance."
"I'm sure you'll figure it out." Assam said, facing forward again. "If the guards try to stop you, just make a bunch of noise about censorship and giving both sides of the story a chance."
"Right…"
Seconds later, the car was waved through a security gate after Rosehip showed her (likely fake) ID. The Speedster rolled to a stop in front of the visitor entrance.
"Okay. This is it." Assam turned around again. "It goes without saying that this Op is quite dangerous."
"Bordering suicidal." Rosehip interjected. The Spy brushed the comment off.
"Keep your stories straight and simple. Tenma," She eyed Kay. "You're an old friend of She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, who managed to set up an interview with Rose." Assam gestured to Dahlia. "A freelance reporter from the United States. You're both here to let Kattie's voice be heard by the world."
"Is… this what we're supposed to tell everyone?" The Ooarai girl asked.
"Just some details. The meet is already set up." Assam clarified. "Security already knows you're coming. So, Kay… You ready?"
Kay narrowed her eyes in a determined expression. "Absolutely."
Inside a small cell, deep within the Maximum Security wing, far away from General Population, the disgraced Snowdrift Katyusha sat on her bed. Back against the wall, she thumbed through the latest edition of the Pravda newspaper. Most articles shed light on happenings around the country, and within the newly coined 'Pravda Republic'. Talks with the Federation on whether or not Sensha-do would continue as a sport, accompanying the results of a recent practice match between Yogurt Academy and Jatkosota. Pravda's new student council President 'Windmill' Natalia announced promises to maintain reparation payments "...to the best of my school's ability.", as well as offering to accept conscripted students a place at their school, or help them return to their home schools.
Katyusha felt as if her stay at Fuchū had been rather pleasant, at least for prison. She had a space all to herself to do whatever she pleased. Every day there was time spent outside. There were very few women, other than guards, so female facilities were always clean. And three square meals every day. Had she been at Pravda, she would have been sent to Siberia, or at least the small Gulag below deck on the Kiev, where conditions were unbearable. While she missed her old comrades, especially Nonna, who was also mentioned in her newspaper, prison life wasn't nearly as bad as she thought it would be.
She didn't expect her stay to last much longer anyway, which she had already made peace with.
Katyusha was halfway through reading an article on the reconstruction of B.C. Freedom when there was a knock on her cell door. As she looked up from the paper, the door opened and two guards appeared.
"Ah, good morning, Kishimura-san." Snowdrift said pleasantly. "Merry Christmas."
"The same to you, Katyusha." The guard replied.
"To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"You have a visitor. Two, actually."
Katyusha tilted her head to the side. "Visitors? Who? Have Nina and Alina finally come to beg for forgiveness?"
"They wish for it to be a surprise." Kishimura gestured to Katyusha with his baton, wordlessly ordering her to stand. The former Commander did, neatly folding up her newspaper and holding out her hands. The female guard stepped into the cell and produced restraining devices, wrapping a chain around Katyusha's waist and shackling her wrists to it. Once finished, she ushered the girl out of the cell.
Childhood friends Dahlia and Kay stepped towards the entrance of the prison as Orient Express pulled away.
"Well, here goes nothing." Hachimiya muttered.
"Hey. Dahl." Kay stopped her from walking any further.
"What?"
"I might not get a chance to say this once we get in there, so… I want you to know that I really appreciate you coming with me. It… it really means alot."
Dahlia smiled, but before she could respond, Kay continued.
"This is also the point of no return. I mean… we're about to infiltrate one of the country's most secure pens and… kill an inmate. This could go bad in a second and if it does, we will die. I don't want to get iced knowing that you will be next, if you're not first, at least. And you have so much going on in your life right now. You said so yesterday… and I don't want to be the reason you have to miss all of it. Me? This is my life right now. What we're doing. This is the only thing I have. So… This is your last chance. Any second thoughts? You can back out right now. No hard feelings."
The Carpenter looked into her friend's eyes for a time. Kay wore an expression of seriousness, barely masking her true fear.
"Kay, you know that's not true. There's more to your life than this. And either way, I'm here. I'm with you. Just like I was in Abashiri, and at Saunders." Dahlia patted her companion's shoulder, securing her Press badge lanyard around her neck. "Now let's get it done."
Kay nodded and sucked in a breath, before taking the lead.
(GTA 5 Soundtrack: Scouting the Port)
The checkpoint reminded Dahlia of an airport, with a short line that Kay stepped towards the end of. When a security officer gestured to the next person in line, they padded into a large portal and held their hands up over their head. The machine inside spun around them a few times, then the person stepped out. Kay shrugged off her jacket and unlaced her shoes, placing both in a plastic tub. Dahlia copied her movements, needing a second bin for her raincoat. As Kay's items entered the xray machine, she glanced over her shoulder.
"So far, so good." She whispered. Before her companion could nod, and Kay could step towards the portal, a light over the machine suddenly flashed red, and a loud beeping sound came from one of the computer monitors. The two girls tensed up as the guards opened the machine and rummaged through the suspect bin.
"Fuck." Kay thought. "Fuck, fuck, FUCK! How did they know?" She looked back at her friend again, who shrugged quietly, hiding her own feelings of panic.
Eventually, one of the guards found the person who had set off the alarm. The man, who was just in front of Kay, claimed that he had recently gone on an ice fishing trip and had forgotten the box of hooks in his backpack. The guard confiscated the box after the man apologized, and Kay was waved forward. She breathed a subtle sigh of relief, and passed through with no trouble.
The security check went surprisingly quickly to the girls. No one questioned the envelope of paper notes in Dahlia's bin of belongings, if they had even noticed it, and their identity cards passed through with no issues. One guard had questioned the news service Dahlia was working for, but she had briefly explained that the agency was very small, and she wasn't surprised he hadn't heard of them. Before long, the pair found themselves at the visitor desk, where Kay handed over her ID.
"Tenma White for Snowdrift Katyusha, please."